MDHTALK - Home: Metal Detecting Hobby Talk

Resource for
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Lost and Found Services

North America

Class Ring Finders website is probably the Worlds largest database for lost and found rings. Check it out.
Website

Ring Finders
The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service Inc. is a Directory of Independent Metal Detecting Specialists around the world who can help you find lost jewelry, lost rings, lost watches and more. Website

The Lost My Stuff Group
What we do... Have you lost a ring, bracelet, watch, necklace or other metal object and would like someone with a metal detector to help you search for it? We are a group of volunteer metal detectorists that have joined together to do just that!

We don't charge a fee for our services, nor do we expect a reward when we're successful. Our only goal is to help people in need, because we all believe it's just the right thing to do. Read More

Recover My Treasures
Our goal at Recover My Treasures is to provide a world wide directory of metal detectorist for the general public to have a quick and easy way to find someone near their location that is willing to offer their assistance in finding metal objects.

Each of our metal detectorist members are independent service providers with their own rates and skills. To find a detectorist near you that offers the type of service you are seeking, please see their individual service advertisement on our service directory map. Read More

Florida
Let me help you find your stuff!

From simple gold rings or bracelets to diamond-encrusted wedding bands... if you have a pretty good idea of where the item might be, I have the skill, equipment, experience and patience to find it for you.

I use special techniques to meticulously search intricate patterns in and around the area... on land or in the water. So, don't just give up on finding your valuables! Read More

Hawaii
Underwater Metal Detector Service Specializing in underwater metal detecting. We are Hawaii's underwater metal detection service, on the island of Oahu, if you have lost a ring in the water at the beach or on the sand, we may be able to find it for you! Read More

Australia
Jewellery Rescue Metal Detector Hire
Jewellery Rescue is now proudly an Australia Wide rescue Network.

Our website puts you in touch with your local skilled metal detectorists in the town or city nearest the place your jewellery is lost. Our aim is to have full Australian coverage to offer all Australians a chance of recovering there most precious jewellery. In the event a local detectorist of Jewellery Rescue is not available we will endeavour to assist you with the best alternate service or advice to suit you needs.

Welcome to Jewellery Rescue home of happy customers reunited with their lost jewellery and heart felt memories. My name is Tony. I am enthusiastic to find your lost items. I look forward to blogging many future successful metal detector hire stories on this website -maybe even yours. Read More

Introduction to - Metal Detecting Hobby Talk Website

The vision for Metal Detecting Hobby Talk is to get viewers to post their metal detecting club & event information, local metal detecting laws, detecting tips, detecting articles, and metal detecting knowledge in general so that other detectorist may learn from those that have more experience. All the material that is sent to MDHTALK and posted will be credited with the author's name, a short bio, and email address. There are no limitations as to what written material can be posted except that it must be metal detecting related.

Metal Detecting Hobby Talk could be considered a portal into the metal detecting internet community. The website was designed to be a depository for information related to the recreational metal detecting hobby. MDHTALK offers information on: laws, national resources, state resources, metal detecting clubs, local requirements, legislation, events calendar, metal detecting articles, various training classes, and many other current news events concerning metal detecting. Metal Detecting Hobby Talk is a website dedicated to the hobby of recreation metal detecting.

The Home page design is fashion to appear much like a page of a newspaper. This webpage incorporates the use of mouse over drop down menus, a mouse over slide out menu and standard single button menu, therefore, all you need to do is select a menu topic. You will also find the use of scroll bars on the home page. Scroll bars allow more material to be available for viewing without displaying all the material at once. Just select the scroll bar down arrow on the right side of any article with your mouse pointer and pull downward to display more of the article’s content.

No one website can cover all aspects of the metal detecting hobby therefore you will find many links to other websites that provide very good HOW TO information on metal detecting. Near the site link there may be a short description of what the viewer can expect from the site.

The site will be under constant revision to keep the website inline and current with what is happening in the metal detecting community. This means new articles and links will be constantly added and in some cases material may be deleted.

On the right upper side of your display is a menu called CONTACT. Place your mouse pointer on the menu, seven sub-menus will appear. Select one of the five sub-menus fill out the form and send to MDHTALK. Information received will be used to update the current information on the site or if the information is new it will be added to the site database. You will also find an email sub-menu where you can send an email to MDHTALK with a metal detecting article, general information, comment or a question.

