why no old coins?

[bullshrink]

i spent all day yesterday and today checking out a couple of sites.i first hit in the center of town the old town center/the old school grounds that got torn down last year. the town i live in is very small and pretty old so i figured id hit something . i got some Lincolns and a bunch of trash but not even a wheatie or mercury dime.most of it is still frozen so i am not completely shut down. i then researched like crazy last night and figured i hit the town next door. i read a in depth town history and a report on original town dwelling and Indian settlements. there was even a battle site . i hit one spot that has a historical marker . i recognized a old cart road across the street so i figured we would start there.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Philip's_Hill. as i started down the roadwith family in tow a blue truck drove slowly by and then turned around and stopped by my car and starred at us. my wife is not having fun now so we bail.the site looks great. it was across the road from the historical marker so i figured i wouldn't disturb a sensitive site.ohh well. so i head back home and hit a old cellar hole on a map i have of my town from the 1800s. my son and i hike in and detect for 2 hours.we find the old well and despite it being well overgrown we get some good high rings and high vdi numbers.almost every time i dig i get rusty old iron. i dig 5 in minimum depth and still get crap.i figured i would have hit at least one coin by now.any advice would be great . you guys have been great so far tell me what i am doing wrong.i am running the mxt in relic mode with the gain at +1 with the threshold at a slight hum. i go with trigger forward to hear the iron grunt.i will say this garret propointer was worth every penny.

 

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[Coinstriking Michigan]

One thing that seems to work for me is go at it in different directions...I like to hit an area from all angles....go slow and just keep at it.

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Hi bullshrink
I just wondering if your coil is going over 2 or 3 targets at once 1 good and 1 junk if so that will confuse your detector... after you got the iron out of the ground did you check and see if anything was left in the hole?
When i do some cellar holes i take a large coil and a small one ....cellar holes a littered with iron targets.
thanks Gary

 

[TORRERO]

I may be wrong but isn't "Relic Mode" an "all metal mode" because the thought is you
will want to dig everything digging relics

I would switch to what I called "No Iron" mode where you discrim all Iron numbers and +94 and +95
then dig every solid signal....

Set the Sens on 76 or less and the gain on 2 or 3

If your digging in "Relic Mode" and it's all metal, then all targets will sound with a high tone sound.
Even iron nails...

once you set it up like that, walk around till you get a signal and let us know what comes up.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Maybe your area has some skilled hunters who ...... over the decades ..... has stripped out all the easy oldies from your parks?

I know, for example, in my city: Back in the 1970s and even in to the early '80s, you could still go to the old downtown park here, and even on a relative beginner's first time or so out, find a silver dime, or wheaties, etc... Ie.: there were still "4-star easy gimmee" oldie signals. But pity the poor beginner who tries now in these same parks, to get oldies. All they will get now is the clad lost in the last 20-ish years. It takes a really hardcore deep-seeker hunter to get oldies out of the parks and schools around here now. A beginner is simply not going to get oldies out of a lot of parks, nowadays.

So if your new to this, and if there's been hunting pressure on your area in the past, you're probably not going to be able to start in those "obvious" spots, and expect to get oldies. You'll have to start in spots like old yards, where it's less likely anyone's hit before. And don't gravitate to the super old obvious mansion type yards, as even those might have had their doors knocked on already (even if the current owner says "it's never been hunted", yet the better ones have, trust me). So hit some yards from the '20s to '40s, just to get practice at silver, wheaties, etc.... Yes this will mean knocking on doors, or doing friend's yards, etc... Once you've had the practice of knowing the various depths on a bunch of back to back easy deepies, THEN you'll have a "fighting chance" when you go to the hard -hit parks.

 

[bullshrink]

thanks for the advice. some of these sites especially the cellar holes are in the middle of nowhere.maby they have been detecting but probably not. actually before i bought this detector i have never noticed anyone detecting.i vacation off of cape cod every year for the last 6 six years and have never seen a detector swinging.i live in central Massachusetts and have alot of history around me. you don't have to look far to find a historical site or remnants of ghost towns.
i figure after reflecting my last two days hunting that mabey i go to fast?and some of these targets hit as non ferrous with high vdis and then switch back to iron . so then i don't dig thinking its probably rusty metal.almost every thing i dug rang up as not iron and i dig and its rusty iron. when i pinpoint i am looking for deep targets with a "quick pinpoint" hopefully indicating a small target.i did dig a couple of old shotgun brass that were deep .i saw the edge of one in the hole and my heart started racing. i thought it was a coin! total adrenaline rush. HAha why would so much crap iron ring up as non ferrous? should i bring the discrimination up and if i do will i lose depth?i can deal with pull tabs but all this iron junk?

And another question as to where to detect. if its not posted and out of the way do you guys go ahead and try it?i know that when its posted no trespassing that means no trespassing but what about say a old field that are not posted. or a stretch of woods not posted.

