Not digging clad?

[z118]

Ok you silver nuts... I'm getting the impression from various posts/comments that maybe some of you pass up on clad tagets. Is this true? Do you really only dig coin targets that you think are likely to be silver (or otherwise old coins)? This is pretty hard for me to imagine... I'm pleased to dig a penny. Different strokes for different folks of course, but maybe this helps explain my low silver count - because I'm spending all my time digging up clad?

[kenfen]

I'm ok with clad. It's money, and there's a ton of it where I hunt. When they dig up the walkways, you can find old stuff, but my front yard which is an old park has been hit to death by hundreds of hunters. There's just so much silver around and it's not being replenished.

I have found 2 silvers all year, a 1902 Barber quarter that looked like the asphalt machine buried it and a 1953 dime that was uncovered in a construction project to replace a walkway.

My next option is to go explore other parks in the area.

I'm all about just finding the best targets I can and learning more about my DFX.

Regards, Ken

[Lowjiber]

Good question, that. I'll admit to being a silver nut, albeit not nearly in the same league as Angel or Jack.

I never dig Zincolns...period. If I do, it was a mistake in my pre-dig decision process. I realize that this snobish attitude results in missed good targets such as class rings, etc. However, with my detector I can usually identify something in that VDI range that is not a Zincoln. Avoiding Zincolns simply provides more time to hunt for better targets.

Quarters and dimes are a different story. In northern California and southern Nevada (two places where I do most of my coinshooting), the soil is highly mineralized. As a result, a silver and a clad dime or quarter can have VDI numbers that are often so close that I can't distinguish between them. Therefore, I dig everything that is above +70...resulting in a lot of clad.

In the Silicon Valley area of northern California, most of the older (pre-1970 is old in Ca.) parks had a ton of $$$ thrown into them during the dot-com era in the form of added topsoil to make them more appealing to the tender California lifestyle. In these parks, depth is the major factor in finding silver coins. While I don't subscribe to the theory that coins sink much in areas that never freeze and thaw, adding 6-10 inches of topsoil forces the detectorist to think &quotenvious:EP if he's going to have a high silver return on his efforts.

The park in the attached pic is a perfect example. It dates back to the early 50's, but was completely re-landscaped in the mid-1980's. It's large (the white line is almost a half mile long), and has rewarded my silver quest considerably. When I hunt the open areas of that park, I don't even bother to dig any potential coin target that is less than six inches deep...it simply isn't worth the effort IMHO.

Today's detectors are, by and large, much deeper than earlier models. It is possible that detectorists twenty years ago recovered shallower silver in those areas. However, I doubt it. Silver coins dropped before the influx of topsoil simply were beyond the range of their machines after the additional soil was added.

I don't mean to imply that I don't dig shallow targets around older trees and sidewalks. I'm referring to the open areas. Often the addition of topsoil stopped as the machinery approached trees...that's when I get busy and dig the shallower targets.

Without getting off the subject too much, here's an interesting tip that I discovered when hunting parks that have had a lot of topsoil added...

Look for a mound in the park. Often the added topsoil is not as deep as elsewhere in the general area.

Wow!!! This post was longer than I expected. (Silver nuts are that way. )

[randy]

I usually dig clad. The reason I'm not digging it at the one site I mentioned in another thread is that it is a site I have permission for, and they asked me to go easy. So I don't dig it when it is hot and the ground is dry because I water each plug on those days. Its just not worth it in that case. I dig it at that site on the rainy, wet days.

OTOH, I often don't dig zincolns anywhere, but sometimes do. I've been digging more of them since the half dime I found was at VDI +53, which is usually a zincoln.

[angellionel]

Very nice post, John! thumbsup01

That is a good question, Z. Personally, I don't pass up clad coins, as you may have seen from one or two of my past posts. They do add up. There are times, though, when I may ignore some of the shallower dime signals, depending on the site of course, but quarters I don't pass up. It can be surprising just how much can be collected over a year's hunt. That money can be invested into the hobby - new coils, diggers, maybe even a new machine.

[coinnut]

I only dig clad when I am getting clobbered by Angel lol Actually, I usually cherry pick my targets when in a park setting only. Houses, fields, foundations I am much more thorough. In a park, by cherry picking, I mean no memorials, no nickles, just clad (or silver) dimes and quarters. Sure I miss a bunck of good targets, but time is limited and I am trying to learn how to tell a clad from a silver, so I need the practice Depth is a major decision maker in my book.

[CyberSage]

I kind of hunt in 2 different styles.

1. Looking for old coins

I dig +78 and above, and anything from +12 to +20. I dig solid hits from +50 and up if they are 5 inches or deeper.

2. Cherry picking with the Bigfoot coil at schools.

If I am using the Bigfoot coil I dig +80 and above, and anything from +12 to +20. I find a lot of Quarters and Silver rings this way.

Very nice post John! Thank you.

Jack

[Epi-hunter]

I have a hard time walking over shallow clad quarters. Other than that, I usually don't dig clad if I know that's what it is.

[yazoo]

I dig most anything that sounds good most of the time.Then other times I go to deep mode 5 inches and better. Yazoo

[hockeyguy]

I dig surface quarters cause they tunr out to rings or quarters and generally only dig coins (depending on where I am) at 5 or lower. Last year I did dig several large cents w/i an inch or 2 of the surface and a 4 dime hit turned out to be a 1 reale! I hate digging lincolns....i dont even pick them up if I see 'em! I'm looking for the older stuff.

[Jason in Enid]

Well, I am definately a silver hunter, but I won't pass up clad.

There are too many silver rings and medals that fall into the clad range.
There are still shallow silver coins around.
Local mineralization or nearby metals can skew the response and make a silver coin read lower.
Clad adds up to pay for fuel or pay for the detector in heavy clad parks / schools.

[little man]

dig it all if it sound dig it but just me