Happy New Years everyone!

Now that it is winter and I am shut down from metal detecting for the season I am looking at old maps so I can start off the new year with a bang! I have a lot of new sites lined up that I am going to metal detect and hopefully I will find a lot more old coins. Stay safe and have a great new year of metal detecting!!!

Enjoy the view while metal detecting

I recently went out to metal detect in a section of woods with my buddy D-Dub that has produces quite a lot of old coins in the past. It was a nice sunny warm day with no bugs but the only problem was that we couldn't hit a signal to save our lives. We bounced around for 5 hours and in that time between the both of us we found 3 wheaties and 1 dateless buffalo nickle. I have to say I wish we found more old coins and at least 1 silver coin but I still had a great time just wandering around enjoying nature.

Diggin History #72 - Burning our metal detector's up!!!!

Went out metal detecting with DP-Bob, D-Dub, and Lookn4seated this morning for a few hours. We just detected some place that we have hunted in the past in hopes of pulling up some more oldies. This was my 1st hunt using a 10x12 SEF metal detector coil.

Talking Zombie Coins for Halloween!!!

Yep thats right!!!! Happy Halloween everybody!!!

My 1,500 YouTube subscribers silver contest!!!

Hey guys its my 31st birthday so I'm having another silver coin contest as a thank you to all of my subscribers and viewers. To enter all's you have to do is be a subscriber to my youtube channel and leave a comment below. I will draw 2 winners and make a second video to announce the winners on 11/8/10. Thanks for sticking with me, its been a blast. I will be making more metal detecting videos soon, I hope to keep my silver streak going. Happy hunting everybody!!!

Diggin History #71 - Silver Explosion!!! - Metal Detecting

Went out metal detecting with D-Dub & Lookin4seated again on the morning of October 20th, to a spot that they have metal detected and found a lot of great old coins in the past. We were out for 3 hours metal detecting and the oldies just kept coming!!!

Another silver day metal detecting in a hunted out park

Drove down to metal detect with DirtFishDave (219erMan)this weekend, we detected this place a few weeks ago when we got the double trifecta of silver coins. We pounded it hard last time when we pulled 8 silver's from it but we hit it again this time even slower than last time. This time we were swinging our metal detectors like 1 swing every 5 seconds so we wouldn't miss anything. I got all 4 of my silver before Dave got his 1st. No signal was a normal coin signal at regular swing speed, thats why we were crawling along at a snails pace while we detected. Even then the place was so trashy that we were just digging iffy signals left and right. and at the end of our 8ish hour hunt we both had a mountain of garbage. This was my best wheatie day at 17, the wheats are 1914-1958. The old coins were on average of 4 inches and a max of maybe 5 or 6 inches, I found the rosie in a super super super trashy spot at only 2 inches max. The pix below is all of my old coins, be sure to watch the video to see what Dave found. I also found $2.37 in clad. I hope everybody had a chance to get out and metal detect this weekend!!!

Diggin History #70 - Lots of silver in the park ~ metal detecting

Went out metal detecting to an old park with D-Dub and Lookin4seated for a 6hr hunt and we found a lot of old coins including a few silver coins and some jewelry. As usuial I was using our Minelab metal detectors, mine is an SE Pro and they have Etrac's.

Diggin History #69 - Double trifecta with DirtFishDave

http://www.youtube.com/user/219erman I went down to metal detect with my buddy DirtFishDave for an 8hr hunt and we both found a trifecta of silver dimes. Thanks for the invite buddy, we need to get Lookin4seated and D-Dub togeather and really pound out a site!!!

Metal detecting group hunt in the woods

This past Sunday I was invited out to a group metal detecting hunt out in the woods not far from my home. When I pulled up I was happily surprised to see that maybe 10 or so of my local detecting buddies were there waiting for me. We chit chatted for a few minutes then we were off. We walked down an old trail for about a quarter mile then we all began metal detecting. Earlier in the week 2 of my friends had found some SLQ quarters and a few silver dimes and they felt that it would be a great place to get everyone out and give it a once over.

