To date, I have noodled approximately $26,000 worth of coins, of all denominations. Let that sink in. 26 grand's worth. Far out, I knew it was a fair bit, but that is quite staggering. I know it is correct because I just spent an hour scouring my bank accounts and adding up all the coin deposits since late 2019. In 2020 I probably did the lion's share of this, as it was my primary hobby then. It still is to a degree, but it's just hard to get hold of coins these days - both in terms of time and places to get them. I have been growled at by surly bank tellers once too often, so now I use only the coin machines. And for me in regional Victoria, I can get them only at Shepparton, Mildura and Broken Hill (all places I travel through for work). With Covid and a lack of travel, well I just haven't had the opportunities. But we'll get there - even though a lot more people are into this hobby these days, I think most of them are in capital cities, as I always seem to find coins when I noodle.
Way back when - and I think it was in Sungai Pelek in Malaysia in mid-2019 - when I started, or decided to become more focussed on metal as a hobby in its own right, I knew that metal detecting was going to be part of it. I have watched countless videos of various people using detectors to look for coins, gold and treasure, and seen some truly amazing finds. I almost bought one in Malaysia, but am glad I didn't, as it was not a brand supported here in Australia. So once we were settled, I decided it was time. At that time, I was still in my old job, where we were going to still have to watch every penny, so I opted for a low to mid-range detector - A Garrett AT-Pro. The whole set up cost me about $900, including a pin-pointer, cap, bag, and a couple of other bits and pieces. My idea was that my noodling profit was going to pay for my detector!
The only issue for me really, has been the lack of time and opportunity to do detecting. Since early 2020 when I bought the gear, I have probably gone detecting six times - five at Thompson's Beach in Cobram, and one at a house ruin on a block the company owns at Pyramid Hill. Each and every time though, I have been successful in finding something, although the only things I ever keep are coins. An example of finds from my last beach hunt are shown below:
Beach detecting is cool, nice and easy, and no issue with creepy crawlies. Plus there is not a lot of digging, just using the scoop and pointer. I think my worst hunt was a single coin, but my best was about $15 worth! I like to go in the early mornings, when there aren't many people around. Of course Covid restrictions has meant less people than usual using the beach, so the supply of coins to be found has dried up a bit. Still, I'll go again for sure soon, if I can.
The only issue for me really, has been the lack of time and opportunity to do detecting. Since early 2020 when I bought the gear, I have probably gone detecting six times - five at Thompson's Beach in Cobram, and one at a house ruin on a block the company owns at Pyramid Hill. Each and every time though, I have been successful in finding something, although the only things I ever keep are coins. An example of finds from my last beach hunt are shown below:
The other spot I hunted was the house site. I took my whole family with me, and we all got involved, hearing the beeps and digging the signals. Most of it was junk - OMG there was a lot of junk, and a lot of hazards in an old house site, being sharp metal, rusty bits and broken glass. Good thing I had my gloves. It was a fun day and even my wife enjoyed herself. It looked like there was going to be no luck on the hunt though, until the very last signal, when we uncovered a 1c coin! Worth nothing of course, but always great to have something to show for the effort.
So the noodling quantity and the metal detecting are only part of the story. The other, amazing part, has been the selling of coins. I have found almost 1,000 coins worth keeping out of the $26k noodled. And to put it in perspective, given that I generally get equal quantities of all denominations, apart from $1 coins, a lot of coins is $4.85 (1x$2, 2x$1, 1x50c, 1x20c, 1x10c, 1x5c). That means that roughly, I have noodled about 5,400 individual coins! So on average, about 1 in 5.4 is worth keeping - that is, worth more than face value. Now the videos I have watched suggest to me that the find rate is less than that. So I have either been really lucky, or indeed I am in an area where little noodling occurs. Or maybe it is my strategy to get coins from all over the place that works. Whatever it is, I am recovering valuable coins at a good rate. But more than that, I am also selling them! Of the ~1,000 coins I have found worth keeping, I have now sold 571 of them. Amazing! Mostly on eBay but some privately to repeat customers. The detail of this is below:
So I have now achieved my goal. As you can see, my profit is now over $1,000, which means I have paid for my metal detector out of the profits of my hobby. How awesome is that? I am really happy with that. It scratches a number of itches for me; I love coins, I love metal, I love treasure hunting, and I love putting data together in tables. Yeah yeah, I know the last one will raise an eyebrow or two...
What amazes me is that the profit margin increases, the lower the denomination. For $2 coins, I average a profit margin of 105%, which means I double my money. But for 5c coins, the margin is a whopping 5,135%!!! So that means that the 17 5c coins I have sold, worth a measly 85c in face value, I have sold for $44.50. The absolute dollars are not big, but that percentage margins certainly are!
So that's where I'm at. I'll likely only update this stream once a year or so, maybe if I score a big name coin, or find some gold or something. But know that I am enjoying my new-found set of metal-related hobbies, and am so pleased that I am doing so at no net cost to me.
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