Deep coins.....10 inches or more??

[1235CE]

O.K., question.....I have a Whites XLT my brother has a DFX....We have been detecting very regularly for 7 years and we live on the Mass/NY line.... Our detectors are considered by many to be top of the line and we each have found thousands of old coins. Neither of us has EVER found a coin deeper than 6 inches and when we do find coins in that range they are most always from the 1700's/early 1800's; copper or silver.

Here is an example of my depth ranges and what comes out of the ground here at certain depths.

clad/new coins = 0 inches to 1 inch
wheat cents = 1-2 inches
Indian heads = 2-3 inches
large cents = 3-4 inches
Colonials = 3-6 inches
shield/V/Buff/Jeff nickels = 1-4 inches
Roosie silver dime = 2 inches
Merc dime = 2 inches
Barber dime = 2-3 inches
seated dime = 3-4 inches
Bust dime = 4-6 inches
half dimes = 3-5 inches
silver Washington quarter = 2 inches
Standing Lib quarter = 2-3 inches
Barber quarter = 3 inches
seated quarter = 3-4 inches
Bust quarter = 4-6 inches
Kennedy/Franklin/Walking halves 1-3 inches
Barber halves = 3-4 inches
Seated halves = 4 inches
Bust halves = 4-6 inches
dollars (have 3 Peace, 1 Morgan) = 2-3 inches
2 cent pieces = 2-4 inches
3 cent pieces = 3-5 inches

Of course, there are exceptions (like a 1787 Fugio Cent at 1 inch and a 1963 Roosie at 6 inches....go figure)

I am always reading that people are recovering coins at 10+ inches and quite honestly, I don't think our detectors even go that deep....it makes me wonder if people are mis-reading their depths or they have very soft soil in their neck of the woods.

Now I'm not saying we don't miss any coins because I'm sure that we do but if we are finding all of these coins at these depths what could we possibly be missing?


Beep, beep and be deep (but not over 6 inches because we'll miss it )

HH all
Greg

 

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[Gabbit]

Must be lucky with your soil -- here in Idaho coins seem to sink deep and quick. I have found very few wheat cents at less than say 4". I regularly dig coins past 8" -- one of these days I will have to do a video for the skeptics -- I hunt with a guy from T-Net (Angelo) who can attest that a detector will go that deep. I often hunt heavly hunted areas such as parks which may account for the quick sinking coins (heavy traffic). Yesterday I detected a pop can at 15" in sand -- I do think the type of soil does have a big effect on how deep you can get because I have never dug 15" out of sand.

 

[Born2Dtect]

It is a little of both. Coins in softer dirt or sand can move and go deeper than when you first detected them. Also my detector seems to put objects a little deeper than the are on the meter. I have found a quarter in wet sand at 12" (Minelab Quattro). I know it was at this depth because I found it of to side with a probe not in the bottom of the hole. The probe detects to 1" only. In your area the depth that you find coins will depend a lot on, seasonal changes, amount of decaying matter, use of area, type of soil, you name it. I would just concentrate on identifying what depth you find the best items in a site and key in on that. Let the depth mongers go for the deeper signals, by the way it takes more time and effort to dig a 12" hole than a 6" hole. I find my best coins at 3 to 6" deep. Detector users (including me) sometimes borrow from the fisherman, "Man that was a 12 " inch deep coin, wow!". Use your imagination.

Ed Donovan

 

[Diggincoinz]

I'm in NY near on Lake Ontario, half way between Rochester & Syracuse. I'm sure my Garrett will detect 10 inches in all metal mode but I have yet to hit a target that deep.
Most wheaties have been 3-4 inches depending on soil. It can be pretty stoney around here that'll hold up the coins more but digging thru them can be a real pain.
All of my dug old coins have been 1" to 5", including my 1817 & 1823 large cents that ranged around 4 inches.
I've only dug 3 silver half dollars, all were 2" - 3".

But with the sidewalk construction, coins are everywhere and the dirt is loose (that's nice)!

