Ratios of silver to coppers etc. at Colonial to mid-1800s site

[Noah_D]

Hi! As someone who hasn't been detecting for long I like to hear other peoples stats just to know about what to expect for myself when I am hunting. I know there could be a lot of other variables involved but when you are hunting at early sites 1700s-1840s-ish about how many coppers do you find for every silver? How many hours do you spend to find one copper? No early silver yet for me but I am looking forward to the day that I find one!
Thanks and happy hunting!

 

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[smokeythecat]

That's a kind of difficult question to answer. I'll give you a few scenarios. On one southern tavern site, we found zero coppers but 4 silvers in a quick hunt. I only got one of them. It was a 2 reale cob. I still have it. The others were cut silvers.

On most of our colonial to Rev Period farm fields, we will sometimes come upon an old house site. There we normally find up to 4-8 coppers and MAYBE 1-2 silvers. Sometimes we find none.

In an old colonial town, we generally find 1-4 silvers and 10 or more coppers. It just depends on how much money the folks had.

Now for old gold coins, I have found them in two types of sites only. First is an ocean beach, associated with a shipwreck (the one off one was recently lost from a necklace), and the others I have seen have been from Civil War troop sites. The one spot in particular has produced two gold $1 us coins. My friends made out pretty well there. There is a small area we think the troops were gambling and lost them. I haven't hunted parks or in the water for them. CW sites seem the best but you have to get the other items out of the way first to get to the gold. If it's there. We also got probably 10 CW silvers from that gold producing site. I didn't get most of them.

 

[Noah_D]

That's a kind of difficult question to answer. I'll give you a few scenarios. On one southern tavern site, we found zero coppers but 4 silvers in a quick hunt. I only got one of them. It was a 2 reale cob. I still have it. The others were cut silvers.

On most of our colonial to Rev Period farm fields, we will sometimes come upon an old house site. There we normally find up to 4-8 coppers and MAYBE 1-2 silvers. Sometimes we find none.

In an old colonial town, we generally find 1-4 silvers and 10 or more coppers. It just depends on how much money the folks had.

Now for old gold coins, I have found them in two types of sites only. First is an ocean beach, associated with a shipwreck (the one off one was recently lost from a necklace), and the others I have seen have been from Civil War troop sites. The one spot in particular has produced two gold $1 us coins. My friends made out pretty well there. There is a small area we think the troops were gambling and lost them. I haven't hunted parks or in the water for them. CW sites seem the best but you have to get the other items out of the way first to get to the gold. If it's there. We also got probably 10 CW silvers from that gold producing site. I didn't get most of them.

Very interesting! Thanks for posting! I post questions like this periodically and it seems like you're always first to answer! This part of OH (CWR) was settled in the 1790s and most of my sites are between then and 1850, do you think it's roughly the same for this time period? Your coppers to each silver is much better than I thought, (for whatever reason) I was thinking it would probably be 20 or 30 to 1. Thanks again for your answer!

 

[smokeythecat]

It should be about the same. Coinage was scarce up till about the 1870's.

 

[gunsil]

Here in NY I am in an area settled in the 1600s by the Dutch and later the English. Myself and a couple friends years ago hunted a lot of Dutch colonial houses still standing and occupied since the late 1600s-early 1700s and some standing in ruins (lots of gorgeous sandstone homes here) and we never found one colonial silver coin but dozens of coppers. I also hunt an island in MA, there my friends and I find many more coppers than silvers (reales) but we have a better silver ratio there with one friend finding a pine tree shilling. I dug five small reales in MA over forty years, and two early English coins to a couple dozen mostly toasted coppers. VERY hard to find colonial silver in most places, many who have hunted for fifty years have found one or two or none. Hours spent? In the several thousands. And we dug thousands of iffy signals, there is usually tons of iron junk masking good targets in colonial sites in my experience and they often mask better targets. Discrimination is not your friend when hunting colonial. One place we hit more than a dozen colonial coppers was a house that had been used by G Washington as a headquarters where the grounds had been preserved for over 200 years, and all the coppers and buttons were 6" deep or less. I found three LC (newest 1826) and a CT colonial copper in one hole at 5" all stuck together. found a small diamond ring there, a couple colonial military buttons, two pieces of early-mid 1800s silverware, not one colonial silver coin. Remember, there were no lawns back then, mostly just packed dirt yards with some weeds, silver was easier to spot when dropped. Gotta get lucky for sure!! Hunting colonial is like anything else, he who digs the most holes finds the most good stuff. In short, don't expect to find any colonial silver at all, just be really happy if and when you do. Oh, and many excellent condition American colonial coppers are worth more than a well worn small reale.