Right off the bat 2 of my friends found some wheat pennies(1911 & 1924, so that got everybody's hopes up for a great site. I was just finding old shotgun shells and garbage so I decided to wander off and see what I could find. We were out metal detecting for about 5 hours then I called it quits, I did however manage to find 9 old coins. The day wound up producing a few wheat pennies, a few silver Mercury dimes, a sterling silver spoon, and some other old relics. It was a great day out detecting in the woods with my friends and I had a blast. Be sure to watch my vid to see what I found.

Diggin History #67 - KEY DATE - Metal Detecting

Yesterday I went out metal detecting with D-Dub and Lookin4seated for a 4hr hunt at a local park here in town. In that time we found lots of old coins but the best coin for the day was a KEY DATE 1921 Mercury Dime!!!! Awesome job hunting guys!!!

One bad mother - watch your mouth!!!

Seem's I'm in a blood feud with a non-silver quarter, we'll see who comes out on top!!!! Bring it on little coin!!! Maybe I'll toss him out so some metal detector can find him.

I used adobe after effects to create this video.

Diggin History #66 - Big Silver Coin Spill ~ metal detecting

Today my buddy Lookin4seated and I went out for a 5hr metal detecting hunt out in the woods and found lots of treasure!!! We both use Minelab metal detectors, SE Pro & Etrac.

Bottle digging in the river

My metal detecting buddy called me up and asked if I would like to go jump in our local river and hunt for some old bottles, I said ok lets do it!!! No my river isn't some wonderful place, its a smelly, stagnant, polluted, sorry excuse of a river. I knew people have been going to it for generations so I knew it had some old antique bottles for us if we detected long enough. We were in the water for about 3.5hrs and found lots of bottles, sadly a ton of them were new ones. I was very happy with the bottles that we found and I can't wait to jump back in!!! On a side note, I want to go back sometime and metal detect the heck out of that place too and get all the old coins!!! Happy hunting...




the pix is of a few of my bottles I found.

4.5hr metal detecting hunt - gold, silver, & relics

Well this morning I metup with 3 of my metal detecting buddies for a short hunt, it was already super hot by 9am so we knew it was just going to be for a few hours. Well once we got to our site we split up almost instantly and within 10min I couldn't see anybody else. I have detected this site several times before so I headed over to a super trashy area where I pulled several silver coins out of in the past but this time around I only found 4 what pennies. I didn't know what my buddies found until the very end of the hunt and I wish I was around when they made some of there finds so I could of video taped them as they came out of the ground. All in all it was a great metal detecting hunt and we recovered a lot of old coins and relics. Happy Hunting everyone!!!

My 1st metal detecting hunt in about a month

In the past 26 days I haven't had a chance to get out at all to metal detect, so the other day I had a few hours to kill so I called around to see if anybody was going detecting. Two of my detecting buddies were going to meet up for a few hours of swinging and invited me to come along for the ride. The site was an old farm that was torn down back in the 1940's and has since overgrown into a thick forest preserve full of trees and thorn bushes. Right off the bat I found that it was slam packed with the usual rusty nails, barbed wire, tin cans and what not. Well after I guess 4 hours the only thing that was in my pouch was junk, one of my buddies found a 1947 silver dime, and my other buddy had nothing either. We wound up calling it quits for the day, even hough I didn't swing my metal detector over any old coins I was still happy that I had a chance to get out and hunt for a bit.

This is something new that im getting into

I haven't had the time to do any metal detecting for about a month now so I have been playing with more advanced video editing. I made this special effects using Adobe After Effects CS5 and Magix Movie Edit Pro 15. I have to say I'm having a lot of fun making these weird talking coin videos, let me know what you think of it as a comment below. Hahaha

Plan Your Metal Detecting Trips

When you’re going out metal detecting it’s always a good idea to have a backup site or two just encase your first site is a bust or if your site is unavailable to hunt. Now I’m not saying to just abandon a metal detecting site after 20 minutes, but if you’re not having any luck at your first site it couldn’t hurt to try your luck elsewhere. It doesn't make any since to just quit metal detecting for the day just because one site was a blowout, so be prepared and have a backup plan.

