Do silver coins sound off better than clad??

[partenr]

I've found a very productive spot recently and noticed something. I'm find MANY early 70's late 60s quarters. I think I've found 3 1965 quarters. Also many 40s and 50s Nickels. I would think that with the number of old-ish coins I'm finding, I would find some silver coins. I'm getting the distinct impression that the Silver has been mined and I'm getting the left-overs. I'm not complaining, just curious.

Do SIlver coins generate a stronger response? Is this how some guys (smarter guys than me) are able to find tensy silver dimes?

 

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[Wolfmight]

The silver coins are normally atleast 90% pure silver, while the clad coins are less than 10% from what I hear. Having more silver content, I would think the silver would sound-off better than the clad.

The problem comes down to the amount of time those silver coins have been in the ground. They become deeper as time passed and detectors have harder times detecting lower items.

Hope this helps,
John

 

[The Beep Goes On]

It depends on the detector. If it only produces four beeps, for instance, then a silver dime will have the same beep as a clad dime. If you're using something like a DFX (with 190 tones) then there is a definite difference. The VDI may be slightly higher, but the biggest difference is that a clad dime will warble between two adjacent tones while the silver will be a pure tone. Once you hear it you won't forget it.

HH!
TBGO

 

[Sandman]

Silver coins are 90% silver and very conductive. They usually ring up higher on the scale than clad and are louder. Many hunters in the past used inferior equipment compared to what we use today and they didn't like to dig junk so they turned up the discrimination to miss nickels. Since there wasn't much clad dropped yet in the late sixties, a lot of silver was gotten. Due to poor search techniques and swinging the coil like a grass whip, they left much still there for us to find today. It's not all very deep either and depends on the type soil.

HH,
Sandman

 

[eagle77]

On the silver I've found (pre 1964) it came in loud and clear.
To my ears clad has a diff sound (could be age too ).

You'll know when you hit a silver object, at least I did. Gold is
alot harder to tell by the sound (way too close to PT's) IMHO.

 

[desecrator]

Silver does produce a sweeter sound, but a clad quarter, generally is also a pretty solid tone... Did someone cherry pick all the silver quarters and leave clad quarters though, I doubt it. Coins in the ground do not show a constant distribution datewise. I mean, all quarters dropped in or before 1964 were silver and to that end, the early detectorists in the 60's got mostly all silver. But from 64 on, people horded silver coins that were in circulation. This meant in 1965, i'd guess, more 1965 quarters were dropped than silver. The early detectorists weren't distinguishing clad from silver, were just getting all the high end signals. When these guys (with primitive machines) weren't getting much silver, they declared the sites "hunted out" and moved on. These areas then went unhunted for a long time until the more modern "discriminating" machines came along. So, most of what is to be found now is what was dropped since the late 60's guys hunted there... taking into consideration the silver hording, most of this was clad. So finding a lot of 65 quarters (which are still VERY common in circulation today) doesn't really mean there is silver there, but it also doesn't mean that people were able to discriminate the clad and just hunt silver. Its an odd phenomenon caused by the switching from silver to clad, and the speculative hording that went with it. Now, of course, none of this applies if you can find a virgin site.

 

[Ricardo_NY1]

When I start digging clad, I do look for patterns, and so far in the short period that I have hunted, I have noticed that where there are alot of quarters popping up, there will usually be a silver coin somewhere in between. I tend to look at it this way, no matter how many metal detectors went over a spot, there is always a coin that slipped through waiting to be found. I've searched a 20x20 foot area and found 2 silver coins and have searched that same tight area I know I went over and found more. And I'm always talking about a particular area I have gone over to my buddy with the Explorer because I am sure he will find what I didn't. I doubt anyone is able to really cherry pick silver coins, and if that is the case, even better, because I am sure it is the sure fire way to leave even more silver behind. There's people here who might brush off a dime signal at 1 inch thinking it's clad, well, I've found silver tangled in grass roots in less than an inch. There are alot of tactics employed by past and current metal detectorists that make it possible and a common event of finding silver. I see it as a clad to silver ratio instead. When I look at an area the formula is there must be 60, 70, 80 100 or even more clad coins for every silver one we find. Nowadays people might drop a coin and not look back, or we might have a pocketful of change. Back in the days, dropping a dime was like dropping a dollar. I don't think people were losing them as often. People were probably more careful in how they carried them or didn't carry as much. Think about 3 dimes as 3 dollars in your pocket as opposed to the 4 dollars in change I could find in my pant and coat pockets if I went through them right now. More change=more chances of me losing it. And of course the 70's and 80's guys picked up alot of the silver. What they left behind is overshadowed by all the clad that has been dropped since. The silver coins are there, it's just a question of time. If a place saw people, then it also saw people drop things. It is logical to think that all silver was dropped pre-1965, and even this will not be the case. People did begin to pull silver out of circulation, but silver still remained in circulation into the late 60's, as a matter of fact, they are still in circulation today, rare, but they are. So a park built in the late/early 70's could have a silver coin dropped in 1969? And for all I know, someone might go to the park this coming spring and drop a silver rosie. Who knows the exact science of how a coin got there and when?

