Any where there were lots of people, especially prior 1965 would be a great place to detect, (if legal). Coins went to clad after 64 so finding a pre 65-64 coin is way more valuable than face value. Finding any Rings or jewelry is your best target. Try old parks, schools, playgrounds, fairgrounds, empty houses, ranches, etc. etc.. Take a trip to any lake or beach where they swim, sunbathe, camp, or play and you might get lucky. Anytime you find something old, you are the first to touch it since it was lost, connecting you to the person who lost it. It can be real fun to think of who lost it, when, why, and even of the times they lived in when it was lost. For us, a quarter is nothing valuable now days, but back pre 65 a quarter would buy you a lot. Consider detecting old homesteads, even near missions, adventures can be found everywhere! I detect the beach's mainly, but also detect in an old gold mining district and find some fantastic artifacts. That old cast iron wood stove part is "junk", but amazing to realize how hard it was back in the 1800's to even get that wood burning stove back into that far out back country, and how many years did it keep someone warm? Just to be found by me, and now have it reside in my front yard as a memory of someones toil, trial, and effort, now my "treasure". Its not so much the FIND, but more the HUNT as that hunting gets you outside, into a new adventure, new horizons, new treasures, even new memories. So,, all you find are some square nails, and lead bullet slugs... Take a close look, square nails were HAND MADE, some of those bullet slugs are over 100 years old, and can be identified by the concave bottom, or the rings on the sides. I have even found black powder balls in the gold country! Who KNOWS what they were shooting at? Indians? Bears? snakes? Each other
Just amazing what you can find, if you look!
Happy Hunting