Chris

 

[Will_detect4food]

Most of the coins I find are more than 6 inches, But as you know in florida we only have 2 kinds of soil WET SAND & DRY SAND

good luck

 

[bakergeol]

I guess count your blessings. Just be thankfull you have such stable soil. Here is an article by Charles in nearby New York where he puts the "good coins" between 8" and 12".

http://groups.msn.com/MinelabExplorerXSusers/wotcoiltips.msnw


George

 

[hollowpointred]

coin depth varies around here. i will agree that i rarely dig a coin at 6 to 8 inches though. most stuff is in the 1 to 4 inch range. i have however dug a 1781 reale at 2 inches at one place, and then clad from the 60s at 6 inches at another.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Greg your table of depths is in line with what I find here in most areas of Michigan.

I've been hunting this state since 1968 and 98% on my good finds have been under 5 inches deep.

My shallowest coins tends to be those at ghost towns, cellar holes, etc., and very old undisturbed sites. I'm hunting a site now that has grass about 18 inches tall and was last used in the 1930's. It dates back to about the 1870's which is old for Michigan. I find relics of all metals at 1 to 5 inches with most about 3 inches deep (spoons, tools, lead, copper, iron, etc.). The biggest problem in these old areas is getting the coil down to ground level due to the grass.

My deepest coins come from sites with modern day heavy traffic (2-5 inches).

As for those claiming extreme depths I can not account for their claims but due to so much testimony I can't discount them either. I must admit though it is a mystery to me.

I have dug some (2%) very deep targets but I can easily attribute these to surface disturbances over the decades. Back in the 80's I dug 7 or 8 Indian cents at 5 to 9 inches deep by a park restroom (filled in). Over the past few years I've dug coins at 7-8 inches deep but all were from manmade or natural landfill locations.

 

[1235CE]

Thanks for all of the replies folks....makes me feel better.
Also, thanks George for that article.....which taught me the following:

"Charles" is a strange man.
"Charles" is a Minelab employee.
"Charles" has NOT found "over 150 silver coins and over 200 Indian Heads" in a 2 football field size park that has been "hunted to death by all other brands of detectors".....Please "Charles", I was born at night but it wasn't last night.
"Charles" has NOT "found hundreds of old coins on edge".....Personally, I swing the loop, it beeps, I dig, I recover coins.....hell if I know if they are on edge.....I think "Charles" is on edge.
And "Charles", if you did indeed find an 1833 half dime at 7 inches at second base of a baseball field that was dripping with trash then you are an alien with X-ray vision and you are scaring me.

Beep, beep and be deep.

HH all
Greg

 

[jeff of pa]

I know I have Dug coins at 10" & more.

I also Know in some cases it felt like 10" or more and it probably wasn't. I don't carry a tape measure into the field, except when doing a
Field Test on a Coil.

My Minelabs will pick up a dime at 10"
and my Sovereign, even in Trashy Ground WILL
Pick up a silver dime at 10" on occasion.

So I know a Half Dime at 7" in a Trashy Ballfield is possable,
IF you know your detectors sounds.
And although This is just Conjecture, I also believe a DD coil must
be used to get these results in trashy areas.

You may not get a Solid Dime Sound in trash, but you will get several
Blips and one will be the tone that says Coin in this mess.

I'll swear to that on my Reputation. (Whatever that is :P)


as I can I.D. just about 50% of all my signals before I dig, on Tone
alone & with the aid of the meter can up that to 90% accuracy.

and I Dig everything, So those Broken Coin / Nail / Foil Signals
get dug, and I'v learned from doing it, which ones are Very Likely to produce a coin in the mix.

On Depth, I was out twice in the heat this past week at a Church Grove. 6 out of 7 wheats were just under the soil, thought they had to be memorials. one was about 5"
The reason For the Shallow wheats, an Above ground Septic mound.
they apparently used the surrounding ground to cover it and bulldozed
the topsoil.
I'v found wheats from on top to deeper then Large Cents.
Depth by Type of Coin is Impossable to Calculate accurately.

 

[Monty]

I have not dug a lot of "old coins" because quite frankly what is old in my part of the country is not that old in most of the country. My oldest is a 1907 "V" nickel at 2". Although I am seeking older coins, I come across a lot of clad that I dig because I can't tell the age of the coin ahead of time, and it keeps me in battery money. The majority of the coins I find are as follows: Pennies surface to 4", wheat cents usually at 4" or slightly deeper. Nickels usually shallow, about 2 to 3". Dimes an inch to often 4 or 6 inches. Quarters, 2 to 6 inches. Halves (2) I have found 2" and 4". Older coins usually in places easy to dig such as under old sidewalks 4 to 6". I have never recovered a silver dollar or any of the small dollars or gold coins.My deepest find except for iron or trash was a silver earring at about 10" in beach sand. Monty

 

[Michigan Badger]

Thanks for all of the replies folks....makes me feel better.
Greg

Thank you Greg for the honest posting. We all need something like this from time to time.

