Deep coins.....10 inches or more??

[1235CE]

O.K., question.....I have a Whites XLT my brother has a DFX....We have been detecting very regularly for 7 years and we live on the Mass/NY line.... Our detectors are considered by many to be top of the line and we each have found thousands of old coins. Neither of us has EVER found a coin deeper than 6 inches and when we do find coins in that range they are most always from the 1700's/early 1800's; copper or silver.

Here is an example of my depth ranges and what comes out of the ground here at certain depths.

clad/new coins = 0 inches to 1 inch
wheat cents = 1-2 inches
Indian heads = 2-3 inches
large cents = 3-4 inches
Colonials = 3-6 inches
shield/V/Buff/Jeff nickels = 1-4 inches
Roosie silver dime = 2 inches
Merc dime = 2 inches
Barber dime = 2-3 inches
seated dime = 3-4 inches
Bust dime = 4-6 inches
half dimes = 3-5 inches
silver Washington quarter = 2 inches
Standing Lib quarter = 2-3 inches
Barber quarter = 3 inches
seated quarter = 3-4 inches
Bust quarter = 4-6 inches
Kennedy/Franklin/Walking halves 1-3 inches
Barber halves = 3-4 inches
Seated halves = 4 inches
Bust halves = 4-6 inches
dollars (have 3 Peace, 1 Morgan) = 2-3 inches
2 cent pieces = 2-4 inches
3 cent pieces = 3-5 inches

Of course, there are exceptions (like a 1787 Fugio Cent at 1 inch and a 1963 Roosie at 6 inches....go figure)

I am always reading that people are recovering coins at 10+ inches and quite honestly, I don't think our detectors even go that deep....it makes me wonder if people are mis-reading their depths or they have very soft soil in their neck of the woods.

Now I'm not saying we don't miss any coins because I'm sure that we do but if we are finding all of these coins at these depths what could we possibly be missing?


Beep, beep and be deep (but not over 6 inches because we'll miss it )

HH all
Greg

 

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[jeff of pa]

Welcome to TreasureNet Charles.
It's good to have you as a Member.

It's a shame it took you being Mentioned before you bothered, ,
But at least you here now.

You sure do have some Prime hunting grounds up your way,
and I would like to see you post some of your finds.

By the way, I went from a 6" Trawl to a Very long Handled trawl
Since I bought a WOT.

 

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[1235CE]

Charles, let me be the first to apologize if you took offense to my post.

First of all, I live about 45 minutes to the East of Albany and know our soil conditions very well. I have been very regularly detecting for 7 years with a White's XLT with a 10 inch loop.

Secondly, my head (and dare I say others heads) is just not computing the numbers you have listed therefore spurring my suspicions. C'mon Charles, you have to sit back and realize that the numbers you are quoting will raise some eyebrows. ESPECIALLY in "hunted out parks" (and yes, you said that multiple times)

Thirdly, at the time that you wrote your story, you had 300 hours on your new loop and claim to have found over 650 coins (over 400 silver) plus jewelry in "hunted out parks" (350 from the first park and several hundred coins from the other 2 parks) That translates to a coin or a piece of jewelry every 26 minutes.......no time consuming trash, just the good stuff? No days or weeks on end where you struggle just to find a Wheat cent like me
Just all good, mostly silver or Indians or jewelry, every day, every 26 minutes

Look Charles, it may seem like I'm bashing you but here's what I believe that I know about you from that article:

1. You are a man who enjoys this hobby very much.
2. You (in your own words) took a lot of ribbing from your buddies about your WOT.
3. You wanted to tell the world that you were right the whole time about your decision and wrote an article.
4. You streched the truth about your finds for article affect. (that's right, I said it)


Here lies my problem with #4.....This is a great hobby that we have and I am afraid that folks just getting into it will read your article, spend the rent money, give it a shot with your numbers as a benchmark, not come ANYWHERE near those numbers and chuck it in the closet or sell it at a loss and always have a bad taste about the hobby.

In closing, I'm sure it will be no problem to dump your 1000+ coins/jewelry onto your table and snap a picture for all to see.