 

[Noah_D]

Here in NY I am in an area settled in the 1600s by the Dutch and later the English. Myself and a couple friends years ago hunted a lot of Dutch colonial houses still standing and occupied since the late 1600s-early 1700s and some standing in ruins (lots of gorgeous sandstone homes here) and we never found one colonial silver coin but dozens of coppers. I also hunt an island in MA, there my friends and I find many more coppers than silvers (reales) but we have a better silver ratio there with one friend finding a pine tree shilling. I dug five small reales in MA over forty years, and two early English coins to a couple dozen mostly toasted coppers. VERY hard to find colonial silver in most places, many who have hunted for fifty years have found one or two or none. Hours spent? In the several thousands. And we dug thousands of iffy signals, there is usually tons of iron junk masking good targets in colonial sites in my experience and they often mask better targets. Discrimination is not your friend when hunting colonial. One place we hit more than a dozen colonial coppers was a house that had been used by G Washington as a headquarters where the grounds had been preserved for over 200 years, and all the coppers and buttons were 6" deep or less. I found three LC (newest 1826) and a CT colonial copper in one hole at 5" all stuck together. found a small diamond ring there, a couple colonial military buttons, two pieces of early-mid 1800s silverware, not one colonial silver coin. Remember, there were no lawns back then, mostly just packed dirt yards with some weeds, silver was easier to spot when dropped. Gotta get lucky for sure!! Hunting colonial is like anything else, he who digs the most holes finds the most good stuff. In short, don't expect to find any colonial silver at all, just be really happy if and when you do. Oh, and many excellent condition American colonial coppers are worth more than a well worn small reale.

It sounds like it varies A LOT site-to-site. As I mentioned earlier most of my sites are early post-colonial, and being in Ohio means a ton of my sites are cornfields so most of my coins are just toasted largies... that's the main reason I hope for silver someday, aside from silvers just being awesome. I wonder how many years of hunting until I find one lol. Thanks for your response Gunsil!

 

[smokeythecat]

It does vary a lot from site to site. One place I have dug on the eastern shore of Maryland gave me only 1 colonial copper, but a 15th century worn out German silver, and a highly clipped 1703 or so 1/2 reale cob.

Another site about 20 miles away gave me an Elizabeth I shilling, a James I groat and four coppers. One George I, two George II and one George III.

 

[Noah_D]

It does vary a lot from site to site. One place I have dug on the eastern shore of Maryland gave me only 1 colonial copper, but a 15th century worn out German silver, and a highly clipped 1703 or so 1/2 reale cob.

Another site about 20 miles away gave me an Elizabeth I shilling, a James I groat and four coppers. One George I, two George II and one George III.

Those are amazing finds! I posted this to try and quantify the amount of effort it takes to find one old silver vs an old copper and now I'm just plain confused!

I know, this is an impossible question to answer but what are the odds I find an old silver at one of my 1790s-1850s sites in a given year (yeah it depends on how much I hunt but say like a few hours a week or something while weather permits)? Sorry for the questions that are literally impossible to accurately answer! I'm just too curious and couldn't resist asking lol.

 

[HeatherM]

I think it's pure luck or chance. I've spent at least five days of at least 8 hours each at a late 1700's house and oldest coin I've found is a 1912 wheat penny. Now I've found at least 20 buttons so surely if it's been hunted alot before they would have dug those so.......

Second house circa 1815 but supposedly had a 1700's church before it I've spent a year going a couple days a month all day for a year and only found one large cent 1832 and some IHP and V nickels and ZERO silver. So who the heck knows.

I try not to get discouraged reading posts here where some people find silver after silver but it's hard when you have that playing in your head the whole time you're out sweaty and dirty digging another pull tab. Good luck!

 

[FreeBirdTim]

I've found around 40 big coppers (LC's and KG) in seven years of metal detecting. I've only found 4 half reales, which is a ratio of 10 coppers for every 1700's silver coin. Don't know how much time I spent finding those coins, but I'm sure it's over 500 hours of detecting colonial sites.

 

[malenkai]

I've found 115 large coppers and 12 silvers older than 1850, 9 of those being some sort of reale, off and on over about 10 years. I don't know how many hours that is -- some years I get out alot, and some years hardly at all. HTH

 

[Noah_D]

I think it's pure luck or chance. I've spent at least five days of at least 8 hours each at a late 1700's house and oldest coin I've found is a 1912 wheat penny. Now I've found at least 20 buttons so surely if it's been hunted alot before they would have dug those so.......

Second house circa 1815 but supposedly had a 1700's church before it I've spent a year going a couple days a month all day for a year and only found one large cent 1832 and some IHP and V nickels and ZERO silver. So who the heck knows.