Metal Detecting with a Hunting Buddy

As you all probably already know I do a lot of metal detecting with a few hunting buddies. I’ve metal detected alone and with groups and I have to say I have a lot more fun and usually find more old coins when I’m hunting with others. I find it especially useful as we sweep through an area, when one person finds something then we all slow down and concentrate on that particular area. I have found old coins while metal detecting alone but it’s a slow process as I could walk right next to a hot spot and never even know about it. It’s also good to have at least one other person with you just encase something goes wrong, help is right there when you need it. Lastly, for me it keeps my motivation up when a buddy finds something, then I know I have a shot at going home with an old coin or relic because where there is one there is bound to be another.

Coin Roll Hunting (CRH) Basics

Coin Roll Hunting (CRH) is a hobby where you go through rolls of coins and pick out what coins you want to keep. Most people just look for silver coins but you can also look for other old coins that are still in circulation today, and error coins. The easiest way to get to do this is by going to your local bank (its recommended that you have an account with them) and asking for a box of coins. Then you search through all of them and take them to another bank branch and return them for your money back. This may sound odd but yes old coins are still in circulation, they are rare but the more coins you search through the better your odds at finding them are. Below is the type of coin box, the price, and what you can find in them.

*Penny box = $25, wheaties are a common find in every box, on average I found 12-18 wheaties. Indian Head pennies are more scarce but they are still out there waiting to be found.


*Nickel box = $100, early Jefferson's 1938-1959 are very common and I averaged a Buffalo nickel every 2 boxes. I have never found a V-Nickel but plenty of them have been found.




*Dime box = $250, 1 or 2 silver Roosevelt (1946-1964) can be found in just about every box. Mercury dimes are also common to find, I averaged maybe 1 for every 3 boxes and I have also found a Barber dime.



*Quarter box = $500, I have searched through multiple boxes of quarters and haven't found a single silver coin. Maybe you will have better luck than I did.

*Half Dollar box = $500, usually banks don't have them on hand and you must order them but always ask if they have any half dollars as you may get lucky. Searching half dollars are the most profitable as they usually have more silver coins per box than any other denomination. Also you should know that 1964 was the last year for 90% silver coins then 1965-1970 they were made of 40% silver. The majority of silver coins that you will find will be 40%'rs but its not uncommon to find Franklin's, Walking Liberty's, and the occasional Barber half's in a box.



The best thing about Coin Roll Hunting is that you get all the coins at face value!!! Once your done with your box, just return them and start all over again. Real important though - DO NOT RETURN YOUR COINS TO THE BRANCH THAT YOU BOUGHT THEM FROM!!! The reason is they will quickly cut you off and not let you buy any more coins from them as your just wasting their time. Also if the bank asks if you have a business just say no, your a coin collector. I have been saying that for years and they never gave me any problems at all.

Metal Detecting in the Woods

When I’m out metal detecting in the woods I don’t just randomly walk around, I look for signs that people used to use the place, because let’s face it – you can’t find anything if no body was there to loose it. If I’m in a set of woods that has a creek or a river you better believe that I’m going to metal detect all along the banks and any flat ground where someone may of fished from or picnicked at in the past and left behind some treasure for me. I also keep my eyes peeled for any unusually large trees compared to the rest in the area. With them being larger they are much older and have a better chance that more people sat underneath them years longer then the rest. Also look for any out of place trees like a fruit tree or a lone pine, (for me the woods are filled with maples and oaks so when I walk up on an apple tree you better believe I am gridding all around it) as it may have been close to an old home site or something. The same thing goes for berry bushes and old rose bushes, check all around them and even sweep you coil up underneath them, yes somebody might of metal detected the site years before you but I have found a lot of coins just gridding the area as best I could.

