General question / whining (a little)

donroar · Oct 13, 2012

I have a Garrett AT Pro that I love and my Garrett ProPointer makes the recovery easy. Here is my question/complaint. I just got started detecting this year. First trip out was in April of this year in Connecticut. I have access to some old properties and of course I hit the local beaches and schools. I have found and redeemed $375.00 in clad coinage so far. I find lots of stuff. I found a silver Washington quarter next door and a 1929 Merc dime acrioss the street. I have a 1901 Barber dime and a 1908 S Barber quarter as well as a 1936 V nickel. I find LOTS of clad and I hate to complain. I just want to know why silver is so scarce and I never find jewelry. I get nickels and pull tabs and an occasional sterling ring but never an Indian Head or a Walking Liberty or anything like that. Man... I dream about finding thise coins. Am I going too fast? This machine finds Memorials at a foot deep..... Why not Indian heads? Sorry to whine but I just wondered if anybody has any suggestions. Thanks in advance for the help 8-)

Treasure_Hunter · Oct 13, 2012

donroar said:
I have a Garrett AT Pro that I love and my Garrett ProPointer makes the recovery easy. Here is my question/complaint. I just got started detecting this year. First trip out was in April of this year in Connecticut. I have access to some old properties and of course I hit the local beaches and schools. I have found and redeemed $375.00 in clad coinage so far. I find lots of stuff. I found a silver Washington quarter next door and a 1929 Merc dime acrioss the street. I have a 1901 Barber dime and a 1908 S Barber quarter as well as a 1936 V nickel. I find LOTS of clad and I hate to complain. I just want to know why silver is so scarce and I never find jewelry. I get nickels and pull tabs and an occasional sterling ring but never an Indian Head or a Walking Liberty or anything like that. Man... I dream about finding thise coins. Am I going too fast? This machine finds Memorials at a foot deep..... Why not Indian heads? Sorry to whine but I just wondered if anybody has any suggestions. Thanks in advance for the help

"Indian Head or a Walking Liberty or anything like that" Simple answer, you have to get the coil over one before you can find it...............Keep searching............ :icon_thumleft:

DirtDiggerDaveinMD · Oct 14, 2012

donroar said:
I have a Garrett AT Pro that I love and my Garrett ProPointer makes the recovery easy. Here is my question/complaint. I just got started detecting this year. First trip out was in April of this year in Connecticut. I have access to some old properties and of course I hit the local beaches and schools. I have found and redeemed $375.00 in clad coinage so far. I find lots of stuff. I found a silver Washington quarter next door and a 1929 Merc dime acrioss the street. I have a 1901 Barber dime and a 1908 S Barber quarter as well as a 1936 V nickel. I find LOTS of clad and I hate to complain. I just want to know why silver is so scarce and I never find jewelry. I get nickels and pull tabs and an occasional sterling ring but never an Indian Head or a Walking Liberty or anything like that. Man... I dream about finding thise coins. Am I going too fast? This machine finds Memorials at a foot deep..... Why not Indian heads? Sorry to whine but I just wondered if anybody has any suggestions. Thanks in advance for the help

How did you find a V nickle minted in 1936? To answer your question silver coins have not been minted for 48 years so they are not being lost anymore. The days of pulling up handfuls of silver coins are long gone. They are still out there, but it takes work to make the recovery. If you don't put your coil over the coin you will never find it.

TerryC · Oct 14, 2012

I'll tell you what... I'll trade your area for mine! To whine with your finds is rediculous. Sorry for the blunt remark. I have been hunting for more than 40 years. I have only found ONE indian head. ONE V nickel. ONE large cent. C'mon, man! TTC

DirtDiggerDaveinMD · Oct 14, 2012

Yeah, I'm with you on that. I wish every outing was like on the White's commercial where the beginning detectorist finds a civil war camp under the local school tot lot. We all know that isn't the case. Also when you think of it an IH cent and a V nickle actually had some value in their time. If someone knowingly dropped one they would likely pick it up. Then when you add in that people have been metal detecting for a long time now, those finds just aren't available like they used to be. $375 and jewelry is a pretty good start.

lastleg · Oct 14, 2012

donroar, you need to get creative. Don't just scan the meadow. Get in the hedgerows. I once had an hour to hunt at a church.
While waiting for my neighbor to come down off the roof I started wildly swinging my coil along the side of the building. I got a
signal just as it was time to go. I carried a muddy ball to the car and told my neighbor it looked like a costume ring. Later it
proved to be an 18K man's ring made in Europe. Had a nice aquamarine stone which later was judged to be synthetic but that
was one beautiful and heavy ring. My conclusion: someone working on the roof, probably a parishoner lost his prized gold ring
he had worn since the end of WWII.

I asked my neighbor if he wanted to see who it belonged to and he said just keep it. Maybe the one who lost the ring was a
friend now deceased. At least I would like to believe that.

I have found three walking halves under bushes where you could not stand. My first Indian was in a heat-crack in the ground.

I don't remember ever having a walk in the park and coming home with a pocket of coins. I once had to probe for a half-hour
to get a rosie from under roots of a tree.

What I'm saying is the easy stuff is gone.

kayden · Oct 14, 2012

Treasure_Hunter said:
"Indian Head or a Walking Liberty or anything like that" Simple answer, you have to get the coil over one before you can find it...............Keep searching............

