McHenry Outdoor Theater

[rdb7]

So i emailed the McHenry drive in to see if i could detect there

unfortunately the answer was no .. but that were really cool about it .... said they'd really like to know what's out there too...

BUT ... all the wiring... electric for everything there is slowly rising upwards... aka.. a small nick with the shovel and they could be shutdown for the summer

 

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[Brett]

Tell them you will dig with a plastic trowel. It will take longer... a lot longer, but hey... maybe they will say yes?

I have one of these and they are as tough as nails:


http://www.fiskars.com/webapp/wcs/s...ategoryId=10271&productId=10547&page=products

Also, you can assure them you will not dig up wires because wires are long and obvious.

 

[rdb7]

i also thought about just trying for surface finds.... this place is huge and packs to the rim every summer with 1000's of cars

 

[Lowbatts]

Once again the folly of written or phoned-in permission is proven. Mikelb and I detected it while the owner was there one time and he had no objection because we talked to him face-to-face and we were agreeable, lovely young lads with kindness in our eyes and hearts!

Man the place was a mess though. Did get some not-too spoiled nachos and a few slices of pizza. Just seemed the clad was so-interleaved with screw caps and pull tabs that digging in the hard pack gravel was an exercise in futility.

 

[rdb7]

and here i thought i was going to be the 1st md in there LOL

i think i emailed somebody corporate... must not have been the same guy that you talked to b/c he sounded interested in what an MD would turn up there

geez.. i wonder if you guys have hit just about everything i think of up here lol... i really really want to detect this house they just knocked down BUT the only contact i have is the commerical realtor who will not give me permission or put me in touch with the owner

did you and/or mikelb hit all the schools/parks up here? i have one in general that i know is very very old but so far nothing but new coins (maybe that's my answer )

 

[Lowbatts]

Yep, hit 'em all.

But don't think for minute we didn't miss a lot or leave some goodies behind. I've spent too much time flying through too many sites hoping to hit a few unpicked easy digs to be careful enough to get all or even very many of the better, less obvious targets that come from carefully searching a site.

That's why I still spend so much time at the local digs that have been hit for so many years but still pop out nice keepers regularly to those who work them carefully.

 

[rdb7]

well there is one i'm focusing on b//c of it's age.... i thought hunted out until i found a 1967 qtr down about 3-4"... that should mean there is still 'some' potential there right?

 

[Lowbatts]

well there is one i'm focusing on b//c of it's age.... i thought hunted out until i found a 1967 qtr down about 3-4"... that should mean there is still 'some' potential there right?

With no unnatural ground changes and normal lawn conditions a 3-4 inch quarter has most likely been in the ground for 15 to 20 years.

Since 3-4 inches is where many coins stop as ground hardens under them and density is a factor in the settling of a coin, along with root activity from the coverage above, they slow the rate of settling at about that point. Most parks, honestly were picked clean of the coins in that range 20 years ago. The great silver rush was around 1980, after National Geographic had an article that estimated the amount of lost coins from circulation somewhere in the billions range. This was based on mintage, coins in circulation at the time and a few other statistical details.

About the same time, VLF detectors came on the market that could hit the 6 inch range and had some discriminatory circuitry previously unavailable. The volume of coinage coming out of the ground at that range then, especially nice old silver, was astronimical compared to today's pickings and the old timers of that day did not let very much ground go unhunted. Especially since all this was coincidental to a huge spike in silver prices and the rise of the RV market.

Ah yes, I remember well the hordes of retirees spanning the plains in their early Winnebagos with their Compass and early Whites and Fisher machines in high esteem. Fate dealt us a cruel hand indeed. Born into a time of superior technology with comparatively lower potential, tears welling in eyes as I type.

Hey the oven timer went off, the brats are done, gotta go.

 

[twistidd]

Lowbatts is a detecting machine! The guy has been everywhere and back. But don't worry about not being able to find anything just because someone else hunted it before. Chances are, Lowbatts was not the first to hunt the parks and areas you mention; in fact, those areas have probably been hit hundreds of times.

