At what point do you decide your park isnt old enough to give up silver?

[mightyzep]

At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

Today was my second day hunting at a middle school near my house. Almost everything in my area was built in the 50s and 60s. So I don't find much silver. Today I decided to see how much I could find in 1 hour. I set a target of $3 because I have never found more than $4 in one day. I set my alarm on my phone and started to hunt. I have a Garrett Ace 250. I set it to only pick up dimes, quarters, halves and silver dollars. I have never found a half or a big silver dollar, so I was basically looking for dimes and quarters. Every once in a while I turn on the gold and the nickels...and on those days I dig a lot of pull tabs and trash and never found any gold. My dime setting once in a while finds pre-82 pennies. When my timer rang I pulled my coins out of my pocket. I had found 9 quarters, 7 dimes and 5 pennies, exactly $3!

Although it was fun, I thought just one silver dime would about equal the value in the clad I found in an hour. So how many coins do you dig out of one spot before you are convinced that there is no silver there? There other thing is, I get a lot of ghost rings, where it beeps once but when you go over that spot you can't get it to ring again. Also I think the Garrett Ace 250 just doesn't go that deep, maybe we are getting to the point that the silver is just deeper than I can get with this detector?

 

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[bill from lachine]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

mightyzep,

I'm a bit rusty on the Ace 250 but it was my everyday unit 3 or 4 years ago....it has a bit of a habit of falsing if you set the disc to high....setting between 4 and 6 and it's stable.

With modern clad it's pretty much all over the map so I used to set it in jewelry mode which managed to pick up most of the older and modern coins as well as jewelry.

Insofar as silver is concerned the older the site the better but the Ace should get you down to at least 6 inches which should do the trick under most conditions.

Unless you hit a virgin site....silver is a bit of a hit or miss....I've dug it up at site that are fairly modern and older sites and everything in between....not an exact science.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

silver coins were as common as bubble gum in the 50's and 60's if your coil is over one you will find it, even with a yellow fellow , two fidty

 

[Felinepeachy]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

...or you could ask Santa for an upgrade. Of course, it all depends on whether you've been naughty or nice

 

[matt092079]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

It could be there, you just aren't swingin' the coil over it! My ace 250 with the 9 x 12 coil can go up to 10 inches...that's with small targets. I've never dug a silver coin yet...just hadn't gotten lucky enough.

 

[Goes4ever]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

you also got to remember silver rings will come in just like dimes and quarters....and they can be anywhere, doesn't have to be old for a silver ring!

 

[70monte68]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

Hi,

When first started I was thinking the same thing. I would leave schools and parks with a pocket full of change, but no silver. I was also setting my Bounty 505 to only dig dimes and quarters. Then finally I found a virgin spot and out came the mercs, silver quarters, a silver ring and a silver Saint Christopher pendant.
My point is this, persistence pays off and if your coil is over it you will find it. Oh, I never will forget that spot! Also hunt areas that predate 1965.

Good luck and HH,

Don

 

[Tuberale]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

So how many coins do you dig out of one spot before you are convinced that there is no silver there?

Pretty easy for me to answer this one, having lived through that period of time when silver coins were all there was in circulation ... and after.

I research the park first. If it was established after 1975, I don't anticipate a lot of silver coinage. Most had already been removed. But not all. In fact, as all coin roll hunters know, some silver continues to show up even today.

But in general, look for something older than 1975.

Another thing to search for is someplace that was well-to-do in 1975, when people actually had change in their pockets.

 

[kayden]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

Today was my second day hunting at a middle school near my house. Almost everything in my area was built in the 50s and 60s. So I don't find much silver. Today I decided to see how much I could find in 1 hour. I set a target of $3 because I have never found more than $4 in one day. I set my alarm on my phone and started to hunt. I have a Garrett Ace 250. I set it to only pick up dimes, quarters, halves and silver dollars. I have never found a half or a big silver dollar, so I was basically looking for dimes and quarters. Every once in a while I turn on the gold and the nickels...and on those days I dig a lot of pull tabs and trash and never found any gold. My dime setting once in a while finds pre-82 pennies. When my timer rang I pulled my coins out of my pocket. I had found 9 quarters, 7 dimes and 5 pennies, exactly $3!

Although it was fun, I thought just one silver dime would about equal the value in the clad I found in an hour. So how many coins do you dig out of one spot before you are convinced that there is no silver there? There other thing is, I get a lot of ghost rings, where it beeps once but when you go over that spot you can't get it to ring again. Also I think the Garrett Ace 250 just doesn't go that deep, maybe we are getting to the point that the silver is just deeper than I can get with this detector?

Just keep researching & never give up ...You will find silver sooner or later!

 

[N.J.THer]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

The silver will come with time. It took me a while to find my first silver then they were few and far between. I know my machine pretty well now and can go to a 'hunted out park' and find at least one an hour. The place for silver though is private homes that have never been detected. I don't do as much as I would like with my work and home schedules pretty tight but it usually pays off. The home I grew up in was built in the mid 50's and I've pulled quite a few mercs from there.