My sincerest advance apologies for being such a skeptic if indeed a picture shows up, and if it does, than you are a brilliant and very lucky man and I have no business swinging a detector.

HH all
Greg

 

[bakergeol]

Like Jeff I welcome you to this forum Charles.
I have enjoyed your posts and pictures of your incredible finds for many years now. I like a lot of other folks are waiting for your field test of Dave's Pulse Devil on your website. Don't keep us in suspense too much longer.

HH
George

 

[Michigan Badger]

Now this has been an interesting post (thread, whatever)

What we really need today is a SUPER EXTREME tabloid version of coinshooting. I can see it now sitting there in the rack at the checkout....


THer FINDS 600 POUND BARBER DIME WITH HIS EXPLORER!

Geez..and I wonder why so few respond to my posts

Bad badger :P

Love ya!

 

[Gabbit]

Let me first preface this by saying I am no Charles – I consider myself to be an educated beginner in the hobby with a lot to learn. I believe you can find hundreds of old coins in hunted out parks. If you want to you can check through some of my posts which you would have to conclude are pretty authentic – most coins still have the tarnish basically the coins are visibly dug. There is one called Old Ballpark totals – I have totaled over 50 silvers in a baseball diamond and about 100 wheats. Mind you this is one baseball diamond and a small one at that.

I had been told by a couple of old timers that the park was hunted out and there was nothing left & that I would be lucky to find a wheat penny. One guy said back in the 70’s and 80’s he and some hunting buddies emptied the park. I would have probably packed up the detector at that point and hunted somewhere else if I had a lot of choices. Fact is I did not have many hunting areas, so I would just be happy with the wheat penny or two along with the modern clad and pull tabs.

I hunted the ballpark 4 times and only brought up 1 wheat penny. It wasn’t until the 5th time that things started to click for me and I began pulling up the old stuff. I wasn’t digging text book signals and I was hunting by sound and not by numbers. 95% of the old coins found were between 7”-12”. I thought that it was a bit of a fluke myself. How could I get so lucky as to find coins were everyone else missed them? I tacked it up to luck.

I pretty much hunted out the old ballpark with my current equipment and started wondering where I would hunt now. I began hitting a new park in a much larger town 30 miles away. My past 2 trips out there I have found 14 old coins or keepers in a total of 6 hours or one good find every 25 min. I know the park has been very heavily hunted in the past – two different grounds keepers have told me it has been hunted to death and it is rare that an old coin is found there. What makes me able to succeed where others have given up or failed?? When you can repeat results in new circumstances then you can’t very well tack it up to luck anymore.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Hey Gabbit, have you ever considered a dowsing rod? I hear they get 13 to 18 inches. Down at that level there must be at least another 50 silvers.

Just kidding pal...really, your post is a good one.

I too hunt "hunted out" locations and often make some very good finds at them. Mainly what I find are great digs in the 2 to 5 inch range with an occasional find at 6 to 7 inches. However, my DeLeon did catch a silver ring this year at an honest 9 inches deep. It gave a good solid signal and was near the road where they had recently graded the side.

I dig lots of quarter sized steel and copper/brass washers at 9+ inches deep (buried at work sites). I hunt lots of dump sites (small yard trash areas) where I regularly find coin sized ferrous and non-ferrous metal at 9 inches or more. With the DeLeon I never have any trouble reaching these super deep items.

So my question is, if my machine can reach coin sized non-ferrous targets at extreme depths---why isn't it finding that tremendous hoard of 7+ inch deep coins?

Here in northern Michigan you can bet the farm that 90-98% of the coin finds will be less than 5 inches deep.

Personally, I think you, and others like you, are making better silver coin finds mainly because you know your machine well and you hunt slowly and methodically. And I think when you make many nice finds it's because those sites were very heavily used over a long period of time and they were not hunted by those who really knew what they were doing.

The depths you guys claim may be true. I haven't hunted every state so it may be the coins do run much deeper some places

As for the depth issue..heck, this thing has been around since Hector was a pup. I say to anyone; buy a name brand quality machine and work your butt off and you'll find some goodies. Now and then a special treat will come your way but as a rule they're far and few between.

 

[Mirage]

Nothing seems to generate more discussion than depth of coins and which detector gets deeper. Some good reading here.

