Gripe of Sorts

[bob_e99]

I keep seeing all the great finds being posted on the this site and I have to continuously remind myself to be patient. Fifty plus years of detectors have wiped out a lot of sites but I know I'll eventually find some more silver to add to my measly two. Now for my gripe of sorts. I don't mind digging up clad but it is most frustrating when it's dated a year or two after they stopped using silver for coins.
:hairpulling:

[Dimeman]

RESEARCH !!!!!!!!!!!It's all in the location !!!!

Any place that had people on it doing active things back when they carried silver coins in their pockets is still likely to hold a few old coins...even if it has been hunted to death.
Old maps of your area will show parks, ponds, lakes and sometimes fairgrounds that may still be there.
Maps will also show where the city limits were, and most cities have grown considerably since the 1950's and 1960's. Recreational areas that were out in the boonies back then, might be well inside the city now.

I have 16 maps of my area--from 1939 up to 1985. I have a 1955 map that shows a park in the city--according to the city website--the park was aquired by the city in the 1952, and is still in use today. It has been hunted hard over the years.

My 1939 map shows the same park--outside the city limits. So the park was in use at least 13 years before the city aquired it. Using this information I very slowly searched sections of the park and found old coins ( silver, wheats, buffalo nicks, and a Indian Head cent) hidden deep under layers of bottlecaps, pulltabs and other trash left from years of use.

[jkress]

I know how you are feeling bob. :yes: There have been a lot of awesome finds being posted... especially recently. Sure makes me want to get out and find some too, or at least try to. :embarrassed: I'm all but convinced the early park goers in my area mostly, and barely, dropped wheat pennies. lol

Yeah, it's the deep enough to be silver 1965 quarters that seem to tease and taunt me the most. :beatdown:

Have you had any luck with churches in your area. I find the churches around here that I get to hunt are mostly picked over pretty well. But there are usually one or two keepers per hunt left when I try them.

We are all looking for that next honey hole. :yes: Could be the next site... or the one after. :dontknow: All part of the thrill/frustration. lol

[coinnut]

We have it lucky, in that we are in an old area to begin with. But we also hunt in areas that are vast and contain places that people long ago visited, but are now just woods. This limits the number of people that detect there and increases our chances of finding what was missed by the ones that do detect there. Hard work is one of the reasons we get what we get at these sites. Research and technology is the real clincher for us though. My advice to you is look at maps of areas that are now not used, or used for some other purpose. Find them houses that have been demolioshed are now part of a farm field and get permission to hunt there. The coins found there are going to be a lot older, that's for sure. Look at places differently when you drive by. Look for areas that are in a populated section, that do not look like a spot everyone would say that's a great place to detect lol Those are the kind of sites that are available all across America. But I stilll hate 1965 Quarters >:#

[Mudder]

I do understand how you feel, about being just on the edge of silver. I know I have been lucky with some of my finds, because I live in an area that is not actively hunted :cheesysmile:. I put in 4 to 6 hours every weekend, and I always come home with a pocket full of clad. The town itself only goes back to 1884, so it is not that terribly old. It has also not been that well mapped over the years >{, which makes for some hard researching. But research is the name of the game. I do research other local towns and areas and work from that. It is a case of study and study some more, and dig all the signals, cause once you get the upper layer of trash gone, then you can get to the good stuff. thumbsup01

[bob_e99]

Thanks all for the responses. I understand about the research and accept the fact that I just picked a late time to start detecting. The rules have changed a bit since people first started detecting (wonder what that was like) but I was mostly venting about my rotting luck of getting coins that could have been silver if they were just a year or two older. This is why I never buy lottery tickets.

Also, I think the secret, as pointed out, is being able to learn the detector well enough to recognize those deep signals. I have been practising but unless it's a volkswagon, I seem stuck at the 6 or 7 inch depth.

Thanks again.