Contrary to what some seem to be trying to do, this hobby is really not about greed and easy loot. It's more like a bunch of hard work to enjoy those few briefs moments when something really great pops out of the ground.

I've hunted many old parks over my 38 years of experience. In some cases I was one of the first to certain "hot" sites. Most were used for many years as carnival and circus grounds. I used the deepest machines of the 60's to 80's (they were about the same as today) and for 100 hours of hunting I was doing extremely well to find a dozen silver coins. I did however find 100's of wheat cents and thousands of bottle caps, tabs, and wads of foil!

Contrary to what some insinuate today, people a 100 years ago didn't toss silver coins around as they sat in the parks sipping pink lemonade. They did however lose buttons and cheap jewelry as they played games.

I meet newcomers to the hobby all the time who are frustrated because they're not finding 100's of old silver coins every time they hit their local park. They just don't get it....that magazine said.... .

The fact is, most newcomers to the hobby will spend an entire summer and maybe never find an old coin. I try to educate them a little every chance I get.

Today if a THer finds a dozen silver coins in one year he's definitely doing great. I doubt that 1% of all THers in the U.S.A. find more than 5 old silver coins in an entire season.

Okay...enough of the real world....

Hey, did I tell you about the little park I hit yesterday and found 3 seated dimes, a gold piece, an 18 K diamond studded ring...all at 18+ inches deep with my Radio Shack detector?

May the games continue...

 

[Rusted_Iron]

I hunted for a long time with my White's Eagle II SL and found very few old or deep coins. I did on two or three occasions find coins at anomalous depths (as much as 9, 10, even 11"), but I think that had a lot to do with the soil. Most of my finds were shallow. In most soil conditions I couldn't find coins deeper than about 5-6 inches. I know there were deeper coins, but unless the soil conditions were exactly right, I also know I was missing them.

At the time I didn't realize how much depth loss you get when you hunt in Disc mode as opposed to All Met mode... also I didn't realize the VDI won't give reliable ID much beyond 5 or 6 inches. I, too, got frustrated reading the magazine articles. After a while I actually gave up the hobby.

Now I'm back into it, but this time around I have a more realistic attitude [I hope]. The biggest thing I've learned is the same thing others are saying on this forum: forget what the magazines say, you can go out a dozen times and find nothing but pulltabs, clad, and bottlecaps.

 

[hollowpointred]

Thanks for all of the replies folks....makes me feel better.
Greg

Thank you Greg for the honest posting. We all need something like this from time to time.

Contrary to what some seem to be trying to do, this hobby is really not about greed and easy loot. It's more like a bunch of hard work to enjoy those few briefs moments when something really great pops out of the ground.

I've hunted many old parks over my 38 years of experience. In some cases I was one of the first to certain "hot" sites. Most were used for many years as carnival and circus grounds. I used the deepest machines of the 60's to 80's (they were about the same as today) and for 100 hours of hunting I was doing extremely well to find a dozen silver coins. I did however find 100's of wheat cents and thousands of bottle caps, tabs, and wads of foil!

Contrary to what some insinuate today, people a 100 years ago didn't toss silver coins around as they sat in the parks sipping pink lemonade. They did however lose buttons and cheap jewelry as they played games.

I meet newcomers to the hobby all the time who are frustrated because they're not finding 100's of old silver coins every time they hit their local park. They just don't get it....that magazine said.... .

The fact is, most newcomers to the hobby will spend an entire summer and maybe never find an old coin. I try to educate them a little every chance I get.

Today if a THer finds a dozen silver coins in one year he's definitely doing great. I doubt that 1% of all THers in the U.S.A. find more than 5 old silver coins in an entire season.

Okay...enough of the real world....

Hey, did I tell you about the little park I hit yesterday and found 3 seated dimes, a gold piece, an 18 K diamond studded ring...all at 18+ inches deep with my Radio Shack detector?