Another dead giveaway to an old site is old foundations, wells, old roads, paths. Now we all know to keep an eye out for foundations and wells but I have walked right up on old paths that I knew had to have old coins on it. When walking along and you see large trees then a sunken down trail then on the other side more old trees you better fire up your metal detector quick!!! I have hunted some super obvious old abandoned paths that were like silver mines, I couldn’t believe that no one beat me to it years before. Sometimes the path isn’t that sunk in but you can still see older trees on either side and much younger tree in the middle. I also will walk along metal detecting and look up into the trees as I have also found old trail signs from way back in the day that were possibly at eyelevel but are now 20-30 feet up in the air. It doesn’t get any easier than that to identify an old forgotten trail.

Lastly one of the easiest tell-tell signs that your site has had old traffic in it is finding old glass just lying on the forest floor. Now I’m not talking about old beer bottles from 30 years ago, I’m talking about old bottles and glass pieces from 80-100+ years ago. When you see busted Hutchinson’s, embossed bottles, blue or amber, or even the old embossed Coke bottles peeking through the ground, you know you’re in the right place to find old coins. These are what I have discovered from countless hours traipsing through the woods swinging a metal detector, and they have worked very well for me over the past few years. Well I hope that this can help someone out in trying to determine where to look for old coins and relics while out metal detecting in the woods. Happy Hunting everyone…

Metal Detecting in Trashy Areas

After years and years of people pounding all the easy sites to death, good solid signals are getting harder and harder to come by. Does this mean that all the good finds are all gone? HECK NO!!!! It just means that you have to slow way down almost to a snails pace in order to metal detect. I’ve found most of my old coins in super trashy areas, you know those places where you just picked up your detector and walked right on past. Well you weren’t the only one, I am guilty of doing this too as I tried my luck trying to find easier targets. Well now I know better, the trashy spots are loaded with old coins, the trick is you simply have to slow way down with your swing so you can listen for any good hits.

The problem is that your metal detector doesn’t have enough time to relay the message to you that there’s a good signal right under your feet when it’s catching 10 different targets every sweep. Now if some trash is too close to the coin target you’ll probably get what’s called an “iffy signal”, which is just your display bouncing around and the sound will go from coin to garbage. No 2 iffy signals sound or display alike but after awhile you will be able to tell the difference between a good and bad iffy signal. When you get a one of these signals what you have to do is try to isolate the good signal from the bad. To do this, try detecting in a circle all the way around the target. If you can lock onto the coin signal great!!! If not then there are a few more tricks that you can try.

First what you can do is a technique called “twitching”, that is when you move from a snail’s pace swing to a super short fast swing (swing your coil over the target in short 3-5 inch swings super fast). A lot of times using this technique will either clear up my signal and let me know if it’s good or bad. But if your still in doubt take your foot and stomp 2 or 3 times on the target (I was told this a few years ago and I thought it was a joke but sometimes it really works). And finally if all else fails just dig the target to see what was giving your metal detector such a weird reading.

Now if you metal detect in trashy areas you will dig a good amount of garbage but usually it pays off in the end. I hope this can help anybody that might be having trouble finding old coins due to “hunted out” sites. If you have any other tips or tricks that you would like to add please feel free to add them as a comment below. Thanks for reading and happy hunting…

How the treasure hunting bug bit me...

Ever since I was little I've always wanted to hunt for and dig buried treasure. I remember asking my parents to get me a metal detector for x-mas but they never did. So the years passed by and the thought of metal detecting slipped from my mind. The 1st time that I actually held a detector was back in 1999 when I was in the USMC as a 1371 Combat Engineer. It was just a basic detector that just had a needle gauge that would peg when the coil was passed over a metal object. I thought it was the coolest thing ever!!!

A few years after I got out of the Marines the thought of treasure hunting crept back into my mind so I did a quick search on YouTube to see if anybody posted any videos. Man I was blown away at all the great videos and finds that people were making!!! I swear the thought of metal detecting for old coins never crossed my mind, I thought people were just using them to find jewelry and modern clad coins, DUH... That very day I ordered my Garrett Ace 250 and joined a detecting forum. I got my big jolt when on my 2nd hunt ever I found my 1st gold ring, it was a men's 18k wedding band and I found it while looking for surface finds on a frozen sledding hill, I knew I was hooked for life!!! Here I am almost 3 years later and I still get stoked when I unearth an old coin or relic that was lost who know how many years ago.