Small in size but big on beauty; tiny silver coins such as the US half dime and three cent silver were some of the finest coins ever minted.
Let’s face it, most treasure hunters head out into the field in hopes of finding big silver coins such as quarters, half dollars, and even silver dollars with their metal detectors. Of course we find plenty of silver dimes along the way, but what about even smaller silver coins? Don’t forget that the US Mint once made two different types of tiny silver coins. The half dime was minted between 1793 – 1873 and the three cent silver, commonly referred to as a trime, was minted between 1851 – 1873.
This video shows you how to find small silver coins with your metal detector. Although we use both the Minelab Equinox and the XP Deus in our tutorial, we focus on which metal detector operating frequencies are best suited for finding small silver coins. Check out the video and let us know what you think!
Don’t forget, we have a great article about which frequencies are best for metal detecting.
I have a Garrett Ace Apex ( received for Christmas 2020 ) With both the Viper and Raider coils I have noted in an air test I can get better depth with the raider coil . I also found that using a single frequency can yield more depth on different targets than the multi frequency setting . I have not been able to try this detector in the field yet because of the Chicago winter weather . I Hope to get out with it soon and see how the different frequencies work in the real world . If you have tested the apex different frequencies I would be interested to see your results .
Hey Bill, thanks for visiting the site! The winter has been unforgiving in Massachusetts so I haven’t been able to get out at all since January. I plan on spending some more time with the Apex this season so I will be sure to post any interesting observations. It doesn’t surprise me that the Raider coil offers more depth as it is bigger, and bigger coils do tend to offer more depth. Which single frequency did you find to be deeper? Generally speaking, lower frequencies will offer greater depth over higher frequencies. But… this is a hobby of trade offs! Although lower frequencies offer greater depth than higher frequencies, higher frequencies are better suited for target separation and for finding lower conductors such as nickels and gold! If you do go the single frequency route, I would suggest using 15 kHz as this frequency will be ideal for finding coins and will also be effective for gold, nickel, and relics. Just remember that multi frequency machines do tend to offer greater target ID stability. The Minelab Equinox tends to produce very stable target ID’s, and I found the Apex to also produce very stable target ID’s. I wrote a great article about metal detector frequencies if you’re interested in learning more about how they work out in the field.