The sites here around Cleveland, Ohio tend to have coins deeper than the typical 2-4 inches. We just got done hunting a school that 90 % of the 30 old coins we found were 4-7 inches down. Suprisingly at my mom's 1800's place we have found targets at 8-12 inches(larger pins, lead, medals, buckles) but the deepest coin was a barber dime at about 6 inches. The indian heads were also about 5 inches deep.

Now the trouble is how you determine the actual depth of the coin. To me the best way is to dig a very deep "plug". Flip it over. You then have an inverted cone. You then slice off 1/4 - 1/2 " at a time. Usually you can actually see the coin after one of the slices. You then measure with a ruler the distance to the ground. This is very accurate but assumes the soil will hold together in a plug and you can dig a 6-8" plug. With my little gator digger I can do about 6" plugs maybe. To get a true 8" plug I have to use a full sized shovel. Anyway, the other method is to dig, pinpoint with a probe, remove about another inch, pinpoint with the probe ,etc. Once you find the target you measure with a ruler(not the digging tool unless marked). This method is accurate to at best +-1 inch.

Mirage

 

[Michigan Badger]

Now the trouble is how you determine the actual depth of the coin. To me the best way is to dig a very deep "plug". Flip it over. You then have an inverted cone. You then slice off 1/4 - 1/2 " at a time. Usually you can actually see the coin after one of the slices. You then measure with a ruler the distance to the ground. This is very accurate but assumes the soil will hold together in a plug and you can dig a 6-8" plug. With my little gator digger I can do about 6" plugs maybe. To get a true 8" plug I have to use a full sized shovel. Anyway, the other method is to dig, pinpoint with a probe, remove about another inch, pinpoint with the probe ,etc. Once you find the target you measure with a ruler(not the digging tool unless marked). This method is accurate to at best +-1 inch.

Mirage

Very good post! I apologise and don't mean to hijack the thread but I just have to post.

One problem with the probe (besides damaging the coin) is that in rocky ground one can think he's hit the target when actually he's hitting a stone 3 inches under the coin.

I think some of the claims (not all) are due to the following:

1. Poor pinpointing
2. Guessing the depth after the hole has been dug

I don't blame these people one bit for I once did this myself. I was always finding Indian heads at 7 to 12 inches. You should have seen some of my holes

The Tesoro has it's good and bad points but one good point is it's accurate pinpointing. That sucker is dead on 99% of the time. I dig a plug and check it like you stated. If I'm 95% sure it's a coin, I then very slowly pick the dirt up with my finger tips.

This year I was really shocked. Hunting the same sites that last year produced 10 inch deep coins now produce older coins and jewelry at 4 to 6 inches.

Okay...I'm gone. Sorry for so much dialog!

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

First of all, I live about 45 minutes to the East of Albany and know our soil conditions very well.

Soil conditions vary drastically within the Albany city limits, and in some cases they vary within the park itself. If you think you know my soil conditions then please share with the forum the very different soil conditions found at these four Albany, NY parks...Swinburne, Beverwyck, Washington, and Lincoln parks and the soils effects on silver and copper coins at each. This should be an easy question if you think you know my soil conditions. If I wanted to make it more difficult I would ask you to identify specific areas within the parks or conditions in Schoharie, Burne, Knox, or the other areas I hunt.

Secondly, my head (and dare I say others heads) is just not computing the numbers you have listed therefore spurring my suspicions. C'mon Charles, you have to sit back and realize that the numbers you are quoting will raise some eyebrows. ESPECIALLY in "hunted out parks" (and yes, you said that multiple times)

I tell you what, contact Butch he hunts the same areas I do. He switched to a Quattro last year after using Whites for many years. Why don't you ask him how many silver coins he's found already this season and how this compares to what he found in years past.

