Coin Shooting - A Treasure Finder’s Hobby (Part 1)
Published by Larry on Tagged 1800's Coins, 1900's Coins, Coin shooting, Instuctional, Site Areas
Long before metal detectors were commercial, there were coin shooters. I personally, found several thousand coins in the water, on the land and buried beneath the soil without the aid of an electronic instrument. Coin shooting came naturally for me as a boy living in an inner-city housing complex with little money ever handed out. I was always looking for money. Fifty cents was good for a Saturday at the movie theather. Twenty-five cents paid for a double-header movie plus cartoons and the other quarter would purchase popcorn, candy bar, pretzels and a soda. Coin shooting then consisted of finding soda bottles and selling them for two cents each as well as finding coins. Coin shooters then had to know where to look just as much as a treasure finder today equipped with a metal detector.
My favorite ways of coin shooting as a youngster in the mid 1950’s involved knowing where children and adults both lost their change. I would coin-shoot the large paved parking lot in our government housing project every day. I probably averaged finding fifty cents (mostly pennies) a week from adults losing change, getting in and out of cars. An occassional dollar bill would show up too. The children playing on playground equipment also lost change. Monkey bars, jungle gyms and swing sets all were productive areas. However, my biggest finds came from water-related ventures.
Water has always been a treasure-finders paradise. In Little Page Terrace, our residential complex, we had a large fountain with a wading area. Every afternoon of the hot summer time, masses of children and older youngsters would show up to get a reprieve from the sweltering heat. I have such fond memories of playing in that fountain, and as a coin shooter, I was always finding other’s lost change. My favorite and most productive coin finds came from the storm drains being cleaned after a major storm had filled them with debris. The housing authority would have a group of men clean out the system and haul off larger thrash items and leave a large pile of dirt. I got real excited when I saw this take place, for I found lots of silver dimes and quarters by scraping through that dirt. I was not a coin collecter at that age, but remember finding many Standing Liberty quarters and spent them without knowing what I had. The same was true for Indian Head cents and I spent them along with all the Wheats I dug-up. I wonder about the very valuable coins I may have spent so I could go to the movies or buy a soda and a candy bar.
Coin Collections A Treasure Finder Can Complete
Published by Larry on Tagged 1800's Coins, 1900's Coins, Coin Collecting Basics, Instuctional
As a metal detector hobbyist of 40 years, I have completed nearly every US coin set beginning with the Barber coins of the late 1800’s. I am convinced that it is possible right now, in 2009, to start and find nearly all coins in several sets with a detector.
The easiest set to complete is the state quarters. Spanning only about 10 years, these can be found in school yards, public parks and beaches in abundance. I have had no difficulty in completing several sets. The clad Washington’s are also very easy to complete. The set is mainly high mintage coins covering less than 40 years of easy finds with very little numismatic value to the collection.
Another set is the Silver Roosevelt Dimes from 1946-1964. The 1949 S is the only coin of this set that has been elusive in my 40 years detecting in Florida’s sandy soil. I have only dug two of them but one was found last year, completing my second set. High silver value makes this 19 year set a nice addition to your coin collection.
June’s Coin Giveaway
Published by Larry on Tagged Ancient Coins, PromotionalMonthly coin give-away requires leaving a comment on any post on this blog during that month. All coins are metal detector finds and will be from 50 to over 2000 years old (Includes ancient dug coins from Europe and Middle East). This month drawing date is June 30th and coin is shipped upon receipt of confirmed shipping address.
June’s coin selection is a Roman dug coin from a Baltic Sea area hunt of 1985. A nice dug specimen that has good detail but difficult to photograph. It is nearly 2000 years old. The hunt resulted in a major cache find and everyone found numerous coins. This coin is one of 16 that I obtained from a friend who made that trip. We practice bartering and I traded him some 19th and 20th century silver finds for these copper and bronze coins. Leave a comment to qualify.
Metal Detector Review - Titan 1000
Published by Larry on Tagged Detector Review, Instuctional, Metal Detector TrainingThis review is a new approach for me. I put this machine in the hands of Shelly, an eleven year old, who is a member of my children’s ministry. I took only five minutes to give her some basic instruction on metal detector use, pinpointing and recovery techniques and turned her loose (with two other children equipped with Fisher and Garrett start-up units) on a quarter-acre play area behind the church. Before sharing the remarkable numeric finds Shelly achieved, let us examine the Titan 1000.
The Titan 1000 XD is manufactured by 1st Texas Products and is advertised as a 4 in one detector, and with good reason. First, it has automatic tuning. Second, it has automatic ground balance. Third, it has automatic tone technology and fourth, it has auto target identification. It can be used for finding all types of treasure but I feel it is best suited as a start-up coin shooting unit. The automatic preset features makes it a true turn on and go detector. It also has a user depth adjustment good for up to six inches deep in increments of two inches (2,4,6). This does not mean that the instrument will only find things up to six inches. In fact, I dug up coin sized objects up to about 10 inches. The Titan is a part of the new technology hobby machines that are very attractive, light weight, and user friendly. They are only sightly lower priced than the start-up units of the big four American manufacturers and do not have the appearance of being strong and durable machines for hunting in rough terrains. However, looks can be deceptive. This is a fine, good depth machine that will find lots of treasure. As I mentioned earlier I took three youngsters out for about an hour and fifteen minutes to a play area behind the church to field test the Titan and compare it with two other units as well.