Understanding the Halo Effect

[danhughes]

When a coin has been in the ground for a long time, it is attacked by outside elements. The result is that ions of metal from the coin are leached out into the surrounding ground.

This is called the Halo Effect, and it causes the coin to look larger to your metal detector. That's why you can find older coins easier than you can find newer coins at the same depth.

My newest podcast (internet radio show you can listen to on your computer) gives you the facts about the Halo Effect, and tells you how you can take advantage of it.

Go to http://thetreasurecorner.com and click the pink button to listen to this short (about 4 minutes) program.

---Dan Hughes, http://danhughes.net

[way2cool]

Hi Dan just wanted to thank you for your post and website I really enjoy them both.

[FrogMick]

The biggest object I ever found and with the cheapest detector I ever had was because of Halo Effect.

It was a steel spoked car wheel like Model A Fords and other cars used in the 1930s.

3 feet down in the front yard of an abandoned house all grown over with blackberry vines and other vegetation in SW Portland, OR. That area had been small family farms in the old days.

I found it with my 1st detector in 1974 a brand new Compass Yukon Nugget the cheapest of the Compass line at the time, $99.99. I still have that old Compass Nugget and it still works with my own Rube Goldberg fix to a busted open coil after something fell on it in storage.

I got a weak signal in an area almost 3 feet in diameter. I started digging with small garden trowel in the center of the signal area.

Down a foot and about 18 inches in diameter I got a good signal. I went home and got a long handle roundpoint shovel.

Down another foot and about 3 feet in diameter I got a strong signal. It was wet black soil and easy digging with lots of nice fishing worms too.

Down a few inches more and the rust stain started to show in the black soil. At the time I didn't even know the term Halo Effect.

The wheel was laying flat and the top of the tire rim was 3 feet below the ground's surface, the hub was a little higher. The rust stain in the wet black soil was pretty consistent at about 8 inches around and above the wheel, under the wheel it was about 12 inches.

Neighbors had come out to watch and everyone was left wondering why anyone would bury the wheel. One guy brought a coffee can and a couple beers. If he could have the worms I could have the beers, he got all the worms he wanted.

This was on a Saturday and Sunday I was leaving town for about a month long job. When I got back to town I went to detect there and it was all bulldozed with a new house being built. Worm Catcher came over with a breakfast beer and said a few days after I was there they cleared the lot and started building. I always wondered what else might have been buried around that old house.