Big Boys Hobbies

WN State Park, Some Clad, Token Things, Old Toys and One Ring

OleSarge

OleSarge

Elite Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2013
Messages
1,698
Location
Western Washington
This time of year weather in Washington State is iffy at very best as related to camping and the metal detecting hobby.
Because of this we now take our sojourns away from home in the form of one week mini-vacations.
The most recent was a week long stay at one of our beautiful State Parks located along the Pacific Ocean coast near the city of Aberdeen, Washington.
Razor Clam digging was the main focus of the trip but agreeable weather and the irresistable urge to aerate some park soil provided for a nice three days of metal detecting bliss.
There is a enormous amount of camping generated debris in these parks but there are also some awsome finds hidden among the can slaw, aluminum slug, bottle cap and pull tab bounty.
My finds after three days digging, about three hours per day, was 22 Washington State Park Shower Tokens which cost .25 each, 1 Canada Dollar, 21 Quarters..none silver, 41 Dimes...ditto on silver, 7 Nickles, 254 Zincs, 1 (1956) Wheat Penny, 2 Hotwheels Cars and 1 Tootsietoy (1969) pickup.
The little charm was found in one of the group camps and I have no idea what it is.
The little 9.25 ring was nice and it appears to have a small turquoise setting. No real cash value but a fun find regardless.
The hunting was great but losing my GPP in the brush along a marsh was the real excitement.
Thanks for looking.....GL and HH

ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
 

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Nice hunt and those tent pegs are a good thing to get out of the ground especially if they were still upright. They can cut your foot and make a week-end camp unpleasant. Good job.
 
Kemper said:
Nice hunt and those tent pegs are a good thing to get out of the ground especially if they were still upright. They can cut your foot and make a week-end camp unpleasant. Good job.
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Thanks to everyone for the great comments, your look is appreciated.
Kemper, the tent pins come up either a 75 (copper penny) or in the 81 range of a dime on my ATP.
I found way too many considering that they were driven deeply into the ground and really play havoc with the GPP when trying ti pin point them.
You are 100% right about the damage these things can do to trailer tires.
In 2010, shortly before we traded our 5th wheel for the motor home, I had the misfortune of having one of these things puncture the sidewall of a tire and ruin another when it blew.
About $480.00 later in tires, mounting and balancing, I too gained a new appreciation of the damage these little jewels can do.
Sure is fun finding them though!

GL and HH

ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
 
wow. that is an insane amount of pennies! i havent even dug that many this YEAR!
 
Donneybrook said:
wow. that is an insane amount of pennies! i havent even dug that many this YEAR!
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Hi Donneybrook.
A few hours into the park dig I'd firmly made up my mind that I wouldn't dig a signal below 81, which is normally a dime on the ATP.
Zinc pennies usually ring in between 72 and 79, so I thought I was safe from wasting too much time digging zincs.
Then the zincs started coming in at 82, exactly as the dimes were, so I said "no more dimes either", but this didn't last more than a few minutes.
A brain rattling 81 screamed so loud I couldn't resist digging it, and my first Hot Wheels Dragster showed itself:clapping:. I love these things and quickly decided to start digging 80's and 81's again, and the pennies just kept coming.
There are lots of pennies, and very few quarters in campgrounds because, after they've paid for their RV, gas, a camp site and camping gear pennies are all the campers have left to lose.
The ATP absolutely loves pennies and it really caused me to have a brain pain when someone suggested salting with shield pennies to keep the hobby interesting....now the episode of "Detectorists being posted to the forum shows the guys salting with new copper nails, now that's scary.

GL and HH

ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
 
quick draw said:
:grin: wow those are awsome finds congratulations
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METALMANIAC-NY said:
Wow is right.....great digging! lots of finds
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quick draw, METALMANIAC-NY, I appreciate your comments and am happy you stopped in to view my humble thread.
Members such as you folks are what makes this forum a nice place to share information, swap a few stories and show off our finds.
Comments to posts like mine are particularly poignant because, compared to the majority of mind blowing finds posted to the forum, mine are really pretty mind numbing.
But the fun of posting the pics and sharing comments are a important part of the hobby and your part in helping me enjoy the forum is appreciated.

