Coming up empty handed

[IDigVirginia]

Ok so obviously it could be user error, it could also be that everyone around here is so tight that any coin they ever dropped they picked up. I have an AT Pro which I recently purchased and have put about 10 hours on it. Prior to that I used a Fisher F4 and a Bounty Hunter Discovery 2200. My family owns a house that was built probably in the 1800's if not earlier. I have searched it with all 3 detectors and I have found a bunch of trash and a few modern (post 1965) coins. Their was an old stage coach that ran in front have the house that was the trail from Roanoke, VA toward Bristol, VA. Am I just unlucky? The soil is rich, very dark brown and easy to dig. It makes me wonder if the older stuff has sank over the years beyond a depth my detector can reach. I know that something has to be lost for me to find it but it blows my mind that I can search an old farm house that I feel like many other detectorist would LOVE to hunt and I come up with zilch. Since I started detecting (in my free time) I have only found 1 silver dime and it was an Rosie. Everything else has been clad or junk. I'm not a glass half empty kind of guy and I don't want to get discouraged to the point of quitting the hobby because every time I get a chance to go out and hunt I'm very optimistic and excited. I just need to figure out if this is the norm or am I doing something wrong.

By the way I have hunted beaches, parks, other older home sites as well. This particular house just seemed like it would be a hot spot.

 

[CTwoods]

The soil is rich, very dark brown and easy to dig. It makes me wonder if the older stuff has sank over the years beyond a depth my detector can reach. I just need to figure out if this is the norm or am I doing something wrong.

By the way I have hunted beaches, parks, other older home sites as well. This particular house just seemed like it would be a hot spot.

I have always done so poorly at an existing early home that has good grass, good growing soil. The stuff gets too deep real quick if the grass is well kept. I found an old small rectangular wristwatch body that I used to carry in my watch pocket...in the lush lawn of a 1703 side yard. I lost it 30-35 years ago, and it was already 8" down. I never found anything old there in the good lawns.

Strangely, the woods of a long gone homesite can give up coins, buttons and relics at just a few inches deep, if not right next to a stone wall where leaves pile up deep each fall.

On the other hand, if you ever find a field that had an unknown/unmapped home, but is plowed each year, you will be in hog heaven....and it will produce more each year after harvest. You can find shallower stuff in fresh tilled soils, but if you wait until fall harvest and the summer rains have compacted the soil, you will find deeper ones....and also eyeball some good china and stoneware shards

EDIT to add pics; I never really found a lot of early buttons or early coins, but I stumbled onto a field that must have been an early site. Look at the buttons from just the hot spot in the field; After digging the 3rd or 4th Dandy button, I said out loud; "you got to be kidding" ! I found a lot more coppers since these pics. Oldest coin was 1726 reale

 

[A2coins]

At pro watch the instruction video I love my At pro I use the Nel attack coil one thing is swing slow the little faint beeps are usually deeper coins. I find if you have a faint beep use your foot and clean off some top dirt signal if good will get louder also after ground balance turn down
gb about 10 to 15 Also I find at pro seems to go a little deeper after a rain when the ground is wet.I live in Ann Arbor and tons of clad silver is much harder to find get use to your machine youll find the good stuff!!! Some areas can be duds also coins will sink after time from rain ect..Good luck!!

 

[IDigVirginia]

Thanks for the reply CTwoods. One other thing I should mention is that I have found several mason jar lids behind the house kind of all in the same area. They were roughly 10" deep. I don't know how long they have been in the ground, but that may help determine how the soil reacts to absorbing metal objects.

 

[CTwoods]

Thanks for the reply CTwoods. One other thing I should mention is that I have found several mason jar lids behind the house kind of all in the same area. They were roughly 10" deep. I don't know how long they have been in the ground, but that may help determine how the soil reacts to absorbing metal objects.

I just added pics to my post above only to show what can happen if you find that rare unhunted/unknown homesite in a field. I can't tell you how many years I had such poor pickings on old cellar sites. You don't need a mega detector, I can assure you on that. You need to find spots that nobody knew or hunted. I keep studying maps in the town I have lived in for 9 years. I can now find 1700s stuff 5 to 10 minutes from home. I'm not kidding.

 

[releventchair]

I acquired a farmstead hunt that has seen four generations on it.
I resisted the temptation to bring a wagon to haul the silver coins off with . Good thing as the haul was like 12 cents ..a clad dime and a couple Lincoln memorials. Mason jar lids there too.
I've wondered on some sites if all coins were kept in the house till some one was heading to town.
Probably as many chances out in the former crop fields where the farmer labored the most.
Not all sites are that way but some sure are.

Your results will vary by wealth of people,number of children maybe ,number of people over a long period of time or many people for a short period of time.
In modern areas you will find a silver to clad ratio of your own. It could be a few hundred clad to one silver.
About the time you have a figure you might hit a streak of silvers.
All part of the game .
Keep at it. Maybe find them old stage stops and poke around.
Your home site would have me thinking cache of poker or egg money , especially with so little evidence of careless loss..
A couple guns were squirreled on the farm I mentioned earlier.

 

[Johncoho]

Don't get discouraged. You just have to keep plugging away and in time it will get better. It seems like when I find an old place that I think will be the motherlode, it isnt. But then a permission that isn't very old gives up some nice finds. Go figure. You just never know.

