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Kitchen Koinshooting

by Eric L. Nielsen

T

he term Kitchen Koinshooting was coined bythe famous treasure researcher/hunter/authorCharles Dean Miller who is better known as

his pen name, Karl von Mueller. Coinshooting wasa term he had previously used to describe the activityof using a metal detector to find individual lost coins.Miller was very adept at seeing the big picture andpredicting the future in regard to money. After he re-ceived his first clad coin in change, following the U.S.monetary system changing from silver coinage to cladcoins in 1965, he immediately sent out an alert in aspecial edition of the little treasure newspaper hepublished at the time, telling all the readers to startsaving every silver coin they could get their hands on,even if they had to skip a few meals to save the silver.

He said silver would always be worth much more thanthe clad coins which replaced them. He has beenproven to be correct. At the time of this writing, theprice of silver is approaching $40 per ounce. He alsosaid to save copper pennies when the transition tozinc pennies occurred, and again he was correct. Thecopper in copper pennies is worth more than a pennydue to the rise in copper prices.

All coins which are returned to banks and not putback in circulation, are sent to Federal Reserve Bankswhere silver, and now copper coins are removed andkept by the institution to be melted and recycled. Af-

ter the U.S. Federal Reserve System and aware peoplehad collected the majority of silver from the circulat-ing coinage in 1965 and later, it became increasinglyunusual to find silver coins in change. A few astutepeople, including Miller, realized that there were stilla number of silver coins being spent that eventuallyended up in the banks, so he wrote about sortingcoins on his kitchen table from bags and rolls of

(Continued on page 3)

v. 15, n. 4 April, 2011 Going for the Gold

Rocky Mountain Prospectors &Treasure Hunters Newsletter

The News

Visit RMPTH On The Internet At http://rmpth.com

Contents

"Hunger for gold is made greater as more gold isacquired."

- Aurelius Clemens Prudentius

1 Kitchen Koinshooting2 About The News2 Book Review

4 Talking Auto Batteries5 Prospecting Tips Of The Week6 Coil Sweep Tip7 Giant Gold Nugget7 April Gold Outing8 Traveling By Air With Your Metal

Detector(s)9 Iron Age Gold10 Calendar of Events11 Calendars12 Target Masking14 Kilroy Was Here

15 Antique Gold Chain Found16 Trading Post18 2011 Schedule of Events19 Contact List

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Page 2 The News, April 2011

The News is the official newsletter of the RockyMountain Prospectors and Treasure HuntersClub (RMPTH): our mailing address is P.O. Box

271863, Fort Collins, CO. 80527-1863.

Opinions expressed in The News are those of theauthors and do not necessarily reflect those of the

club or its members. Publication of information inThe News constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Useof any information found in this publication is at thesole risk of the user. Neither RMPTH, nor its coordi-nators, nor The News, nor its editors or contributorsassume any liability for damages resulting from useof information in this publication.

Submissions

Articles, letters and short items of interest on pros-pecting, detecting and treasure hunting topics arewelcome and encouraged. All items submitted forpublication are subject to editing. Submittals for pub-

lication may be made in writing or, preferably, in AS-CII text format on IBM-compatible disk. If you havequestions about a submission, please contact the edi-tor for information.

Copyright

Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit groupsmay reprint or quote from any articles appearing inThe News without prior permission, provided thatproper author and publication credits are given andthat a copy of the publication in which the article ap-pears is sent at no cost to RMPTHat the above mail-ing address. Clubs wishing to exchange newsletters

with RMPTHare invited to send a copy of their news-letter together with an exchange request.

About The New s Adver t is ing

Classified advertising for topic related items is freefor non-business ads. See the Trading Post sectionfor donation pricing of camera-ready display ads. Do-nations for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are avail-able on request.

About RMPTH

RMPTHis an independent nonprofit hobbyist socialclub, open to anyone interested in prospecting, detect-ing or treasure hunting. Its purpose is to provide aneducational and social forum of mutual benefit formembers. RMPTHholds a monthly meeting and con-ducts various field outings, as well as offers specialpresentations and seminars. Active participants havevoting privileges. The monthly newsletter, The News,is readily available on the Internet. Persons wishing toreceive the newsletter in hardcopy, mailed format arerequired to provide the amount of $24 per year re-quired to print and mail. Otherwise, no annual duesare charged as the social club functions strictly bydonation.

Book ReviewBy Paul Lange

If you are able to obtain back issues of Rockhound magazines from the 1970s you will find a section called the BookStore. Included are many bargain priced books featured from Long John Latham under the following sections: Research and reference books and price guides for your library Treasure Guide Series by Thomas Penfield. Google this author and check his selections. Metal Detecting, Coinshooting and Gold and Silver Prospecting

Ghost town atlases, abandoned railroads and date nails Gems and other minerals and the trails that will take you to localities where you can collect and how to cut, carve

and display your finds Treasure hunter maps that will lead to buried or sunken riches Relic, antique, artifact, insulator, bottle and jar books from practically every field of collectibles Old books for those interested in every aspect of collecting and old and out of print books A miscellaneous section that features Civil War titles

I was not able to find Long John Latham on Google. The last address listed is:Treasure Book Headquarters, P. O. Box 328, Conroe, TX 77301.This could become your treasure book headquarters of untold tales and stories.If you have any updated information on Long John Latham or the books listed let the rest of us know. Research! Re-search! Research!