 

[TORRERO]

thanks for the advice. some of these sites especially the cellar holes are in the middle of nowhere.maby they have been detected but probably not.

Do you have any idea how many people on this forum have said the same thing ?
"I'm off to hunt celler holes in the middle of nowhere"

I can teel you from experiance that just becuase you have not seen anyone, does not mean that there never has been anyone there...


In Spain I used to hunt Roman Sites that were off the main roads down a dirt road and then across 2 or 3 fields to get to....

We figured no one could have been there....

Until we saw a guy on a Motor scooter zipping over the hills with a detector strapped to his back...

You can never see into the past, only decipher what you find and compare it to what you think you should find at a site.....

Then just stand there and ask yourself "WHY"
Then read the history from that...

 

[TORRERO]

And another question as to where to detect. i know stat land is off limits but when it come to privately owned land. if its not posted and out of the way do you guys go ahead and try it?i know if its posted no trespassing is no trespassing but what about say a old field thats not posted. or a stretch of woods not posted.

Maybe your too close to these walls....
I would walk around in the woods a good 1000 feet anywhere around this, not just the 1st 10 feet...

 

[bullshrink]

do you guys think that by setting the gain so high that the machine is being fooled by rusty iron?
and yes i do go beyond ten feet of the cellar hole.yesterday i found the old well probably 50 ft from the house and stood back and we talked about how the layout of the old property could've been. i think i might have caught the bug that my son had on Saturday. i think a mild form of it at least.but i still am dying to get out. on my old map of the town there was a old mill at the bottom of the old road 20 ft down the road from my driveway.at the bottom of the unmaintained road there is a stream. follow the stream and there was the old mill.i am gonna try to check it out if i dont puke.lol
do you also think i give the vdi numbers to much credit when determining when to dig? do you guys ever get non iron when the vdi tells you iron on one pass and the something else on another sweep?

 

[Smudge]

Two things you need to remember that may help you:

1. A lot of the easy silver coins were picked up in the heyday of metal detecting back in the 80's. There's still plenty of silver out there, but finding them at the obvious sites like schools and parks is getting very difficult.

2. These old home sites, especially in rural areas, are not going to be the best site for coins (but good for relics). You have to remember these folks were poor and they keep track of every penny. Coins were not plentiful in their lives and if one got lost, they tried hard to find it again. So if you manage to find one or two coins are these old cellar holes, you are doing really, really well.

If you want to hunt coins at old home sites, start thing "cache"!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Bullshrink, you say:

"maby they have been detecting but probably not. actually before i bought this detector i have never noticed anyone detecting."

Torrero is absolutely right on his answer to you about that. When you're not in this hobby (before you bought your first machine, etc...) you simply don't notice/register those types of things. For example: In my initial answer to you above, I give the example of a pounded park in my town, that used to give up silver 20+ yrs. ago(even to relative beginners), but is not a sad sorry pounded clad-ridden park. I can gaurantee you that if you were to ask any resident whose house faces this park (even residents who perhaps have lived their 40 yrs), "have you ever seen anyone detecting at this park?". The would probably say "no". Or "only time an old man in the sand box" or some other such comical answer. Because since they are not into it, it's just something they don't register, or remember, etc....

What machine are you using?

re.: "And another question as to where to detect. if its not posted and out of the way do you guys go ahead and try it?" If it's "not posted" and "out of the way", what's there to question?

 

[Michigan Badger]

Today most easy or obvious sites have been searched many times since the 60's. Some hunters work only during the night.

I have been metal detecting since 1968 and I was first at many old sites. Many have no old coins and never did. I've hunted loads of cellar holes and found a bucket full of pocket knives and harmonica reeds but very very few old coins. Once in awhile I'd find an Indian cent or two. Nothing like what you see some claiming. Mostly horse shoes, harness parts, axe heads, and other such basic farm items.

For me the best locations are those where people gathered to drink, dance, play, etc. Old carnival grounds are supreme. I once located an old abandoned circus campground and dug old silver as fast as I could until my Whites died on me. Man, that was like a coin turkey shoot.

When you get to where the good stuff is you won't have trouble detecting it. We work so hard because most of the sites we hunt have little or nothing to find. A good site will poop out most anyone within 5 hours.

Those old historic sites are really cool to hunt but don't expect much from them. But on the positive side, if you do get lucky and find something good it will likely be VERY good.

Best,
Badger

 

[bullshrink]

i am using a whites MXT. i just got back from the old mill site and a old field in the center of town. the old mill site was barely discernible . i think i figure out where it stood. i dug a few high tone- high vdi and almost every time it turns up as rusty metal? wtf! even in the old field i dug deeper targets, stuff that was pinpointed as deep as 6 in plus.same thing.
i understand that most cellar holes probably are not gonna produce old coins every time but you would think something would show up. and yes there is a probability that someone detected it before but chances are not.these are located a 30 min to hour walk from the road.they are pretty out of the way. i think i am going plant some old coins with and without some rusty crap next to it, in my garden. and see what the heck is going on.i ordered The MXT edge book today also to help me figure this stuff out.