Thirdly, at the time that you wrote your story, you had 300 hours on your new loop and claim to have found over 650 coins (over 400 silver) plus jewelry in "hunted out parks" (350 from the first park and several hundred coins from the other 2 parks) That translates to a coin or a piece of jewelry every 26 minutes.......no time consuming trash, just the good stuff? No days or weeks on end where you struggle just to find a Wheat cent like me

If you spend days or weeks struggling to find a wheat cent you need a new site or a perhaps a new machine. But if you want numbers you can verify, contact Larry Clark, a dectorists in Texas. He collects IH's and I sold him a lot of 330 IH's back in 2003 plus a handful of single higher quality coins. In fact I sold off most of my finds that year to buy another Explorer and some equipment so that I could start building my own coils. For example I sold a lot of over 900 dug wheat cents to one guy. I sold lots of mercs, I think I sold 50 mercs to one guy. I sold many of the best barber dimes. I sold a 1895-o barber dime for $230. I sold my two barber half dollars. I still have my ebay feedback to prove this. Now look at the picture I'm going to post below, add all the coins I sold to this pile and make up your own mind as to my totals.

Look Charles, it may seem like I'm bashing you but here's

You are though I can't imagine why.

1. You are a man who enjoys this hobby very much.

Correct.

2. You (in your own words) took a lot of ribbing from your buddies about your WOT.

Correct though quite a number of them followed my lead, purchased WOT's, and made some excellent deep finds.

3. You wanted to tell the world that you were right the whole time about your decision and wrote an article.

Wrong! I received so many individual requests for tips on using the WOT it just seemed easier to provide DOC with a review to hand out.

4. You streched the truth about your finds for article affect. (that's right, I said it)

Wrong! But thanks for calling me a lier.

Here lies my problem with #4.....This is a great hobby that we have and I am afraid that folks just getting into it will read your article, spend the rent money, give it a shot with your numbers as a benchmark, not come ANYWHERE near those numbers and chuck it in the closet or sell it at a loss and always have a bad taste about the hobby.

I understand your caution, its not like I have not tossed $200 away on a worthless coil. May I ask though how many people have you spoken with who purchased a WOT after reading my article and had a bad experience? I have long since lost count of the number who have written me and had a great experience. Mind you not all were success stories. You can't expect a 15 inch coil to work well in all site conditions. Some people required a little more coaching on its use. For example one guy from the SE emailed me complaining that his WOT was not usable at the site he wanted to hunt. In talking with him I found out that the site was loaded with iron, and at present it was sopping wet. I have sites like that, that are not huntable with the stock coil let alone a WOT. Sopping wet iron is not a good site condition for a WOT. I told him to put the WOT away until the site started to dry out. He went back when conditions were better suited for a large coil and bang up came the deep stuff.

In closing, I'm sure it will be no problem to dump your 1000+ coins/jewelry onto your table and snap a picture for all to see.

People can view my better finds on my website anytime but here's a picture of most of my finds less the 1,400 to 1,500 I sold in 2003, the big pile of wheats I have in a jar, relics, and buckets of clad I have scattered from here to there. Also note the ex-girlfriend has all the best gold rings though I do have pictures of them on my website.

The big pile in the center is the silver coins less probably 20-30 scattered around the house. Bottom right shield, liberty, and Buffalo nickels. I found a plastic container with more but they were too dirty to include here. I ran these through my rock tumbler a while back. Top right are 36 large cents, I have a couple more recent finds in the kitchen. Top left silver and gold jewelry. Bottom left a couple hundred IH's less some really nice ones I have saved out. This is the post 2003 sell off and keep in mind I have hunted very little the past 2 years due to life happening. Its June and I have been out so far this year 4 times. Nothing like the nearly daily hunting I did back a few years ago.

There it is, people can just make up their own minds.

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Regarding depth of coins, in areas I hunt they vary from site to site. Most of our older coins are in the 6-9 inch range or at least they seem to be since I quit using a WOT coil. Some sites they can be found as deep as 12. I have dug large cents that deep and deeper and also larger relics in the 14 inch range. Stuff is down there but coin size targets are tough to reach. Since I sold my WOT due to it being too rough on my shoulder I will say I noticed a considerable drop off in deep finds. But I think if I find shell casings and shoe taps at 12-14 theres got to be some coins down there also.