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Page 3The News, April 2011

desirable coins were spent.

I have talked to several people who have worked asclerks in stores, who were observant and spotted sil-ver coins and other old coins being spent by custom-ers. They exchanged new coins for the old coins andsaved them. Several years ago I talked with a guy whooperated a vending machine business. He said he got

hundreds of silver quarters in the coin boxes. An-other guy worked at the counter in a gaming arcade.He told me he got dozens of old coins, including silverdollars when certain kids came in and needed changefor the games. He gave them change out of his ownpocket so the silver never went in the register. Hetold me that he once got four rolls of buffalo nickelswhich he exchanged for money out of his pocket. Hethought the kids had received coin collections as gifts

from elder members of their families andproceeded to spend the coins, or morelikely, stole them from a parents' coincollections.

I have also saved all the copper cents Ireceived in change for many years. Theyare no longer very common in change,although they are still available. During1982 copper was no longer used to mintpennies and copper plated zinc centswere minted from then until the present.I have also occasionally found a laterdate wheat cent in change. I have notsorted bank bags for copper cents, al-though it was very tempting after seeinga large, transparent plastic bag full ofpennies on the floor of my bank, aboutten feet behind the counter, waiting to besorted through their coin counting ma-

chine. I could see that there were a lot of old pennieswith dark patinas in the bag.

My bank has no Eisenhower clad dollars. Tellersthere said they were recalled by the Federal Reserveand taken from circulation several years ago and areno longer available. It would be wise to keep any ofthese you receive.

For treasure hunters who have a hankering to dosome searching, but are unable to get out in the fielddue to bad weather or other reasons, or anytime any-one has time on their hands and have the desire tofind older coins containing silver, older Jeffersonnickels, or copper pennies, kitchen koinshootingmay be just the ticket for success, with the additionalbenefit that it can be done without a lot of effort orexpensive detecting equipment.

change obtained from banks, using the term kitchenkoinshooting to describe this activity.

At the present time it is extremely rare to find a 90%silver coin in change, but other coins can still befound. Recently, a friend of mine who has collected

silver from circulation for many years told me that hehad purchased a $500 bag of half dollars from hisbank at Christmas time. He took it home and spentless than an hour sorting it. He was searching for90% silver half dollars and 40% silver Kennedyhalves, of which there are still a substantial numberin circulation. From 1965 through 1970, Kennedyhalf dollars were minted as clad coins containing analloy of 40% silver between the nickel sandwich.They are easily separatedfrom the clad copper halvesby grabbing a stack of coinsand examining the edges of

the coins. The 40% silvercoins have a different colorthan the clad copper coins.My acquaintance was suc-cessful and found several40% silver halves. He justreplaces the 40% silver hecollected from the bag withclad halves and returns thebag to the bank after sort-ing.

Years ago I learned from anacquaintance that it wasstill possible to find reallyearly Jefferson nickels incirculation. He bought rolls of nickels at the banksand sorted out the early dates and high grade laterdates. I began doing this and did it off and on forabout three years or so. I sorted thousands of nick-els. I found many old nickels, including an XF1939D, which, apparently, I managed to accidentallyput back in a roll which I used to buy my supper thatevening. That experience taught me to be more care-ful. Occasionally, I also found a 35% silver war

nickel. Due to the demand for nickel for hardeningsteel during World War II, silver and manganese wereused to replace of the nickel in the alloy during thewar. War-time composition nickels are easily distin-guished from those minted other years by the place-ment of the mint mark above Monticello.

It was amazing to me how many uncirculated, mintstate and key date coins that I found while sortingnickels. Apparently a lot of mint sets were broken upto take out the more valuable coins and the other less

(Continued from page 1)

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Life is like riding a bicycle - inorder to keep your balance,you must keep moving.

- Albert Einstein

TREASURE HUNTERSCODE OF ETHICS

I WILL respect private property and do no treasurehunting without the owner's permission.

I WILL fill all excavations.

I WILL appreciate and protect our heritage of naturalresources, wildlife, and private property.

I WILL use thoughtfulness, consideration, and courtesyat all times.

I WILL build fires in designated or safe places only.

I WILL leave gates as found.

I WILL remove and properly dispose of any trash that I

find.

I WILL NOT litter.

I WILL NOT destroy property, buildings, or what is leftof ghost towns and deserted structures.

I WILL NOT tamper with signs, structural facilities, orequipment.

Gold Glossary

Drift - In Mining - A drift is defined as a hori-zontal passageway that is excavated alonga rich vein of ore. Hard rock mines usuallyuse drifts to obtain the rich ore, though,some hard rock mines are open pit.

Talking Auto Batteries

CCA (cold cranking amps) is a measure of howmuch current a battery can produce at 0F (as op-posed to 32F for CA-cranking amps) to turn thestarter on your car. The colder it is outside, the lesspower the battery produces. Select at least the CCA

rating your vehicles manufacturer recommends. Forextreme conditions or older cars, youll want a higherCCA rating.

Check the battery terminals periodically to makesure they are tight and free of corrosion.

Keep the battery surface clean and dry.

Do not leave the battery exposed to sun-light or ex-treme ambient heat for long periods of time.

If possible, check the batterys liquid level a couple

of times a year when applicable. If the level is low (itshould completely cover the separator plates), adddistilled water. NEVER ADD BATTERY ACID!

