I need some help on deep silver.

[robmellott]

I need some help on finding silver coins that are deep . I am finding allkinds of other coins i switch dectctors to a whites silver eagle any help on what the deep ones sound like whoud be great. and how does the siver eagle compare to the xlt . thanks for all the help

 

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[BioProfessor]

I assume you mean deep little silver - dimes, etc. My DFX, and I would assume another similar machine, should have no problem with big silver. Last silver coin was BIG (larger than a silver dollar) and picked it up at about 8-9 inches. Dimes, don't know if I pick them up or not. Haven't found any silver ones. I would say the best thing to do would be to dig a hole about 6-8 inches in diameter and about 24 inches deep. Plant some silver coins (slick ones from a dealer) and some rings in slots dug about 6 inches into the side of the hole at various depths. See if you can pick them up. Which ones at which depth? You really can't be sure you are missing deep silver unless you KNOW it is there and your machine doesn't give you a signal. Once you have the set-up, you could probably borrow a machine and/or coil you think will work from a local dealer. Play with it a little over your set-up. Change coils. See what you get. That's my best suggestion for making sure you are or aren't picking up silver - small or large, shallow or deep.

Daryl

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

First thing is you have to hunt where people were when silver was in circulation. Do a little research. I just had a forehead slap moment last week when I realized the park I drove past 10,000 times at the end of the street where I once lived is still there, has been there since the area was on the edge of the Chenango Canal in the 1850's (a small off-branch sister to the Erie) and I have never searched there. I remember playing there when silver was still in circulation. D'oh!

Turn off or way down the discrimination. And remember that old silver is deeper and probably reads lower than you expect. Forget the icons that the detector displays and concentrate on the sounds and readout. I made up the following chart by ground testing pattern coins with my new Fisher F-75. (The gold coins are estimated - the next gold coin I find will be my first). This won't apply to other detectors, but the relative position of coins along the scale should be representative.

And the tiny 3¢ silver is a very difficult target for any detector. You will not find one of those, I guarantee you, unless the planets are in alignment, the conditions are perfect, you dig a very weak and iffy signal, and you pay attention to the plug and search carefully.

 

[thompy]

the silver E is a good unit requiring a faster sweep speed to get its depth, id's very well, striped down version of spectrum eagle, remember to accept -95, i used the QXT when i had the silver E, wish i would have kept it as a backup, just liked the quicker audio response of the qxt

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Planting targets won't work. They won't sound the same as coins that were actually there for 100+ yrs d/t the disturbed soil pack, halo, etc...

About the only way, aside from "hard knocks experience digging thousands of holes", is to hunt with someone who routinely finds deep oldies. Have them mark a few that they guess is penny/dime-ish at 7" or more. Then you pass over the marked signals from all different directions and machine settings, to see how they sound.

 

[BioProfessor]

Granted, coins in the ground for 100 years will sound different that ones freshly placed in the ground but silver is different than iron and in some ground copper. The halo effect happens most often when iron oxidizes and builds up into the surrounding soil. If the iron has completely rusted away, the only sound you get is from the halo and when you dig your target, you find that it disappears as the rust halo breaks apart.

The purpose of digging a hole and placing the coins on "shelves" dug into the sides of the hole is so you are detecting through undisturbed soil which is much different that disturbed soil. So while there is a point to the halo effect, unless your ground is really oxidizing the silver, there is very little halo buildup in the soils. Maybe 5-10% of that of iron. Gold has none and as far as I know, silver is next in exhibiting the least halo effect. When you find a silver coin, is it covered in crud or is it just dark? The crud makes for a much better halo. If it is just dark, there is very little silver in the surrounding soil. I just dug a silver coin that had been in the ground since 1869. Came out of the ground with almost no crud and still silver colored and not dark. Could not have been much halo there.

While a test like I suggest is far from perfect, it will give you some idea as to what you can and can't pick up. A silver dime at 5" in a test setup may be like a 6" dime buried for 50 years (1957 silver dime).

So what do others think? I'm just trying to suggest as fair and easy a test as possible to compare machines and depth on silver. I really don't think it should be discarded out of hand by saying it won't work.

And don't tell a Bumble Bee he can't fly.

