I started metal detecting in 1982 with a Bounty Hunter Professional, an old VLF/TR machine. It didn't take me long to figure out that a) it was fun and b) if I wanted to increase my yield, I'd need to upgrade to what at that time was the new wave in detectors, the VLF Discriminator.

For those of you who have no clue as to what I'm talking about and actually care, traditional detectors could do one of two things at any one time, but not both. They could either compensate for the changing mineralization of the ground (VLF Mode), or discriminate between the conductivity, i.e. composition, of the detected target (TR Mode). That meant you either sacrificed depth and drove yourself crazy operating in TR, or spent a lot of time identifying junk like nails and bottle caps in VLF. In the early 80s, advances in electronic technology and inventiveness resulted in the development and availability of instruments that could do both, the VLF Discriminator.

In early 1983, I purchased such an instrument, a Garrett ADS II. The ADS II is a good, reliable instrument. It had three disadvantages: it was heavy; it was bulky; and it ate six 9 volt batteries at a time. My buddy Pat was the local rep for Eveready at the time, so I solved problem #3 with some creative trading, however, the other two were unsolvable, but I could live with them. The first time out to my favorite spot, and I began finding numerous Wheatback pennies and silver coins. Back in those early days, I typically would find 15 old pennies and 2 - 4 silver coins every weekend I went out to my spot. I used my ADS II exclusively for 3 - 4 years. I even packed it into my backpack occasionally and made some good finds out in the wilderness. It's an excellent beach machine and I still use it when I go beach detecting. It came with 3 coils, one of which is good for nugget hunting, just in case I ever decide to look for some.

In 1986, buddy Bruce got interested in detecting and purchased a Tesoro Golden Sabre. The Golden Sabre is a notch discriminator, which notches out midrange targets, i.e. aluminum pull tabs and other mid-sized aluminum crap like pieces of burned cans that are so prevalent in old campsites. It also has excellent depth penetration, about 6", as opposed to 4" for the ADS II. I mail ordered one and use it almost exclusively to this day. It is sound only, no meters, target ID or whatever. Several years ago I repackaged the guts into a small light case and adapted it to take 8 AAA batteries for further weight reduction. The box now fits in the pocket of my cammy fatigues.

Over the years I've found an impressive hoard of stuff: some valuable, some interesting. I've found two of the "big three" of metal detecting, a diamond ring and a silver dollar. I haven't yet found a gold coin, but one of these days....

I've found about 50 toy cars, including 5 antiques. 5 gold rings, dozens of silver rings, dozens of earrings, 15 dog licenses, a Gucci money clip, complete with seven $20 bills, about 10 watches, three of which would have been valuable if they worked, a counterfeit silver dollar, a half dozen trade tokens, one Arizona tax token, one chaffeur badge, a couple trolley tokens, a few silver necklaces, one rattlesnake, 3 thimbles, a half dozen religious medals, a USS Constellation memorial medal dated 1797 (but not nearly that old), several organizational pins, 3 hammers, about 100 keys, 2 Swiss army knives, two hash pipes, one roach clip, an army flashlight, 2 employee badges, one railroad baggage claim tag, and many thousands of coins. Among the coins, I've found 2 Morgan Silver dollars, 1 Barber half-dollar, 2 Barber quarters, 10 Barber dimes, 2 "V" Nickels, 3 Indian head pennies, 5 Walking Liberty half-dollars, 5 Liberty Standing quarters, 53 Mercury dimes, 4 Buffalo nickels, 2 Franklin halves, 10 silver Washington quarters, 42 silver Roosevelt dimes, 12 silver "war" nickels, and more wheatback pennies than I can count: about 1000, I'd guess. Finding silver coins here out west is neat: they come out of the ground looking like they did the day they were lost, and they usually have the "S" mint mark.

My most interesting "coin": the 1879 counterfeit silver dollar. The rarest & most valuable coin 1921-D Mercury dime, a semi-key coin for collectors. My prettiest coin, tie: 1938 Mercury dime found near Green River Lake, and a 1938-S Mercury dime found on Mt. Laguna. Both have mint luster and look like they were just minted, despite being buried for probably about 50 years. The most valuable coin with respect to face value: 1915-S penny, worth about $5.00, 500 times face value. Actually, I've found 2 of them. My rarest coin, a 1915-S Barber dime, with a mintage of less than 940,000.

I'll throw out a few yarns of some of my more memorable days, for whomever wants to read about them. I'm having trouble trying to organize this section, so I'll try this for a start. Click on a thumb to see a larger image and/or read a story. Come back occasionally if you like this kind of thing. I'll be adding stuff as time goes by.

Left to right: large gold ring, silver quarter, silver dime and several wheat pennies found in 1998 one day in the mountains. Walking Liberty half and two old pennies. "Key System Oakland 1945" streetcar token from Oakland, WWII, with 1953 penny for size comparison found at Granite Lake.

Above: To read about the ring and see some pictures from the past, click on the ring.

Above: Read about the old miner's pocket that had a hole in it. Click on a coin.

Above: read about the great detecting around an old cowboy camp from the 1920s. Click on the Trade Token.

Above: Horse soldiers guarded the high Sierra in the early parts of the century. Read about one of their encampments.

Above: I've found a lot of miscellaneous cool stuff over the years. Click on the baggage tag to see and read about some of them.

Above: I've found a couple class rings over the years, but this was the first one that I was able to reunite with its owner. Click on the ring to read the story about the return of the ring.

Check back some time, I'll be adding stuff as I recover more finds.

Go back to : Hobbies

This page was last revised: 12/13/2008

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