parnass@ihuxz.ATT.COM (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) (07/24/88)
x
Thanks to those who responded to my recent questions
about metal locators and treasure hunting. Since that
posting, I rented a simple Compass brand metal detector
(for $10/day) with a 12" searchcoil, which was much more
sensitive than the cheap Radio Shack with a 7" seachcoil.
This is not a "get rich quick" hobby, but I had a good
time finding "treasures" in three places:
1. Elementary school playground: 27 coins (about 90
cents), some aluminum foil, bike pedal, and safety
pins found in about 2 hours of searching. Digging
in the sand under the swings and in the sandbox was
very easy.
2. High school athletic field: beer cans and pop
tops. Drought-hardened soil very difficult to dig.
3. My property: Pieces of barbed wire, nails, bolts,
chain, pop tops, and bottle caps.
The larger manufacturers of metal detectors are White,
Fisher, Compass, Garrett, Tek, and Tesoro (not in any
particular order). I found Robert F. Marx's book,
"Buried Treasure of the United States - How and Where to
Locate Hidden Wealth," entertaining, but I have no
illusions about finding gold cat-head statues, Hadrian
busts, or Lindy Star sapphires.
Our local newsstands carry the monthly magazines "Western
& Eastern Treasures" and "Treasure," which are devoted to
this topic. The equipment reviews are informative, but
not altogether impartial. Apparently, several hobbyists
are also metal locator dealers, and write many of the
reviews.
There are metal detector clubs in Chicago, and it turns
out that people I know are into the hobby, but the topic
just never came up before. I plan to buy a good metal
detector as soon as I can decide on a model.
Here are mail responses to my original query:
|From: likewise!uunet!netxcom!ewiles (Edwin Wiles)
|
|The only places, other than archeological digs, attempts to find pipes, etc...
|that I have heard or seen metal detectors being used is a) at a fair grounds
|midway after the fair has closed, and b) at a popular beach, looking for lost
|articles such as watches...
|
|I wouldn't expect either of them to be terribly proffitable, but it does give
|one a good reason to wander down the beach... :-)
|
|I do have a small cheap metal detector, made by "Whyte" (?), of which I have
|made little use. (Never lived close to a beach, and had no desire to spend
|hours in the sun for a dollar or three of loose change.)
|
|For beach work, I've heard that people use a large mesh sifter made from a
|coffee can, and some fencing material to scoop up some sand and sift through
|it. They don't tend to wast much time digging though, if a scoop or two doesn't
|turn anything up, they move on.
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|From: gt-eedsp!jensen@gatech.edu (P. Allen Jensen)
|
|Let me know what you find out. I have some Civil War trenches on my
|property SW of Atlanta, GA that might be fun to check out (Mini-Balls ?
|Cannon Balls !!??).
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|From: Lars Aronsson <aronsson@sics.se>
|Organization: Swedish Institute of Computer Science, Stockholm
|
|Are you serious? Treasure hunting in the USA? What treasures do they
|expect to find? Who ever dug anything valuable into the American
|soil? Your country may be a righteous one, but don't forget: You have
|no history.
|
|Bottle caps seem more likely.
|
|In Sweden one can indeed find golden treasures hidden by vikings a
|thousand years ago or so. The treasure hunting hobby is, however,
|prohibited in law, and whenever you find any really old (there is a
|limit, I think older than 300 years or so) thing (as farmers often
|do), you have the obligation to tell the authorities. Not only will
|the found object be deposited in a public museum, but scientific
|excavation may be conducted in the place you found it. If you are a
|farmer and this is your land or you were planning to build a house on
|the very spot, you will just have to wait. This happens all the time
|when new houses are built in old Swedish cities.
|
|A suppose these procedures are about the same in the rest of Europe,
|but in America... Ha ha!!
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|From: Todd.Kaufmann@NL.CS.CMU.EDU
|
|Sounds like fun... I don't know much about it, but I happened upon the
|following book in the library a few weeks ago:
|
| AUTHOR Shields, John Potter.
| TITLE How to build proximity detectors & metal locators. [2d ed.]
| LC-CARD 74-178744
| CITATION Indianapolis, H. W. Sams [1972] 160 p. illus. 22 cm.
| SUBJECT Proximity detectors.
| Metal detectors.
| HOLDINGS E&S-BK 621.3819 S55h2 c.1
|
|I think it was that one.. if so, there was also plans for a theremin.
|
|
|and an on-line search now also finds:
|
| AUTHOR Lagal, Roy.
| TITLE How to use detector field guide. Illus. by Jon Browder.
| Detector field guide.
| LC-CARD 73-087119
| CITATION [Dallas, Ram Pub. Co., 1973] xii, 52 p. illus. 22 cm.
| NOTES Bibliography: p. 50-52.
| SUBJECT Prospecting Equipment and supplies
| Metal detectors.
| Treasure-trove.
| HOLDINGS E&S-BK 622.154 L17h c.1
|
|
|this just from the card catalog. There are also journal, pop mags, and
|newspaper (6 major ones) files, but I didn't think I'd find anything
|useful there. However, if I can help in some way in the future, let me
|know.
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Bob Parnass AJ9S, AT&T Bell Laboratories - att!ihuxz!parnass - (312)979-5414