 

[Smudge]

i am using a whites MXT. i just got back from the old mill site and a old field in the center of town. the old mill site was barely discernible . i think i figure out where it stood. i dug a few high tone- high vdi and almost every time it turns up as rusty metal? wtf! even in the old field i dug deeper targets, stuff that was pinpointed as deep as 6 in plus.same thing.
i understand that most cellar holes probably are not gonna produce old coins every time but you would think something would show up. and yes there is a probability that someone detected it before but chances are not.these are located a 30 min to hour walk from the road.they are pretty out of the way. i think i am going plant some old coins with and without some rusty crap next to it, in my garden. and see what the heck is going on.i ordered The MXT edge book today also to help me figure this stuff out.

You're learning. Be patient. The MXT, like most detectors, needs 100 hours of solid use before you really get to understand it. After you put in your time, go back to these sites you are describing and I'll bet you'll find things you are missing right now. It never fails.

 

[stevemc]

I am not familiar with your machine, but in a real old area, dig it all. I dont use any machines that have a gauge/meter. I dont trust them completely+. I only trust a few sounds, and if in a good area I still remove the iron and check again. Any machine you should first practice with a garden that you have planted some different things, at different depths. You have to remember that a detector picks up the conductivity of an object, so it is NOT fool proof. Depth, condition of an object, the angle a coin is, and soil and many things can throw it off. Some detectors can only pick up less than a foot, and at a foot, anything can fool it. 2 things in a detectors field can throw it off. Since iron is more conductive than some other things, it can cover or mask the other object. Dig the iron and check again, slowly. In a good area, scrub your coil on the ground, and go slow, and cover it all.

 

[Michigan Badger]

The comment above about dig everything at very old sites in the wild is good advice.

It's real hard to detect a silver coin under a large piece of boilerplate

 

[TORRERO]

and yes there is a probability that someone detected it before but chances are not.these are located a 30 min to hour walk from the road.they are pretty out of the way.

I don't know, and we will never know for sure.....
But you don't seem to have had a problem finding these places.....

Why do you think it's so impossible that someone else has not

I have heard that there are guys that do nothing but roam the woods in search of "HOT" places to hunt...

 

[Michigan Badger]

and yes there is a probability that someone detected it before but chances are not.these are located a 30 min to hour walk from the road.they are pretty out of the way.

I don't know, and we will never know for sure.....
But you don't seem to have had a problem finding these places.....

Why do you think it's so impossible that someone else has not

I have heard that there are guys that do nothing but roam the woods in search of "HOT" places to hunt...

This is true. It has been this way now for decades.

Since the satellite image thing started hundreds of serious THers all over this country constantly search every possible inch within miles of their homes or regular hunting areas. They're looking for any visible sign of man made structures. They know the general locations from research.

Many of these THers are well off financially and do this just for the kick they get out of it.

I've spent thousands on gear, traveling expenses, etc., and found less than $1000 worth of stuff over 40 years. I say this by what my dug corroded stuff would bring today on ebay (the value has gone way down in the last couple of years).

I recently purchased a 1810 bronze bell with loads of history that another THer dug. 10 years ago this bell would have drawn bids of $100s on ebay. I got it for $35 shipped.

There are a lot more people out there seriously hunting than you might think. Actually, it might be that, the more obscure the site, the more likely it has been previously searched.

But nobody gets everything. All those really old sites are worth another careful search.

 

[dale68]

With the mxt, it often helps to id iron if you just flip the switch to prospecting (just to check a signal) it'll give a probibility of iron(in prospecting) dig anything 60 percent and less if you don't want iron.

 

[illinidigger]

I agree with other posters that just because a site is out of the way doesn't mean they were not hit. I lived in New England and didn't detect much but dug a lot of bottle dumps at cellar holes. Been to hundreds of obscure cellar holes and " maybe" 1 out of 25 old dumps had not been dug. Now if people have been metal detecting your parts, and they have for 40 yrs., and one guy can hunt hundreds of cellar holes in his life, how many can be left,virgin? They are out there, but not many. I gave up on detecting because I went to a couple dozen old sites like yours, found nothing, and just thought I didn't have a good enough machine or didn't know enough. I am now back into detecting and assume all sites have been hunted until proven otherwise. Doesn't stop me from trying but does keep me from wasting time. Cellar holes in New England probably have the same chance of being virgin as an 1800's fairground. You have a good machine so you will find some stuff earlier machines missed,however. If your new to this, it will take time and I would suggest getting in some yards first. I find stuff in parks that have been pounded, but wouldn't have years ago, and I would hate to be a new detectorists going there for the first time, with any machine! They could hunt for months without an old coin.