The deepest IH I ever saw dug at the sinkhole park was by Dave Z aka Mr. Whites DFX Expert. He was down that hole to his elbow. Less you doubt this coin was deep, I swept it with my 15 in WOT coil before he started digging and all I heard was a weak iron signal. Afterwards I said, "hey Dave does this mean as the coins get to extreme depths they can ID as iron?" to which he replied, "you don't miss much do you".

I dug a 1798 large cent out in the woods near a cellar hole, it was down a good 10-11 inches. I dug a seated dime in a park that was stuck to the bottom of my second plug that was a good 10-11 inches down not counting the grass. Both WOT finds by the way. The barber dime I dug last night was 9-10 and the signal on the stock coil was not very good.

There are exceptions to the rule of course. Last night I dug a stupid memorial cent at yes...8 inches! I hate it when that happens. I let Ed sweep it before I dug and he stood there expecting an IH to pop up. At the same park maybe 50 yards away Ed dug a bust half dime at...3 inches. I dug a walking half at 2 at the same park a year or two back. You just never know but when people say there are no coins beyond 6-7 inches I just shrug my shoulders and keep swinging because I know thats not true, at least not in my area.

Charles

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Let me first preface this by saying I am no Charles –

Heck I'm no Gabbit, it sounds like you are doing quite well in the "hunted out" spots. I am of the opinion that many spots will never be hunted out. Butch, Ed, and I just dug about 15 nickels, 4-5 IH's, a seated dime and a barber dime last night from a spot we have detected up and and sideways several times before. At that park the coins just keep coming. Others do appear to get pounded and its tough to find a wheat these days.

Charles

 

[Rusted_Iron]

Most of our older coins are in the 6-9 inch range or at least they seem to be since I quit using a WOT coil. Some sites they can be found as deep as 12. I have dug large cents that deep and deeper and also larger relics in the 14 inch range. Stuff is down there but coin size targets are tough to reach. Since I sold my WOT due to it being too rough on my shoulder I will say I noticed a considerable drop off in deep finds. But I think if I find shell casings and shoe taps at 12-14 theres got to be some coins down there also.

The deepest IH I ever saw dug at the sinkhole park was by Dave Z aka Mr. Whites DFX Expert. He was down that hole to his elbow. Less you doubt this coin was deep, I swept it with my 15 in WOT coil before he started digging and all I heard was a weak iron signal. Afterwards I said, "hey Dave does this mean as the coins get to extreme depths they can ID as iron?" to which he replied, "you don't miss much do you".

I dug a 1798 large cent out in the woods near a cellar hole, it was down a good 10-11 inches. I dug a seated dime in a park that was stuck to the bottom of my second plug that was a good 10-11 inches down not counting the grass. Both WOT finds by the way. The barber dime I dug last night was 9-10 and the signal on the stock coil was not very good.

Good information here, I'm always trying to learn more about this topic.

Your success with coin hunting says you are skilled, but then again you still could be an alien with x-ray vision

This may seem like a dumb question, but what does WOT stand for? Is that the same as a double-D coil?

 

[Born2Dtect]

Greg,
To answer your original post. Your depths appear OK. I don,t dig signals deeper than 6 inches on a regular basis as most finds for the areas I hunt are in the 2 to 6 inch range. The bottom line is you will find objects where they are; 1 inch , 5 inches, 12 inches deep. Do you need to go deeper to find more or better stuff? Probably not but that really depends on the site. I would say don,t get hung up on depth, just keep getting good results and develop a method that works for you.

Ed Donovan

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

It's a shame it took you being Mentioned before you bothered, ,

LOL, yeah someone sent me a link to the forum suggesting I give this post a read. Hey its no big deal. Nice forum, I'll definately add it to my reading list.

You sure do have some Prime hunting grounds up your way, and I would like to see you post some of your finds.

Hmm okay here's last nights finds!

By the way, I went from a 6" Trawl to a Very long Handled trawl Since I bought a WOT.

LOL I bet you did. I may buy another WOT now that I took the saws all to my Explorer and it shed 1/2 a pound of ugly cellulose and is much better balanced. Here's a pic and a link to some more pics.

http://www.detectorgear.com/dgforums/showthread.php?t=57

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Like Jeff I welcome you to this forum Charles.
I have enjoyed your posts and pictures of your incredible finds for many years now. I like a lot of other folks are waiting for your field test of Dave's Pulse Devil on your website. Don't keep us in suspense too much longer.