Finding a 1967 quarter 3-4 inches down doesn't necesarily mean you'll find silver quarters among it. 1967 quarters are still heavily circulated (as are all post-1964 quarters), so it could have been dropped in 1967, or...in 2007. The rate at which coins sink down varies greatly, so there's no way to know exactly how long it's been there. But don't give up! I have found silver coins in "hunted out" parks, a lot of us have. Just go a little slower, listen to any faint signals. Try to avoid the fast-swinging a lot of people do when they are tired or frustrated. I do that sometimes and it doesn't help my cause. I went right over a nice 1920 mercury dime that Mikewaz dug minutes later...because I was impatient.

You'll find your silver one day. It took me years to find my first! And then a few years later to find the next ones. Remain persistent.

Joe

 

[Brett]

Laughing my ass off Tim. Good story.

 

[Lowbatts]

Laughing my ass off Tim. Good story.

I stay up all night thinking up this stuff, at work....

 

[rdb7]

well there is one i'm focusing on b//c of it's age.... i thought hunted out until i found a 1967 qtr down about 3-4"... that should mean there is still 'some' potential there right?

With no unnatural ground changes and normal lawn conditions a 3-4 inch quarter has most likely been in the ground for 15 to 20 years.

Since 3-4 inches is where many coins stop as ground hardens under them and density is a factor in the settling of a coin, along with root activity from the coverage above, they slow the rate of settling at about that point. Most parks, honestly were picked clean of the coins in that range 20 years ago. The great silver rush was around 1980, after National Geographic had an article that estimated the amount of lost coins from circulation somewhere in the billions range. This was based on mintage, coins in circulation at the time and a few other statistical details.

About the same time, VLF detectors came on the market that could hit the 6 inch range and had some discriminatory circuitry previously unavailable. The volume of coinage coming out of the ground at that range then, especially nice old silver, was astronimical compared to today's pickings and the old timers of that day did not let very much ground go unhunted. Especially since all this was coincidental to a huge spike in silver prices and the rise of the RV market.

Ah yes, I remember well the hordes of retirees spanning the plains in their early Winnebagos with their Compass and early Whites and Fisher machines in high esteem. Fate dealt us a cruel hand indeed. Born into a time of superior technology with comparatively lower potential, tears welling in eyes as I type.

Hey the oven timer went off, the brats are done, gotta go.

lowbatts, thanks for sharing the history of the MD rush lol... i was unaware of it and it definitely explains alot of things... we'll have to get out and hunt sometime-

 

[rdb7]

Lowbatts is a detecting machine! The guy has been everywhere and back. But don't worry about not being able to find anything just because someone else hunted it before. Chances are, Lowbatts was not the first to hunt the parks and areas you mention; in fact, those areas have probably been hit hundreds of times.

Finding a 1967 quarter 3-4 inches down doesn't necesarily mean you'll find silver quarters among it. 1967 quarters are still heavily circulated (as are all post-1964 quarters), so it could have been dropped in 1967, or...in 2007. The rate at which coins sink down varies greatly, so there's no way to know exactly how long it's been there. But don't give up! I have found silver coins in "hunted out" parks, a lot of us have. Just go a little slower, listen to any faint signals. Try to avoid the fast-swinging a lot of people do when they are tired or frustrated. I do that sometimes and it doesn't help my cause. I went right over a nice 1920 mercury dime that Mikewaz dug minutes later...because I was impatient.

You'll find your silver one day. It took me years to find my first! And then a few years later to find the next ones. Remain persistent.

Joe

Hi Joe... "years to find my first" ... oh man you're killing me ..... everytime i go out i think 'today is the day' lol

 

[Lowbatts]

I'm betting Joe got those numbers and relationships reversed, he's been doing this thing quite awhile and he probably got his first seated when he was ten or eleven. He just makes the mistake of thinking he's as old as some of us Merle Haggard fans once in awhile because he knows he's got us beat in brains.

Or is that beatin' brains?

Ah geez, nap time and grocery shopping in order. Blue haired ladies in riding shopping carts, watch out.

 

[twistidd]

Blue-haired ladies in riding shopping carts, eh? PLEASE tell me where you shop so I can go get my blue-haired beauty. I do assume you're talking about elderly women. Oh yes...ANYWAY....