Advice needed

[hillpirate]

My great grandfather died before he could tell his wife where the family gold was buried. My grandfather had seen the gold as a young boy when it was kept in the barn but when my g-grandfather found out my grandfather had found it, he promptly buried it. On his deathbed, he asked his brother to go get his wife so he could tell her the location, but before she got to his bedside he had expired. My father and I spent several days back in the '70s with an older White's detector but never found it. The old homestead passsed out of the family soon after but now I have access to it. Question: What type of detector would be best suited to detect appox. 30-40
double eagles($20 gold) in a stone jar 1-2 feet deep? I am a newbie and need all the advice I can get.

hillpirate

 

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[Kentucky Kache]

The standard answer is, get the largest coil you can afford, or use a two box machine. Depth is most important here. Discrimination isn't too important, as you'll probably want to dig every signal. Pay attention to the faint signals, as well as the loud ones.

Are you familiar with fence post caches? Spend some time on the cache hunting board. You'll find a lot of good information there on where, why and how caches were hidden.

If you were g grandpa, where would you have buried that gold?

 

[Old Town]

This is a great story. For the value of what might be there you should consider taking a bulldozer to the top 18 inches. Peel it off and then put it back. One day hire of a D8 and operator isn't all that much considering double eagles in that amount. Just a thought.

OT

 

[hillpirate]

We always suspected it was buried near the outhouse where he could inspect it every day without raising suspicions. Our second choice was the fruit cellar at the side of the house under a porch.
Unfortunately, I don't think the people who own the land now would allow a bulldozer.

 

[TerryC]

Your narrative is TOO GENERAL and will only get a whole bunch of general responses. How big is the property? One acre? 80? Farmland or town? Hills or "flatland"? Ultimately, a large group of FRIENDS should be rounded up and put to work for a predetermined cut. Even 50% of the horde is better than 100% of nothing. Narrow the parameters in another narrative. TTC

 

[hillpirate]

The house was on a small hill on their farm. The area from the barn to the outhouse(with the house in between) covers less than two acres. Those were the only structures on the land and according to g-grandfather's wife, he checked it daily without leaving this area. The soil is sand/clay with no rocks.

Thanks for all the responses.

 

[ThTx]

Try a good two-box. Might be able to pick up that size target.

 

[Old Town]

We always suspected it was buried near the outhouse where he could inspect it every day without raising suspicions. Our second choice was the fruit cellar at the side of the house under a porch.
Unfortunately, I don't think the people who own the land now would allow a bulldozer.

Wait till they go on vacation. LOL

 

[hillpirate]

Best laugh I've had today!

 

[Smudge]

Guys, I'm wondering if a good pulse induction machine might be a decent alternative to a two-box detector in this situation.

 

[m bryan]

Some say that they would bury it somewhere visible from the master bed room so they could keep an eye on it at night......

 

[Old Town]

Guys, I'm wondering if a good pulse induction machine might be a decent alternative to a two-box detector in this situation.

I used to use a White's Surf Master PI machine on inland sites for railroad articles like spikes and stuff. It worked fine but I really don't think it was deeper than a White's Classic 3 I was using at the same time. In theory it should be deeper but did not live up to this in practice. Just my finding.

 

[CWnut]

30-40 coins, stone jar, 1 to 2 feet deep how do you know this? I would think 30 or so coins would be very easy to miss with a 2 box, although that would be my first choice for something a bit larger. Best stay with a large coil in all-metal or very low discrimination. A probe could help determine size and depth of target...good luck keep us posted

 

[hillpirate]

At the turn of the 20th century, my grandfather and his brother found the jar while they were playing in the barn. They opened it up and counted the coins. It was a stoneware jar similar to what they made churns and whisky jugs out of. G-grandfather later told his wife that it was buried but did not say where. He was a very frugal old Scotsman and in addition to farming, he was a moneylender. We know from family folklore that he would occasionally add to the stash but he never withdrew any. My grandfather said there were times that the family went hungry, but the old tightwad wouldn't dip into the gold.
The one to two feet is merely a guess, on the assumption that anything deeper might have been too obvious when he made his deposits. Any thoughts?

hillpirate

 

[agtosser]

Hillpirate, My first feeling, why move it to far from the same location...Did he say, "buried", to throw the family off?I would suspect it's still hidden in the barn, maybe some loose floorboards near a work bench, or the tack repair area? ...how about the rafters, in between the joists at a wall header, or in between stall walls. HH Mustache man

 

[bigscoop]

I can't imagine burying anything 1 - 2 feet deep if you were wishing to access it in secret nearly every day. I'd be more suspect of those places that would be quick and easy to access without leaving too much to notice behind. Perhaps it's in a comfortable hole under something, say a large flat rock, etc. Also, don't know your location, but a stone jar "buried" in the ground stands a chance of busting when the ground freezes and I'm sure he would have wanted to avoid that, not to mention that it would also be harder to access, (if you're in an area where the ground freezes.)

 

[mlayers]

I am guessing if he added to it now and then it isn't bury. It is somewhere in a building outside of the home. Where he could get to it easy enough for him. I would check floors, and walls real good and there must bea loose board or two. Keep us posted if you find it would love to hear whre it was at....Matt

 

[hillpirate]

The old barn was torn down before I first hunted for it as a youngster. My great uncle still lived in the house and carefully searched everything as he tore it down, looking for the gold, when he retired from farming. Soon after, he called my father to come help him search for it. Uncle died soon after that. The barn, outhouse, and a couple of other sheds were all gone by that time with only the old house remaining. It stands empty today.
G-grandfather loaned out money in the spring to other farmers so they could make their crop and collected in the fall after harvest, so he probably opened up the jar a few times twice a year. My grandfather was just a boy of seven or eight when he found the gold in the barn and lived in the house another 10-11 years but could never figure out where it was. My great uncle was with my grandfather that day, lived in the house another fifteen years, then came back to it later, and never saw it again either. I don't see how he could have kept the gold in the house and it not be noticed or discovered by his wife or children. Could he?
And the ground almost never freezes around here.

 

[gleaner1]

hillpirate, this is a simple one. I reason as follows: A target of 30 or 40 big azz double eagle gold coins in a stone jar buried at 12" deep would sound like a refrigerator at 12" deep using my 1984 Garret with 6" coil. A target of 30 or 40 big azz double eagles buried at 24" deep would sound off pretty good with my 1984 Garret with 6" coil. Go for it man!

 

[deepskyal]

If he was hiding it from the family, it should be somewhere that no one would catch him in mid-dig. That would mean somewhere not so close to the house.
Also, digging it up a couple times a year, maybe there is a small depression on the ground from the ground settling.
I'll be watching for your updates...maybe give me some hope that my g-g-grandfathers stash is still findable.

Al