Metal Detector’s Blog

I first got into metal detecting after my parents bought me one when I was 10 years old. On and off for the last 30 years I’ve been treasure hunting. I had a Bounty Hunter 505, but now own a trusty Fisher 1236-X2 . My favorite places to treasure hunt are private property and construction sites, and this past October I got a chance to go to a cleared construction site in Smyrna, Georgia that I was hoping would turn up something good.

Most treasure hunters already know that schools, churches and parks are some pretty good places to go coin shooting. But keep in mind that you have to hunt the older places if you want to find the older coins. (unless your just looking for extra beer money) Old houses built in the 40’s or before are good places to shoot. Back then people would burrie jars full of coins insted of taking them to the bank. River banks or the old swimming hole are a good place to go also, fisherman and kids playing around tend to lose coins while digging around in teir pockets. Coin shooting a school that was built in the 60’s or before is likley to produce silver coins and wheat pennies. Look for the older schools. It is not hard to tell an old school from the new schools. In some cases old schools have been torn down and new schools are built on the same property. This is where a little research comes in. Go to your local public office and look at the old land maps in the county records,You can see where the old schools used to be.Old churches are an excellent place to coin shoot, that’s where you will most likley find the oldest coins. Churches were usually one of the first buildings erected in a small town after the homes were built. Every Sunday most everybody in the town would go to church and children would play all around the church,in front, and in back of the church, losing coins along the way. Trees are great places to search under at an old church. It was a good place for people to sit and shade up on a hot day, and children would play in them. (not knowing some of their coins just tumbled out of their pocket)

The london Science Museum has just released the ‘Metal Detecting R.C. Car’.

The car has a small sensor embedded in it’s undercarriage that detects small metal objects when it rambles thru fields, parks and yards. You are enamored with beeps and lights when the car discovers a metal object.

Although it is a novel idea, it is more geared towrds helping kids understand magnetic fields. I can imagine this thing picks up all kinds of pulltabs, bottlecaps and all kinds of other junk. It actualy  even comes with some fake gold coins to practice with.

I was part of a tour group that was hunting certain properties in the U.K..  This was my second trip as I usually go for two weeks at a time.