Coin & Relic Metal Detectors

What matters for coins and relics

• Target ID numbers and tones: coins, buttons and relics each read in their own range. Learning them saves digging trash.
• Iron discrimination with care: in parks, rejecting iron saves time. On relic sites, many hunters dig iron signals too, because some relics are iron.
• A smaller or DD coil: separates targets in trashy ground and handles mineralized soil better.

Recover finds without damaging them

Old coins and relics are fragile. Pinpoint before you dig, cut a clean plug with a proper digging tool, and use a pinpointer so you don't scrape the find. Don't clean old coins aggressively, as it can destroy their value. Always get permission, and leave protected historic sites alone. For deeper caches and older sites, see our treasure hunting detectors.

Where to find old coins and relics

Look where people gathered long ago: old parks, fairgrounds, picnic spots, churchyards and old homesites, always with permission. Old maps and local histories show where buildings, paths and gathering places used to be. Areas that have been hunted heavily can still give up deep targets to a slower, more careful search. For the rules on public land, see our Florida detecting rules.