Cache Test

[Joe(TX)]

Re: Gary's Cache Test

Carl, For this test,I plan to use a Garrett BFO with the large 12 by 24 inch and 24 by 24 inch coil, a Garrett Deepseeker with 15 inch coil, and a D-Tex Search King with the 15 inch coil. That's about the extent of my deepseekers for most of my machines are for coinshooting!!

[Unregistered]

Halo

I've large plastic containers with gold, silver, copper and other coins. Some are over fifteen years old now.
Gold gives no halo effect, pure silver none...in fact the black patina seems to cut detection depth. Same with pure copper as it creates a patina and becomes as one with the soil.
Alloyed coins do give a better response as one of the metals leeches out. (subject to the soil being damp). A 1921 to 1947 British 'silver' coin (50% silver,50% copper) may look perfect but can lose half its weight and be snapped like a carrot.
The poorer the metal used in a coil the faster the breakdown and the deeper the depth of detection but the coin will hardly be worth digging due to the poor condition.
Dry out an area (leave container in a water proof outbuilding over a summer) and the chemical reaction slows or stops.
This leads me to conclude that the improvement in detection depth on alloyed metals is due to the breakdown generating a small current for which dampness/wet is required ie a combination of the well known fact that its better to detect in damp soil and the Compass Depth doubler principle.

[Esteban]

Carl, How about doing a variation of the test but this time bury the coins in an iron pot, Coffee can, etc but keep the size about the same size of the plastic tub that you used. Also do the same but use a Glass mason jar with a zinc lid. Keep all the parameters the same as Gary's test. I plan to do the same....Also I plan to keep the site watered and will report on the results. May take a week or so to get started as I'm leaving on vacation today for a week.

The theme is to detect disperse coins, no in jar or coffee can, etc., these recipients are solid body. Detection of sparse coins is a hard business!!!

[Carl-NC]

Esteban is right... when you put the coins in a metal container, it is only the container that gets detected. Here in the US, where caches are typically 50-150 years old, a popular container is a glass mason jar, which might have a zinc lid, or might have a glass lid with wire bail. So my preference is to continue the test, assuming that the container has no appreciable metal.

- Carl

[Geo]

Esteban is right... when you put the coins in a metal container, it is only the container that gets detected. Here in the US, where caches are typically 50-150 years old, a popular container is a glass mason jar, which might have a zinc lid, or might have a glass lid with wire bail. So my preference is to continue the test, assuming that the container has no appreciable metal.

- Carl

Hi Carl. Good test for America but bad for Europe where there are caches 50..2500 years ago inside metallic boxes. Anyway every test is wellcome.
But a metallic box 2000 years ago inside the ground can more easy detecting than in air.

[Delbert grady]

Perhaps when doing this it would be a good idea to put a note in the jar with your name address and phone no, in case someone else digs it up. Especially if you bury Gold coins.

[Leto]

metallic boxes..

Good test for America but bad for Europe where there are caches 50..2500 years ago inside metallic boxes.

Geo.. test without metal container is well suited for Europe too. I have checked all coins cache finds (roman and early medieval) I could find in literature at home. None of those were found in metal cointainer.!? Well at least those caches that ended in museums and were published in periodicals. Most usual are such caches found without any enclosure. This would imply that originaly coins were held inside wooden box or lether/textile pouch.

Metal boxes on their own are very rare finds (thin metal corrodes faster)...actualy if you found roman box (made from any metal) it will be probably worth far more than coins inside.

Metal boxes were probably introduced later with industrial revolution.

[Geo]

Geo.. test without metal container is well suited for Europe too. I have checked all coins cache finds (roman and early medieval) I could find in literature at home. None of those were found in metal cointainer.!? Well at least those caches that ended in museums and were published in periodicals. Most usual are such caches found without any enclosure. This would imply that originaly coins were held inside wooden box or lether/textile pouch.

Metal boxes on their own are very rare finds (thin metal corrodes faster)...actualy if you found roman box (made from any metal) it will be probably worth far more than coins inside.

Metal boxes were probably introduced later with industrial revolution.

You have right at one way but i have seen one bronze and one gold box that are 2000...2500 years old and another bronze box about 600 years old. Any way i believe that is a good test to put a metallic box (soda can or paint box) in the ground so deep that just do not detect them and to see what happening after some years.
A very old statue in the size of soda can has very big value thus is good we know in which depth we can locate it :confused: .

Regards

[Carl-NC]

If I'm not mistaken, most of the coin caches found in England have no surviving container, which probably would have been leather.

Perhaps a good alternate test is an medium-sized bronze object. Any suggestions?

- Carl

[Geo]

Perhaps a good alternate test is an medium-sized bronze object. Any suggestions?

- Carl

I agree with bronze.

[Joe(TX)]

SO SO IT'S NO ON THE VARIATION OF GARYS CACHE TEST?????

I know that the theme of Gary's Cache test is detecting a coin cache without the metal container which is prevalent in Europe. Which is a hard act to follow! New coins burried are always harder to find than coins burried for a long time! I think that we have gotten carried away. Most of us would like to disprove Gary's cache test but is this a valid test for a Cache Hunter in the United States?????? Where most caches (75 percent or so) are buried insome type of metal container!!! I have a theory that the modern treasure hunter with his new fangled computer hi-tech detector with notch out capabilities is discriminating out some of the caches. Of course he can find the Milk Can or Bathtub hoard but a majority of caches were buried in smaller containers such as the Prince Albert Tobaco Tins, which rust over time and may get discriminated out!!! I'm going to start JOE'S CACHE TEST whose theme is can a hunter using his coin mode detector find a rusted can cache. I will post all the parameters in a few days.

[Carl-NC]

Joe, I agree that another good test would be a rusted-out container. But I think the coin-only test is very relevant no matter where you live. Leather and glass containers have been used in the US (and PVC pipe now), so a coin-only cache is very likely, even here.

A rusted-out container compounds the problem... a mass of coins, plus a lot of pieces of iron-based flakes. This becomes more of an issue of masking rather than raw depth. Before I take on a masking test, I want to see what machines can even reach a deep cache.

- Carl

[Carl-NC]

Here is a photo of the first round of detectors I tried. All failed. I had high hopes for that 24" coil on the 6000/pro.

White's 6000/di Pro with 15" coil
White's 6000/di Pro with 24" Magnum "cache" coil
Fisher Gemini 3
Discovery TF900
Minelab 2200/d with 18" mono coil
Garrett GTI2500 with Bloodhound attachment
Teknetics T2

[Joe(TX)]

Re: Gary's Cache Test WOW

WOW WOW WOW CARL THAT IS AN IMPRESSIVE LINEUP OF DEEPSEEKERS. IF NONE OF THEM CAN FIND IT MAYBE WE NEED TO CALL NASA AND GET THE LATEST MILITARY DETECTOR WITH SATELITTE HOOKUP AND STAR TREK TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZED AND A LITTLE CONFUSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ncfathead]

heres your answer maybe

Hey Carl-NC this is the two detectors I would give a shot. The sierra madre by Whites with largest coil available and the X-200 by Compass with 16 in. coil. If these don't pan out try the industrial metal locators made by Whites and Fisher. They seem to be super sensitive to any type metal.