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Have you ever used a metal detector to find lost coins?

Jilly,

I have used one, but not for lost coins. I borrowed my neighbors metal detector when an old building on our property came down. I needed to hunt and find all the nails so I didn't get a punctured tire in my lawn mower.

It worked better for my neighbor than me. He came to help me and found an old small piece of tin about 6 inches underground. It did find some of the nails. Of course, it was an older model and hadn't been used for a while. I don't think I had it set correctly. It was fun. I had hoped to find old coins, but I guess none of my relatives, or former property owners, had hidden any.

Have you tried using one?

I haven't used one, but was recently looking into them. I was thinking of taking myself and the kids gold panning this summer as a frugal, fun and maybe even lucrative summer activity. I guess detectors aren't the best for gold mining in Alaska, but they still sound like fun.

I wonder what types of things could be found a long a beach, or in a stream bed for other things. Interesting old mining equipment is often been dredged out of local rivers - perhaps more than coins could be found.