 

[Bruce R]

I've been to a dozen spots this year that I thought were perfect and came up empty. Conversely, I find some really cool stuff at the most unlikely places, go figure. The main thing is, you don't give up. Your time will come, and when it does, we won't be able to shut you up on this forum ! LOL

 

[IDigVirginia]

I appreciate all the advice. The funny thing is that the house is still in use today as a rental. It has been turned into 3 separate apartments. The ground has been virtually untouched as far as I know. My parents actually rented the house from my great grandmother until I was about 5 years old (31 now). Its just amazing to me the lack of finds (unless you count pull tabs, beer cans, and mason jar lids. The place is eat up with those items). Its all in fun, its just frustrating to see a guy wander out into the woods and randomly find a 1730 King George and I'm searching what you would think would be the hot spot and finding nothing! haha I enjoy the responses and the help guys!

 

[trapperart]

Patience

 

[ScubaDetector]

I think you are super LUCKY!!!! Reading your post made me realize you might have one of the RAREST coins out there!! Your silver dime is a one of a kind! I have never seen or heard of an Eisenhower dime.


Ok now that I have your attention, I searched my grandfathers and great grandfathers farm here in Michigan. 160 acres and the original house was built by my great grandfather in 1852 and is still standing. I found a crotal bell. That was all. No coins from the many family reunions we had in the apple orchard or from the countless workers that picked the fruit. Nothing.

It has to have been lost where you are searching. That is a key. People didn't have a lot of money and a lot of bartering happened back then. Any day detecting and getting out to me is priority. Finding things is secondary. I would keep at it and not worry about what you haven't found. Patience and enjoyment will get you experience and targets. My free 2¢

 

[Bruce R]

You have my permission to wander out into the woods also. You would be hard pressed to find anyplace in this country where people have not been, and people lose stuff everywhere they go. Two weeks ago I was detecting about 15 miles from home , all I found was 72 cents in clad but when I got home I discovered that I'd lost my own damn wallet and had to go back and find it.

 

[IDigVirginia]

Sorry about the confusion ScubaDetector. Haha my Grandfather collected coins. He died back in 1990 and my Grandmother kept his collection ever since. She decided to give me some of his Eisenhower dollars the other day so I have Eisenhower on the brain. Here are some pictures of the Rosie dime and the dollars (I know this forum likes pictures!) I think there are 100-120 Eisenhowers in there. Haven't counted them all yet.

 

[ScubaDetector]

Not confused. I knew you meant rosey. I was just trying to make you laugh. Hope I succeeded. Nice pile of Ike's.

I hope in time your silver collection and old coin collection grows and grows. Good luck out there. Worst enemy to this hobby and most others is discouragement.

 

[IDigVirginia]

Any of those dollars potentially rare or valuable past face value?

Not that I could ever give them up being that they were my Grandfather and all.

 

[ScubaDetector]

Any of those dollars potentially rare or valuable past face value?

Not that I could ever give them up being that they were my Grandfather and all.

If you have the silver ones that came in proof sets possibly. Probably not though.

Eisenhower (Ike) Dollar Values & Prices

 

[Metal Magnet]

I have been to many places that I thought would be amazing and found nothing but junk. When in doubt, hunt places that will give you targets so you can practice. Schools, commonly used parks, tot lots for easy digging, etc. Learn, learn, learn. I have also been to places that I almost didn't go to - and wouldn't you know it, I found great stuff. Not all the time.

So much of this hobby is persistence. Don't underestimate it. It's also doing the research to find areas that may turn up the goods. It's work, but if you love it, it's fun work.

 

[Calabash Digger]

I have the same problem with an 1817 house nothing really but trash, there is goodies there but they are just hard to find with all the modern junk. dont give up! I did find a 1902 barber quarter but it was out away from the house also got a couple flat buttons and a chinese coin. thats after a hundred hours or so of searching.btw you need about a 100 hours or so on that pro and you will start to be dangerous will it.

 

[tomhighland]

Sometimes things are just strange. I've found a 150 year old penny four inches down and A fifty year old penny eight inches down two feet away. Found places infested with Zincolns, others where all were copper. I've dug at least 1000 targets this year. 40% trash at least. 3 silver coins,2 silver items, 3 keeper copper coins and around 35 bucks in change. I still and always will have more to learn. Just keep swinging it takes a lot of time to learn the machine. Enjoy the hunt as much as the finds. Try off the wall spots. You might be surprised. Last weekend I hit an urban trail. It ran from a trailer park to the convenience store. Good luck.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

I've searched my homestead many, many times - maybe 50. It's been in my family since sometime after 1730. I've found a couple wheats and one mercury dime.

My mother was raised in Newport News, and visited the homestead during the Summers. Mom said that on one of her visits she lost a nickel. Her grandmother looked for that nickel for two weeks before she found it - money was that important to the poor folk here. They lived off the farm produce and trading - like eggs for coffee, sugar.

Southwest Virginia recovered from the Civil War long after the rest of the nation. If it ain't there, it ain't there and you won't find it.

Does that deter me? Nope. An old church 5 minutes down the road I found a silver half and merc. You just never know and have to always keep the faith.