Where's All The Old Silver Coins? A Silver Coin Reality Check

[bigscoop]

 

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[luvsdux]

It probably should be pointed out that every year since silver coins were replaced by clad, that there's been fewer and fewer mostly non-existant siver drops as well. Silver coin drops just are not happening anymore.
luvsdux

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Like the introductory music

Depth is not a factor @ silver in turf ? Seems to me that most parks the silver is indeed deeper than clad (on average). Sure, perhaps not "so deep that they're beyond ability to detect".

Yes, the '70s/80's "silver rush" era did indeed hammer many parks for their easy gimmees. And yes, those particular hammered parks will be a tough nut to crack today for newbies, to eak out any more. One thing that will help, is to avoid digging shallow clad. Yup, mentally reject all shallow. I know that some people might say to "get it out of the way" (masking) or "clad adds up $$ after all", or "you might miss a shallow ring", blah blah blah. But at the end of the day, here's what starts to happen to those persons digging all the shallow clad: Their brains become subconsciously tuned to all the loud "bongs". And pretty soon, they're simply not hearing the faint whispers. So rather than ending up "getting the best of both worlds", you end up spending all your available time just digging clad. D/t that's what you subconsciously start favoring/hearing.

 

[bigscoop]

Like the introductory music

Depth is not a factor @ silver in turf ? Seems to me that most parks the silver is indeed deeper than clad (on average). Sure, perhaps not "so deep that they're beyond ability to detect".

Yes, the '70s/80's "silver rush" era did indeed hammer many parks for their easy gimmees. And yes, those particular hammered parks will be a tough nut to crack today for newbies, to eak out any more. One thing that will help, is to avoid digging shallow clad. Yup, mentally reject all shallow. I know that some people might say to "get it out of the way" (masking) or "clad adds up $$ after all", or "you might miss a shallow ring", blah blah blah. But at the end of the day, here's what starts to happen to those persons digging all the shallow clad: Their brains become subconsciously tuned to all the loud "bongs". And pretty soon, they're simply not hearing the faint whispers. So rather than ending up "getting the best of both worlds", you end up spending all your available time just digging clad. D/t that's what you subconsciously start favoring/hearing.

Since being back in Indiana I still encounter quite a few shallow old silver coins from places that haven't been hunted to death. In fact, I challenged a lot of the new hunters I've been spending time with to watch as much youtube as they could in the month of April and every time they saw a silver coin being recovered deeper then 10" to make a scratch mark on a piece of paper. Not very many scratch marks being made, I can tell you that. In fact, I'd say that most recoveries are made in the first 8" or so, the same with gold rings. I'm not suggesting that there isn't deeper silver and gold, for sure there is. All I was attempting to do in the video was to express that in this modern era it's going to take more then a new machine to consistently find silver coins, it's also going to take considerable research and a lot of time to find the best locations possible, most of the easily accessibly locations already having been pounded to death with capable hunters and machines. That's the reality of 2017 VS the 60's & 70's and all of those productive bonanza hunts we see on youtube.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... most of the easily accessibly locations already having been pounded to death ...

Yes. There are some parks I remember we used to hit in the late 1970s to early 1980s, that .... each trek was multiple oldies. Now I SHUDDER to think of hunting them. They either got clobbered to death (an no amount of additional depth of more modern machines will do you any good), or they are now blighted parks with a zillion zinc, foil, wino caps, etc....

Another frontier for getting silver, if all the parks are pathetic in one's area, is to either

a) hunt old yards . Because most hunters don't care to knock on doors. Especially the post WWII housing boom rush, of neighborhoods that sprung up in the late 1940s/early 1950s. Granted the silver won't be that old, but .... it's great practice

b) find old country picnic grounds, resorts, mineral springs, scout and/or church or fraternals type campgrounds, etc... that are long gone and defunct. This will take a lot of research to "one-up" your competition, who has, no doubt, data-mined the same exact history books. Doh! But if you can find a spot like those that no one ever figured out, then those can be gold mines of old coins. And if they were defunct prior to the 1950s or so, they will predate the era of aluminum foil, screw caps, pulltabs, etc.....