Daryl

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

Something else I've noticed in testing. I bury test coins in a little garden I keep for the purpose. If I get the ground wet I get better depth - even on the fresh coins. I also took a dirty bottle cap with dried mud in it, set on the ground, swept it, then soaked the cap and re-tested. It added several units of conductivity. My emperical observation, therefore, is halo may be nothing more than increased contact with the soil (and moisture) which gives the eddy currents produced by the detector's field better play than a coin with a lot of airspace around it. Especially if there are mineral salts (and therefore ions) present in the moisture around the target. Who knows, silver or gold may have some catalytic effect on soil properties that changes the soil characteristics without damaging or reacting with the coin?

Try you "side of the hole" method with a wet coin or slosh some water in after slipping it into the soil.

 

[U.K. Brian]

Damp soil increases detection depth as there is no real halo as such, its an electrical charge where the metallic item is breaking down due to the attack of acids in the soil.
Take a gold coin a couple of thousand years old and if it was pure gold it still looks like new.
Pure silver coins form a patina and then don't react with the soil any more so no more depth however long they have been buried.
Even with alloys and coins made with impure metals the increased depth due to their breakdown is switched on and off by the moisture content of the ground. Hot summer and bone dry ground and there will be a really fall off in detection depth.

I would not make the Silver Eagle my first or even tenth choice for deep silver. The long box Spectrum or XLT has a much better range of adjustments to provide better depth and there's other machines like the Explorer that seem to have an affinity for deep silver.

 

[MUD(S.W.A.T)]

I like that Chart,

Keep @ it and HH!!

 

[davidco]

Hi
I am new to your forum but have been detecting for many years and am a member of a forum here in Australia. I was browsing your forum for info on another issue but noticed your post re help with old silver.

Hope this helps
I detect beaches and parks etc here and our ground conditions are very mineralised, I regularly find old silver coins in areas that have been hammered for years with every brand & model detector you can think of.

I am not familiar with silver purity in your US coins but I would think they are pretty similar to British & Australian silver pre decimal coins.

I use an explorer II with a coiltek platypuss coil. I work very slowly and listen for high tone sounds readings of 27 or higher and in a lot of cases 30 on the conductivity scale signify the chance of silver. they are usually 8" plus in parks and Ovals(sports fields) and as deep as the machine will go in beach conditions. We have some lovely larger coins ie florins, half crowns that are sensational to find and a thrill to dig.

Last month our club had a meet at a country oval that is not used much any more and there were about 20 of us with various Whites, Minelab, Garret, etc models detecting the same area. Most of us found old coins but only the two of us using explorer's found the silver coins.

I have some posts on http://com3.runboard.com/baussietreasurehunters with pictures.
If you select the general discussion tab and look for posts by davidco on the first 3 pages there are some pictures of silver coins, note the colour, our mineralised ground sure attacks our coins even silver ones.

I know where you are coming from, Finding beautiful silver coins is one of the real joys of metal detecting.

PS The explorer is expensive new and a heavy machine to use so I now use a bungee on it. I have seen some really good used Explorer II prices on EBAY in the US, If you spend a lot of time detecting and are keen for silver and older things in general and are willing to spend time getting to know your machine, You will be digging a few more holes than you do now, even do some research on what other local people have found with their explorers.

I have added my list of finds with this machine since Jan this year.

cheers
David in Australia

All found with the explorer II at the beach and parks.

$2.00 X 290
$1.00 X 164
$0.55 x 41
$0.20 x 188
$0.10 X 246
$0.05 X 430
1 IOU for $25.00 from wy wife!

Total 1359 coins of todays currency
4 bags of 1 and 2 cent pieces around 400


29 penny Oldest Queen Vic 1862
30 half penny Oldest George III 1807?
01 farthing Edward 1902
38 thrupence Oldest Queen Vic 18??
01 Groat 18??
20 sixpences Oldest Queen Vic 18??
09 shillings Oldest 1826 found on Wednesday
12 florin Oldest 1853 (2nd favourite find)
01 1845 half crown (my favourite)

Jewellery
Rings
9 gold
19 silver
2 St/St his and hers
14 Coated/copper/pewter etc

chains
1 gold and 1 silver

20 Pendants/badges/broaches

3 ear rings

3 toe rings

Bracelets
2 Silver

Queen Victoria service button(interesting research)

2 old copper dog tags oldest 1903

Losses
My favourite beach shovel (left it behind at the beach) now isn't that embarrassing for a person who finds what others lose!!!
NOT KEPT
"160000789 screw caps" well it felt like that many!

And I wont ever need to buy another fishing weight!!!

Happy hunting