Depth of old coins.

[saralo123]

I have a question for all the coin hunters out there. Since I purchased my detector, pin pointer and upgraded my coil, I have become very good at finding coins. However if I'm finding 50 year old coins in a particular type of soil at two inches how deep will the 150 year old coins be. I know that's a loaded question but the only old coin I have found to date is a 1918 wheat which was only 3 inches down. Am I to assume that someone hunted out a whole park fourty years ago? My stock coil picks up coins to 10 or 12 inches and I pulled a 1961 canadian penny out of a 6 inch hole with my 4 by 6 prism coil yesterday and a hand made nail at 11 inches. I use it in trashy areas and it works great. Am I losing depth detection on coins with the 4 by 6?? What am I missing. Oh by the way the park is 111 yrs old and is loaded with coins. Where the heck are the old ones.?

 

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[str8flexed]

Old ones will be where old ones were lost. Its almost impossible to answer your question, due to factors unknown. 1. has the soil been built up or worked. 2. errosion etc etc etc.. the list can go on and on.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

Coins are generally found at 4-6 inches. You can find them at any depth, depending on soil condition and the size and weight of the object. Heavier items sink faster past rocks and such, weather and soil play's a big role. The cleaner/softer the soil (less rocks) the faster an item can sink. Most items kinda move up and down with the weather, frost, rain, or ground shifting. Staying relatively in the same depth... A smaller coil will always get less depth than a stock coil or big coil.

Keep @ it and HH !!

 

[airscapes]

The 4x6 seems to be about 4-6" max for a coin. On the CM GT the 4x6 depth is off by 2 inches.. says 6 is only 4 due to the small size and the fact the machine has no way for you to adjust to work with a smaller coil. When using your stock 9" the field pattern is cone shaped.. only a inch or 2 wide at depth. If you are not over lapping your swings by 75% you are missing lots of deep area. Consider the NEL Hunter for non trash areas as you get a much wider field at depth. The VDI is off a little but I have rarely use the stock 9 since I got it.
If you have not read this article do so, you will be much enlightened as to what is going on under your coil. I would suggest reading it in 2 sittings and then again after you hunt a couple of time after reading it. Truth About Search Coils

 

[Doug H]

I have only found one old coin...an 1894 Barber Quarter. It was about 4 inches down. Ever since then I've often wondered the same thing. Is 4 inches normal for a coin of that age or was it really only lost 20 or 30 years ago. I have no other finds to compare it to. If I found another 1800s coin and it was 10 inches down then I would think that maybe the Barber WAS dropped later in life but if it was roughly the same depth then I would think that depth was about normal.

 

[saralo123]

thanks guys if 4 to 7 inches is what im looking at te thats ok. I'll just have to persevere.

 

[Argentium]

There is no accurate answer to the question "how deep will the ---------(fill in the blank) no. of years older coins be " As the earlier
respondent noted, there are way too many variables involved here . If it's older coins you are wanting to find , your best chances to
find them will come from getting permission to hunt properties where people a century ago (or more ) gathered in some numbers
over many years - fairgrounds , picnic areas , campsites , old yards , churchyards , schoolyards , to name just a few . The thing
that these locations have in common , is that many people gathered there for events of various kinds - over many years !
You will get many different opinions about various detectors and coils and the experiences that they have - The bottom line is the
experience YOU have getting out to various sites , trying different coils -researching potential sites - Have Fun !!!!

 

[david680]

Too easy to assume that the depth of the coin is directly translatable to how many years its been in the ground. Its generally true, but there are exceptions, and a lot of variables to consider. Keep searching and the older coins will pop up sooner or later, but thats not always where you would expect them to be.

 

[releventchair]

Hard to say where an age will be,but oldest are often the bottom layer coin wise. Sounds simple enough, Sites vary but I call the oldest coins dug on a site,knowing there may be deeper I don,t reach, as being in the basement. If all levels are consistent in soil compactness and history of disruption and underlying soil is consistent,in time the oldest coins start to show a similar depth pattern. Of course head scratching exceptions have to pop up now and then. My oldest that are deepest don,t ring up like shallower ones on my different than yours equipment ,but don,t be afraid to experiment with iffy coin signals or narrow band of a soft "hit". Broader area of a swing still ringing up you can check but for me them deeper coins are narrow and takes a tiny swing to ring up but they whisper coin still. Sometimes bounce towards iron when getting out of my reach in depth or wet soil, but coin first. My average over the couple harder hunt years of note was a good four hundred coins per one old/silver one.

