I came across an interesting article on Larry Smith’s metal detecting blog that deals with target masking. As many of us have experienced, trash items that are located near or above a valuable target can disrupt or alter the signal from a metal detector. Many valuable coins and jewelry items are missed due to masking. For example, Larry describes a dime buried several inches in the ground that has a staple or small piece of metal directly above it might come across as a pull tab.
Now take this same staple and move it closer to the coin, but still directly above it. Something interesting happens. A second form of target masking as Larry puts it. I don’t want to spoil his insights by sharing everything on my site, so if you want to find out how this second form of masking affects you as a metal detectorist, then I encourage you to read his article “Masking Does Work. http://metaldetectorforcoincollecting.com/2010/02/23/best-kept-secrets-to-finding-treasure-masking-hides-treasure/