Depth of Silver around Chicago Suburbs?

[Brett]

I've dug quite a few holes now and still no silver coins. I'm very patient but I want to make sure I have a chance. I was hoping anyone who reads this that has found silver coins could chime in and guess at the approx. avg. depth you've found them. It has to be around the Chicago Suburbs though because this is what matters to me most - to get an idea of what the soil conditions are like around here. I guess this could be good info for anyone else dropping in the IL forum as well.

It would be nice to just post a poll, but please try to answer with the following choices:

a. 0-2"
b. 2-4"
c. 4-6"
d. 6-8"
e. 8+"

Just try to avg. your finds and throw out any anomalies, i.e. 2 silver coins at 8+" and 1 at 2" would be 'e', not 'd'. Sorry for the math, just guess if you don't really wanna mess with it.

Thanks!
RootMaster

 

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[DPBOB]

Today I found a 58D dime at 2 inches
a 38 Quarter at 5 1/2 inches
a 44S nickel at 5 1/2 inches

So far I'm at 43 silver coins
all range in depths from 1 inch to 8 inches

I have seen silver coins pulled out at 63rd and Cornell in Chicago at 10-12 inches with a Minelab EXII
( His count for silver was at 263, 2 weeks ago )

so there really is not a clear answer

Good detector and knowing your machine and having your coil over it will produce silver

Thats my 2 cents worth

 

[Brett]

Thank you SilverBob for the detailed response! I guess I'm still looking for a pattern, but you are right... if there is silver down there my detector will see it (as long as it's within' 0-6") or so I read.

I was considering an upgrade in the future to a deeper seeking detector, but I'm not sure I'm ready for a huge weight increase or learning curve just yet. I'm still getting my head around all of the quirks of the ACE 250, which is a simple machine by comparison to the Minelab Explorer SE. I'm an electronic engineer so I'm very willing of learning complex things where other people just might not have the desire or patience, but I would like to see the ACE pull some silver with ease because I know it's a good machine and deserves a good chance.

I guess that makes me think... I wonder what other MD'ists do for a day job... hmm, throw that in the mix as well if you wanna

Anyhoo, thanks again and maybe a fuzzy pattern will develop as more responses come in.

 

[Lowbatts]

Bob's right, get silver shallow or deep only difference is where you're hunting and what you're coil goes over. I've pulled WLH's and BH's on edge at or just below the surface where others have heavily hunted. The oldest coins I've gotten at shallow depths, but that's because of site selection. Dug silver at 12" also, but gotten clad almost as deep also. Nothing like digging 8 inches to pull a mem cent!

Look for sites that have native dirt, no backfill, little or no traffic for the last 50+ years and you'll see what I mean. I have come to the conclusion that most coins do not sink in most soil conditions except where there is fine, particulated dirt with no stones or gravel and no root systems.

BTW, more machine does not necessarily equal more weight. There are many deeper machines than the ACE 250 that do not weigh much more.

 

[DPBOB]

Bob's right, get silver shallow or deep only difference is where you're hunting and what you're coil goes over. I've pulled WLH's and BH's on edge at or just below the surface where others have heavily hunted. The oldest coins I've gotten at shallow depths, but that's because of site selection. Dug silver at 12" also, but gotten clad almost as deep also. Nothing like digging 8 inches to pull a mem cent!

Look for sites that have native dirt, no backfill, little or no traffic for the last 50+ years and you'll see what I mean. I have come to the conclusion that most coins do not sink in most soil conditions except where there is fine, particulated dirt with no stones or gravel and no root systems.

BTW, more machine does not necessarily equal more weight. There are many deeper machines than the ACE 250 that do not weigh much more.

There are so many variables to this question.
Lowbatts is correct in saying about areas of high traffic / low traffic. I often notice the soil that I am digging. Sandy soil near the lake and north shore the coins tend to go deep. I myself have dug a " MEMORIAL CENT " at 12 inches deep in the Wilmette area
on the other hand I do an old picnic grove here by OHARE Airport with the ground rocky and hard and get coins at 2 - 5 inches.


