Field test of Garrett 1500 metal detector on UK soil

[dooly]

Hi all . as you all know i like to have a scratch about with a metal detector now and again hear in the UK .. well my fellow board member (colly) form Kent asked me to purchase his first detector for him and we chose a garrett 1500 which is the model a couple up from my trusty Garrett 1250 euro.

I had never used the 1500 before but at only £350 from ebay I thought it would be worth the risk.

So we had the detector sent to me so i could check it was working ok and to give it i test run and set the Custom program up for him.

 

so enough waffle hear you go !!! (thumbs u

 

the detector arrived and i was well impressed with its condition, It was as new and clean as a whistle .. and if it had been used for 10 hours i would have been surprised

 

 

For the field test i picked one of my well hammered sites where i have spent hundreds of hours digging out all the signals .. just to see if I could find anything with a different detector which i had missed with my trusty 1250

 

THE SITE CHOSEN FOR THE TEST

A large clay field with lots of corn stubble to see how it would react

 

After setting the custom program and sensitivity to the correct levels i headed off down the field and Not a signal or interference) was heard ! ( which was good )

 

Then down the bottom there was the classic two way belltone "Boing" of a good item the reading on the detector was a 7.5 (usually an old UK penny) and the imaging pinpoint went to a size C which seemed to big for a Penny especially with the depth showing about 2" ??

 

The detector proved to be spot on when i dug the item up as it was a copper alloy 3" nail/rivet

 

A short time later i hit my next signal also came in at 2" and showed up on the imager as a size A .. it was spot on as it was a lightweight copper alloy button dating from about 1900 about the size of a IHC

 

 

For the next 20mins or so it all went quiet with only a small 4.9g bit of scrap lead coming up only just under the surface .. THEN! a very strong high number (9) two-way signal at a more respectable 5" the imager went to a size B .. that's more like it i said to myself !

 

the 1500 was spot on with the depth but not the size as the item was 43mm long and 18mm wide when it surfaced .. BUT it was quite deep .. so i will let it off ..

 

 

The item turned out to be a 3.5g silver FORGET ME NOT broach which i presumed was a World war I broach which service men gave to there sweethearts before they went to war but on cleaning it a found that it had the silver marks for Birmingham (anchor) 1893/94 (t) so it shows how wrong yo can be !!

 

 

After a few more bits of rubbish lead I got an almighty loud signal at 4" And found one of my best finds of the day which is a Very large bullet at 27mm high and 16mm across the base, and at 32.2g it is a bit of a beast .. i do not know what it was to be fired from but my guess would be a plane gun or something similar .. in interesting note is that when i cleaned the base out the was a 10mm cavity in it and the number 57 backwards embossed in the lead ??

 

After this it was time to head off home so a headed back up the field to the car and on the top of the rise i got a strange signal which was only reading a 4 on the detector at 4" and a size A.. so off i went digging then i lost the signal and had to use the pinpoint to find it again (it was in a large clump of mud) .. this turned out to be the best find of the day !!!!!

 

I am not exactly sure what it is but my hart did skip a beat when it came up

It is a small item with small bits of ? glass intaglio decoration on the top surface . any suggestions welcome

 

Just come out of the ground

Picture from pointy end

After a quick wipe on my pants

the reverse

a couple of closer photos

 

Well that's that .. the intaglio item is heading off to the finds liaison officer at Newcastle university and i will tell you what they come up with

and as for the detector well i do like it and it seems to find stuff so would i recommend it i think it is a resounding YES !

 

hoped you liked the tail .. and sorry i did not find any coins for you but Colly came up to Northumberland last week and i took him out for a days detecting and I will be posting the full story soon .. and yes we did find some coins so keep an eye out for my post

 

all the best dooy

[jtryka]

That was probably one of the best detector posts I've ever read, I really got a feel for what you were doing, fine job! As for your last find, I am no expert, but it looks to me like an earring.

[Schatzy]

Very informative post, I have been thinking for sometime about getting one!!

Well I can tell you that I wouldn't be able to afford that one!!

[bsshog40]

Pretty cool there Dooly. I have a 1500 myself and I really like the accuracy these things have. I wish I had some good places to take it tho'. Cool finds there!!

[Schatzy]

Pretty cool there Dooly. I have a 1500 myself and I really like the accuracy these things have. I wish I had some good places to take it tho'. Cool finds there!!

 

Do you ever go to playgrounds or the beach?

 

My uncle finds the best things at the beach.....people are always losing money!!

[bsshog40]

I do go to the schools once in a while but I'm a ways from the beach. I have found a bit of modern coins with this thing but would be nice to know of some older populated land. BTW Jaime, I bought my 1500 off ebay also. I paid a little over $400 for it. Very good price for one of these at that time. These were about $800 new and I think they may have come down a bit.

[robec1347]

Great story dooly. Thanks for taking us on your dig. I'm looking forward to the next one. I've been thinking about getting one of these. This model sounds like it would fit the bill.

 

Bobby, take yours to the Alamo. Maybe you'll find a Bowie knife.

[dooly]

Very informative post, I have been thinking for sometime about getting one!!

Well I can tell you that I wouldn't be able to afford that one!!

 

Hi there Schatzy .. the best value for money one i have ever owned was my garrett 500 which i had upgraded with a 550 chip .. boy could that find small stuff..and they are quite cheep second hand now

[Schatzy]

Very informative post, I have been thinking for sometime about getting one!!

Well I can tell you that I wouldn't be able to afford that one!!

