Tired of finding wheaties!

[Gunny71]

Well, not really, I will take all I can get actually. Its crazy how this hobby works, first get a detector, learn the ropes, then after awhile, you find something that hooks you. Then if you are me, next year you might find something else and get hooked again!
I almost hate to say it, but I guess I have fallen into the coinshooters branch of detecting. I love finding old coins! I have an abandoned church on private land that I have been hitting 3-4 times a week. Most times I can only stay for an hour or so, but it gets me out of the house. Now the conundrum...I really WANT to find some silver there, most especially a merc or barber dime. That's my goal, and I found it is easier to sweat my but off in 92 degree weather if I have a goal. Only problem is, it isn't happening. So far I have found 23 wheat backs in an area about 30 foot square, with dates from 1918 to the 50's, and some but not much modern clad. If the wheat's are there, where is the silver hiding? I know its gotta be there, I did find my first and only Barber Quarter here. Just hope we get some more rain soon, the ground is starting to turn into concrete again. During our last dry spell I broke 2 diggers here.

 

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[RJH02]

The wheaties have bigger friends but they are better at hiding , or so it seems to me anyway. Try looking to the right side of the pic , between the church and that large tree, something is telling me theres silver on that side

 

[Gunny71]

I will, and have. I think I know the answer to my problem, but just dont want to admit it. This place is absolutely covered in pulltabs and bits of foil. More here than I have ever seen in a park. Down right maddening at times.

 

[LuckyDragon]

you could go to a place where more people have been.
most of the older coins are deeper.

 

[TORRERO]

My experience tells me a little about what your talking about..
Seeing the picture, the truth might be more likely that these people lost what they had...
MOSTLY wheat pennies..
If you have dug 23 wheats and no silver then your doing the right thing, there just probably is not
much silver here, as the people who went here probably did not carry much money with them.
The place looks good for the old screw cap lids of the 70's and many old style pull tabs.
My experience says that even though you might find 1 or 2 more coins by removing all the trash
then again you might not...
But here is my take on a place like this...
You have permission to hunt it... or nobody is going to bother you here...
set your discrim low and start a systematic sweep of the whole place, picking up everything as you
go, then let us know what you start finding, and look at the pulltabs as just another thing to pick
as you clean through the yard..
Most of the Churches I have hunted that looked like that, produced many many wheats and only
1 or 2 silver dimes...
I used to ask that question too... but just came to figure these people just did not carry that much
silver with them to lose...

A long time ago, I tried to figure the odds and I think at the time I was figuring it was about

1. Ten to twelve wheat pennies for 1 Silver Dime..

2. 10 to 15 silver dimes to 1 Silver quarter

3. and about 1 silver half every 6 to 12 months of detecting..

Like I said, they lost what they had...

 

[LuckyDragon]

Must be very humble times there.
I wonder if he better luck at an old camp site or old fishing hole.

 

[Gunny71]

Thanks for the info Torrero, and you may be right. I have found one piece of silver here, a 1906 quarter, but it was a little behind where the pic was shot from, almost in the brush and trees. Guess I will just have to start cleaning it all up as you suggested, and I may even see if I can find a smaller coil to try.\
Thanks for the advice.

 

[TORRERO]

Thanks for the info Torrero, and you may be right. I have found one piece of silver here, a 1906 quarter, but it was a little behind where the pic was shot from, almost in the brush and trees. Guess I will just have to start cleaning it all up as you suggested, and I may even see if I can find a smaller coil to try.\
Thanks for the advice.

Keep us advised as to what more you find...

 

[gleaner1]

This is an interesting post, it reminds me of an old playground we dominated years ago. It dates from early 1900's and we found a hot spot for wheaties, we found 50 or so in a small area, say 50 ft square, but could not pull one silver.

 

[TORRERO]

Back in the early 70's when I was a boy,
Silver had been out of cerculation for almost 10 years (1964)
and wheat backs out for almost 20.. (1958)
But we still collected wheats from the 5 & 10 cent store on the corner...
I doubt if you could have found silver like that, but there were a lot of wheats still around..
Maybe someone cleaned the place in the 60's and then did not come back...
and in the 10 to 15 years since... accumulated wheats but no silver..

There is one truth to metal detecting... and that is..
the reality is that you don't know if or when or who might have hunted a site before you
and you certainly have no way of knowing what they found..

 

[sniffer]

I wouldn't switch to a smaller coil unless you have a lot of trash in the site.
if you do you will sacrifice depth and maybe miss a deep coin.
just take your time and dig every signal, even if it's iffy

 

[LuckyDragon]

You could take a leaf rake and remove crap and use your detector.

 

[silverswede]

It sounds like your time allowance for hunting is quite. short (1 hour) many times. I don't think I'd spend much of it digging tabs and foil + junk in rock hard ground.
Set your machine on full disc. check to see if it still picks up cents, dimes, quarters, and halves. You will usually miss nickles here but if you hit a hot spot with alot of coins in a small area you can tune back to include nickles and cover it again. What is the average depth of the wheaties your digging now? Would you have found them on full disc? Mostly, Gunny , have fun and see silver soon.

 

[Gunny71]

I wouldn't switch to a smaller coil unless you have a lot of trash in the site.
if you do you will sacrifice depth and maybe miss a deep coin.
just take your time and dig every signal, even if it's iffy

Loaded with pull tabs, more than I see in the old park I hunt. Some bottle tops, but mostly pulltabs, and allot of foil.

It sounds like your time allowance for hunting is quite. short (1 hour) many times. I don't think I'd spend much of it digging tabs and foil + junk in rock hard ground.
Set your machine on full disc. check to see if it still picks up cents, dimes, quarters, and halves. You will usually miss nickles here but if you hit a hot spot with allot of coins in a small area you can tune back to include nickles and cover it again. What is the average depth of the Wheaties your digging now? Would you have found them on full disc? Mostly, Gunny , have fun and see silver soon.

Lots of times I have 2-3 hrs to spare, so maybe 1 hr is a little off. Most of the wheat's were down about 3 inches, not to deep at all. I have been running with no discrimination and just passing over the pulltabs and foil. Maybe its just my machine, but with all the tabs and foil here, if I discriminate I know I miss tones.

Back in the early 70's when I was a boy,
Silver had been out of cerculation for almost 10 years (1964)
and wheat backs out for almost 20.. (1958)
But we still collected wheat's from the 5 & 10 cent store on the corner...
I doubt if you could have found silver like that, but there were a lot of wheat's still around..
Maybe someone cleaned the place in the 60's and then did not come back...
and in the 10 to 15 years since... accumulated wheat's but no silver..

There is one truth to metal detecting... and that is..
the reality is that you don't know if or when or who might have hunted a site before you
and you certainly have no way of knowing what they found..

I agree, but this site has been in use for much longer than I originally thought. The 1918 wheat, 1897 V nickel and the '06 barber quarter found here seem to prove this. From what I know, this land has been in the same family for a hundred years or more, and to the owners knowledge has not been hunted before. Of coarse that doesn't mean he is right.
Once again, thanks for all of the info.