60% of my silver signals are not the clear crisp type of signal . I just feel that you need to learn you detector. I for the most part run with high discrimination for coin shooting. I'm quit sure that I miss a lot too. ( I can always go back though )
Most my silver is found on private property where the house is going to be torn down..
With 43 silver coins so far and the oldest being a 1895 Dime at 3 inches

 

[treasurefiend]

I have found 11 silvers since starting in 3/8/08.

3 merc's. 1937 is the oldest
3 rosie's
2 Wash. quarter's 1942 I think is the oldest
3 war nickels

all about 4 to 8 inches.

But its all in where you look. All of mine were found out in the woods. If you hunt a lawn, they might be right under the grass. Or deeper, if at some point the lawn was re-sodded.


Not silver, but I hope this will help gauge the depth of older coins:

The same goes for Wheat cents, I found 16 so far (1913 - 1958, all of them were somewhere between 4 to 8 inches deep. But again that's all in the woods.

I found an buffalo nickel not even 1/2 inch deep in the woods though...

Remember, everybody is looking for silver... So where you are looking might have been hunted 1,000 times for silver (cherry picking). But that doesn't mean you shouldn't look. I found all of my coins at a place that has been hit hard over the years, and its still producing. And to top it off, I am using an ACE 250, and everybody that I see there has a top-end machines. I found a lot of old coins, but I have spent over 100 hours so far looking for them though. Just keep looking and you will find them.

I look in the not so predictable places. Swampy areas, thorn bushes, ect, places where most people wouldn't want to hunt. But I have to warn you, I just got over a bad case of poison ivy.

Well I hope this helps...

 

[Lowbatts]

Got a 80's rosie at 8" today. Makes my heart warm.... Also today got two IH's and a buff at less than 3" also, not the same site. Oldies on the sidewalk circuit, the clad at a ballfield built several years ago with backfill from who knows where.

 

[watercolor]

If I happen to run into another hunter while out MD'ing, the first question they
usually ask is: "Did you find any silver?". And most of the time, I have to say, "No".

So far this year, I've been hunting one site that's produced 3 silver dimes and 4 V-Nickels
plus, 15 or more wheats from the early teens to the 20's.

All my finds have been in the woods around 4" deep—except for a 1920 Merc at 10-1/2" ( :P)
that was in a manicured grass picnic area .

I love silver just as much as the next guy, but I'd rather find an old V-Nickel
under some old gnarly tree, surrounded by Buckthorn, than a silver dime.

The one thing I learned this year, the most difficult places to hunt, always seemed
to be the most productive. . . you won't find a lot, but when you do, it's worth it.

Good luck!
watercolor

 

[treasurefiend]

Man, I'm jealous!!!!! I want to find a V-Nickel so bad!!!!

 

[Brett]

Thanks for the extra data points guys! It sounds like there is a lot of stuff not that deep, and that the ACE 250 should be able to find some of it. Have you guys ever done a test where you search an area with the ACE 250 with the 6x9.5" coil and then come back later maybe after you upgraded to the 9x12" coil? If so did you find anything and what was it?

See this article for an idea of why I'm still convinced a deeper detector couldn't hurt!
www.dankowskidetectors.com/loveisdeep.htm

The 23" sink in 3 minutes seemed unbelievable, but when I was out detecting the beaches of Florida, the were SUPER clean!!! Most everything found was foil and pull tabs. Maybe all of the coins and rings there WERE deep!? As for around Chi-town in the dirt, I can't help but wonder if there is a lot of stuff deeper.

Of you that have replied, how deep will your detector go? The ACE reportedly gets usually a max 6" in the air, but the ground could be maybe 8" with a good target like a quarter or a nickel. If you had say the Explorer SE, or other deep seeking detector, are your finds still in the 4" to 8" range, with nothing deeper?

Also, I would appreciate knowing what detectors go deep for cheap, and don't weigh as much as a sack of bricks? Some of the literature online for various detectors don't even list their weight... that scares me because they obviously thought you would take one look at that info and run.

