Night park detecting with the Ace 250

[BSellin]

Nah - the markets were on for 2 days and the Harbour Festival was on for 5 days. There were all these little 10cm round holes in the grass where people would have walk. I can only assume that they had a little spade and were doing round circle holes looking for money just on the top couple of inches where coins are stamped into the ground. But hey, they could of been pulling all the ring tabs for me too

 

[Guest]

Everyone is different and as one becomes experienced at this so does your finds.

For some its about finding stuff for others its about finding a specific item.

I have heard the stories where a particular area gets hit by a metal detector operator where thousands of people would

have visited. The discriminator is set to high, high enough to find the $1 and $2 coins and they walk away with $200 plus in cash.

This detecting is done at 2am on christmas morning which assures you no one is in sight.

For me for example if I went to a ghost town I would take the cz3d. Pump up the discriminator bearing in mind my detector unlike many

will not lose the depth and I would be hearing out for either the high tone or the crackle and if she crackles the coin is deep.

If the ground is littered with iron bits or nails its where I would use the Teknetics G2 because if a coin is right near a nail I know the G2

will pick it up.

As I always say each to their own.

Its an awesome hobby and helps you zone out.

 

[Goldpick]

Not a fantastic night tonight by any means, but after trying a few locations, at Ieast I came away with a few goldies, and an unusal find, a brass 2oz weight in a exercise park???

 

[KarlS]

We held an experiment where we emptied about 50 tot lots in the area in Oct/Nov last year - and then revisited some of them in the last few weeks and they are all still relatively empty - which makes me think either they are detected regularly or the finds in October were from years of accumulation.

We also noticed that some councils are replacing the bark chips with bitumen like surfaces which do not hold coins anymore. Soon the tot lots will be a thing of the past! Also in September most councils top up or replace the bark with new stuff which buries the treasures even further.

On any given day we can spot at least 10-12 looters working the beaches - so the popularity of our hobby is a two edged sword - and I agree - rural areas and the outer suburbs are the next fertile grounds to be detected however, I am sure our fellow looters are also thinking the same thing!

I have done something similar. Few weeks before Christmas I had cleared three tot lots. I got $87, gold earring and silver bracelet. This morning I went back. First one - 45 cents, second zilch and third one 2 one dollar coins. I'm only one detecting those playgrounds. So depending on your location it may take many years to replenish easy money from tot lots.
Karl

 

[Goldpick]

Hence why tot lots near schools, shops and ovals tend to have more constant patronage vs ones in most parks, along with exercise type tot lots. You see people at these everyday, whereas parks generally only get recharged on weekends.

 

[Goldpick]

I was having a crap night with the Infinium due to non-existent low tide, and a falsing 5x10" DD coil, which turned out to have shielding issues at the plug. I also broke one of the plug pins trying to ensure they were absolutely straight, now it is really cactus. To my relief, I changed over to the little 8" mono which worked flawlessly, just no decent targets unfortunately, aside from one measly $2 coin in the wet sand..

As a result, I pulled the Ace back out, and checked out a couple of parks on the way home just to get my fix for the night. Even that proved hard going, with a couple 1 & 2c coins, 5c and 20c. Though unexpectedly, I found a St Maarten pendant made from 925 silver weighing in at 2.22 grams, and a very unusual find out the middle of nowhere, a $1 Adelaide Casino gaming chip. I nearly crapped myself when I dug that up, large gold coin covered in dirt. Thought it was going to be something of great value, but still cool all the same.

 

[Goldpick]

Yeah $2 coins were a great idea, they add up quite nicely.

We should start a push to have $5 coins

Funny you should say that, I have a $5 coin from 1988! Commemorative coin for the opening of the new Parliment House.

 

[Goldpick]

Tonights haul came up with a surprise, other than the 26 coins detected, a 1943 penny from under a set of swings.
The bark udnder the swings had been dug out, and I got about 5 coins from the same patch, including the penny. Looks in really good nick, which leads me to think that someone lost it playing in the bark??? Other than that, it was freaken freezing tonight, still waiting for my hands to thaw out. :lol:

 

[Silver_Fox]

Funny you should say that Goldpick, I have a $5 1988 coin too

Yeah $2 coins were a great idea, they add up quite nicely.

We should start a push to have $5 coins

Funny you should say that, I have a $5 coin from 1988! Commemorative coin for the opening of the new Parliment House.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1695/1398447012_img_20140426_030027.jpg

 

[Goldpick]

The missus got given that when she was working at the comm bank, at least banks are useful for something.

Today we went up the northern beaches of Adelaide with the Ace 250 and Infinium, and here is what we found (well I found, the missus only found an empty cigarette packet :lol: ).

The ring unfortunately is a junker, and missing a couple of its 100% fake diamonds, but still nice to know you are digging the right targets. The Mormon chain and pendant is 14k gold filled, so at least 1/20th of it is gold, hallmark was on the catch loop. The earing is also a junker, no hallmarks that I could see.

Also found the worlds biggest nail, and the golf ball doesn't count!

 

[Wally69]

Worlds biggest nail = deck spike for bridge building but sometimes used for surveying to benchmark a point in the ground when traversing levels from one spot to another. Possibly from some survey students out doing their thing in paradise.

Also used for nailing sleepers together for planter beds.

 

[Paulmarr]

Nice finds Goldpick - no silver coins? You must be discrimating them out!

 

[Goldpick]

Using the the infinium with zip discrimination, and wasn't really in the mood for digging deep holes, quite plainly, my sand scoop sucks. I need something half decent in stainless before I go digging to china, my shitty one is all bent up now.

The highs and lows of beach detecting - the initial high when you have something in your fingers that feels like a ring, then the low when you realise it's just another piece of junk, albeit pretty. :/

 

[Heatho]

Pendant looks nice, though yeah same thing happened to me twice this week, 2 junk rings, one was gold underneath the dirt but was only plated. Got 3 pennies in 1 hole though.

 

[Goldpick]

I ran around town tonight trying a few different areas, managed a few coins, a vintage tiger padlock, and the find for the night, one ounce of italian sterling silver in the form of a bracelet, stoked with that find! The bracelet came in the form of a good signal right next to a pathway, in fact it was down reasonably deep, jammed up between the cement and soil.

 

[Goldpick]

Here's what the padlock should look like, its US made, no idea about dates though.

 

[Paulmarr]

Nice finds Goldpick! It is a shame a beautiful piece of silver jewelry like that is only worth $20 to the scrapper. I was disappointed when I weighed all my silver coin finds to see they only come in at 57 grams and not all are 92% silver... We need the price of silver to skyrocket! No pre-decimal finds??

 

[Goldpick]

Quite a few 1966-1970's coins, but must not be quite hitting that pre-dec layer with the Ace, lots of iffy signals, but didn't hang round to test them. To be honest with you, probably only one area I went to was conducive for pre-decs, 3 early 1960's came from the one hole there, they were all stuck together. Yes, it is a pity regarding the silver price, but I think it will head upwards in the future, but silver coins will always hold more of a sentimental value for me, just need to find some more.

 

[Goldpick]

Good night for the goldies tonight with the Ace, plus a part jesus bangle, brass not gold unfortunately, but happy with 27 coins all up.

 

[Paulmarr]

Nice Haul Goldpick!