oh yes indeed found all of them over the years ,and yes the higher end machines will discriminate the different metals to a fair degree of certainty ,each metal has a different tone and/or i.d number if your using a digital machine .put it this way I used to buy 2 or 3 new machines a year to keep ahead of the crowd at anywhere between £800 to £1500 a time if the machine hadn't payed for itself within 3 months it was sold on .at the time I was working the twilight shift so it was out searching as soon as I awoke ,my job as a taxi driver also entailed contact with lots of farmers so I had permission to search thousands of acres of land easily and the majority of the farmers were not in the least interested in the finds or there value unless it ran into thousands of pounds .
there are lots of rallies held all over the country by clubs etc where for a fee you can search to your hearts content and sometimes get lucky or break even on the expenses ,although I believe these days its harder to sell your finds on as the government has clamped down on it .I'm about ten years out of the game now due to a serious accident stopping me in my tracks .but I still retain a healthy interest in what goes on .
if it was my six year old I would advise waiting till he is in his teens .and would only advise going with someone experienced ,i.e if by sods law and luck he found for the sake of argument something of real historical value would you know how to handle it ,who to report it to etc I have seen to many artefacts ruined over the years by ignorance on the finders part .
let me also relate to someone who many years ago found whilst detecting a gold encrusted jewel that turned out to be from the hat of Henry the 8th ,i.d from paintings of the period ,he found it on council owned land but realising the value he then claimed to have found it on a farm he had permission on a few hundred miles away ,so when submitted to the treasure process they evaluated the soil remains and worked out it could not have been found where claimed ,the finder decided to fight it in court and lost and it cost him his house due to losing and court costs etc .the jewel was featured in a t.v program telling the story and was shown on display in guilford museum ? or near there .funnily enough it was stolen a few weeks later .dont know if its ever showed up again but who knows .
what I'm trying to put across is the fact its a cut throat game as there can be big money at stake with lots of "characters" involved, personally I have been threatened in the field a few times by others who want the finds for themselves .and I'm 6'1" and built like the proverbial brick outhouse