Thanks!
RootMaster

 

[DPBOB]

My Xlt is light and balanced

I just had Tnet member Kimsdad use my spare Xlt and he liked it.

Funds are in the process for getting a Minelab Explorer II Big learning curve

The SE is a bit heavy and weight is more in the coil. But a GREAT MACHINE

Minelabs are nice deep target finding machines

Whites Xlt is a great coin shooting machine / gold too

 

[rcasi44]

Since you have read Nasa Dan's articles then in one he did an extensive test and found the 1962 strata to be;

At the time of this writing (April, 2006), I surmise the 1962 median average soil strata is at approximately 9.5".

I've found silver at shallow depths but I am most likely missing deep silver coins and don't know it because my detector isn't deep enough. Rob

 

[treasurefiend]

Man, I'm jealous!!!!! I want to find a V-Nickel so bad!!!!

so far this year
5 V Nickels
8 buffalo
2 WLH
8 I H
4 Barber dimes oldest 1895
11 merc
9 war nickels ( 35% silver)
10 rosie's
7 Washington's

How about you let me hunt that private grove with ya?

 

[bomber]

dangles the carrot

 

[Lowbatts]

Dankowski is a great EE, turning the CZ-5 into the CZ-3D wasn't quite rocket science, but it's close. However his thoughts on coins sinking is dependent on matrix and siesmic factors that occur in very few places. I can drop a ring in the sand anywhere around here and it might go subsurface, but not much farther until a train goes by fairly closely. Or we have an earthquake.

Once you get to know the geology of the area, it's easy to see why there are many native spots around here that have small gravel and stones on the surface mixed with soft soil. Ever seen those erratics lying around? Yep, those big glacial drift stones (boulders) have lain there for over 10,000 years and not sunk.

That said, if you've ever been over to the east side of the lake, in Michigan, there's windblown sand so fine there that it would be insane to search for a Buick on the beach if it parked there an hour earlier. Walk in it up to your knees in some places.

There's an area in the nearby park where the soil is fine, black granulated outwash from the local creek floodplain. After removing the grass, you can pretty much shove your hand into the dirt to elbow depth without digging. Yet I still find Barber era coinage there that has not sunk to the hardpan or clay which is very deep. I am sure there are coins there beyond the range of most detectors including mine, but the trash level there would prohibit the depth a PI machine might get.

How deep would you dig for a Barber Quarter? 4 feet? Get out there and dig several thousand targets from 10" to 12" and then decide what your pain tolerance is. My recommendations for machines would be an SE, an F-75, CZ or C$, a DFX or MXT. Those are the top end of machines right now for what I consider the big mfrs. and they will get you deep. Advantage again is to DD coil because of target separation but at cost of depth. Too many good coins remain in more easily recoverable depths but are left because of poor ID, masking or co-location to other targets.

 

[DPBOB]

Man, I'm jealous!!!!! I want to find a V-Nickel so bad!!!!

so far this year
5 V Nickels
8 buffalo
2 WLH
8 I H
4 Barber dimes oldest 1895
11 merc
9 war nickels ( 35% silver)
10 rosie's
7 Washington's

How about you let me hunt that private grove with ya?

most are from 2 1890's houses
"The grove"
I have asked at least 10 times if I can bring some people in. Every time I get " No "
There has been many times that I go there and he won't let me hunt that day..
I have to catch him on his good days...
If I could hold a hunt there I would have done it a while ago.

 

[DPBOB]

dangles the carrot

Eat the carrot

 

[bomber]

.............how clever

 

[-MURPH-]

SURE

 

[Lowbatts]

Hey RootMaster,
Got a few shinies during that street work down there last year but missed most of it. Do you know if Aurora streets are getting sidewalk/curb work this year again? Went down through the island when they were tearing down the old big buildings and there were 4 or 5 large and small old safes by the dumpster. Warmed my heart...

Ever worked the old Farnsworth site? Silver Springs?