Anyone care to speculate...

[DirtPoor]

As to whether more coins are coming out of or going into the ground? Granted coins no longer in circulation are diminishing, nobody's losing seated dimes, I hope, but what about everyday old clad? Once current designs leave circulation, people may be excited to dig memorial pennies. Thoughts?

 

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[bk]

Unfortunately, I don't think the zinc cents will last buried in the ground for more than 10 years. As for the others, as long as they are still made of metal, they will continue to be lost and found.

 

[Sandman]

People drop a penny, they don't bother to pick it up. In the grass coins are hidden as soon as they fall. Many more coins are lost than found and I enjoy everyone I find with my detector. I have never turned a money profit considering the time I spend looking. I have come home happy at just finding a wheatie. I have also came home skunked......

At least there is more reward MD'ing than chasing a lil white ball around a huge lawn with lil flags. LOL....

 

[Hawkeye]

I think we may be at the beginning of a decline in lost coins. It may take a few years but I think it is going to happen. With the usage of debit and credit cards on the rise people are carrying fewer coins. fewer coins=fewer losses I know I don't carry that same amount that I did even a few years ago. With that said, my list of places I want to detect is so long I'm not too worried about it.

 

[treasurekidd]

You may be right about that Hawkeye, but kids will still be taking there .50 cents or so to school everyday for milk money, and will still be losing it while playing in the schoolyard. I actually saw a teenager the other day walk out of a convenience store and throw his handfull of change on the pavement, like he didn't even want it. I went in, grabbed my newpaper and lottey ticket, came out and picked it up! As long as the younger generation has such disregard for change, we'll keep finding it.

 

[hollowpointred]

i dont know about where you are from, but around here there is clad everywhere! i mean it! literally everywhere! it is amazing how many clad coins are in the ground and more are lost every day. i dont think there will be a shortage of clad in my lifetime!

 

[ZumbroKid]

I figure some hunters will continue to find the older coins on a regular basis. The modern stuff will also get harder to find. Maybe the types of detecting will change with more becoming nugget or cache hunters, at least a small percentage increase.

 

[bakergeol]

There will always be an abundance of clad in our parks, playground, schools, etc. The main reason for this has more to do with detectorists than what is being dropped. The following reason below does not apply to Beach/water hunters as they are a different breed and you can not pigeon hole them on anything.

To illustrate this I give this example. A while back there was a newbie frequent poster here that regularly posted impressive clad finds from the local parks, schools, etc. He was finding hundreds of dollars of clad a year and was quite content. Well was this in an area that had very few detectorists? No -this was from my area of operations. The city in which he was detecting had a very large metal detecting club and is literally overrun with detectorists. So was he finding stuff that these people were missing? No.

The answer is that he was detecting clad that the majority of detectorists here were not interested in finding. Most of the folks on this forum are new and do not understand that goals and attitudes change with time. Actually I regard folks with less than 10 years of experience as being Newbies. If you survive this hobby in 10 years time( or 5 years, or 5 months, depending on you ) you will not be content to detect 70 cents in clad down at the local park. You will scouting out construction sites, old homes, virgin sites,ect for old coins or silver and you will not be posting clad finds.

Some older detectorists do NOT DIG clad in the parks as they are only interested in old coins and these shallow coins are simply ignored. For them it is not a money issue as how much clad I can find in a day but an enjoyment issue. Having fun with your valuable free time is the main issue. You could make more money using your free time working at a part time job at a fast food restaurant than you can detecting clad if "paying off your detector" is so important.

SO CLAD WILL BE WITH US FOREVER

George

 

[silverswede]

Just a few speculations. Most states now have a sales tax making an odd amount for most purchases. At least that keeps me circulating pennies, nickels, and dimes and probably dropping alot over the years. I agree that in any parking you'll see pennies on the ground and people walking over them. I've found a little challenge in getting two coin collector books- one for 41' to 74' cents and one for 1975 to current and only filling the slots with detector finds. Still have 30 or so slots empty but rarely get skunked anymore.

 

[southbound]

Many coins lost here in Germany too, but they rust after a few years in the ground. Have to look for silver and gold. Vern

 

[stoney56]

Good point, Baker. Clad comes in handy to get another set or 2 of batteries or for a quick Coke at the convenience store after a day of detecting but for putting gas in the vehicle as you drive around looking for out of the way, possible virgin territory? Forget it. I drove around yesterday in the country after topping off the tank and resetting the tripometer, and was shocked to find that when I got home that 180 miles were logged and didn't get further away from the house than maybe 35-40 miles. LOL On the good side, did find 5 new sites including a ghost town w/cellars, foundations, and a # of sidewalks.
BTW, I don't turn down clad but I don't go out of my way to find and dig the stuff, I still pick it up but I also PU junk and haul it off as well.

 

[ZumbroKid]

Well, less than 5 years to go and I'll not be a newbie! Lucky for me Montana does not have a sales tax. Lots of parks here, i have yet to try one. A friend told me of one park that is very trashy, if i do a park it will be that one. I took my friend over to a demo site and he found some old navy button. We each got some minor finds.