Average Silver Depth??

[GA1dad]

Greetings from a newb in South Carolina.

A little pretext to my question. After years of interest, I finally broke down and bought a decent detector. My hobby budget was pretty limited, and my entry machine is a near new Ace 350 I picked up on CL for $200. May not be an AT Pro, but it got me started. I've been tinkering with it since the spring, with only limited success finding clad and scrap iron,,,,,, lots of foil. I recently purchased a Garrett THD "pin pointer". (Again, it was a budget thing.) While it may not be as slick as a true pin pointer, it has definately improved recovery time and aided in not digging as many wasted holes. Over the last few months, I have lurked around here and Youtube gleening as much as possible ( and thanks to all of you ). I'm really enjoying ( and honing ) the research aspect just about as much as the field time. I have a strong interest in both revolutionary and civil war era finds.

As of now, I have mostly focused on cutting my teeth on tot-lots. I do however have access to a property developed in 1918. The owner serves on the city council and has been remodeling the house for the 2 years or so since purchasing it. He told me his research indicates that the home was bought as a kit from Sears in 1918. The crates were delivered by train. I've searched this property twice now with limited success. I did find most of an old wind up pocket watch, and a little bit of clad, but nothing from the early 1900's.

There is one spot though. The owner told me that a previous owner had a small garden coi pond there. I picked up a strong, repeatable "slamming" signal in the .50 to $1 range on the display,,,,, depth is reading 6 to 8 inches. The first time I dug it, I didn't have a pinpointer and was not able to find anything. On Friday I went back and rescanned it,,,, yep,,, still ringing silver and deep. I dug down 8 plus inches and never found anything. The THD isn't a lot of help in holes either. Due to a looming thunderstorm, I opted to fill the hole and maybe come back later,,,,,,,, which leads to my original question,,,,,,, ( though I went all around the world to get there )

On average, how far do you expect to dig for silver coins? I know it must vary from area to area,,, but how about an average? 6 to 8 inches? This hole is starting to haunt me now,,,

Thanks in advance for any replies,,,,,,,,,,, Jason

 

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[CoinHunterAZ]

The silver in my area is normally 2-4 inches...once in a while 4- 6". The deepest silver I have found was a Franklin half at about 9-10" deep. You need to go back and dig that slamming hit!!! Test it to make sure it isn't a deep can or something big. Raise your detector up and up while swinging back and forth. If it is still beeping at 6"-12" off the ground...you gotcha something big and most likely not a coin. The suspense is killing me! Gitter' done and let us know what it is!

 

[GA1dad]

Test it to make sure it isn't a deep can or something big. Raise your detector up and up while swinging back and forth. If it is still beeping at 6"-12" off the ground...you gotcha something big and most likely not a coin.

Ah, the wonderful smell of Flagstaff pine trees. I lived in Yuma a while,,, loved taking the Harley up 17N to the cooler hills.

That sounds like a good tip. I had reduced the sensativity, but it didn't seem to make much difference. I will try your suggestion next time I head up there. Thank You

 

[l2hunt]

I agree with CoinHunter, raise your coil up over the ground a few inches and see what your machine tells you! As far as how deep is silver....I've found 1950's dimes at maybe 2 inches and once I found a Franklin at 4 inches....it depends on the soil. Here in Colorado after you dig about 4 inches the ground turns so very hard it's crazy!! HH

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

By the way, Welcome to the forum GA1dad! And yes, it it much cooler here than in other spots in AZ. We still haven't seen a 100 degree day yet...ever. Kinda close the past few days though!

 

[Tom_in_CA]

No "average depth" for silver coins. All depends on the site, if it's been disturbed (tilling, plowing, surf action to-the-sand, etc...). And moisture, soil, and foilage type, etc.. I've found silver coins in dry hardpan conditions a mere 1/2" under the ground. I've found seated halves I could hear with my pinpointer before I even started to dig (so they were only 2 or 3"). Yet I've found clad dimes at a foot deep in places.

About the only "average" you are going to find, is to have each site have its own rules. For example: If at one park/turf the wheaties and silver tend to *start* at 5", then ... well.... that's the average for THAT park. And so forth.

 

[Frankn]

OK, here's how I look at it. I go with Tom, there is no average depth due to many variables. It's best to go by what you found in the same area.

Now for your hard to figure signal. If you get a signal and your detector indicates say 3" and there is nothing that you can find, but the signal is still there, it is a large deeper target, maybe 10" or so. The fact is your detector is calibrated for coin size targets. Example: you get silver indication at 3". It may well be a larger iron object at 10". Your detector only knows the variation between between the transmitted signal and the received signal. On that it bases it's guess and the calibration shows based on a coin signal return. Sorry about that. That is as simple as I can get. Frank...