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Metal Detecting Record Keeping
Do you know how many coins you have found, where you found them, how deep they were found, the soil/water mineralization level, the time of day/night they were found, what detector you used, how many coins found per hour and the retrival instrument or scoop used in making the finds? This is a lot of information and yes it takes time to record it. However, the value of the process of keeping records far surpasses the time and energy utilized.
As a pre-computer era treasure finder, I chose to keep all of this information plus daily, weekly, monthly and yearly totals for all coin, relic and jewelry finds in a little black book. It is exciting to look back over that info and see my development and growth as a metal detector user. More importantly, the history of all this information impacts plans for future adventures in treasure finding. When I want to focus on a specific type or date of coins to dig-up, I go to my little black book (and now my computer).
I started metal detecting to find coins on Christmas day of 1969 with my Metdeford BFO machine (Metal Detector by Jim Ford a Clearwater, FL high school teacher/inventor) that sold for $50. I found 53 coins in 4 hours. Twenty nine were pennies found between one and six inches deep ( 6 Wheat), 7 were Jefferson Nickels (one 1943 P War Nick) at about the same depth as pennies, 11 dimes (3 silver) at one to four inches deep, and 4 quarters (one a damaged 1942 silver at almost eight inches deep). Why share this seemingly insignificant info? These finds were found in two places that Christmas day. The first was Mom and Dad's front yard and the 2nd was around the concession stand of Tarpon High School's football stadium. That directly impacted my metal detecting for the next 30 years as I was a teacher and the only person given the permission to metal detect that entire stadium. In 31 years as a teacher/counselor there, I made weekly trips to Sponger Field during football season (and at other times too) and never took less than 100 coins home with the average finds close to 200 in a four hour period. That is about 45 coins an hour and silver and gold jewelry finds made this my most productive newer coin and jewelry site ever with over 30,000 coins and 100 jewelry pieces (many returned to owners). In fact, that first Christmas day hunt produced a 1949 wedding band that I was able to make a couple very happy on New Year's Day.
Knowing your most productive sites and areas where more valuable coins are found assists in directing your research to find other potential sites. My 2nd most valuable half dollar find, a 1904 New Orleans piece in XF, was located on a lot across the street from the school yard that produced 243 pre 1940 coins including my oldest find, a 69 AD Israeli coin.
Knowing the instrument used at a given site helps a detectorist, who owns mutiple machines, choose what detector to use in given soil conditions (mineralization level). Nearly as important as soil conditions in choosing a detector, is the factor of sensitivity to various metals. I will choose a Tesoro when I want to find nickels, Fisher when I want to find deep silver dimes, a White's or Garrett's for most of my relic hunting, Minelab for gold prospecting, and a Fisher or Minelab machine for my saltwater treasure finding. Those are my choices for central Florida hunting based on 38 years of metal detecting. Do you need all of those brands to be successful? No! I have done so well as a treasure finder, that I like and can afford choices. My favorite line of detectors for Florida's sandy and light to medium mineralization, is Fisher.
Keeping records of scoops or digging instruments used serves several purposes. Knowing whether a knife, probe, spade, shovel, sand scoop, or a back-hoe is needed is good if you plan to return to an area for another treasure finding venture. Yes, I did have to call for a back-hoe twice when on contract to find a Spanish treasure in Tarpon Springs, FL. But that is another story! I also purchase or create new digging instruments based on the track record of equipment used over the long haul.
I will always rely on records to help me be more successful as a treasure finder and use this info to find more and, more valuable coins, relics, and gold and silver jewelry. This is howkeeping records can help improve your coin finds. It takes away the guesswork and remembering and replaces with dates, amounts, types of coins found, where you found them, instrument used to find and retrieve, mineralization level and yes, even the depth level. Here is a copy of one of my Treasure Finding Logs:
Treasure Finder's Log Book
Date:
Site:
Researched:
Directions/Location:
Mileage/Travel time:
Permission Given By:
Soil/Water Conditions:
Detector(s) Used:
Retrieval Instruments:
Finds For The Day
Date Depth Found
Pennies
Nickels
Dimes
Quarters
Half Dollars
Dollars
Jewelry
Relics
I hope that you have gained some insight and you "record" some great treasures too. Here's to "diggin" it! Larry
http://MetalDetectorForCoinCollecting.com/free-report
As a pre-computer era treasure finder, I chose to keep all of this information plus daily, weekly, monthly and yearly totals for all coin, relic and jewelry finds in a little black book. It is exciting to look back over that info and see my development and growth as a metal detector user. More importantly, the history of all this information impacts plans for future adventures in treasure finding. When I want to focus on a specific type or date of coins to dig-up, I go to my little black book (and now my computer).