Fully charge battery before storing and charge bat-tery every 6-8 weeks while in storage.

An alternator cannot charge a dead or dischargedbattery. It only maintains the charge.

Batteries Plus

http://www.batteriesplus.com

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Property WantedFor Detector Hunt

RMPTH is looking for private property on which to holdan organized club detector hunt. Obviously, it would bemost ideal if this property is known to have seen some

past historical activity. If you have such property orknow of someone who does, please contact Paul Lange

or Rick Mattingly to plan a club field outing event.

Refreshment VolunteersApril - Lupe Bobbitt & Anne NicholsMay - Ray McGeheel & Anne NicholsJune - Betsy Emond & Mike NollJuly - Bryan & Lucy MorganAugust - Gary AndersonSeptember - Barbara SchuldtOctober - Johnny BerndsenNovember - Dave Montoya

Prospecting Tips Of The

Week

#1, Tie a few feet of fishing line to some small leadweights and affix balloons to the line... set it loosedown the river and watch where the weights settle -

that's a good place to start your hunt for gold.

#2, If you brush your teeth with a "Sonicare" batteryoperated toothbrush.....save the (2) magnets thatdrive the brush head when you replace it. These arevery small but Super strong magnets....you can easilyseparate them from the brush head with a sidewaystwist. Use your new magnets to remove black sandsfrom your gold.

Submitted by: Brewer Bellows Machine - Builds andoffers bellows-type drywashers for sale.

#3, In & around hills of shale rock, carry a canvasbucket & long handled, digging tool. Scoop out clay orsoil trapped between pieces of shale, place scoopedout clay or shale into bucket & carry pail to watersource & pan the bucket. Shale rock cliffs & steephillsides act as a natural sluice box & trap gold overthe years as rain water wears down the hills.

Submitted by B. Babson Duvall, WA.

http://www.goldfeverprospecting.com/goprti.html

If you can't afford a doctor,

go to an airport - you'll get a

free x-ray and a breast

exam, and; if you mention AlQaeda, you'll get a free

colonoscopy.

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Coil Sweep Tip

by Lee Wiese

The first thing a detectorist needs to master isthe swinging or sweep of the detectors search

coil. This is essential no matter which manu-facturer you choose or model you purchase. Master-ing the search coil sweep or swing will yield fargreater results if done correctly.

There are a number of search coil sweep factors thatmust be mastered and they are: search coil heightabove the ground, keeping the search coil level or par-allel to the ground, search coil sweep speed, and over-lapping the search coil sweep pattern.

First the search coil height above the ground is one ofthe most important factors to master since for every

one inch you hold the search coil above the groundyou will lose an equal amount of magnetic signalpenetration into the ground. So if you sweep thesearch coil three inches above hard packed groundyou will lose three inch in ground magnetic signalpenetration. This lost of magnetic signal penetrationwill result in missing the deeper targets. Hint: Tomaximize your target recovery you should always feelthe search coil scrubbing the ground.

Second keep the search coil level or parallel to theground at all times. This meaning that the coil needs

to be level or parallel to the ground at the beginning,middle and end of the search coil sweep. This maymean a shorter sweep span but it is important to getmaximum signal penetration during the entire searchcoil sweep. See the figure for the correct search coilpositions.

Third the search coil sweep speed should be reason-able slow and consistent in speed during each pass ofthe search coil. A rule of thumb is it should generallytake 1 to 3 second for a complete sweep in one di-rection. To know what sweep speed you should apply,you must read / study the owners manual. Plus you

need to practice with your detector so that you canmaster the sweep speed required for your detectorstarget response time. Sweep speeds that are either tooslow or too fast will result in missed targets. Alsoadded to the sweep speed issue are ground conditions(trash or mineralized soil), which will affect yoursearch coil sweep speed.

Finally overlapping the search coil sweep pattern isextremely important because a Concentric search coilproduces a cone shaped ground penetration magnetic

signal pattern and without a search coil overlap youwill miss many targets. The Double D search coilhas a wedged shaped ground penetration magneticsignal pattern and overlapping an inch is usuallyenough while sweeping the DD search coil.

The lesson to learn for sweeping the search coil is toscrub the search coil against the ground, keep the

search coil level at all times, maintain the sweepspeed down to a level that the detector can handleand remember to apply an overlap for each searchcoil sweep.

Metal Detecting Hobby Talk

http://www.mdhtalk.org

When I was young we

used to go "skinny

dipping." Now I just

"chunky dunk."

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April Gold Outing!

On Saturday, April 9 Paul Lange will lead a goldouting to Clear Creek near Denver. This site

produces lots of flour gold, along with the oc-casional picker to spice things up. This is a great sitefor new members to learn the art of gold recovery,while actually recovering gold!

Paul will provide details of the outing at the April 6club meeting or contact Paul [email protected].

Lets get some gold!

Giant Gold Nugget: The 100-Ounce Washington Nugget

January 22, 2011 | Art Daily

Last year a man in Nevada City, California found a 100-ounce gold nugget on his property. Its goingto be sold at auction on March 15th in Sacramento. It is expected to sell for between $225,000 and

$400,000.

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handle the beating it will get by the airlines. (NOTE:No tools, metal probes or other sharp objects in thecarry on, I suggest leaving out the handle assembly.)

