As many of you know, I Metal Detect. And many of you are interested in the hobby, but don't really have a clue about what it is, and why it is so very cool and rewarding to do. For those of you that don't really understand the hobby, here's what it means to me. I spend my free time going to places most people probably shouldn't go, which suits me to a "T" anyway. Places like abandoned buildings, ditches, caves, wreck/crash sites, battlegrounds... just to name a few. Any place "man" has been before I is pretty much fair game. People drop things, coins, jewelry, etc. Then there are those who "toss" things, like guns, knives and the like.
There are many hazards and dangers with the hobby, but the rewards are great too. Mother Nature is probably our most encountered danger. Weather extremes, poison plants, spiders, snakes, fireants, bees, wasps, hornets, wild animals, dogs are just a few of the little goodies "Mom" has up her sleeve to toss our way. Dangerous terrain, hills, ditches, creeks and not to mention the dangers of lightning, dead tree/limbs falling on us too. And then we have the "man made" dangers to watch out for as well, bums, thieves, muggers, criminals, vagrants, electrical wiring, etc. It can be a tough row to hoe sometimes, definitely not for the "weak of spirit" that's for sure.
But the rewards can indeed be alluring. Gold, Silver, Jewelry, Diamonds are some of the more desirable "finds" when metal detecting. Today's precious metals market is thru the roof, even at "scrap" prices. The quote I just got for this article shows 10k Gold at $423.00 an OUNCE and 24k Gold at $1232.00 per OUNCE!!! Silver is going for $23.00 per ounce. Palladium $742.00 per ounce and Platinum $1451.00 per ounce. Titanium is starting to not only become a popular material for jewelry, but also is getting pretty hefty prices on the "scrap" market too. Paladium and Platinum are going to be the least most common things you'll find while metal detecting, but gold and silver finds are a lot more common than you think.
This rock that we all live on gets a little smaller, day by day as more and more people are forced to crowd into the same places, over and over again for fresh air, work, play and hobby. And when you have that many people coming to the same park, the same bus stop, the same sidewalk, then the greater your odds are are recovering some of these lost items. Not all of the rewards are financial. 99.9% of all the people I know in this hobby would much rather return a found item to it's rightful owner if at all possible. Things like School Class Rings, Wedding Rings, are usually a single owner item and have great sentimental value to the owner. And sometimes, the owners can be traced by a Jeweler's mark, or initials on a class ring. But not always. If I try to ID the owner of a ring I have found but because the ring was hit by a mower and mangled, or the ID marks have worn away or any number of other reasons that may render it "ownerless", then I have no problem whatsoever grinning all the way to my local Gold Dealer and "cashing" it in for the scrap value of the gold or silver content. And let me tell you it doesn't take too many Class Rings or Wedding bands to add up to an ounce either. I know quite a few folks out there swinging a metal detector for a living and easily knock down a couple of ounces of gold a week. So, the financial rewards can be ludicrous if you can put in the swing time.
Now coins are a whole different type of animal. Coins are collected. So there is the "collector" value of any older coin you might find as well as it's "face" value and it's junk/scrap value for it's precious metal content. For the sake of this conversation, Pennies are copper, Nickles are Nickle, Dimes/Quarters/Halves and Dollar coins are silver. Now here a twist for those of you not into coins... Our "modern" coinage, is pretty much a turd in a silver "suite". Since 1965, "modern" coins are referred to as "clad" coins. Which simply means that they have a copper core on top of which has been added a silver "cladding" pretty much like a Hersey's Kiss (chocolate on the inside with a thin silver wrapper). And as far as their actual precious metals content goes, I don't think they are even worth their own face value. The $$$ is in the 1964 and older silver coins as they are right at 90% solid silver. And because pre-1965 coins have been out of "mint" for quite a few years now, they all pretty much have "collector" value if they are not damaged or worn badly. Damaged and worn coins are sold for their scrap/junk silver content. Gold coins found by detectorists are few and far between. But it does happen. I have an 1881California Gold Token that I found quite a few years ago, so there are some out there to be found. My best silver coin to date is a 1918 Mercury Dime that I recently recovered from the site of an old Apartment building demolition lot. It is also my oldest silver coin recovered, and would be graded in the "Good" category and has a value of around $3.00.