 

[TerryC]

C'mon guys! Where's your will to succeed? Your creativity? "Endeavor to persevere" (old Indian in Josey Wales) The old coins are still there for those that know how and where to look. Stop thinking clad and start thinking old! TTC

 

[bigscoop]

C'mon guys! Where's your will to succeed? Your creativity? "Endeavor to persevere" (old Indian in Josey Wales) The old coins are still there for those that know how and where to look. Stop thinking clad and start thinking old! TTC

That's exactly the point. But I also think that in order to produce consistently these days one simply has to find locations that haven't already been pounded to death. Sure, there's going to be some leftover silver in a lot of the typical and easily accessed places but the odds of finding it with any consistency are pretty steep.

 

[TerryC]

That's exactly the point. But I also think that in order to produce consistently these days one simply has to find locations that haven't already been pounded to death. Sure, there's going to be some leftover silver in a lot of the typical and easily accessed places but the odds of finding it with any consistency are pretty steep.

Most of the easy places will, indeed, be picked over. That should put us old salts into the "contest" mode. Research. Find those forgotten places that are no longer places of congregation and work them. they won't be easy to find. Research. Large, open lots were used for traveling carnivals. Old homes that are torn down and the lot now open makes for a good prospect. Those kind of places are found through..... maybe I said it before.... research. TTC

 

[wingmaster]

They most likely haven't for a long while now. HH

It probably should be pointed out that every year since silver coins were replaced by clad, that there's been fewer and fewer mostly non-existant siver drops as well. Silver coin drops just are not happening anymore.
luvsdux

 

[wingmaster]

I don't even like finding clad at all, I got my detector to find the old stuff. I'm not saying a big gold ring isn't nice even if it's not old but have found those in old house yards which will produce old coins as well. HH

C'mon guys! Where's your will to succeed? Your creativity? "Endeavor to persevere" (old Indian in Josey Wales) The old coins are still there for those that know how and where to look. Stop thinking clad and start thinking old! TTC

 

[Catanza]

I'm in Indiana as well , seems like most of the silver I find is 5+ inches or deeper. Local parks have been hammered to death, never found a silver at a park only some IHPs and wheats. I like what terry said research do your home work.

 

[wingmaster]

I still find some silver at parks but it's at 10"+ deep, there's probably some still left at that depth but not much. I don't detect there much because at least half the time you come away with nothing old and that's with digging only the really deep targets to bypass as much clad and trash as I can. HH

I'm in Indiana as well , seems like most of the silver I find is 5+ inches or deeper. Local parks have been hammered to death, never found a silver at a park only some IHPs and wheats. I like what terry said research do your home work.

 

[bigscoop]

Yesterday I dug a lot of pulltabs....and one 10k yellow heart shaped pendent, which was for certain just another pulltab.
A short time later, at a different location, I dug more pulltabs and one 10k white gold heart shaped pendent, which was for sure just another nickel.
This is the problem with passing all the clad and junk.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Yesterday I dug a lot of pulltabs....and one 10k yellow heart shaped pendent, which was for certain just another pulltab.
A short time later, at a different location, I dug more pulltabs and one 10k white gold heart shaped pendent, which was for sure just another nickel.
This is the problem with passing all the clad and junk.

Well, sure. If you go to junky parks and "pass tabs or nickels" , then sure, you'll "Miss that 10k heart pendant" . But to give the advice to newbies to "go to junky blighted parks and dig junk till your arms fall off " (as a recipe for finding gold jewelry) can also be the recipe for insanity. And it's already a "given" that alloyed gold jewelry is low to mid conductors.

So instead, the "recipe" for finding gold jewelry would be to go to the places where a) aluminum ratios aren't quite so punishing. And b) where gold jewelry simply has better odds at being at.

Namely: Swimming beaches. And this doesn't need to be ocean swim beaches. Even if you're in inland states, there's lakes with swim beaches, eh ? And even some forms of turf and sand/volleyball/mud-wrestle pits are going to have better odds that junky blighted parks.

