Dedicated to my Dad 1976 in Review

[wisconsin digger]

Not much else to do in frigid Wisconsin so I thought I would post some finds from my Dad's log from the 70's. I wish I could of located all his journals but I still have two. My Dad would of been 100 this year and was the guy who got me into this great Hobby. I got out of the Hobby until last year and everything I learned from him has been invaluable to picking up on the new equipment. I still have a few of his old coins so I will post a few from time to time as I get this organized. Here is a summary from March/April of 1976:
1 Indian
225 wheats
409 lincolns
6 foreign coins
1 2 cent coin (1865)
1 buffalo (surprising low count)
1 war nickel
36 clad 5 cents
35 Merc's
43 Rosies
95 clad 10 cent
1 Barber 25 cent
1 SL 25 cent
18 Washington's
1 Canadian
69 Clad 25 cent
9 Walkers
3 Ben Franklins
2 Clad 50 cent

trying to put things in perspective it definitely makes sense why he of found a lot of silver halves. I am sure with the early detectors halves would be the first things to find in an area and most areas were probably never hunted before. His nickel counts were low because (as I recall) they probably sounded a lot like trash. The ratio of silver to clad is amazing but understandable as we only had 12 years of clad to deal with. As I get later into his year I see him finding older areas to hunt because his old coin totals start to go up. What has been really cool about his journal is I have been able to rehunt many of these areas and still find a little silver. I'm sure the new equipment has a lot to do with it. Anyway that is March and April of 1976 hope you enjoy the early days of detecting in Wisconsin. Wisconsin Digger

[del]

thats a great look look into the past Wisconsin Digger and the silver count is incredible for a two month total but probably only average or modest back then . thanks for posting it .

Dan

[coinnut]

Great glimpse on how things were back in the 70's. The nickel count may not be so odd if he was using a White's detector back in '76. The discrimination feature was introduced just a bit earlier and for some reason it did not pick up nickels very well, at least my 5000D didn't:lol: I was doing parks back then and my ratio was not quite that high for silver, but not digging nails was a luxury :notworthy: It was a great time to detect, not to mention I never got kicked out of a public park.

[OxShoeDrew]

It must have been fun to share a hobby with your dad. :daydream:
I wish I started back in the 70s....but we're still having fun!

[coinnut]

It must have been fun to share a hobby with your dad. :daydream:
I wish I started back in the 70s....but we're still having fun!

Drew if you started back in the 70's that would make you about 8 weeks old :lol:

[Digger Don]

It's Really cool that your dad kept journals of his metal detecting adventures.
It must be a great feeling to read these and know your carrying on his tradition,
I'm sure he would be extremely proud.
HH ( Happy Holidays )

[zrickkid]

Thanks for posting that fine thread. Im sure he would have liked it.

[giant056]

Very nice :thumbsup02:

[JdsCoins]

Cool. Thanks for sharing!

[wisconsin digger]

He definitely had a White as my brother still has it. I was left with a Garrett Groundmaster that continues to work as well. I remember my dad getting a detector that came out with discrimination earlier in the 70's, it worked pretty good but lost a ton of depth as you turned up the discrimination. The name escapes me but we ended up giving it to a childhood friend of mine when the better machines came out.

[coinnut]

He definitely had a White as my brother still has it. I was left with a Garrett Groundmaster that continues to work as well. I remember my dad getting a detector that came out with discrimination earlier in the 70's, it worked pretty good but lost a ton of depth as you turned up the discrimination. The name escapes me but we ended up giving it to a childhood friend of mine when the better machines came out.

There was a Coinmaster 5/D and then a 5000D. I had the 5000D and it was not very deep, but it was a discriminator and that was a good thing:lol:

[Ronandari]

Nice memories with your Dad. I'm hoping to hunt with my dad when I go home this summer. He'll be 84.