So take a look and provide some feedback to MDHTALK by using the Guestbook or email. Don’t forget to provide MDHTALK with information on laws in your area, your metal detecting club profile, events or other items of interest. Consider writing an metal detecting article or offer a tip for the site. Email

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Author: Vince A Miglore, Email

Vince Miglore is a researcher and technical writer with a keen interest in metal detecting. He's written for numerous magazines, including W&E treasures, and is former editor of a hobbyist newsletter.
"I bought a detector back in 1982, and in the first 5 minutes I found an Indian Head penny dated 1881 -right in my own front yard! Since then I've been hooked."
You'll be hooked too, when you see how great this sport is for your physical fitness, your appreciation of natural science, and most of all for the wealth of treasures you can find.

Vince is the author of Metal Detecting for the Beginner 2^nd Edition, 2010 which can be found at Amazon.com and Photo Intro to Metal Detecting: An Image-based Primer at Amazon.com

Jackpot Coins
by Vince Migliore

Most of the coins you find with your metal detector are worth no more than face value. Every once in a while, however, you can find a coin that has collector value. And on an extraordinary occasion you may even find an exceptionally rare coin that has tremendous value to the coin collector. These are the Jackpot Coins.

Older coins are generally more desirable, but what really adds to a coin’s value is its rarity or scarceness. In coin collecting, the rarest and therefore most valuable coins are those with limited editions, mint die errors, double strikes, and unusual designs. Coins are also rated by a grading system based on the wear and appearance of the coin. With so many denominations, variations, and grades, it can be tough to search through the mountain of information on American coins. Fortunately (or maybe not so fortunately) for the metal detectorist, the grade of coins found in the ground is going to be pretty low, with a grade of Fine (F-12) being about as good as it gets for buried currency. The F-12 grade corresponds to moderate or considerable wear with the design still visible.

The chart below summarizes the most outstanding of the Jackpot Coins. Make no mistake, though; there are volumes of books on numismatics (coin collecting) and there is no easy way to cut through all the clutter. The chart simply calls your attention to the coins that require further investigation. If you have a large number of coins your best bet is to buy a price guide, such as “A Guide Book of United States Coins, 2012” by R.S. Yoeman, the Official Red Book. Such books provide pictures and references to help identify grade levels and design variations. Even if you don’t hit the jackpot, some of these older coins can be worth hundreds of dollars.

In the meantime, it’s best to treat all your finds as if they have collector value. You can start by being careful not to scratch the coins when you retrieve them, and don’t rub the dirt off or use cleaning agents. A simple soap and water rinse will generally get them clean enough to see the date and denomination, and then you can see if you have a winner on your hands.

The chart classifies coins into three broad categories; those valued at about $1,000 or more; those valued about $10,000 or more; and the truly rare coins valued at over $50,000. Before you quit your day job, be sure to check out more reliable sources and descriptions than we have room for here. Remember too there are many replicas, fakes, and hoaxes for the really rare coins. More often than not, however, you will be pleasantly surprised at finding how many of your coins have collector value.

Coin Values for Metal Detectorists			USING Fine F-12 - Features are worn but visible.
Vince Migliore, Jan. 2012

COIN	DATE	Over ~ $1,000	Over ~ $10,000	Over ~ $50,000
COLONIAL & CONTRACT
- Pre-1800 coins	Pre-1800	Most	Many	Few

HALF CENT
- Liberty Cap	1793 - 1797	All	1796	1797 gripped edge
- Draped Bust	1800 - 1808	1802 2 over 0 DD 2nd reverse; 1805 small 5, stems	-	1802 2 over 0 DD reverse of 1800
- Classic Head	1809 - 1836	1811 ~ $800	-	-
- Braided Hair	1840 - 1857	-	-	-

LARGE CENT
- Flowing Hair	1793	1793 Wreath reverse	1793 chain reverse	1793 strawberry leaf
- Liberty Cap	1793 - 1796	1794 w '93 head; 1796	1793; 1794 starred reverse; 1795 Jefferson hd, plain edge	-
- Draped Bust	1796 - 1807	1796 LIHERTY error; 1804; 1807 sm date, 7/6 DD blunt 1	1796 stemless; 1799 & DD; 1803 lg. date, sm. fraction	-
- Classic Head	1808 - 1814	-	-	-
- Liberty Head	1816 - 1857	1839 9/6 DD plain cords	-	-