The next step is to select a piece of luggage for all therelated metal detecting gear. This gear will consist ofcoils, headphones, handle assemblies, recovery tools,batteries, etc. You must keep in mind the weight fac-

tor (50lbs per check in piece of luggage) and the costof checking luggage these days. Here, I use28x18x10 expandable piece of soft luggage. Thisshould easily handle all the associated detecting gearand provide room for personal items.

My recommendation is to also provide a sheet of pa-per or two in each piece of luggage explaining to theTSA agent who may check the luggage what thisstrange looking gear (pictures on the paper explain alot) is all about. However, the TSA agents are becom-ing accustomed to seeing such gear pass thought theirX-ray equipment so this may not be necessary. Re-

cently, I started to carry the detectors owners manualin the carry on luggage just in case I need to explain

what the gear is to the TSAagent.

By following these stepsand guidelines you shouldget your metal detectorssafely to your destinationwithout any problems.

Airline Guidelines: Carryon luggage guidelines forflights on most US Domes-tic Flights, TransatlanticFlights, Flights withinEurope, Asia & South Pa-

cific, And International South American Flights. Theguidelines for one carry-on bag is (L+W+H) whichmust equal 45 inches total, and the luggage measure-ments are 22+14+ 9 =45 and the bag must weighless than 40 lbs. Some US Discount Airlines requirecarry on luggage under 41 (20+13+8) and weighless than 40 lbs.

TSA Battery Suggestion: Keep batteries and equip-ment with you or in carry-on baggage - not in yourchecked baggage! In the cabin, flight crew can bettermonitor conditions, and have access to the batteriesor device if a fire does occur.

Metal Detecting Hobby Talkhttp://www.mdhtalk.org

Traveling By Air With

Your Metal Detector(s)

by Lee Wies

The question that frequently comes up is: Can Itake a metal detector on an airplane? Yes youcan but you should follow some basic steps

and guidelines.

One thing to keep in mind is that the electronics onany device whether it is a metal detector or someother electronic device is very delicate and must betreated with great care. I usually travel with three de-tectors and all the related detecting gear. We do bothcompetition and beach detecting with different detec-tors and equipment required for each detecting situa-

tions.

The following guidelines havebeen very successful for me sothey should work for anyone.

The first thing I do is break-down all the detectors into thegreatest number of compo-nents as possible this meansif possible all electronics areremoved from the handle as-sembles. All the handles are

broken down into three sec-tions with the coils removed. Ialso gather up all the associ-ated tools that will be neededsuch as headphones (alwayscarry a spare), target recovery tools (scoops, probes, aknife), recovery pouch, gloves, knee pads, search coils(2 different size coils for one of the detectors) and bat-teries. (NOTE: If batteries are removed from equip-ment, black electric tape the ends over per TAS re-quirements).

Next select the carry on luggage that you will use to

house the detector electronics, the most expensiveand delicate part of the metal detector. My primarypiece of luggage for this purpose is a 20x13x8softexpandable carry on with rollers (see airline guide-lines at the end of the article). You can usually get uptoo five sets of electronics in this luggage size plus acouple of coils and a headset or two. Wrap the elec-tronics in light towel-like material and pack with careso as not to cause damage to any detector displayduring transportation. If by chance you should be re-quired to check the luggage it should be packed to

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Breckenridge Gold History

In the Breckenridge or Blue River district, including theupper valley of the Blue River between the Front Range on

the East and the Tenmile Range on the West had a totalproduction of 1,000,000 gold ounces of which 735,000

ounces came from placer deposits. In all regional stream

channels, gulches, benches, etc. you can find placers. Eastand northeast of town, in area of about 5 square miles,there are many lead-silver mines that produced a by-product gold. In Georgia Gulch, on North side of Farncomb

Hill, rich area placers discovered in 1859, area lode mines,discovered in 1880, especially the Wellington Mine, chief

producer, it was so rich in native gold that pockets sup-plied collectors and museums throughout the world with

specimens of wire and leaf gold. Along the Swan and Bluerivers, many deep placers worked

by dredges after 1900.

Iron Age Gold

Iron Age gold find saved for the nation

Date: 21 March 2011By CLAIRE SMITH

AN OUTSTANDING hoard of Iron Age gold un-

earthed by an amateur treasure hunter hasbeen saved for the nation.

David Booth with the gold ornaments he found in afield near his home. They are to go on display at theNational Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Picture:Ian Rutherford

Safari park ranger David Booth uncovered the fourneck pieces known as the Stirling Torcs in a fieldnear his home in 2009 and was astonished to dis-cover their significance.

The treasures, which are more than 2,000 years old,earned their finder a payment of 462,000.

The ceremonial neck pieces have been saved for Scot-land thanks to a 154,000 grant from the NationalHeritage Memorial Fund, 100,000 from the ArtFund, 123,000 from the National Museums and85,000 from the Scottish Government. They are togo on display today in Hawthornden Court at the Na-tional Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Mr. Booth, the chief ranger at Blair Drummond Safari

Park near Stirling, said he was thrilled the treasureswere going to be seen by the public. He said: "It is ex-cellent news. It is great they will finally be on display."

The four gold ornaments were found to date back tothe first and third centuries BC. They show that theCeltic tribes of the time had links to other Iron Agecommunities in the south of France and other parts ofthe Mediterranean.

Dr Fraser Hunter, Iron Age and Roman curator at theNational Museum of Scotland said: "This is a discov-ery of international importance. It shows that our an-

cestors had links far beyond Scotland."