 

[goldgrubber]

Silver coins definitly sound better on my machines.

 

[ClonedSIM]

The silver coins are normally atleast 90% pure silver, while the clad coins are less than 10% from what I hear. Having more silver content, I would think the silver would sound-off better than the clad.

The problem comes down to the amount of time those silver coins have been in the ground. They become deeper as time passed and detectors have harder times detecting lower items.

Hope this helps,
John

You're right about everything, but I thought I'd point out, just for future reference, that modern clad coinage has no silver content at all.

I find that silver dimes sound off at about the same pitch as clad quarters, and silver quarters normally sound off about like a modern clad half dollar.

 

[Jeffro]

I'm an analog guy in a digital world, I know. I use a CZ-5 quicksilver. One thing I have noticed about the difference in sound is that the silver makes a sharper, crisper sound. Very hard to tell the difference until you put the time in.

 

[desecrator]

It is logical to think that all silver was dropped pre-1965, and even this will not be the case. People did begin to pull silver out of circulation, but silver still remained in circulation into the late 60's, as a matter of fact, they are still in circulation today, rare, but they are. So a park built in the late/early 70's could have a silver coin dropped in 1969? And for all I know, someone might go to the park this coming spring and drop a silver rosie. Who knows the exact science of how a coin got there and when?

Oh, without a doubt, massive amounts of silver were dropped after 1964. In fact, one of the best places I've found to get silver coins is schools built in the mid 60's. The silver is there, and many detectorists don't bother with these "modern" sites. At a local middle school built in 1967 last year, I found 2 silver Roosies, a silver Washington, a merc, a Franklin half and about 20 wheats in a 20'x20' area next to the sidewalk by the main entrance. This in in contrast to the 1920's schools where I've found a few wheats or nothing at all on the whole property!

My point about coins dropped after 1964 is that the amount of silver dropped was a drastically decreasing curve because of hording.

 

[Ant]

It all depends on the machine, specifically what frequency it uses. I use a machine that screams on gold and I'd say it preforms fair on shallow silver. I found most of my silver at scrapes as most of it around here is down 6" to 12". But that depends on soil type like someone already pointed out.

Now days we have macnines with technology that can ID silver but they can't ID Gold.

 

[EDDE]

depending on depth you can train your brain to hear the machine"ramp" up the silver signal
and "YES" to answer this question
side note silver at depth 4 inchs or more is smooth sweet
when pinpointing it my machine rips on pinpoint on silver

 

[halfdime]

I definitely hear a stronger, clearer tone on silver. I don't think it's my imagination; when I get such a signal, the depth reading usually confirms and I find the silver I expected. I am seldom surprised by silver on my XLT; even with out the depth reading I can tell. I also try to hunt only areas where silver is a distinct possibility, so I find more. The more you find, the more you recognize the sounds a good find makes. And right about now, I miss those sounds!

 

[George (MN)]

Silver coins on many detectors would have weaker signals, because on the average they are deeper. Many parks & schools were heavily detected in the '70s & what you find was lost since then. Another problem is that many places are renovated (resodded & bulldozed) every few decades, making older coins really deep.

In the older places, public places like parks & schools, there may be no silver left in the top 4" or even top 8", depending on the detectors used & skill of operator. If you prefer public places, sometimes the newer parks in suburbs can produce the most silver, especially if you can find out exactly how old they are.

There are a bunch of people in this hobby who won't detect a place less than 100 years old, or less than 50 years old. In my new suburb, I detected a 3 acre 1964 park & got 3 silvers. I detected a 1963 park & got 11 silvers. But many of the older places have been detected hundreds or thousands of times.

Private property, if you dare ask permission & get it, may or may not have been detected. Part of the chance for success would depend on whether the people living there had kids.

Ghost towns would provide the best chance for finding only old coins. HH, George (MN)