Have some older coins sunk out of reach??

[Real de Tayopa Tropical Tramp]

HI a partial explanation is simple build up of materiel over the years through erosion. Just think of some of the Archaeological digs, where the original humans lived is now under up to 50 ft. of overburden. Artifacts are subjected to the same build up, only the time factor has changed. Of course location is extremely important. Out in the West, many are still found on the surface unless deliberately buried or in a severe;y eroded area...

Don jose de La Mancha J

 

[panelman]

Being in Northern Wi. I see the effects of this all the time. Good soft soil a coin sinks very quickly due to freeze and thaw. I think an experiment would be in order.

 

[rmptr]

Deepest coin I've dug was a silver roosevelt at 10" in sandy soil.

Most targets I find in sandy loam turf are 2 - 4" some to 6".

I feel topsoil is turbulent and churning. Coins will never sink, and continue doing so in soil I've encountered.

Typical older coin finds may be deeper as easy finds close to the surface may have been dug by others.
The odd one may be deep.

I am not a relic hunter, and do not hunt historic sites.

rmptr

 

[Red_desert]

Test out your detector's target id for deep targets, if it has one. i say this because, tried 3 freshwater beaches, digging deep targets in all metal mode. Many signals that my detector said where iron/foil and 7-9 inches deep actually turned out to be nickels.

As I dug about 2" and checked again, the target id would read a little higher. Digging a little each time, testing the detector id, you will see how accurate or inaccurate it is for coins which are 7+ inches deep.

 

[watercolor]

Around where I live in northern IL, all the older coins I've found were in the woods . . . and only about half
as deep as the "same era" coins found in the adjoining "manicured" grass areas.

My guess is that the root systems of the younger trees and brush in the heavily forested areas "churn" the
topsoil and move the coins up toward the surface. Just about all the V-Nickels, IH pennies and Barbers I've found
have been "woods" finds and were less than 5-inches deep. There's also a lot less modern-day trash to deal with so
when you get a decent signal, chances are good your target will be old.

 

[Ty]

It appears as though two theories exist about coin depths. Two exact opposite theories have been published in W&ET magazine; Coins Don't Sink In Jan. 1981 issue, and How Deep Must You Dig For a Coin (issue/year unknown) and both were reprinted in Metal Detector Information (Tesoro publication) issue #4 in Dec. 1985.

The CDS theory is; coins (other targets also) are covered by soil moved via dust blown by wind and erosion plus other factors. The HDMYDFoC theory is; a theory that the surface of the earth increases by 1/16 of an inch each year and unless some type disturbance, earthquake, erosion, plowing the soil or similar action occurs one should be able to use the coin date (year), add 1/16" for each year until the year found and the coin should be at that depth.

Exact opposite theories, and I suspect the depth of a target is a combination of both plus the type soil in which the target resides. At some depth, the soil density is a factor that the weight of the coin can't penetrate, so there is the coin unless one or more of the above mentioned factors occurs.

Ty