May the games continue...

i am always wondering why i find so much clad and so little silver. my theories range from "all the silver was cherry picked in the 70s and 80s" to "the coins are there but they are just too deep to detect with the current technology". maybe it isnt either one of these and you are right badge, people were just more carefull with thier change back in the day because it actually would buy something back then!...........or maybe its a combination of all three theories.

 

[jeff of pa]

I Don't believe in The Cherry Picked Theories,
for the Simple reason, detectors were not as Good back then.

I just think People bent over for Dimes alot more back then.

Not to mention Quarters & larger silver.

 

[1235CE]

Simply a brilliant post Badger.....I believe you and I could have a beer together sometime....

Beep, beep and be deep. (but don't make me have to rent a backhoe or a dumpster)

HH all
Greg

 

[Will_detect4food]

I Don't believe in The Cherry Picked Theories,
for the Simple reason, detectors were not as Good back then.

I just think People bent over for Dimes alot more back then.

Not to mention Quarters & larger silver.

I never thought about that , but you are probably very right, coins had more value then in early 60's 25 cents bought a gallon of gas, a coke was only a nickle

so yes people probably did make a greater effort to find a lost or dropped coin and the further back you go the greater the effort

 

[Michigan Badger]

I Don't believe in The Cherry Picked Theories,
for the Simple reason, detectors were not as Good back then.

I just think People bent over for Dimes alot more back then.

Not to mention Quarters & larger silver.

Probably the main reason we find as many old coins as we do is because back in the pre-power lawnmower days people didn't cut their grass as they do today. For years I've been a collector of real photo postcards and I like to blow-up the photos and look at the details. In most old parks, backyards, etc., back in the early 1900's the grass is from about 3 to 8 inches tall.

And too they had far more carnivals and park socials in those days. Also horses and wagons were often driven into parks. During the heavy rains this means deep lost items.

 

[Ocean7]

well since buying EX II - I've dug many coins at 8". Some at 10" and some at 12". Most coins dug at > 9" are Colonial coppers or large cents. I'm quite sure about depth because any deep target found - I measure with my trowel or brass coin probe (both 12" long).

The first 12" LC I found was a “Nova Constellatio” - in very bad shape. It was sitting at the clay line and I measured it because I was blown away. That was several years ago now.

Since then, I have dug numerous LC at 10-12" in cornfields. Do i dig alot of them at 12" - no! Coins in very rich, loamy soil can sink very deep. The old colonial properties, the woods and crop fields of PA consist of very rich, loamy soil. It was all swamp or covered with ferns for millions of years.

Another factor is hearing - mine is very good. When some guys were blowing out their hearing years ago with ear-bangers (large alum. etc) on older machines - I was wearing my headphones around my neck to avoid hearing damage. And I've always taken steps to protect my hearing from power tools, chain saws, lawn tractors, etc.
Detectors have a come a long way in 20 years - they can now decrease a loud signal
to protect your ears, or increase a very low signal to amplify what might not be heard.

But if you think 10" coins are baloney - that's fine because i love finding them...

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Greg, let me respond to your comments...

"Charles" is a strange man.

"

A great many people would disagree with you but everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Charles" is a Minelab employee.

Wrong! I'm a manager for one of the big four global accounting firms.

"Charles" has NOT found "over 150 silver coins and over 200 Indian Heads" in a 2 football field size park that has been "hunted to death by all other brands of detectors"

In fact I have found hundreds more since I wrote that article in the parks around Albany, NY. Also, I challenge you to show me where in the WOT article I said "hunted to death by all other brands of detectors". That is a misquote.

"Charles" has NOT "found hundreds of old coins on edge"

Again, I challenge you to show me where in the article I said I found "hudreds" of coins on edge. I did not say that.

I think "Charles" is on edge.

I think you are embarrassing yourself.

"And "Charles", if you did indeed find an 1833 half dime at 7 inches at second base of a baseball field that was dripping with trash then you are an alien with X-ray vision and you are scaring me."

And you say I'm strange? It was bust dime on edge not a half dime, can't you get anything correct? The area around the diamonds are a trash heap, but don't take my word for it, ask Ed, Butch, Dave Z, or Carl (local Albany, NY hunters) they have all hunted this site. By the way the bust dime I found there is posted on my website for anyone to view.

Greg I don't know what prompted your rather unflattering message since to my knowledge I don't even know you but I will ask you stop. If you continue to misquote me and poke fun I will file a complaint with this website owner.

Charles