Modern Pennies will be the coin you most likely will find the most of. And since they have a high zinc content, once the copper cladding has been nicked or scratched and the underlying zinc core is exposed to the elements, it will corrode at a very fast rate. I have a 5 gallon Home Depot "Homer" bucket for my pre-1965 copper Pennies, as well as my "scrap" nickle, dime and quarter coins. To help you gain a perspective on things, a 5 gallon bucket of Pennies will weigh well over 100 pounds and the price for scrap copper varies between $3.00 and $5.00 per pound. That same 5 gallon bucket filled with modern "zink" Pennies, will only net me about $20.00. Every now and then I can talk my bank into accepting them by weight and I get the face value for however many pennies they say it takes to make 100 pounds.
But coins are not the only rewards in this hobby. Living in Dixie, affords me quick and easy access to some of this country's most valued chapters in our past. The American Civil War 1861-1864. Now... BEFORE I go any further, let me state, for the record, there ARE laws in some states that pertain to US Civil War "relics" and the retrieval thereof. And I ALWAYS follow the law. But since you don't always know what it is you are about to dig, it is what it is, and if whatever I dig up falls under the purview of the law, then I'm happy to comply with whatever the law says I must do with that item, period. It is always better to change a law you don't agree with rather than break it and suffer the full consequences of your actions. And while I'm harping on it... I am not a "Tomb Raider" or a "Grave Robber" nor do I loot and plunder historical artifacts and sites. There have been a lot of people here walking this dirt long before me, and many of them still lie where they fell when their time was up. Not often, but we do encounter "human remains" from time to time, and again, the law is followed to the "T" and the proper authorities are immediately notified. Walk down any 10 sidewalks in your city, and I'd be willing to bet, you walked across a dead body beneath your feet. People have been dropping dead for a long time now, and many still lie where they dropped even today.
OK... on to the Civil War. As with older coins, the Civil War (CW) era is full of collectors and collectables, all just waiting for you and your metal detector to find them. Union and Confederate Belt Buckles are a favorite of mine. Bullets, canon ball fragments, uniform buttons, harmonica reeds are just a few of the "relics" that are still out in the dirt by the 100's of 1000's. CW soldiers use to "carve" scenes and pictures into their lead bullets to pass the time. Finding a "carved" bullet is on my bucket list! Fired CW bullets typically go for between $1.00 and $5.00 depending on the rarity. Belt Buckles can command as high as $1000, depending again on rarity. Unearth something like a solid brass canon barrel, and you could easily "retire".
Before the Civil War, there was The Revolutionary War, the war that founded our country and severed our ties with England. And there are still plenty of artifacts and relics out there waiting from that time period too. They are found every day by people swinging metal detectors. And before we kicked England's ass, there were many who came to this country. Cortez, DeSoto, Balboa, and so many more. Throw in Pirates and Outlaws from the cowboy days and you have a party! Jesse James, Billy The Kid, Al Capone, Bonnie and Clyde, wow... So many specific, individual historical events and people you can zero in on and hunt down a piece of their history. Hold it in your hand, smell it, feel it. And Alabama is SO unique in that there really hasn't been a major event or person in this country that did not pass thru or have some connection with Alabama. WWI and WWII history is all around us here in Dixie!
Alright, I told you a lot of good stuff didn't I? And now your chomping at the bit wanting to know how much it's gonna cost you to get into this fascinating hobby? You will need a minimum of three items to get into this hobby at an enjoyable and productive level.