The craftsmanship of the looped terminal torcshowed it had been made by a smith who had learnedhis craft in the Mediterranean but had combined itwith the local style, Dr Hunter said.

He went on: "It's a missing link. It's the first time we've


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Calendar of Events

MAP TO TH E MEETING PLACE

Pul l iam Communi t y Bu i ld ing

545 Cleveland Avenue, Loveland, Colorado

Directions:The Pulliam Community Building is situated on the west side of Cleveland Avenue in Loveland,

Colorado. Park at the rear of the building (west side). Entry to the meeting room is fromthe doorway on the south side of the building (not the main entrance on Cleveland Avenue!).

RMPTH DUESRMPTH is an unincorpo-

rated Social Club withno income generated. Allexpenses are covered bydonation. Members arerequested to considerdonating a minimum of$1.00 at each monthlymeeting to cover club

expenses.

Apr i l Meet ingWednesday, April 6. We will meet at the PulliamBuilding in downtown Loveland at 7:00PM. Refer tothe adjoining map for directions.

Meeting Agenda6:00 - 7:00 Planning & Social Hour7:00 - 7:30 Business, Announcements & Find of

the Month Program7:30 - 7:45 Break7:45 - 9:00 "Gold and Platinum in Wyoming

Presented by Wayne Sutherland of the Wyoming Geo-logic Survey.

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April 2011Sun Mon Tue W ed Thu Fri Sat

1 2

3 4 5 6RMPTH PlanningSession 6:00PRMPTH Meeting 7:00P

7 8 9Clear Creek GoldOuting

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

17 18 19 20 21 22Good Friday

23

24Easter Sunday

25 26 27 28 29 30

May 2011Sun Mon Tue W ed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4RMPTH PlanningSession 6:00PRMPTH Meeting 7:00P

5 6 7

8Mothers Day

9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30Memorial Day

31

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RMPTH Field Outing StatementNOTE: The Coordinators and participants stay in touch

and continue to review and plan upcoming presentationsand outings for the year on a monthly basis. Our editorRick Mattingly needs timely event information for each

issue of The News. Please get information about any par-ticular event to him by the 15th of the month to meet the

printing deadline for the next issue.

Planned trips, outings, activities, and meeting programsare in the newsletter and on line at the clubs website.

Planning is a work in progress and additional outings andactivities are added and sometimes deleted on an ongo-

ing basis. Events planned in the upcoming month are

emphasized to the attendees at the monthly meetings.Contact the Presentations Coordinators or Editor if youhave any suggestions or ideas throughout the year for

fieldtrips, outings, and programs.

The best made plans may change at the last minute dueto the illness of the Trail Boss, weather, land access, ve-hicles breaking down, wrong meeting sites, etc. Please

be understanding of extenuating circumstances and con-tact the coordinator or Trail Boss of a specific event ifthere is any question of an event being cancelled or

changed at the last minute.

crimination may mask a good non-ferrous target.

Basically what this means is that in many cases iron orother trash can be masking a very good non-ferrous tar-get such as a gold ring, old coin, old button or someother valuable target. Ignoring these nulls or settingones detector discrimination too high could cause manyvaluable targets from being found and recovered. In thefigure below there are three iron nails and one gold cointarget under the coil in this situation the gold coin wouldbe masked by the three iron nails. The detectorist wouldjust continue on and not be aware of the gold coin targetbecause of the three iron nail targets.

Target masking is not a new metal detecting phenome-non.

Target masking has been around ever sincedetectors were designed with discriminationcapabilities.

Many detectorists only want to see GOOD

TARGETS and therefore will ignore the de-tectors NULLS or will have their discrimi-nation levels set high to eliminate iron /

trash. By ignoring nulls or using the detector discrimina-tion they now will only recover good targets as indicatedby the detectors target identification capability. Thispractice of ignoring nulls or setting discrimination highcan leave a high percentage of good non-ferrous targetsin the ground.

Coil selection and sweep speed are very critical in iron /trash infested detecting ground. A large coil can not dif-ferentiate between targets as well as a small coil andtherefore is very susceptible to target masking. Whentargets are close together the coil may only see the iron /trash target and therefore ignore a potential good nonfer-rous target. In this situation because of masking the de-tector would only provide identification on the iron /trash target and will not be able to pickup the nearbygood nonferrous target.

There are some detectorist in the metal detecting hobbythat feel detectors can over come target masking by pur-chasing certain manufacturer detector models. Somedetectors will handle target masking better them othersbut in most cases the detector will usually overcome onlythe simplest case of target masking.

Today, there are more people taking up the hobby ofmetal detecting and the ground that has never been de-tected is becoming very sparse. In the future this maylead to going back over grounds that have been heavilyhunted.

Therefore, following the six suggestions below may yieldsome very surprising results for the detectorist in whatwas considered to be hunted-out grounds.


Target Masking

by Lee Wiese

Target Mask ing

I would like to start off with a couple of common target

masking situations.

Ground Target Masking Condition:

When there are numerous iron targets or a high concen-tration of metal trash targets in the ground, these targetswill drive the detector threshold into its null operatingzone. When the detector threshold is null-out, meaning there is no audible back-ground thread hold, the detector doesnot detect or will suppress weaker non-ferrous signals received from deeper orsmaller non-ferrous targets that are lo-cated near the iron / trash target.

