I went to the beach last week to try my hand at cast-netting some dinner. (Green Deane made it sound easier than I found it to be.)

As I was getting out of my truck, the a saw a guy loading his up, putting his metal detector away. I struck up a conversation immediately.

I opened with a trick question, “What’d ya catch?”

“Oh, I wasn’t fishing”

“I know, I saw your metal detector, what is it?”

“It’s an Excalibur II.” A nice model, fairly advanced and pricey, but one of the best for REAL enthusiasts.

“Ah. I’m a Whites man myself. Owned an Excalibur, but traded it off on a gun. The Excalibur was too heavy for me to swing all day.”

We talked on about finds, timing, weather affecting finds, and favorite spots. We exchanged contact information, and he headed home while I wet down to the surf with my castnet to get yet another lesson in humility.

It started me itching again to go out and find more lost treasure. Not the kind that gave this part of Florida was given the name “The Treasure Coast“, but the kind you and I lose every time we go to the beach – pocket change, pull tabs, bottle caps…and jewelry. Stuff like this:

And this:

Last time I counted, I had found over $1500 in gold and silver…and that was figured on the gold prices in March or so of 2012. I’ve far more than paid for my metal detectors…

As to what detectors I have, like I mentioned above, I am a big fan of the Whites line of detectors. I started with them, and am comfortable with the way they operate. However, I’m certain that all manufacturers offer a quality product, and you results, for the most part, will be about the same.

The biggest factor, I’ve found, is in understanding what your detector is telling you, knowing your tools, so to speak. I have a solid trust in my Whites Prizm V, and tend to use it more often because of that. And since I use it more often, I tend to find more goodies with it, making me trust it more, and therefore use it more often. See the pattern?

Its much like fishing lures, you tend to use the ones you trust, therefore catch more, then tend to rely on them more…(yes, a fishing reference in a metal detecting post, but I sooo love fishing! And its snook season right now, I should finish up and go try to catch one…ah, sweet tangents!)

I picked up my Prizm V off Craigslist for $250, and within two weeks, I had scored almost twice that in gold. The reason is simple – it was a new hobby, and I went out ALL the time! This leads me to FHB Tip # 8 – Tools only work when you use them. It seems simple, but I’ve not found ANY gold in the last three or four months…I’ve not gone out looking!

As to locations, I found that local parks are great for loose change like what you see to the right. I’ve kept every single coin I’ve found, not since they were anything special, I’ve just not taken the time to do more than check to see if any of the dimes or quarters were pre-1965 (90% silver), the nickels were 1942-1945 (35% silver), or the pennies were pre 1982 (95% copper).  For all of your silver coin melt value pricing, you can go to www.coinflation.com and for penny values, go their coin melt value page. 

(On a related note, I was standing in line in my local bank when a couple came in with two hand trucks carrying bags full of quarters, literally 100’s of thousands of quarters. I was almost drooling at the opportunity.

I spoke with the women and found that her and her husband operated several coin-op laundries. I then asked her if she went through the quarters to look for pre-65 ones, since they were 90% silver. Her response was, “Why?”. I told her that due to silver prices, they were worth about $5 each (at that time). She gave me a nasty look and said, “I don’t believe you.”, and wouldn’t talk to me or make eye contact again, like *I* was the fool… I wish her well in her close-minded ignorance.)

Oddly enough, I’ve not found ANY silver coinage, nor have I found any “treasure” coins from any of the many Spanish ships that have gone down right off our coast. This leads me to my favorite place to hunt- the beaches.

Loose sand + loose change = enough finds to make me keep looking. And when I put in the time, I usually get something good, a ring, bracelet, or sometimes a Matchbox car (OK, not as valuable as the other stuff, but fun). The area from the high tide mark to the base of the dune is my preferred hunting area for two reasons. The first is that my Prizm V is not good for using over wet sand, its a dry area only metal detector. The second reason is that beach goers put all their stuff down in that dry sand. And sometimes lose those same items.

While I do have a water metal detector, it is heavier, and I don’t use it as much as the Prism V. So I trust it less…see that pattern again? I have used it for hunting in and near the water, but any wave action quickly turns water hunting into work. And in the fact that anything found that is over 50 years old has to be reported, and possibly turned in to the state. I like to keep a low profile…so I avoid the hassle.
Timing is also an issue. For parks, weekday mornings are the best, particularly right after a heavy traffic event. Something to keep in mind about park hunting is to NOT bring a digging utensil. Park workers frown on metal detectors digging up large holes as much as Carl Spackler hates gophers.

Instead, bring a long probe, such as a screwdriver, or better still a fiberglass rod with a handle, like the one I made (see on right). This is simply a metal file handle with a short piece of fiberglass rod epoxied into it, then sharpened a bit on the end. Use this to pry the item out of the ground instead like is shown here:
.

Another thing I carry is a metal detecting pinpoint probe, a more refined version of the metal detector for finding those elusive bits. You can buy them, or build one from less expensive parts.

Harbor Freight has a handheld metal detector that works fine, only uses a loud, annoying beep when metal is close. I opened it up, cut the speaker out and wired in a vibrating motor from an old cell phone, so when it gets close, it vibrates silently, alerting me, but no one else 🙂 Cost was about $15, and give me a lower profile. No reason to draw any more attention to yourself.

That leads me to dealing with onlookers. Whenever I find something GOOD, I try to not gawk at it right then, I simply pocket it and move on. If questioned, pull out a bottle cap, or something else worthless. Otherwise, I can promise you the onlooker will tell you they just lost what you just found. Promise.

If they really did lose it, they would have mentioned it BEFORE you go to that area. And you should go help them find whatever it is they lost. It will build your karma up to the positive side. We can all loose a little more good karma, right?

Speaking of good karma, I need to thank a couple folks. I got started when RidgeRunner starting talking to me about it, only he mostly did his treasure hunting as a diver. About the same time, I ran into a guy that was wearing a large silver coin of Spanish origin and questioned him about it. He told me he used a metal detector on the beaches in Palm Beach and in the first two years after he moved to Florida, he had found enough gold to put down 20% on his house in Palm Beach. And then showed me all the other items he had left over, multiple jars of old silver rings and such. I was hooked. Thanks RR. Once again 🙂

I currently have two units available (and a third one loaned out). If you are in my area, and want to give it a try, drop me a line, I’ll see about setting up something. We may not find anything more than a few bottle caps…but we might find enough gold to help you get your own metal detector.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Peace,
db