I try not to get discouraged reading posts here where some people find silver after silver but it's hard when you have that playing in your head the whole time you're out sweaty and dirty digging another pull tab. Good luck!

Thanks Heather! I'm in the same boat as you are! I've dug about 8 big coppers but no silver, not yet at least. Happy hunting, hope to see you post a silver soon or at least some more largies!

 

[Noah_D]

I've found 115 large coppers and 12 silvers older than 1850, 9 of those being some sort of reale, off and on over about 10 years. I don't know how many hours that is -- some years I get out alot, and some years hardly at all. HTH

I've found around 40 big coppers (LC's and KG) in seven years of metal detecting. I've only found 4 half reales, which is a ratio of 10 coppers for every 1700's silver coin. Don't know how much time I spent finding those coins, but I'm sure it's over 500 hours of detecting colonial sites.

Thanks to both of you! I've started compiling these answers in a spreadsheet (I plan on asking around a bit more as well) and both of your answers were super easy to add.

 

[Noah_D]

If anyone else would like to contribute feel free to fill out this short form I made... https://forms.gle/HaPJYk1v1RU1BFpE6

 

[gunsil]

I think you are being way too analytical here. There is no rhyme nor reason why we find what we do where we do or how long it takes to do it. Sure, you have to be on an old site to find early coins, but other than that it is a crap shoot as to what you'll find. Luck is still a major component in our game and you can't quantify or qualify luck. Just like hunting a site with a friend or two. Somebody will always find more coins or a better piece of jewelry or a cooler artifact than the others, just plain luck.

 

[Noah_D]

I think you are being way too analytical here. There is no rhyme nor reason why we find what we do where we do or how long it takes to do it. Sure, you have to be on an old site to find early coins, but other than that it is a crap shoot as to what you'll find. Luck is still a major component in our game and you can't quantify or qualify luck. Just like hunting a site with a friend or two. Somebody will always find more coins or a better piece of jewelry or a cooler artifact than the others, just plain luck.

Perhaps... I know I am over-analytical sometimes and that's on me, but hear me out.

I'm not sure if you think of luck as just chance or some supernatural thing but I don't believe in the supernatural part of it, and when it comes to chance and probablities you most certainly can get a rough idea of how often something will happen in the big picture, then again it's just a probability and 50% does not mean something will happen half the time all the time but with enough trials it will turn out to be half the time. Again, I'm not really trying to predict it but I was just trying to reckon about how often people find an early silver coin... as a newer hunter who's never found one I didn't know if the experienced folks find one every month, every year, every decade, or every twenty years for that matter, just to get a rough idea of what the odds are, not to say I guarantee I'll find one in the next so many days or something crazy like that. Also, I know it varies but the reason I was comparing it to big coppers was just to give a good point of reference so as to not mess with hours hunted or all that.

 

[FreeBirdTim]

It's also about paying your dues. Most of my really good finds have been in spots very few would detect. Deep in the woods, swampy areas or spots overgrown with prickly bushes. The easy to access spots never seem to produce anything for me.

 

[Noah_D]

It's also about paying your dues. Most of my really good finds have been in spots very few would detect. Deep in the woods, swampy areas or spots overgrown with prickly bushes. The easy to access spots never seem to produce anything for me.

I remember I hiked a half a mile through swamp to get to one of my sites! I lost my finds box and broke my shovel that day... needless to say, I haven't gone back. So I guess I could say I try to do the same, at least sometimes, but I'll still take a freshly plowed field when I can get it!

 

[Tommybuckets]

Interesting post. I wish I could come up with a ratio. Smokey and i did some great hunts together. One day I'd find six colonial coppers, the next she'd find a hammered silver. My best day was 4 2-4 reales. The stars were lined up. I have a site where I found 8 British coppers, 5 LCs and only one half reale and a few Seated dimes/ half dimes. I think my ratio is 7:1 8:1 copper to silver. I only ever found 1 gold coin but there are guys who have been hunting longer than me who haven't found one. My white whale is a cob. I found and lost one the same day and never got to look at it closely. I've watched a handful be dug. Someday,...

 

[Noah_D]

Interesting post. I wish I could come up with a ratio. Smokey and i did some great hunts together. One day I'd find six colonial coppers, the next she'd find a hammered silver. My best day was 4 2-4 reales. The stars were lined up. I have a site where I found 8 British coppers, 5 LCs and only one half reale and a few Seated dimes/ half dimes. I think my ratio is 7:1 8:1 copper to silver. I only ever found 1 gold coin but there are guys who have been hunting longer than me who haven't found one. My white whale is a cob. I found and lost one the same day and never got to look at it closely. I've watched a handful be dug. Someday,...

Thanks Tommybuckets!