Seeking a bit of advice...

[joe_dirt]

I have access to a hunt club that was started in the late 1800's, the original club was destroyed in a fire and was rebuilt the early 1920's. Today it's a private residence. Over the last 4 or 5 years I've gone detecting there on numerous occasions. Lots of iron, lead used to weight the duck decoys, bullets, shotgun shells, nails, trash, etc. My main question is, do you think it's unusual that the oldest coin I've found so far is a quarter from the 1950's? I'm just surprised in all my time detecting there I haven't found anything earlier. Keep in mind this was an active hunt club from the late 1800's all the way until about the 1960's when it became a private residence.

 

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[cudamark]

If the grounds are original, yes, I'd say that was unusual. Chances are that the place has been relandscaped or bulldozed at some point. Try to find old photos of the club so you'll know what it looked like then and maybe they will give you an idea of a good spot to try.

 

[gaboynfla]

You did'nt talk about what detector you are usin or settings.

 

[releventchair]

To hit 50 years earlier easy enough, in theory. Would require knowing original grounds layout. Minus change. For example,
Some heavily used trap/skeet fields have been mined for lead.(equipment taking top layer of soil to recover shot. Not an issue unless field use took over original areas of most traffic. Original parking lot,Approach to club house,out door dining area,porch of original buildings .shaded areas back then,where water was acquired. Outhouse paths. Might be decent sized trees where tables once stood. Hunting oldest use areas in a grid pattern should turn a slightly earlier than 1950 coin,should. Has it ever been detected? Still something there. Those shot gun shell brass when you find older ones can be dated. Before rebuild of club if ground was bulldozed to clear debris and to level,where that material ended up might be worth detecting. If fill and or soil brought in to prep site(s) the old stuff can be deep. Trying low spots or unfilled areas might reach a target easier. Areas out from fire and newer structures,where people gathered would help determine depth with an older find too.

You have the age there good luck on the evidence.

 

[joe_dirt]

You did'nt talk about what detector you are usin or settings.

I use a T2, sens 80, disc 10, tones 2+. The grounds certainly could've been bulldozed at some point, maybe even after the fire. I know the current house was built on the same property but not the same location. I've seen photos of the original but based on what I've seen there's not enough in the photos to determine exactly where it was. The property is 18 acres but most of it is marshland/woods, so that narrows down the original location quite a bit.

Thanks for the replies so far, as I said I'm just a bit surprised I haven't found much. Wondering if it's possible there really is just nothing here. But given the age and history of the place I find that a bit unlikely. Thanks again.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

reply

I have access to a hunt club that was started in the late 1800's, the original club was destroyed in a fire and was rebuilt the early 1920's. Today it's a private residence. Over the last 4 or 5 years I've gone detecting there on numerous occasions. Lots of iron, lead used to weight the duck decoys, bullets, shotgun shells, nails, trash, etc. My main question is, do you think it's unusual that the oldest coin I've found so far is a quarter from the 1950's? I'm just surprised in all my time detecting there I haven't found anything earlier. Keep in mind this was an active hunt club from the late 1800's all the way until about the 1960's when it became a private residence.

My thoughts on the question:

It depends on what level of activity was around this "hunt club". Ie.: how well used, and used-for-what. Because if it was just a bunking place, where a dozen guys met up now and then, before heading off in the AM to hunt elsewhere, then it might just have not been heavily used (or heavily used right there, recreationally, at THAT spot).

Also, "hunt" conjurs to mind lots of bullet shells! Because I can just imagine the guys shooting target practice all around there, as they bs'd, etc...

But assuming that all demographics of time were/are equal (equal usage in at the turn-of-century, vs in the '30s/40s/50s), and assuming it was trafficked (and not, as I say, lightly used an no frolicking around on the actual premisses), then here's something to keep in mind:

The late 1800s through the 1930s had less $ in people's pockets, than the 1940s/50s, and to the present.

I saw this played out in targets of school yards we started hunting in the mid 1970s (back when schools weren't worked as hard, and machines were primitive). For example, one school we used to hunt a lot, was built in 1921. We used to find LOTS of 1940s/50s loss silver (washingtons, roosies, mercs, and wheaties). But I would notice that when I DID find coins from the teens to '30s, they usually had evidence of more wear on them. And we NEVER found barbers (which should have still been circulating in the early '20s, afterall). At the time, in the mid 1970s, we wrote it off to the simple theory that: "they must be deeper". This was because we could deduce that the older the coin, the deeper they tended to be. And at the time, our 66TR's and Compass 77's only went about 5" deep, tops (if you listened REAL hard ) Fast forward to the 1980s and '90s, where it became easy to reach 8 to 9" deep: I noticed that even though depth became a non-issue (we'd find the teens wheats with low circulation), yet they still never compared to the quantity/ratios of coins we'd found that were 1940s/50s/60s losses.

It was then that I realized, that the post WWII generation in america, became very prosperous. Prior to that, perhaps kids simply didn't have, or didn't need to carry coins. But contrast that to the post WWII generation, figuring that school lunch programs came in to vogue (where every kid brought his nickel or dime to school, etc...) and ...... all of the sudden people and kids had $ to carry.

Of course, perhaps it could be argued that adults (at a hunt club) were not the same as kids. Of course. But still though, the average dude in "1950", I bet had more coins in his pocket, than the "average dude" in 1910. Just sayin'.

 

[releventchair]

There's logic in Toms post.
Hunted one old farm(old) with no old coin. Another site was atop a former blacksmith shop later a house replaced it. plenty of iron and junk ,not one old coin. A layer of burnt earth from fire during history was about 5 inches down. not saying no old coins were there but none for me.
A dime in early seventies was good for a day old loaf at the bakery, one out of late 1800s would be worth not losing. But it happened now and then. Last one i recovered was on edge of filled area,light scratches like it rode ahead of dozer.

 

[joe_dirt]

Tom_in_CA, thanks for the reply, your thoughts make sense to me. The club was built and owned by a group of wealthy New Yorkers. In it's day it was a pretty exclusive club. It wasn't /isn't a small flophouse type club. It's a fairly large, two story, nine bedroom house. They had parties, complete with gambling tables, and as the stories go, other forms of "entertainment" that went along with it. It was certainly a well known hunt club in the area. The street it's on is even named after the hunt club.

It's just one of those places where in my gut I just feel like there has to be more here. But even after countless hours I still haven't found anything. Maybe there's something wrong with my gut...