Silver to still be found?

[elixir]

I have lived in SW florida (Fort Myers) for a while and I havent ever found any silver coins on land. I was wondering if anyone knows of any property that would produce? (that would be legal to detect on?) I mostly hunt the water with my whites BHID and CZ20, But I am sure these are decent deep land machines too??

[chipveres]

Perhaps you could look for sidewalk or parking lot tear-outs in an old part of town. An old parking lot being torn up is where I last found silver.

Chip V.

[JP]

There is some still out there, it's just hard to locate. I've had some luck with hitting empty lots where an old house had been torn down. I've found (drum roll) one mercury dime, one silver rosie, one silver quarter, and one walking half dollar. I've also found probably 20 wheat cents and one buffalo nickel. I've only been a few times so not bad odds for Florida.

Try areas where older homes are located. Remember silvers last year was 1964 and was still being used for several years after. So the opportunity is there to find silver. It's just not easy and kind of frustrating especially when you see all the great coins that they find in other states.

Florida has had silver coins since the 1500's. So odds are it's somewhere. Let me know if you find it.

Just a word of advice, if you start finding wheat cents there is a great possibility that silver is there. Grid off the area and hunt it in every direction.

Good luck and HH.....

[JoeSWFla]

Unfortunately most old sites get covered by a few feet of fill.
As soon as an old house is torn down,they bring in fill to
bring it up to code.Coins sink in sand as is,without the help
of tractors grading,or fill being put down.If you can find an
area that was used in the past that hasn't been touched too
much by developement,you can find old coins,but that's hard
to find in S W Florida.Good luck in your search.HH Joe

[diggummup]

There was a contruction project going on at Hollywood beach a few years ago. They were laying pipe right along the "boardwalk" for a couple of miles. This moved alot of sand, deep sand that was 3-5 feet down. Myself and BigCy both found silver coins amongst the displaced sand. I've found silver at old home sites, most of these sites were/are abandoned for many years though. Good spots are hard to find down here in S.Fl. I've often thought about searching the financially deprived areas of town ( better known as the hood) which I believe is an untapped resource for older coins.

[JP]

There was a contruction project going on at Hollywood beach a few years ago. They were laying pipe right along the "boardwalk" for a couple of miles. This moved alot of sand, deep sand that was 3-5 feet down. Myself and BigCy both found silver coins amongst the displaced sand. I've found silver at old home sites, most of these sites were/are abandoned for many years though. Good spots are hard to find down here in S.Fl. I've often thought about searching the financially deprived areas of town ( better known as the hood) which I believe is an untapped resource for older coins.

The *&$%# cat just walked on the keyboard and I lost everything I was typing.

Yes some of the less fortunate areas are where in the past more fortunate may have lived and lost old silver. And yes I know that just because it's a less fortunate area doesn't mean that the people are bad. There are good and bad in every area.

I remember when they were doing work on I-4 near Ybor City in Tampa and tearing down the old houses. I was dreaming of detecting there. The only problem was it goes through a tough area there. After watching tv the same day and seeing that someone was shot in that area I just figured it was best to forget about it. I saw another area that was the site of and old drive in movie theater. I was saving up my pennies to buy a detector at that time. By the time I bought it and it was on its way I saw a news report about all the drug dealing and other activities in that area. I know its a prime spot. Sadly, there is a fence around it now with big no trespassing signs.

[Jon Phillips]

Capt. JP, I hunted the old drive in on Causeway, kinda across from where the Seabreeze was, years ago. I found a few mercury dimes and what-not around where the concession stand was. The restrooms were still up back then.

I work in Ybor, and I know what you mean about the old houses in the area. The oldest house that is still standing is right behind our building, but I wouldn't get out there and swing a detector. There was an attempted murder, after a robbery, right in our parking lot a few weeks ago....I didn't even see anything in the paper about it. The guy fired 6 shots, and there are still bullet holes in a co-workers car! Right by my forklift!

Our building was an old store in the 20's-40's and every time we have to dig for something, drains, septic tanks, etc., I find old bottles and mother of pearl buttons etc. I found an old Coca-cola bottle the other day.

The old stuff is out there.

[Treasure_Hunter]

Ybor City is hopping on Fri and Sat nights with dance clubs, but you have to be very careful there during the day.

[Jon Phillips]

You better be careful there at night as well....My cousin got a bullet in the head there one night because he wouldn't hand over his car. People think it's like Disney because a couple of streets are crowded, and the cops are out....but the potential for violence is around every corner!

[JP]

Yes Ybor City, such a historical and interesting city, is very dangerous. Everytime I'm near there I wonder about taking the metal detector there....but then I see the news. It's so sad that all of those beautiful old buildings are near a war zone.

I was talking to someone about parks in Tampa and trying to find a few for detecting. He showed me the scar from a bullet that he has from going to one of the parks with his girlfriend. (back in the late 90's)

I went with Cavedweller recently to a Tampa water park near the ship yard. I don't remember the name right now but it's near Gandy Blvd. On the way to the park I observed maybe 20 street signs with their fare share of bullet holes, one even had a nice pattern from birdshot. How sad, because the park was pretty, there were fish everywhere in the water for those that want to go fishing, as for metal detecting lots of junk and pennies. Driving to there I was admiring all of the older homes that were abandoned thinking there has to be old coins there.....oh well, I'm not going to die for something I can buy in a coin store. I know it's part of the thrill of the hunt to find old coins, but maybe in a safer area.

The old drive-in movie theater that I mentioned above, I saw where they were arresting people in the area for solicitation and drug dealing. Another good potential spot off my list at this time.

That's cool Jon that you get to find some old stuff near your work. That would be a dream of most of us to get to do that.