Target Masking by using Metal DetectorDiscrimination:

When a detector has a designed in iron discriminationfeature it will null over iron and may mask any non-ferrous targets that are near the iron target. Or if theoperator is using the detectors discrimination capabilityto discriminate out iron / trash targets the detectors dis-

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So how does one over come target masking?

1st: One easy approach is to stop using discrimination.A positive target located behind, beneath or near junkmay result in a mixed signal and these types of signalsshould always be recovered.

2nd: Slow down your detecting sweep speed so that thecoil can differentiate between target types as they passunder the coil. The reduction in sweep speed will allowthe detector to provide you with multiple different targetIDs.

3rd: In high iron / trash grounds reduce your coil size tothree to eight inches in diameter. The smaller coil willprovide much enhanced target separation and over cometarget masking. You may lose some depth but more non-ferrous targets can be discovered and recovered.

4th: This one takes work. Use a small coil and recover

(Continued from page 12) all iron / trash targets to clear the area and also recoverall good non-ferrous targets found during this process.Once the area is clear install a larger coil for greaterdepth and go over the area again for the deeper targetsalso recovering all goodand iron / trash targets during this process. Now theground is hunted out.

5th: Some detectors have a recovery speed adjustment.In high iron / trash covered ground the recovery adjust-ment should always be set for FAST or a very high num-ber if the detector uses a numeric recovery rating. Youmust also use a smaller size coil and a much slowersweep speed.

6th: Always recover the whisper target signals.

Metal Detecting Hobby Talkhttp://www.mdtalk.org

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Kilroy Was Here

For the WWII generation, this will bring backmemories. For you younger folks, it's a bit oftrivia that is a part of our history.Anyone born in the teens, twenties, and mid-thirties,

is familiar with Kilroy. We didn't know why, but wehad lapel pins with his nose hanging over the labeland the top of his face above his nose with his handshanging over the label too. I believe it was orange col-ored. No one knew why he was so well known, but weall joined in!

Who The Heck Was Kilroy?

In 1946 the American Transit Association, through itsradio program, "Speak to America," sponsored a na-tionwide contest to find the REAL Kilroy, offering aprize of a real trolley car to the person who couldprove himself to be the genuine article.

Almost 40 men stepped forward tomake that claim, but only James Kilroyfrom Halifax, Massachusetts, had evi-dence of his identity.

Kilroy was a 46-year old shipyardworker during the war who worked asa checker at the Fore River Shipyard inQuincy. His job was to go around andcheck on the number of rivets com-

pleted. Riveters were on piecework andgot paid by the rivet.

Kilroy would count a block of rivets and put a checkmark in semi-waxed lumber chalk, so the rivetswouldn't be counted twice. When Kilroy went off duty,the riveters would erase the mark. Later on, an off-shift inspector would come through and count therivets a second time, resulting in double pay for theriveters.

One day Kilroy's boss called him into his office. Theforeman was upset about all the wages being paid to

riveters, and asked him to investigate. It was then herealized what had been going on.

The tight spaces he had to crawl in to check the rivetsdidn't lend themselves to lugging around a paint canand brush, so Kilroy decided to stick with the waxychalk. He continued to put his checkmark on each jobhe inspected, but added KILROY WAS HERE in king-sized letters next to the check, and eventually addedthe sketch of the chap with the long nose peering overthe fence and that became part of the Kilroy message.

Once he did that, the riveters stopped trying to wipeaway his marks.

Ordinarily the rivets and chalk marks would havebeen covered up with paint. With war on, however,ships were leaving the Quincy Yard so fast that therewasn't time to paint them. As a result, Kilroy's inspec-tion "trademark" was seen by thousands of service-

men who boarded the troopships the yard produced.His message apparently rang a bell with the service-men, because they picked it up and spread it all overEurope and the South Pacific. Before war's end,"Kilroy" had been here, there, and everywhere on thelong hauls to Berlin and Tokyo.

To the troops outbound in those ships, however, hewas a complete mystery; all they knew for sure wasthat some jerk named Kilroy had "been there first." Asa joke, U.S. servicemen began placing the graffitiwherever they landed, claiming it was already therewhen they arrived.

Kilroy became the U.S. super-GI whohad always "already been" whereverGIs went. It became a challenge toplace the logo in the most unlikelyplaces imaginable (it is said to be atopMt. Everest, the Statue of Liberty, theunderside of l'Arc De Triomphe, andeven scrawled in the dust on themoon).

As the war went on, the legend grew.Underwater demolition teams rou-tinely sneaked ashore on Japanese-held islands in the Pacific to map the

terrain for coming invasions by U.S. troops (and thus,presumably, were the first GI's there). On one occa-sion, however, they reported seeing enemy troopspainting over the Kilroy logo! In 1945, an outhousewas built for the exclusive use of Roosevelt, Stalin,and Churchill at the Potsdam conference. Its' first oc-cupant was Stalin, who emerged and asked his aide(in Russian), "Who is Kilroy?"

To help prove his authenticity in 1946, James Kilroy

brought along officials from the shipyard and some ofthe riveters. He won the trolley car, which he gave tohis nine children as a Christmas gift and set it up as aplayhouse in the Kilroy front yard in Halifax , Massa-chusetts.

So, now you know!

From the Internet

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Gold Glossary

Drywasher - A common desert mining tool.