GL and HH

ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
 
bergie said:
Congrats on the silver.
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Thanks bergie.
I'm curious about what the letters inside the ring are.
I know the designer usually puts their initials in there as a form of copy write,
but I wouldn't expect to find this in a .925 ring like this one.
Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.
GL and HH

ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
 
There are lots of pennies, and very few quarters in campgrounds because, after they've paid for their RV, gas, a camp site and camping gear pennies are all the campers have left to lose-OleSarge

:lol: Probably shouldn't laugh cause there probably is a lot of truth to it. I'm gonna anyway.:lol: Shoud have kept better track of their stuff.:lol:
 
Kemper said:
There are lots of pennies, and very few quarters in campgrounds because, after they've paid for their RV, gas, a camp site and camping gear pennies are all the campers have left to lose-OleSarge

:lol: Probably shouldn't laugh cause there probably is a lot of truth to it. I'm gonna anyway.:lol: Shoud have kept better track of their stuff.:lol:
Click to expand...

There is a reasoning to it though Kemper.
This dig alone, having limited my digs to no more than three hours each over the three nice days I had to dig, I noticed a interesting pattern develop in the way the targets presented themselves.
These campgrounds are so cluttered with melted metal "wads" that the poor metal detector becomes nearly self destructive.
It is searching so frantically and attempting to discriminate the composite mixture of metal in the ground you can almost feel its little digital gears grinding themselves to death.
The lack of quarters is made up for by the wealth of ,25 cent Washington State Park Shower tokens, which present themselves as a perfect and consistent 75 on the ATP.
Normally a 75 is a good penny signal but in this case pennies ring in between 79 and 81, and there's neither space nor time for me to dwell on a reason for this except that maybe the choice to dig either tokens or pennies both/or neither is being offered by the machine.
I did dig 21 quarters and, I think, 24 of these tokens. The closeness of this number, considering one is silver clad (85/86) and the other junk copper or brass composite, is amazing.
But, the negative flip side is...If all the campers are spending their quarters on tokens, then losing the tokens, how are they taking showers?

ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
 
Paper said:
Congratulations on sticking with it and finding some silver!
Click to expand...

H Desert Digger said:
holy cow....that must be over 200 digs....tips my hat to you.....

HDD
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Thanks for the kind response folks.
Desert Digger, these campgrounds are massive with (usually) over 400 campsites.
Washington State parks are marvelous in the fact they do recognize metal detecting as a valid hobby and does consider it laudable out doors activity...unlike the National Park Service who makes even possession of a metal detector a Federal crime.
During the off season, with a properly recorded permit, there are hundreds of vacant campsites and miles of beach trails which are immediately available and totally legal to metal detect.
In one large, multi-lot campsite for example, it is very easy to find 12 to 15 coins within a 100 square foot area...of course there may be other areas with nothing, and in those with a bunch, 100 zincs may be a dollar but a 100 holes is a bunch of digging.
I'm going to total up the clad I have so found so far, over the past year at least, and I expect to have at least $1000.00, not including the value of any bling.
I'd rather not think about the number of holes dug and filled and the amount of trash I've collected during the time it took to gather these coins...or I may be tempted to leave the hobby early:lol:.
GL and HH on your future digs

ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Hand Held
 
If all the campers are spending their quarters on tokens, then losing the tokens, how are they taking showers?-OleSarge

They probably don't need showers because they are sitting in the A/C watching their recorded shows while others are out digging in the dirt. :D
 
OleSarge said:
Hi Donneybrook.
A few hours into the park dig I'd firmly made up my mind that I wouldn't dig a signal below 81, which is normally a dime on the ATP.

Then the zincs started coming in at 82, exactly as the dimes were.....

A explanation for this is; The area I was detecting is so near the beach that nearly every zinc penny I found was terribly eroded by the acidic soil and salty nature of the sand.
Those of you new to the hobby will quickly learn that the metal detector can only guess at the composition of the target and return a signal as closely descriptive to the definition it guesses best fits the target it has sensed.
A large piece of steel/iron or a compressed aluminum can may return a digital target identifier as being a huge silver target or even a humungous gold item, but the signature changes as the angle of the search coil and the target is changed.
Example here is that a new Corona Beer cap will ring in at a perfect 85/86 even though it certainly isn't a clad quarter, and will never be as valued as a good silver target. However, the signature of the cap is identical to a clad quarter except for the tiny "iron" grunt which proceeds and follows the non-ferrous "squack" as the coil passes over it.
The zinc penny loses so much of its identity to erosion, and lacks the depth (present in the Corona cap) to be identified as anything other than a dime sized, non-ferrous object so the detector believes it to be a dime, and dutifully reports it as being such.
Maybe some day they will build a metal detector with feelings and incorporate into its circuitry the profound sentiment of "Awwwww S**t" usually muttered as the crusty zinc presents itself after cloaking itself as a much coveted Rosie.
Heck, I'll take a crusty zinc any day if offered it or a pull tab...and will keep digging these iffy 81's until my detector stops suggesting I dig hem.
GL AND HH

ATP/GPP/Fiskars Diggers/BH Outback/CT Handheld
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