 

Hi there Schatzy .. the best value for money one i have ever owned was my garrett 500 which i had upgraded with a 550 chip .. boy could that find small stuff..and they are quite cheep second hand now

 

Thanks Dooly....maybe I will have to ask for one when christmas gets here!!

[bsshog40]

Great story dooly. Thanks for taking us on your dig. I'm looking forward to the next one. I've been thinking about getting one of these. This model sounds like it would fit the bill.

 

Bobby, take yours to the Alamo. Maybe you'll find a Bowie knife.

Wonder if they'd let me dig up the gorunds.

[jesbroken]

Great story, Dooly--makes me feel like I was there, very enjoyable. Wish I could afford one of those. Looking forward to the next trip.

Jim

[EZ_E]

Looks like the perfect day for an outing according to the sky. (thumbs u

 

I have one of these and have only found a zinc cent. It did succeed in thoroughly frustrating me, though, because of all of the erroneous readings!

 

so enough waffle hear you go !

 

The way you guys talk is so entertaining! But I'm sure that y'all get a kick out of a southern accent.

[thebeav]

Great detector post.....

That odd item looks like it could be a 'micro mosaic' or 'milliefiore' piece. Judging by it's shape, it's probably a bracelet link or a single pendant.

I like the bullet myself.......

 

Paul

[rrantique]

Thanks for taking us along Dooly and looking forward to the next post. (thumbs u

[Observer44]

Super post thanks for posting. By the way did you see the post about the gold find in Suffolk. John

[dooly]

Looks like the perfect day for an outing according to the sky. (thumbs u

 

I have one of these and have only found a zinc cent. It did succeed in thoroughly frustrating me, though, because of all of the erroneous readings!

 

so enough waffle hear you go !

 

The way you guys talk is so entertaining! But I'm sure that y'all get a kick out of a southern accent.

 

(thumbs u .. if you are getting problems try knocking the sensitivity down a few notches and changing the frequency on the custom mode, also knock of numbers 0.5 to 1.5 and 10.5 to12 and you will not have as many iffy signals

 

you bet ya .. love the southern twang .. just makes me want to go hunting

[PrezErrors]

Hi! Dooly Great adventure, is that one of your hidden R.A.F. bases? I think you found a small Pendant or Charm for a bracelet with Millefiore Italian glass. My wife used to collect Millefiore glass.

Again great story, makes we want to come back home with my Garrett. Charlie (Fae Glesga now in the States)

[EZ_E]

Boooy Howdy, I tell you what like I dagnum appreciate the tip thar, partner! I'll scribe 'er down and keep it in mind. (thumbs u

[dooly]

Hi! Dooly Great adventure, is that one of your hidden R.A.F. bases? I think you found a small Pendant or Charm for a bracelet with Millefiore Italian glass. My wife used to collect Millefiore glass.

Again great story, makes we want to come back home with my Garrett. Charlie (Fae Glesga now in the States)

 

Not as far as I know but during the last war there was a radar/early warning station about a mile away as the crow fly's (its good detecting there as you find ensenury bombs) and Boomer base further up the coast. You know what its like USA to make money UK to find money .. you toss the coin

[bsshog40]

I found this in 5" of dirt behind my house today!

[robec1347]

Pretty cool find Bobby. It's already paying for itself. (thumbs u

[bsshog40]

If I could sell the stuff I find, then it would pay for itself Bob.

[dooly]

Is there no scrap value on the gold in that watch mate ?

[MAULEMALL]

Is there no scrap value on the gold in that watch mate ?

looks like Gold Plate

[bsshog40]

Yea I think it's just gold plate. I can see rusted metal under some of the edges. I can't even get the back off. I was hoping I could at least find out who it was made by.

[MAULEMALL]

Yea I think it's just gold plate. I can see rusted metal under some of the edges. I can't even get the back off. I was hoping I could at least find out who it was made by.

[bsshog40]

I didn't really know what the "rolled" meant.

[MAULEMALL]

I didn't really know what the "rolled" meant.

Gold filled, rolled gold, and gold plated

One area in which vintage pens and pencils are demonstrably superior to their modern successors is in the widespread use of gold filled metal. This is a laminate, in which sheets of solid gold (usually between 12K and 18K) are fused to a base layer, normally of brass. The laminate is typically rolled out afterwards, hence the alternative term of "rolled gold" (one also will see "silver filled" and "rolled silver", though less often due to the lower cost of silver in comparison to gold).

 

The quantity of gold used can vary, and is sometimes indicated by a fraction: 18K 1/5 would thus indicate a laminate that is 1/5 18K gold by weight. In any case, the gold layer will be much thicker than the microscopically thin deposit laid down by electroplating, and much more resistant to wear, being alloy gold rather than soft 24K (recent improvements in electroplating have enabled much harder deposits, but they remain extremely thin). Often, the gold layer is so thick it can be engraved without exposing the base layer. Needless to say, there is a big difference in appearance between the superficial flash of an electroplated surface and the rich depth of gold filled metal.

 

Older pens that used electroplated trim were cheap products, and almost all have lost all their plating long ago. Sadly, nearly all modern pens now use electroplating rather than gold filled metal. Many show more trim wear ("brassing") after a few years of use than vintage pens do after several decades.

 

 

 

 

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Copyright © 1997-2009 David Nishimura. All rights reserved

 

 

 

[bsshog40]

Thanks Maulemall

[rrantique]

Warming it up Bobby? Get that gold sound down. (thumbs u