1: A Metal Detector. Decent, and capable, entry level machines can be had new, for as little as $100 (Garrett Ace 150). If you feel lucky and want to try a used machine, then $100 will get you a very capable machine, if luck is on your side. I think it would be worth the wait, to save another $100 and get the Garrett Ace 250 ($200) as it is a known beast of a machine with a long and glorious track record for finding coins, jewelry and relics like a magnet! Easy to use, just turn on and go for the most part. Reliable and light too. I own one, got it used from a 75 year old member on one of my detecting groups on FaceBook for $100. He had bought it for his wife, who took it outside and swung it twice, and then came back in the house and put it back in the box and went back to her knitting. New, they retail for around $200.00 from most sources.
2: Digger. You can use your old garden trowel if you'd like, but it's gonna break, trust me. A digger has a very hard life. Pounding thru rock hard soils, prying rocks out of the way, chopping/cutting roots from your hole, a very hard life. Your garden trowel was made for scooping potting soil out of a bag or opening a hole in a soft fluffy flower bed. You NEED a digger made specifically for the rigors of metal detecting. Full tang design (solid, one piece steel handle and blade) will give you virtually an unbreakable tool that will serve you well for many years to come. TreasueWise makes a fantastic digger "knife" that I highly recommend. I own 6 of them. You can pick them up online here and there, eBay, Amazone for about $10.00. I have paid as much as $39.99 for one when I was in a bind and had to have one while out of state. I loan them out to my friends all the time so they have seen their fair share of use and abuse and I have yet to have one break or show any serious signs of wear. Love them!
3: Pinpointer: Most metal detectors have a "pinpoint" mode that allows you to zero in on the precise area where it thinks the target is located. Typically, you would be walking slowly and swinging your detector side to side until you got a "hit", then you stop, concentrate your swings until you can visually "lock" the area under your search coil where the machine beeps. With "pinpoint" mode, you would then press and hold your pinpoint button and narrow the location of the target a little more. Mark it with your eyeball, a golf T or your digger, set your detector down and start digging. You are on your knees, and you just dug a 3 inch diameter by 3 inch deep hole, and you have examined the contents of the dirt and you see nothing. Well where the hell is it? Without a pinpointer, you would then have to pick your detector up, and swing that hole again. Well, you're on your knees remember, your detector is probably now taller than you are at the moment, which means you can't see the display, it is heavy and awkward to swing AND the close proximity of your body (and all the "metal" you have in your pockets, etc) may even effect the machine and now alter to "location" of where your machine first said the target was. Here's where a "pinpointer" comes into play to make your life easier and much more productive. With a pinpointer, you never have to touch your metal detector again once you get on your knees. The tip of the pinpointer will detect any metallic object within a couple of inches of it allowing you to probe around the hole a lot more precisely to locate exactly where in the hole the target is located. Very often the pinpoint mode will be off by an inch or so and you just miss the target as you did your hole. The pinpointer would allow you to quickly scan the sides of the hole and locate it for extraction. They are truly worth their weight in gold! I use a fairly high-end Vibra-Probe pinpointer ($165) but you don't need to spend anywhere near that to get a quality and reliable pinpointer. How does $16.99 sound? Yep, Harbor Freight Tools has a dandy of a pinpointer used by wood workers to find hidden nails in wood that is available online or in-store for $16.99 all day long. I own 2 of those and love 'em and loan 'em all the time. Adjustable sensitivity, audible tone, and a cool LED that let's you actually see down in the hole too.
Check Please... Let's tally things up and see what the damage will be to get you into this hobby at an enjoyable and productive level.
$200.00 Garrett Ace 250
$10.00 TreasureWise Digger
$20.00 Harbor Freight Tools Pinpointer
_________
$230.00 Total !!!
Not bad, if I say so myself! So start picking up beer cans, cut back to just one Starbucks a day, park on the street instead of the employee parking lot that you have to par $75 a month for... Do whatever it takes for you to put down the remote, get off the couch and go out and get you a big piece of this wonderful hobby. You'll thank yourself!
And I hope you enjoyed my little article here as much as I enjoyed writing it!