The drywasher is like a highbanker butlacks the need for water. A drywasher

operates by the use of wind. The light junk

material is blown off the top of the sluicein the drywasher and the gold stays on thebottom. The sluice riffles in a drywasher

are backwards for better recovery.

Symbol: AUAtomic Number: 79

Atomic Weight: 196.967

Melting Point: 1063 (1945 F)Specific Gravity: 19.2

MOHs Scale of Hardness:2.5 - 3

Karat

24K = 100% Pure Gold18K = 75% Pure Gold14K = 58% Pure Gold10K = 42% Pure Gold

Troy Weights

1 grain = 0.0648 grams24 grains = 1 penny

weight (DWT) = 1.552 grams20 DWT = 1 ounce =

480 grains = 31.10 grams

Gold Fac t s

YOURADVERTISEMENTCOULD BE HERE!Call Rick Mattinglyat 970-613-8968or [email protected]

Scene from the GPS Clinic at Lions Park on March 26, 2011. Numerousmembers learned how to use their GPS to stay un-lost!

Photo by Tom Warne

Antique Gold Chain Found

Treasure Hunters Discover Antique Gold Chain

off Florida Coast

March 25, 2011 08:35 PM EDT

Divers from Mel Fisher's Treasures in Key West have re-

covered an antique gold chain believed to be from theNuestra Seora de Atocha, which sank during a 1622

hurricane. In 1985, these same treasure hunters had previouslyfound more than $450 million in artifacts from the wreck.

Experts are evaluating the 40-inch chain, believed to be centuriesold, and which may be worth as much as $250,000. The diverswere searching for a part of the 17th century Spanish galleonthat has not yet been found when they made the discovery.

Yahoo News reports that the chain has 55 links, and holds anenameled gold cross and a two-sided religious medal with theVirgin Mary and a chalice engraved on it. If it is indeed from theNuestra Seora de Atocha, add another quarter of a million tothe total booty for the Fisher crew.

It must be gratifying to recover such ancient treasure from ship-wrecks. Just the word "treasure hunters" might raise a few skep-tical eyebrows as a legitimate line of work, but in this case, MelFisher and his crew might once again be laughing all the way tothe bank.

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All mistakes and

misspellings wereintentionally made so

that you could have thepleasure of finding them.

Trading Post

About Trading Post

The News runs classified ads in Trading Postfor three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads

for topic related items up to 10 lines (or 70

words) long are free. To place an ad in TradingPost contact Rick Mattingly at (970) 613-8968evenings

or e-mail at: [email protected]

Commerc ia l Adver t is ing

Spec i f ica t ions

(Monthly Donat ion Rate)

Full Page (8 1/2" X 7") $30Half Page (3 1/4" X 7") $20One Third Page (3" X 4") $15Business Card (2 3/4" X 1 1/2") $ 5

Ads must be received by the 15th of thepreceding month. Contact Rick Mattingly for in-

formation on this service at(970) 613-6968 evenings or e-mail at:

[email protected].

FOR SALE: MINELAB SD 2200 Detector: 10-1/2"Mono Super Coil; 10-1/2" SD-Series Super Coil; TwoBatteries w/Wall Charger; Headphones; Battery Back-pack; Waist Battery Pack; Signal Enhancer; ExtraLower Stem; Backpack Carry Case; Video. $2,100.Call Paul at (970) 482-7846.

FOR SALE: Trout Unlimited Colorado Pontoon Boatwith 8'-6" pontoons and motor mount. Brand new andnever used. Perfect for lake or river fishing and pros-pecting. New price $575. Sell price $350. Contact TimCline in Frederick at (303) 833-3372.

FOR SALE: Price Reduction - 18 DOUBLE DECK VI-BRATING LAP by Diamond Pacific. You can do roughgrinding and finish polishing at the same time! Themachine is made of non-rusting aluminum castings. Itweighs 50 lbs. It has never been used is in its origi-nal crate. It is assembled and ready to run. List priceis $1290. Will sell for $849 a savings of $441 (a re-duction of 34%)! Call Bob at (303) 819-3523.

FOR SALE: Keene High Banker, includes stand, hoseand 5 HP Briggs and Stratton pump. Great condition,$900.00 or Best Offer. Contact Cindy Bone at (970)669-8247.

FOR SALE: Prospecting equipment: 4" Dredge andmore plus Whites VSAT Gold Detector. ContactHomer at (970) 224-4244

FOR SALE: Two CoilTec coils for MineLab GP or SDSeries: 14" Round Mono, $150.00. 5" x 10" JoeyMono, $75.00. Like New. Plus Shipping. Call (307)886-3937 or Cell (307) 654-1432.

WANTED: Federal or state duck stamps; mint orused. Contact John Hart at (307) 778-3993.

FOR SALE: Garret Treasure Ace 300 Detector.- $225OBO. Contact Roger at (970) 622-0821.

NOTE:Purchase arrangements are between the buyer and

seller only and involves no financial benefit to RMPTH.Since the Pikes peak gold

rush of 1858, Colorado hasproduced over 40 million

troy ounces of gold from

placer deposits and the lode

deposits that followed.

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seen one that combines these two styles."

Mr. Booth said yesterday he had no idea of the signifi-cance of the pieces when he first unearthed them.

He said: "I wasn't as excited as I should have been. Ithought it might be costume jewelry - then I thoughtthey might be medieval. It's a bit of a dream, it still

feels like it is not real. But thinking back, it is abso-lutely amazing to be a part of something like that."

