As usual the weekend seems to have blown by. Not wishing to miss out on a weekly blog, and short of time, a topic arose which is rarely discussed. Perhaps even forgotten as it involves something equally rare in doing. None the less, it came from reading the many blogs, in particular those dealing with coin roll, Coin Star or general coin finds in change.                So Enjoy!

With spring literally upon the doorstep, highlighted by the past week's well above normal weather, the time is at hand for me to make plans of the leisurely sort in between the numerous chores ahead.  Metal detecting, to be specific. While I have yet to find any real buried treasure which most of us would dream of finding, I have found treasures none the less all be they far and few between.  So as I'm setting here typing away, looking out the window on a cool damp afternoon, the new places for which I might search race through my mind.  One in particular being an old toll house which operated in the early part of the 1800's along old U.S. Route 40 in Western Pennsylvania. Here I've had some luck, not always mind you, but above average compared with other sights. Another, which is my secret, lies in the Appalachian Mountain range from Maryland, West Virginia and Virginia. Here I've had tremendous luck finding more relics than coins. Even still, thoughts of places I have not yet visited enter the mix. For now, I'll confine myself to prospecting my relatives properties where jars of coins were buried many years ago during and after the Great Depression. Not that they were wealthy by any stretch, but the coinage of the time and the history behind each is the true treasure waiting to be discovered. 

But enough of myself. For those wishing to give metal detecting a try, I'll offer my personal opinion on what type of detector and the equipment to best serve the purpose and provide results. The first being, no matter how good the detector may be, don't expect immediate results when searching. Finding things takes both time and patience.  More of the latter if you have never used one since this takes the former to familiarize yourself with.  Okay.  My first detector was a Bounty Hunter which I bought because it was the cheapest. While it did work, the low price tag equated to lower quality in that it has trouble distinguishing between metals. Iron, silver and gold. Despite the supposed easy of use in the manual it is not as far as this is concerned, yes I have found silver coins with it but far too many nails,  cans and so forth. So after about a year, I stepped up and bought a Garrett ACE 400 Pro, one model above the cheaper 200. This one works much, much better especially in it's abilities to pin point specific metals. While I'm not promoting Garrett, there are others which are equal or better. Whites, Mine Lab and so forth. My nephew, for instances, uses an $1,100 Mine Lab that is far superior to my $300 Garrett, but only in features such as depth. On this subject, an eight inch coil will be more than sufficient in finding objects down to an average of ten inches. More in sand or soft soil, less in hard stony material.  Which is the size most detectors come standard with. Aside from these things, a good metal detector is quite easy to operate.  Next you'll need a small shovel, such as a gardeners shovel for working in a flower bed. When the detector locates an object, the small size removes just enough material to sift through until you find what it detected.  If nothing, wave the coil over the hole to verify an object is still present. as you might be off several inches. A small bucket, this will aid in washing the dirt from your finds. A few bottles of water for the purpose will suffice. And finally, a container of sorts to hold what you find. 

The reward of metal detecting goes beyond finding things buried in the ground. The often solitude of the hunt is immeasurable. Hope you found this interesting.