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My cousin swore his metal detector was junk after one beach trip, but I found a 1920s silver dollar in my backyard with it. | Archaeology Discoveries - Free To Speak

ryanc57•6mo ago

My cousin swore his metal detector was junk after one beach trip, but I found a 1920s silver dollar in my backyard with it.

He said it only picked up bottle caps, but I dug a solid signal near an old oak tree and pulled out a coin from 1923. Anyone else have gear that someone else gave up on that actually worked great for them?

4 comments

4 Comments

phoenix_lewis6mo ago

That's a great find. A lot of detectors get a bad rap from user error, not the machine itself. My buddy's old machine was called trash because it beeped constantly, but he was swinging it way too fast over wet sand. Did your cousin have the settings all wrong, like the sensitivity cranked too high for a trashy area?

laura8416mo ago

Wait, your buddy swung it fast over wet sand? That's like metal detecting 101, no wonder it beeped nonstop lol.

ross.tara6mo ago

Exactly. You see it all the time. People buy a decent machine, run it on factory settings in a nail-filled park, then blame the beeps. My cousin did that. Had the discrimination set to ignore iron but left sensitivity at max near an old fence. Sounded like a robot having a fit. Took him a year to learn that lower sensitivity and a slow sweep would actually find the good stuff under the trash.

gavin4694mo ago

...and I read this article once about how most detector returns happen within the first two weeks, before people even learn the basics. That's the thing with that Garrett model your cousin had, it's actually a solid machine for the money, people just don't slow down and learn the tones. I had a buddy who nearly sold his because all he got was iron signals near an old barn, but once he figured out the VDI numbers and how to ground balance, he started pulling up horse tack and old buttons from the 1800s. It's funny how one good find can change your whole opinion on a piece of gear.