Asking Permission

[shvlnflds]

Has anyone ever asked permission to metal detect an old school house or other place and have the owner get about half snippy with you? It was located against the woods at the end of the field. He smartly said no and then said whatever is in the ground stays in the ground. He then said if anybody would have found anything they would've walked away with it. I knew he was mad and it pissed me off also. I told him we could split it 50/50;I don't know why I even said it;anyhow I told him thanks anyway and left.If people want to see what I find I won't hide it from them,but people never ask to see what I found.I still knew where a couple of old schoolhouses sat in fields around the same area and just came home.I didn't even feel like asking permission or detecting anymore,but I will be back out next week again!

 

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[Dan Hughes]

I see I'm getting kinda' pounded (and rightly so) on my statement that old farms yield few coins.

Let me clarify....

In the note directly above this, a fellow shows us 18 coins he found in an old farmyard. Mouth-watering coins, I might add.

On the other hand, I pulled over a hundred coins from the front yard of an old downtown house. Now the quality wasn't as good as his, many of my coins were modern, but I did get my share of buffalos, Mercs, and Indian heads.

My mother grew up on a farm in the depression, and when she was a little girl she spent over an hour hunting for a penny that she had dropped in the yard. (She found it, too). I doubt that you'd turn up too many coins in that yard. She said her parents never carried coins in their pockets except on the days they were going into town, and they didn't go into town too often. Again, less chance of coins being lost.

My point wasn't that you won't find anything, it was that you won't find as much. And of course, rules like this are generalities, and there are many exceptions.

I just don't want newbies getting too discouraged if they hunt a farmyard and come away disappointed.

---Dan

 

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[mts]

I see I'm getting kinda' pounded (and rightly so) on my statement that old farms yield few coins.

Let me clarify....

In the note directly above this, a fellow shows us 18 coins he found in an old farmyard. Mouth-watering coins, I might add.

On the other hand, I pulled over a hundred coins from the front yard of an old downtown house. Now the quality wasn't as good as his, many of my coins were modern, but I did get my share of buffalos, Mercs, and Indian heads.

My mother grew up on a farm in the depression, and when she was a little girl she spent over an hour hunting for a penny that she had dropped in the yard. (She found it, too). I doubt that you'd turn up too many coins in that yard. She said her parents never carried coins in their pockets except on the days they were going into town, and they didn't go into town too often. Again, less chance of coins being lost.

My point wasn't that you won't find anything, it was that you won't find as much. And of course, rules like this are generalities, and there are many exceptions.

I just don't want newbies getting too discouraged if they hunt a farmyard and come away disappointed.

---Dan

I agree. It's not that you won't find ANY coins. But, depending on the situation, you probably won't find as many as you would in a city yard. I've talked to my mother and grandfather about such things. Basically, in the REALLY old days, farmers provided mostly for themselves. There was no need to carry money in day to day activities. They kept what money they did have in an old mason jar in the kitchen. So coins were less likely to be lost because people simply weren't carrying them around. They only needed coins/money when they were going to town to buy something. At that point they took their "change purse" with them, bought what they needed, and then came home.

Goes4Ever has shown some nice coins that he found at an old farm house. However, most of those coins are actually relatively recent (especially in the top picture). Things changed over the years and farmers started carrying more change around daily because they were able to drive into town and buy what they needed on a moment's notice. And people who weren't actually farmers started renting and living at farm houses. So it is reasonable to find coins at old farm houses, but finding REALLY old coins is much less common. It really all depends on the history of the property in question.

In contrast, my father grew up in the city and he said that he always had coins on him as a child. He would run down the street to the drug store for a soda or some penny candy. He would also gamble with the other kids in the neighborhood. It wasn't unusual to loose a penny or two every now and then. He would even spend his money to buy cigarettes from the older kids. There was a lot of contraband floating around including pocket knives and other such goodies. All of this stuff tended to end up getting lost one way or another.

 

[Goes4ever]

I mostly hunt old farms, on occasion I hunt houses in town. Last weekend I hunted 3 different houses, 2 were from 1920, only thing I got was wheats, and the 3rd house was 1890 area, owner told me the home has been in his family since it was built and as long as he knew no one has hunted it, he was in his 60's. Only thing we got there was one single 1963 silver dime, and clad..........that's it!

So in all reality, you never ever know about any house UNTIL you ask permission and actually get your coil on the ground! If it is old I will hunt it, I don't care where it is located!....lol. Some houses are just good, and others stink!