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Coinshooting tips: How to find gold coins with your metal detector
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An 1855-O Half Eagle ($5 gold coin). Image by Peter Clericuzio.
With gold prices at or near all-time highs, the allure of the precious metal is stronger than ever, especially for treasure hunters with visions of digging up a big cache of bullion. Every treasure hunter dreams of finding a hidden stash of gold, but maybe an interim goal of finding that first gold coin will keep your gold fever under control while you search for the big one. It is a challenging goal—but if you follow a few simple guidelines you will dramatically improve your chances for success.
The most common gold coin was the Half Eagle ($5 gold piece), far exceeding production of other gold coins. Since there are more Half Eagles under the dirt (or under the water) than any other gold coin, it makes sense to start with the $5 gold piece as your detecting goal. Now that you know what to look for, you need to know how to best go about finding it. It starts with knowing how your detector reacts to a $5 gold coin. Of course, if you find a $10 or $20 gold piece instead, well, consider that a nice, shiny bonus paid to you by someone long ago.
Finding a gold coin is not easy, but it is possible, and even if you never find one you will find other golden goodies along the way by using these three techniques, and that will make the search worth the effort.
- Calibrate your detector. Figure out where on your metal detector’s meter or display where a gold coin is most likely to fall. An easy way to do that is to borrow an actual gold coin of the type and size you are looking for, but if you are not able to get a gold coin you can employ the old trick of taping three Jefferson nickels together and passing the stack under your detector’s coil. The conductivity will closely match that of a $5 gold piece. For greater accuracy, bury your calibration target at various depths in varying soil types and record how your detector reacts in each situation. When hunting, make sure you set your metal detector’s discrimination below the level at which your test target is rejected. Failing to do that will result in missing gold targets that, unfortunately, are low in the conductivity range, meaning your metal detector might see them as trash.
- Look in the right places. Obviously, most people were not walking around with gold pieces in their pockets. That kind of money would have represented a week’s pay or more for most people, depending on the decade, the region and other factors. In addition, the spot must have seen activity during a time when gold coins were in circulation, meaning before 1933, and dating back to the late 1800s. Any location that saw activity only after 1933 would not be a good choice because people would most likely not have been carrying around any gold coins to lose. Also, the type of activity that the location hosted is important. Look for spots that attracted people with money to spend. Racetracks, casinos, saloons, theaters, resorts and hot springs—any place that attracted the affluent, fun seekers or fools easily parted from their money are great picks for gold coin prospecting.
- Dig every signal. Even if the signal is out of the range you have established for gold coins, dig it up anyway. If it’s only a pull tab or bottle cap, no worries; dispose of it and you will have removed another piece of trash lying between you and your dream of finding a gold coin.
With these three simple rules for finding a gold coin, not only will you intensify your odds for finding gold cons, you should, in the process, find your share of gold rings and other valuable items. If you do your research, get lucky and persist, you might even find yourself waving a shiny Half Eagle in the air and dancing like a fool (all the way to your local numismatic expert's office) with your metal detector.
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