HH
George

Thanks! OMG I'm about to burst waiting for the Pulse Devil to arive. I have spent many hours discussing the inner workings of that machine with Dave and while I cannot comment on the technical details if that machine works as described look out! I will make a B-line to my sites which have produced the deeper finds and also the iron infested nail heaps. Its probably going to be another two months before I see one. Just to wet your whistle...depth on a nickel with a 7 inch coil...18 inches! Aye carumba!

 

[Gabbit]

Hey Gabbit, have you ever considered a dowsing rod? I hear they get 13 to 18 inches. Down at that level there must be at least another 50 silvers.

Well I am getting a WOT coil I was hoping to get up to 15” in the soil although the grounds keeper may get a bit worried when I bring in a backhoe to dig it up. Although it isn’t 18” – I feel bad if I don’t leave some of the goodies for the dowsers.

I too hunt "hunted out" locations and often make some very good finds at them. Mainly what I find are great digs in the 2 to 5 inch range with an occasional find at 6 to 7 inches. However, my DeLeon did catch a silver ring this year at an honest 9 inches deep. It gave a good solid signal and was near the road where they had recently graded the side.

I have only found one maybe two keeper coins in the 2-5” range. I am guessing the soil just sucks up the coins around here – would be very interesting to see what rate coins sink in soil according to altitude / moisture / foot traffic / and soil type.

So my question is, if my machine can reach coin sized non-ferrous targets at extreme depths---why isn't it finding that tremendous hoard of 7 to 12 inch deep coins?

Location Location Location ?? Charles in NY is hunting sites with more history that I would know what to do with – with coins 150+ years old I am betting they do sink to those 10”+ depths – Oddly enough I have yet to find a coin older than the 1900’s in Idaho

Here in northern Michigan you can bet the farm that 90-98% of the coin finds will be less than 5 inches deep.

Double edge sword on that one -- makes the competition tougher because even the guys with the lower market machines can compete

Personally, I think you, and others like you, are making better silver coin finds mainly because you know your machine well and you hunt slowly and methodically. And I think when you make many nice finds it's because those sites were very heavily used over a long period of time and they were not hunted by those who really knew what they were doing.

I will agree with that – probably why I have found 20 dimes for every quarter – I will also argue that the technology has improved so those deeper smaller signals can now be detected again

 

[hollowpointred]

well, i can honestly say that i struggle to find silver and most times even wheaties. it is inspiring to read posts like the ones above, and i hope i can take something from them into the field and improve my own results. i think i will try the true all metal mode for the next couple of weeks and dig everything, just to see if my luck changes after draining every available inch out of my gti 2500. ill have to check back and tell you how it went.

 

[1235CE]

Well folks, if I can be mouthy, I can be apologetic as well.......(he says while taking one more swig of beer for courage)

Very, very nice collection Charles......I was wrong to doubt you and I am sorry.

I too, have a similar collection from our area... 1,322 silver, 631 indians, 71 LC's and 18 Colonials....I have sold one coin (1799 LC which graded EF Details/Corroded) but mind you, this has taken me 7 years.

Just for the record, I do not hunt parks and I do not dig very iffy sounds but if you do and you are having that much success then all the power to you and I sincerely applaud you for your efforts. You are a credit and an inspiration to our hobby and I have learned something.

Hope to see more of your finds soon.

Below is my most reecnt good find from last week

Beep, beep and be deep (hell, 2 feet if ya can )

HH all
Greg

 

[bakergeol]

An excellent thread here. I hope a lot of you newbies gathered some inspiration as well as some new information here. For example-"Afterwards I said, "hey Dave does this mean as the coins get to extreme depths they can ID as iron?" to which he replied, "you don't miss much do you".

1235CE- You really need to piss off a few more experienced detectorists so we can get another quality thread like this one. Also great finds by the way.

He, He
George

 

[Michigan Badger]

1235CE- You really need to piss off a few more experienced detectorists so we can get another quality thread like this one. Also great finds by the way.

He, He
George

Amen there brother George...amen!