 

[bigfoot1]

I'm just gonna huck this out there.Firstly there were fewer people and coins in antiquity.secondly...folks were a bit more careful about their coins than we spoiled modern folks.Often coins werent even carried unless they were going to be spent that day.There were no coins found in the laundry basin....because they were accounted for BEFORE laundry in most situations.This tells us much if we choose to listen.
Fewer folks...fewer coins...less lost coins per capita of minted coinage.

We gotta earn it gang...and depth means little in many regions.I,in the last month pulled a LC 1864 at less than 2 inches...an hour later nailed a beautiful 1971 dime at six inches when I researched same area.

go figure

cheers

 

[gleaner1]

Areas with rich loamy soil with no rocks, that get really wet in the spring rains with standing water, the coins go deep, they sink thru the mud. Areas on hills, in the woods, the coins can be found on top, totally exposed, I have found many old coins laying on top in the woods on hills with no undergrowth or foliage. I have found old coins in average grass turf lawns at two or three inches deep, but in spots that were never hit hard. Generally speaking, old coins are not easily found at the shallower depths, and most are gone even down to six inches. Big coils in fairly clean areas with little to no previous detector action will pull deep coins up to eight plus inches, but dont get your hopes up, the minelab and fisher guys already been there most likely.

 

[Jeremy S]

Most old coins I find are 4" - 8". I have also found 30 year old clad almost a foot down in parks that have experienced no major grading or ground work in longer than that. I think moles really help these sink faster and generally you see mole tunnels at that depth. So many factors could effect depth of objects.

 

[BVI Hunter]

If possible, always check at the base of old trees - people tend to congregate under them and the roots keep things near the surface.

 

[Old Dude]

The rockier the soil, the more shallow lost things will be. Just because a site has a mid 1900's house on it doesn't mean horses or mules weren't plowing the same dirt 200 years ago. They could have turned things under the top or they could have brought things up from the depths. As David680 said, they will turn up if you put the time in and when you least expect it.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Too many variables....

I've found, on the same patch of soil:

1894 Indian Head at 1 1/2"
Mercury dime at 8"
Balled up cigarette pack at 13"
Modern clad at 6"
Mercury dime right on top of the soil, just dusted over
A Franklin Half at 1/2"

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I'm just gonna huck this out there.Firstly there were fewer people and coins in antiquity.secondly...folks were a bit more careful about their coins than we spoiled modern folks.Often coins werent even carried unless they were going to be spent that day.

bigfoot1 speaks the truth!

In the 1930's, Mom was visiting her grandmother in the mountains. Mom said she lost a nickel and couldn't find it. She said she received a letter from her grandmother - she'd searched for that nickel for two weeks and found it.

Money was that important to the people in the old days.....

 

[Swartzie]

thanks guys if 4 to 7 inches is what im looking at te thats ok. I'll just have to persevere.

Bingo! Perseverance is the name of the game. All you have to do is search a little section of the park at a time. Don't concern yourself with the depth of stuff. Coins and everything else are found at all depths. My rarest find was like literally right on top of the ground. Common sense would tell you it should have been much deeper, but it wasn't. So, the good stuff is where you find it I suppose. Work the park for a couple years. I'm sure there's still goodies in the ground. Good Luck!

-Swartzie

 

[coinman123]

I found an 1805 Large Cent at 3'', and a 1970's penny at around 8''. It depends on many factors, weather, erosion, plant growth, soil density, foot travel, etc.

 

[gleaner1]

It's a crap shoot.

 

[Ocean7]

*L* well the really old coins in rich or sandy soil can be at 12" deep or so. The Nova Constellatio with no date (1783-1786) that I dug was at the bottom of a measured 12" hole. However, I believe most really good coins found were at the 6" to 9" mark. Yet I've dup very old coins at 2-3" too because no one had run a coil over them yet. Sometimes if a place is 'cleaned out' - I'll go there and remove very deep coins. Yes, you will loose depth with a 4X6 coil IMO. I don't use anything under 8" coil but have a sniper coil that's gotten little use. I have a 12" but don't like swinging that thing.