Old house mystery

[swagman]

Today I got up the nerve to start asking Private dwellings for permission to metal detect their front yard. The first house I tried there was no answer so I went across the road to a huge old house with a massive front yard. A nice young man (early 30's) answered the door and I told him what I wanted and he said go for it, after a few questions about the place I thought I had struck a gold mine.

Apparently the house was built in 1884 by one of the town founders and after he died the mayor of the town then brought it, this was getting better and better I thought. So I got my gear and started detecting, first couple of coins was a 37 wheatie and a 18 wheatie, both deep (about 6 to 8 inches) , in fact with the 5 x 8 coil the 8 inch was basically only a whisper. Then I got a good signal popped out what I first thought was another Wheatie but when I turned it over I saw an Indian Head, took me a couple of minutes to realize what I had (Hey, I am new at this), it was a 1907 Indian Head one cent My oldest coin to date. Oh YES!! let the coins start rolling in.

Now this is when the mystery starts, I was sure that all the good signals and hopefully coins will be old but my dreams of grandeur came crashing down around me. The next 3 hours produced one more Wheatie and about 50 cent in memorial pennies and clad dimes, the rest was junk no matter how good the signal was or how deep. In fact it was hard just to find a good signal, this yard was big but it was like empty and barren except for the low and mid tones. I tried with no discrim on Pro zero in case I was getting masking.

Either this yard was sweeped clean years ago or I am a lousy detector, I am thinking of going back tomorrow with the big coil on with the hope of going deeper and finding something. Has this happened to anyone?

 

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[Loco-Digger]

I have hit homes from the 1800s and the owners have stated that there were other who had detected the property over the years. I found my 1st silver on that property and 1875 seated dime. The only reason it was still there was because there was a big shrub there when the place was pounded 5 times over the years. I also found a 1939 nickle. I have found many good coins up behind bushes. most probably lost by kids plaving hide & go seek. Don't be discouraged. just grid it off and cover every inch. I have found a couple of IHPs. They rang up and zinc pennies, so do not discriminate anything out except for iron.

 

[jeff of pa]

Psychic ability.
I wish I had a dollar bill for every place I walked into & found my Best & sometimes only find
when I first entered the place & then nothing.
I'd have a few dollars for KFC

 

[Jason in Enid]

Lots of possibilities here.

1 - could be it was hunted in the past, and you found what few targets the others missed
2- could be that most of the past residents didn't lose many coins so there's not much to find
3 - since you could barely hear some of the wheaties, maybe most of the targets are too deep for your current setup.

You can't really tell what you are going to find based on the house. I have had terrible hunts on a grounds you would expect to be loaded, and I have dug silver by the handful from tiny little houses you would never expect people to have anything to lose. I have had bonanza yards with the house next door completely barren. It's a game of percentages, just keep hunting and youll hit a few of those amazing yards!

 

[swagman]

Thanks guys, I will take your advice and I will go back with the big coil on and take it slow and steady. Besides I like the bigger coil, I got real good with it I thought, I could almost tell what it was before I dug it but with the 5 x 8 the VDI is totally different.

 

[DirtStalker]

Swagman I recently got permission to hunt an 1820's house. The woman told me she was only the fourth owner since it was built. And nobody had detected it since she bought it in 1986. Visions of handfuls of button and coins danced through my head. I found 2 wheats at a far corner near the road. No new clad no buttons No nothing. Still scratching my head on that one

 

[Chestdiesel]

Many established treasure hunters don't do homesteads for this very reason. Their reasoning is that there was no money exchanging hands at people's houses. I still like to do them for lack of other hunting places. But the same aforementioned hunters swear by old camp sites, old fairgrounds, and old church retreat spots. But you never know until you look. Good luck. Cheers.