I started metal detecting to find coins on Christmas day of 1969 with my Metdeford BFO machine (Metal Detector by Jim Ford a Clearwater, FL high school teacher/inventor) that sold for $50. I found 53 coins in 4 hours. Twenty nine were pennies found between one and six inches deep ( 6 Wheat), 7 were Jefferson Nickels (one 1943 P War Nick) at about the same depth as pennies, 11 dimes (3 silver) at one to four inches deep, and 4 quarters (one a damaged 1942 silver at almost eight inches deep). Why share this seemingly insignificant info? These finds were found in two places that Christmas day. The first was Mom and Dad's front yard and the 2nd was around the concession stand of Tarpon High School's football stadium. That directly impacted my metal detecting for the next 30 years as I was a teacher and the only person given the permission to metal detect that entire stadium. In 31 years as a teacher/counselor there, I made weekly trips to Sponger Field during football season (and at other times too) and never took less than 100 coins home with the average finds close to 200 in a four hour period. That is about 45 coins an hour and silver and gold jewelry finds made this my most productive newer coin and jewelry site ever with over 30,000 coins and 100 jewelry pieces (many returned to owners). In fact, that first Christmas day hunt produced a 1949 wedding band that I was able to make a couple very happy on New Year's Day.
Knowing your most productive sites and areas where more valuable coins are found assists in directing your research to find other potential sites. My 2nd most valuable half dollar find, a 1904 New Orleans piece in XF, was located on a lot across the street from the school yard that produced 243 pre 1940 coins including my oldest find, a 69 AD Israeli coin.
Knowing the instrument used at a given site helps a detectorist, who owns mutiple machines, choose what detector to use in given soil conditions (mineralization level). Nearly as important as soil conditions in choosing a detector, is the factor of sensitivity to various metals. I will choose a Tesoro when I want to find nickels, Fisher when I want to find deep silver dimes, a White's or Garrett's for most of my relic hunting, Minelab for gold prospecting, and a Fisher or Minelab machine for my saltwater treasure finding. Those are my choices for central Florida hunting based on 38 years of metal detecting. Do you need all of those brands to be successful? No! I have done so well as a treasure finder, that I like and can afford choices. My favorite line of detectors for Florida's sandy and light to medium mineralization, is Fisher.
Keeping records of scoops or digging instruments used serves several purposes. Knowing whether a knife, probe, spade, shovel, sand scoop, or a back-hoe is needed is good if you plan to return to an area for another treasure finding venture. Yes, I did have to call for a back-hoe twice when on contract to find a Spanish treasure in Tarpon Springs, FL. But that is another story! I also purchase or create new digging instruments based on the track record of equipment used over the long haul.
I will always rely on records to help me be more successful as a treasure finder and use this info to find more and, more valuable coins, relics, and gold and silver jewelry. This is howkeeping records can help improve your coin finds. It takes away the guesswork and remembering and replaces with dates, amounts, types of coins found, where you found them, instrument used to find and retrieve, mineralization level and yes, even the depth level. Here is a copy of one of my Treasure Finding Logs:
Treasure Finder's Log Book
Date:
Site:
Researched:
Directions/Location:
Mileage/Travel time:
Permission Given By:
Soil/Water Conditions:
Detector(s) Used:
Retrieval Instruments:
Finds For The Day
Date Depth Found
Pennies
Nickels
Dimes
Quarters
Half Dollars
Dollars
Jewelry
Relics
I hope that you have gained some insight and you "record" some great treasures too. Here's to "diggin" it! Larry
http://MetalDetectorForCoinCollecting.com/free-report
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