Bronze age axe head, one of my friends who has sadly past away found 4 or 5 and also half a bronze age sword. The more time you put in and more ground you cover the more likely you are to find something good.
Seen hammered coins, Roman coins, gold coins, sword pomells, viking silver, a Hitler youth dagger, Roman sling shots, lots of different stuff.
I use an Xp Deus based in the UK.
I feel like Europe would offer way better finds than the US. I've only ever used one to locate electric lines, but i definitely can't imagine discovering any of your impressive finds in the USA especially where I'm at in the Midwest
100 year old german artillery fuse cap from the Finnish civil war era. It was 10cm deep in the middle of a forest trail.
Nothing valuable, but I discovered a cache of Matchbox cars, coins, spoons, and small plastic toys all in a small spot in my yard when I first moved in. Seemed cool imaging the kids playing there years prior. Building tunnels in the dirt to drive their cars through and accidentally burying them for me to find later.
I haven't tried metal detecting, but we went magnet fishing once. Caught lots of fish hooks and one mostly rusted but still intact shock absorber.
Is it common to find metal objects willy-nilly in bodies of water that attach to magnets?
Surprisingly, yes. The holy grail of magnet fishing enthusiasts are weapons (that are then usually turned over to police).