Coins vs. rocky soil

[Diggincoinz]

Okay, I got a good feeling for the upcoming Easter weekend as I'm going to Pennsylvania to visit relatives. They're telling me that there used to be a old school house on the corner up the road from them, it's just a small empty field now on a corner of 100 acres that they used to own. I'm told that the school has been gone many years (30yrs or more) so I'm really hoping that when the metal detecing craze took off in the 70's that no one knew of this place or researched it.
I'm sure the school dated back to the early 1800's as the nearby cemetary would hint to me.

But the rocky soil! Augh! It'll be tough... but what I really would like to know ahead of time is:
Does the rocky soil help keep the older coins from sinking in so deep that I won't find them? Like what may be 10 inches deep normally be held up by these stones and such so they may only be 8 inches instead? To my knowledge the field has never been farmed or plowed.
I'll get a good 8 inches from my Garrette, but we all know there's coins deeper than that.
It's a bit mountainess region, I just hope I don't need a pik ax!

Thanks all who have some advise!

Chris

 

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[jeff of pa]

Yes & no.

You will find some on top, but the Freezes & Thaws over
close to 200 years, will have Caused some to have changed places.
some will even be wedged between Large Rocks.
A real Pain :P

You'll Love it

Jeff

 

[Michigan Badger]

I've never hunted Penn. country but here in northern Michigan you can get a bucket full of rocks from 5 buckets of dirt.

In my area coins 200 years old can be anywhere from 2 inches to 20 inches deep. The action on the surface over the years is what makes the difference.

If simply dropped and left alone with no floods or heavy vehicle commotion, etc.,--most coins and artifacts in northern Michigan are less than 5 inches deep.

I just dug 9 Wheat pennies dated from early 40's to 50's and they all were 2 to 3 inches deep. I was hunting on church property that has been basically untouched since the 1890's. I dug an Indian cent that had such detail it must have been lost new. It was 3 inches deep.

I've chatted with THers all over the US via email and in private email sessions they all tell me they rarely find a coin deeper than 5 honest inches. For online brag forums 5 inches is converted to 10.

I have friends who hunt "Copper Culture" (early native American) relics and they run from about 7 to 8 inches deep. And they're 4,000 to 6,000 years old!

In Penn. country I suspect most of your finds will be like here in northern Michigan. That is, from 2 to 5 inches.

Good hunting.

 

[Nana40]

I agree with Badger. Most of my old coin finds have never been any more than 5 inches down. But then.... maybe I'm not doing something right? :P

When I first started mding last year I hunted on my property which is on a mountain. No coins but lots of relics. Most everything wasn't more than a couple of inches down because of all the rocks. And yes....they are a pain!

Good luck on your hunt! Have a great time!

Nana

 

[Diggincoinz]

Sounds like I have a pretty good chance of breaking my record in "oldest U.S. coin" I hope. Right now it stands with a 1817 large cent, let's hope I can beat that! Silver preferably!

In other coins, a 1812 One Reale holed. Well, we'll soon find out!

 

[ZumbroKid]

I guess on this depth issue, one has to dig some signals and see for themself. I'd take several digging tools and see what works best there. Might be the old fashion shovel is best. Say if you find some old ones there, post back the depth of the finds. I believe some places they is shallow and some places they are deep. I've found them at all depths.