SMALL CENT (PENNY)
- Flying Eagle	1856 - 1858	1856	-	-
- Indian Head	1859 - 1909	1877; 1888 8/7 DD	-	-
- Lincoln Wheat	1909 - 1958	1809-S VDB; 1922 no D; 1955 DD date	-	-
- Lincoln Memorial	1959 - 2008	-	-	-

2-CENT
- Two Cent	1864 - 1873	1873 open 3 restrike DD	-	-

3-CENT
- Silver 3-cent	1851 - 1873	-	-	-
- Nickel 3-cent	1865 - 1889	-	-	-

5-CENT
- Shield Nickel	1866 - 1883	-	-	-
- Liberty Head	1883 - 1913	1885 ~ $800	-	-
- Buffalo Nickel	1913 - 1938	1916 DD date; 1918-D 8/7 DD; 1936-D & 37-D 3-legged	-	-
- Jefferson Nickel	1938 - date	-	-	-

HALF-DIME
- Flowing Hair	1794 - 1795	1794, 1795	-	-
- Draped Bust	1796 - 1805	All	-	-
- Capped Bust	1829 - 1837	-	-	-
- Liberty Seated	1837 - 1873	-	-	-

DIME
- Draped Bust	1796 - 1807	All
- Capped Bust	1809 - 1837	1822; 1824 4/2 DD pointed 1	1829 curl base 2	-
- Liberty Seated	1837 - 1891	1871-CC to 74-CC (Carson City)	-	-
- Barber / Liberty Head	1892 - 1916	-	-	-
- Mercury Dime	1916 - 1945	1916-D	-	-
- Roosevelt Dime	1946 - date	-	-	-

20-CENT
- Liberty Seated	1875 - 1878	-	-	-

25-CENT
- Draped Bust	1796 -1807	1804, 05, 06	1796	-
- Capped Bust	1815 - 1838	1822 25 over 50-cent DD; 1824 4/2 DD date	-	1823 3/2 DD
- Liberty Seated	1838 - 1891	1849-O; 1854-O huge O; 1860-S; 1871-CC & 72-CC; 1872-S	1870-CC; 1873-CC;	-
- Barber / Liberty Head	1892 - 1916	1896-S; 1913-S	1901-S	-
- Standing Liberty	1916 - 1930	1916; 1918 8/7 DD
- Washington Quarter	1932 - date	-	-	-

HALF DOLLAR
- Flowing Hair	1794 - 1795	All	1794	-
- Draped Bust	1796 - 1807	1801 & 1802, 1806 E/A in States;		1796, 1797, 1806 nob 6 no stem;
- Capped Bust, Let. Edge	1807 - 1836	1812 2/1 DD lg 8; 1812 single leaf; 1815 5/2 DD; 1830 lg letters		1817 7/4 DD
- Capped Bust, Reeded	1836 - 1839	1836	1839 small letters rev.	-
- Liberty Seated	1839 - 1891	1842 sm let & date; 1844-O DD date; 1847 7/6 DD; 1870-CC; 1873 open 3; 1874-CC; 1878-CC	1878-S	1853-O
- Barber / Liberty Head	1892 - 1915	1820-O micro O;	-	-
- Walking Liberty	1916 - 1947	-	-	-
- Franklin Half Dollar	1948 - 1963	-	-	-
- Kennedy Half Dollar	1964 - date	-	-	-

DOLLAR COINS
- Flowing Hair	1794-1795	1795	-	1794
- Draped Bust	1795 - 1804	All	-	-
- 1804 Dollar (rarest)	1804	-	-	All (extremely rare)
- Gobrecht Dollar	1836 - 1839	Most circulated	Most uncirculated VF-20+	Some restrikes
- Seated Liberty	1840 - 1873	1854, 55, 58; 1871-CC & 72-CC	1851 orig. high date; 1852 orig.; 1873-CC	1870-S
- Trade Dollars	1873 - 1885	-	-	-
- Morgan Dollars	1878 - 1921	1889-CC, 1893-S	-	-
- Peace Dollar	1921 - 1935	-	-	-
- Eisenhower Dollar	1971 - 1978	-	-	-
- Susan B. Anthony	1979 - 1999	-	-	-
- Sacagawea Dollar	2000 - 2008	-	-	-
				Vince Migliore, Jan. 2012

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