This

Keppy · Oct 14, 2012

TerryC said:
I'll tell you what... I'll trade your area for mine! To whine with your finds is rediculous. Sorry for the blunt remark. I have been hunting for more than 40 years. I have only found ONE indian head. ONE V nickel. ONE large cent. C'mon, man! TTC

............I was going to say the same thing TerryC said but he beat me to it..........To wine with your finds is rediculous....................

Connecticut Sam · Oct 14, 2012

#6 is great comments from a good friend and a great writer. I enjoy reading his interesting comments. Good luck to him.

donroar · Oct 15, 2012

Thank you one and all for your encouragement. I am the guy that you see swinging a coil on a rainy day where the hot dog lady always parks. I picked up 24 dollars one day where the local Farmers market is held. I got access to a place from the 1750 and it is really wet ground. I will keep looking. I found what appears to be some slugs at the local High School. Quarter size and weight but totally smooth. I love the hobby and can't wait to get out again. Do you detect over the winter in the Northeast? I may have to visit my daughter in Florida to get my fix over the winter. I'm all done whining. Thanks .....

Bev · Oct 17, 2012

You're killing it with the clad. I have the AT Pro and find more copper than silver. Once in a while near a stone wall or two I find some silver but it's rare. Pull tabs and gold are right around the same number on the AT so it's a gamble each time. I've been frustrated myself lately here in Rhode Island but I'm doing some research and trying to think outside of the box for places to hunt. I keep hearing silver sinks lower than copper and I hope someone chimes in on that theory.

Keppy · Oct 17, 2012

i really do not think any of it sinks into the ground..... i could put a dime on the ground and a year or even 4 years later if it does not get covered by leaves and other things.......... it will still be on top of the ground......

TerryC · Oct 17, 2012

Coins in the ground, I think, sink similar to coins in water. The diff being it is done MUCH more slowly. In ground that is wet or loamy, it will sink faster than ground in an arid region. That is my belief. TTC

TerryC · Oct 17, 2012

donroar said:
Thank you one and all for your encouragement. I am the guy that you see swinging a coil on a rainy day where the hot dog lady always parks. I picked up 24 dollars one day where the local Farmers market is held. I got access to a place from the 1750 and it is really wet ground. I will keep looking. I found what appears to be some slugs at the local High School. Quarter size and weight but totally smooth. I love the hobby and can't wait to get out again. Do you detect over the winter in the Northeast? I may have to visit my daughter in Florida to get my fix over the winter. I'm all done whining. Thanks .....

One more "hot spot". If your local VFW or Amer. Legion post has a back lot for activities.... join. Assuming, of course you're a veteran. I was a member at Amer. Legion Post # 1, in Halifax county, NC. I found a total of 128 dollars one summer on 3 acres. And my partner(s) found about as much. If I would have placed a paper plate at each coin found, you could have walked from one side to the other without touching ground. The last person that dug with me was using a large Bowie knife as a digger. He would slice a big round tuft of grass then knock the dirt out on his thigh till the coin dropped out! GET LOST BUDDY! When the grass tractor came around to cut, everyone of those plugs came up. Shame. TTC

Keppy · Oct 17, 2012

TerryC said:
Coins in the ground, I think, sink similar to coins in water. The diff being it is done MUCH more slowly. In ground that is wet or loamy, it will sink faster than ground in an arid region. That is my belief. TTC

.....Sorry Terry but i really do not think coins sink into the ground...Some one might step on a coin and push it down a little leaves will cover them the wind blowing dirt around ............... But to sink myself i don't think so..........

N.J.THer · Oct 18, 2012

I have to disagree with Keppy...I do think coins sink in the ground. Especially in the winter when the ground is freezing then thawing.

As far as finding more silver...I would go to the places you have found silver in the past and search it super slow from all different angles. When I find an area that has old coins I will sometimes hit it 10-20 different times and usually always walk away with something. The finds do become harder and harder to find but keep in mind the coil send down a cone shape signal so the deeper it get the small the detection size. At the surface you are cover around 10 inches of ground but at 8-10 inches it maybe only 2 inches. So make sure you overlap you swings and take baby steps when you hit an area with silver. Good luck.

BTW I found a fatty Indian Head today in a park that I must have walked over 30 times in the past but it was deep and ground conditions were right (slightly damp) and the coil went over the right spot at the correct angle...bang - old coin.

NJ

TerryC · Oct 18, 2012

@Keppy. It is only a theory of mine that they "sink" as in water. I have known a few people that also prescribe to this theory. It would be nice to find a paper that prooves or disprooves this. Tnx for the response. TTC

Keppy · Oct 18, 2012

TerryC said:
@Keppy. It is only a theory of mine that they "sink" as in water. I have known a few people that also prescribe to this theory. It would be nice to find a paper that prooves or disprooves this. Tnx for the response. TTC

..Terry ... It would be nice to have proof of it.......... But some say that the ground freezing will suck the coins in................... But from what all i know about ground freezing that it only brings things up out of the ground........

Keppy · Oct 18, 2012

OH ya ..Terry .. Also some say that the coin will sink until it meet's the same density of the soil .. Then that is all it will sink.... But then that is just another theory ..Again not fact.......

dustytrails123 · Oct 18, 2012

Its all about the location and if its been detected or not...i have 6 indians from a 2 acre park over 30 dimes 3 are barbers 1905 and a 1905-o and a 1914 ...only 2 quarters ...i got 1 gold ring and over a dozen buffalo nickels and 8 war nickels...this place was virgin and the town was very small 98 population ....and ive dug everything that rings above foil