Good luck

NJ

 

[Argentium]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

With a park, you don't have to worry about age - if the park is regularly visited by lots of people ,
summer and winter , playing with frisbees - and being active - they will lose silver rings , and the
occasional gold ring as well ! Finding a lot of nickels and pull tabs is a good indication that the
park is not being hunted seriously . Go to the park and watch how and where people are playing
and hanging out - to get a sense of the "hot spots " Argentium.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

The problem with many parks is that the dirt's been moved around over the years, or fill has been brought in. Don't let the age fool ya, I found a ball park this year in a small town near me, dedicated in 1977. Old coins poppin out everywhere! Silver halves, seated, barbers, IH's, tokens, and so on. Not very deep either...I've found a couple spots like that. Expand your territory if possible, and like others have mentioned, yards 1960ish and older can really produce. I believe many private yards have been searched over the years, contrary to popular opinion, but detector technology has advanced and killer finds can still be made.

Don't give up and keep on rockin!

 

[aka da Prof]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

well, when I come to a newer park or post 60's hunting ground, after a quick scan with the setting on 'coins' and see what turns up, all the while scoping corners, edges, older trees, shrubs-- anywhere it might be tough for others to hit, for the chance that silver could still be in the ground.

 

[mightyzep]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

Today I went to the parking lot of a YMCA near my house. It is in a neighborhood I know is old, like around 100 years old. I found an area between the parking lot and the sidewalk with some big old pine trees. As soon as I started looking the beeps were coming fast. Again I tried to look for 1 hour and see what I got. I got $5.17, by far my most ever in an hour. 34 coins! But no silver. And I'm sure this area is old, probably never hunted before with the rate of coins coming up. I think I will go back, maybe there were so many quarters ringing so shallow they were making me miss the deeper silver. The coins were so easy to dig, because the ground was basically decomposed pine needles, also maybe a factor in making those old coins sink deep.

 

[Mr Tuff]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

lots of people = lots of finds.. i found silver rings on top of the ground a few times.. MR TUFF

 

[N.J.THer]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

Today I went to the parking lot of a YMCA near my house. It is in a neighborhood I know is old, like around 100 years old. I found an area between the parking lot and the sidewalk with some big old pine trees. As soon as I started looking the beeps were coming fast. Again I tried to look for 1 hour and see what I got. I got $5.17, by far my most ever in an hour. 34 coins! But no silver. And I'm sure this area is old, probably never hunted before with the rate of coins coming up. I think I will go back, maybe there were so many quarters ringing so shallow they were making me miss the deeper silver. The coins were so easy to dig, because the ground was basically decomposed pine needles, also maybe a factor in making those old coins sink deep.

Go back over the same area maybe from a different direction and forget about getting as many coins as you can. Go super slow and overlap your coil swing by at least 50%. Listen for whisper signals, deep targets and targets that may only give a good signal in one direction. It sounds like your racing around trying to beat your previous clad record in a short amount of time so your most likely missing the better targets. I could be wrong...

NJ

 

[mightyzep]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

Today I went to the parking lot of a YMCA near my house. It is in a neighborhood I know is old, like around 100 years old. I found an area between the parking lot and the sidewalk with some big old pine trees. As soon as I started looking the beeps were coming fast. Again I tried to look for 1 hour and see what I got. I got $5.17, by far my most ever in an hour. 34 coins! But no silver. And I'm sure this area is old, probably never hunted before with the rate of coins coming up. I think I will go back, maybe there were so many quarters ringing so shallow they were making me miss the deeper silver. The coins were so easy to dig, because the ground was basically decomposed pine needles, also maybe a factor in making those old coins sink deep.

Go back over the same area maybe from a different direction and forget about getting as many coins as you can. Go super slow and overlap your coil swing by at least 50%. Listen for whisper signals, deep targets and targets that may only give a good signal in one direction. It sounds like your racing around trying to beat your previous clad record in a short amount of time so your most likely missing the better targets. I could be wrong...

NJ

No, you got me pegged right. I was trying to maximize my coin count in an hour...but that was only after the first few quarters started popping up, and I realized there were tons of coins in this small area. The good news is I am pretty darn sure this area has not been hunted before. Nobody would not dig up clad quarters would they? My Ace250 can't tell the clad quarter from the silver quarter. And I might have misled people, I HAVE found silver before, it's just been over a year. I was pondering the sinking rate of pre-65 drops and thinking about when they will all sink deep enough that I can't find them. The last time I did find silver it was very shallow, showing that sinking rates are very dependent on the area. My premise is although under pine trees is an easy place to dig, it might also be an easy place for silver to sink deep in 45+ years.

 

[N.J.THer]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

If the ground is undisturbed then I don't think you have to worry about U.S. silver being out of range of your Garrett unless your detecting in quicksand then not finding silver should not be your main concern...

 

[MICHIGANJAY]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

Hey - I agree with all the comments made here. I would also say go slow too. Something to consider, sometimes pinetrees grow in sandy soil which might be a type of quicksand. I say go slow and run your detector at full throttle. Good Luck J.

​

http://PikesPeakMetalDetecting.com​

 

[animal]

Re: At what point do you decide your park isn't old enough to give up silver?

I started detecting in jan of 04. It wasn't till the end of dec that i found my first silver merk. Jan of the fowling year in a hunted out old park swinging pretty fast headed to the car cause my buddy was ready to go. I got a dime signal at 6 and out poped a 1916d merk. I have found going on 300 silver coins since.76 this year. Allot of my silver was found in thought to be hunted out parks and houses. I went last weekend to a house i hunted 3 times and found a 1907 and 1895 v nickles. Its everywhere even where you've already been.
Mike