Does anyone Know their Clad to Silver ratio?

[PenguinDetectsCA]

I was just curious how many non silver coins you find per silver. I've haven't been keeping track of my ratio but whenever I get 10 wheaties without silver I know silver will be soon.

What about you guys? I'd like to know if some maybe parts of the country have more silver lost than the others

 

[CTwoods]

When I started almost 30 years ago on only public lands, silver was extremely rare to find. People had been to those places for 20 or 30 years before me. Just my opinion, but if a person wanted to start this hobby today and find silver, you must stick to permissions on private property and hope it's not been hammered before .
I think the detector companies only stay in business by selling the dream of their newest machine being so much better than last year's model. In reality, it's slim pickings for all machines.
Speaking of Wheaties, 30 years ago they weren't uncommon, but now they are rare to find in public lands.

 

[k0bgalan]

I suspect the area of the country you hunt in has a huge effect on the ratio. I live in Roswell, NM. While the town dates back to the start of the Chisholm Trail (circa 1850s). Most of the town has evolved, and succumbed to several floods and fires. Finding late model silver (say 1920s on) is thus rare save for the old airbase (Walker Field, now Roswell Regional Airport) which is off-limits to detecting. The surrounding area the city has grown into was for the most part alfalfa fields. Not much to find there except for broken equipment parts. I've lived here since 2001, and have found a total of three pieces of silver coins. Nearby (100 miles south) is the city of Carlsbad. The only silver I've ever found there was when the local pond was drained ≈20 years ago. That netted about 20 total coins. I really envy back-easter detectorists!

 

[malenkai]

2.36 wheats/silver since I started in 2008. I've kept under 2/1 since 2026, tho I don't get out so much anymore. I cherrypick pretty hard so as to not dig clad and wheaties. Wheaties come out toasted around here do to the acidic soil and fertilizer, so even a good date will be worthless.

I'm pretty much the opposite of "dig everything". I dig only if I am certain it is silver, or there is a pretty high chance.

 

[Mackaydon]

82 to zero--so far this year.
Don in SoCal

 

[PenguinDetectsCA]

2.36 wheats/silver since I started in 2008. I've kept under 2/1 since 2026, tho I don't get out so much anymore. I cherrypick pretty hard so as to not dig clad and wheaties. Wheaties come out toasted around here do to the acidic soil and fertilizer, so even a good date will be worthless.

I'm pretty much the opposite of "dig everything". I dig only if I am certain it is silver, or there is a pretty high chance.

Woah! thats a high ratio.

 

[BCSMark]

I had this post in mind today. In total I dug 80 coins, and one silver dime. I dug 8 wheat pennies to that one silver. This was all dug from vacant lots that had houses on them beginning in the late 40s.

 

[BCSMark]

Thursday I dug 10 wheats to two silvers. A total of 47 non silver coins to silver.

 

[PenguinDetectsCA]

Thursday I dug 10 wheats to two silvers. A total of 47 non silver coins to silver.

nice, I like the token too 👍

 

[BCSMark]

Thanks so did I!

 

[PenguinDetectsCA]

Thanks so did I!

It always amazes me how many keys we find 👍

 

[BCSMark]

I know right! It’s almost strange to me. I don’t know that I’ve ever lost a key.

 

[blauer]

I was just curious how many non silver coins you find per silver. I've haven't been keeping track of my ratio but whenever I get 10 wheaties without silver I know silver will be soon.

What about you guys? I'd like to know if some maybe parts of the country have more silver lost than the others

I keep a spreadsheet that breaks it all down between clad and silver(good stuff), keeps track of each coin type, detector costs, and percentages. On another linked page I keep track of coin date, condition, depth and location. So far this year my clad finds are running at 57.67 percent of all coin finds.