The safari park ranger has continued to search usinghis 240 metal detector, and has been a regular visi-tor to the archeological dig on the site where he madehis find. "I have found a few bits and pieces but noth-ing like this," he said.

Mr. Booth plans to give a portion of his reward to theowner of the land where the treasure was found andhe says he has no plans to give up work at the safaripark.

He is, however, looking for a first home to share withhis partner and their young daughter.

He said: "We are looking at houses at the moment. It'smade life a little easier - but I still have to do a day'swork.

It's come at a great time for the family."

The Stirling Torcs will eventually go on permanentdisplay with other Iron Age artefacts in the museum's

Early People Gallery.

Last Updated: 21 March 2011 11:58 AMSource: The ScotsmanLocation: Edinburgh

(Continued from page 9)WEEKEND & SMALL-SCALEMINERS CODE OF ETHICS

I WILLrespect other prospectors claims and not workthose claims without the owners permission

I WILL have on-site all necessary permits and licenses

I WILLbuild fires in designated or safe places only, andin accordance with current State and Federal guidelines

I WILLbe careful with fuels and motor oils and be cog-nizant of their potential destructive effect on the envi-ronment

I WILL remove and properly dispose of all trash anddebris that I find -I will not litter

I WILL be thoughtful, considerate and courteous tothose around me at all time

I WILL appreciate and protect our heritage of naturalresources, wildlife, fisheries and private property, andrespect all laws or ordinances governing prospectingand mining

I WILL NOTremove stream bank material, destroynatural vegetation or woody debris dams, nor dischargeexcess silt into the waterways

I WILL NOT refuel motorized equipment in the stream

I WILL NOT allow oil from motorized

equipment to drip onto the ground or into the water

I WILL NOTprospect in areas closed to prospectingand mining

Offer Your Assistance To AnyOf Our Program Coordinators

David Booth with the gold ornaments he found

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Month Meeting Program Trip/Activity

January Club Business and Open Forum No Trip/Activity Scheduled

FebruaryLove Token Coin Presentation

By Rick MattinglyNo Trip/Activity Scheduled

March

Update on Mining Laws, Permits andLand Access for the 2011 ProspectingSeason, What the Future Looks Like.

By Ben Higley, President,Gold Prospectors of Colorado

GPS, Compass & Map Clinic

AprilGold and Platinum in Wyoming

By Wayne Sutherland, WGSClear Creek Gold Panning

MayCrack & Crevasse Prospecting

By Bryan Morgan

Lets Go Gold Panning On The Arkansas EventProspecting, Detecting & More Clinic at Lions Park -

Advertised and Open to the Public

JuneGold Nugget Shooting Presentation

By Rick MattinglyNugget Shooting Clinic at Lions Park

Eldora Ski Resort Detector Outing

JulyGold Refining Presentation

By David Emslie

Manhattan Ghost Town Detector Outing

Gold Nugget Shooting Outing

AugustDetecting Presentation

By Tom WarneAmes Monument, Vedauwoo & Wyoming State Museum

Tour

SeptemberMeteorite PresentationBy Dr. Robert Brownlee

Annual Coin & Prize HuntColorado Mineral & Fossil ShowDenver

Lucite Hills Wyoming Gem Outing

OctoberBottle Hunting Presentation

By Rick MattinglyOff-Road Detector & Cache Hunt

NovemberAnnual Show & Tell &

Silent AuctionLocal Detector Outing

DecemberAnnual Find of the Year Awards &

Christmas PartyFlatirons Mineral Club & Model Train Show

Good Hunting in 2011!

Rocky Mountain Prospectors and Treasure Hunters Club2011 Schedule of Events

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Rocky MountainProspectors & Treasure Hunters

Contact ListRMPTH Coordinators Home E-Mail

Coordinator Paul Lange 1-970-663-5776 [email protected]

Coordinator Robert Crain 1-970-484-6488

Coordinator Bryan Morgan 1-970-416-0608 [email protected]

Coordinator Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968 [email protected]

The News Staff

Editor-in-Chief Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968 [email protected]

Assistant Editor Dick French 1-970-482-2110 [email protected]

Internet Web Site

Web Master Rick Mattingly 1-970-613-8968 [email protected]

Volunteers/Coordinators

Find of the MonthJoe JohnstonBetsy EmondPaul Mayhak

1-303-696-69501-970-218-02901-970-482-7846

[email protected]

[email protected]

PresentationsPaul LangeJohnny Berndsen

1-970-663-57761-970-667-1006

[email protected]

Club Historian Peggy Stumpf 1-307-632-9945 [email protected]

Club Librarian Joe Johnston 1-303-696-6950 [email protected]

Panning DemosBryan MorganDarrell Koleber

1-970-416-06081-970-669-2599

[email protected]@yahoo.com

Setup &Refreshments

Volunteer Needed!

Door PrizeTom WarneJacob WoottonJohnny Berndsen

1-970-635-07731-970-980-60161-970-667-1006

[email protected]@yahoo.com

General Information Contact: Paul Lange at 1-970-663-5776

Visit RMPTH on the Internet at: http://rmpth.com

Going For The Gold !

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The NewsRocky Mountain Prospectors &Treasure Hunters Club

P.O. Box 271863Fort Collins, CO. 80527-1863

APRIL, 2011 ISSUE

RMPTH0411

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