 

[bigscoop]

Well, sure. If you go to junky parks and "pass tabs or nickels" , then sure, you'll "Miss that 10k heart pendant" . But to give the advice to newbies to "go to junky blighted parks and dig junk till your arms fall off " (as a recipe for finding gold jewelry) can also be the recipe for insanity. And it's already a "given" that alloyed gold jewelry is low to mid conductors.

So instead, the "recipe" for finding gold jewelry would be to go to the places where a) aluminum ratios aren't quite so punishing. And b) where gold jewelry simply has better odds at being at.

Namely: Swimming beaches. And this doesn't need to be ocean swim beaches. Even if you're in inland states, there's lakes with swim beaches, eh ? And even some forms of turf and sand/volleyball/mud-wrestle pits are going to have better odds that junky blighted parks.

Correction....I'm trying to get them to practice "neat clean holes" before I take them to those other places. Heck with the jewelry and old coins for now, gotta learn the craft of things like pinpointing and clean recovery first. No better place then those little out of the way already trashed properties.

 

[TerryC]

Well, sure. If you go to junky parks and "pass tabs or nickels" , then sure, you'll "Miss that 10k heart pendant" . But to give the advice to newbies to "go to junky blighted parks and dig junk till your arms fall off " (as a recipe for finding gold jewelry) can also be the recipe for insanity. And it's already a "given" that alloyed gold jewelry is low to mid conductors.

So instead, the "recipe" for finding gold jewelry would be to go to the places where a) aluminum ratios aren't quite so punishing. And b) where gold jewelry simply has better odds at being at.

Namely: Swimming beaches. And this doesn't need to be ocean swim beaches. Even if you're in inland states, there's lakes with swim beaches, eh ? And even some forms of turf and sand/volleyball/mud-wrestle pits are going to have better odds that junky blighted parks.

I was at a fresh water beach in NC (Roanoke Rapids). A secret swimming hole. I found a silver earing about 10 feet from the waterline. I found the other one at the water line. She fought hard before getting dunked! When a secret beach is found look under and behind the nearby bushes. The change falls out of jeans that are removed (at night, wink)! The more the beer cans, the better the chances for old coins. TTC

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Correction....I'm trying to get them to practice "neat clean holes" before I take them to those other places. Heck with the jewelry and old coins for now, gotta learn the craft of things like pinpointing and clean recovery first. No better place then those little out of the way already trashed properties.

ah yes, there is no replacement for the "school of hard knocks". The first thing for someone with a new machine (trying to learn the sounds), or someone who's never detected, is , sad to say, just have to dig 1000 signals (yes, junk). Then the "lights go on".

I recall a newbie who's first introduction to detecting, was 2 buddies took him to a virgin stage stop/ adobe site they'd JUST discovered. On the newbies first day, he'd already bagged a reale, a seated half, valuable relics, etc... He thought "this is fun". After 3 or 4 similar hunts, finally, on a 4th or 5th hunt, he bagged a barber half . That was *only* 1910s. And he bristled at the notion of having found a "new" coin. His mentors had to correct him and tell him not to begrudge or belittle a barber half, as those don't happen every day. So the mentors realized this guy was "spoiled rotten" . And thought everything was easy 1850 to 1870's coin -pickens. Doh! And sure, since he was at a chaparral cow-pasture site, he probably would have no regard for neat digging, covering holes, etc...

 

[Catanza]

Any Indiana guys want to meet up for a hunt pm me

 

[bigscoop]

Any Indiana guys want to meet up for a hunt pm me

I'll be in touch...........

 

[cudamark]

Correction....I'm trying to get them to practice "neat clean holes" before I take them to those other places. Heck with the jewelry and old coins for now, gotta learn the craft of things like pinpointing and clean recovery first. No better place then those little out of the way already trashed properties.

Well, maybe their own yard......I've actually had people ***** at me for digging in bare dirt at run down blighted urban parks. Usually, it's the dog walkers or the people who live right across the street. In Some areas lately, it doesn't seem to matter what time of day either. Once you get everything back in the hole, they usually calm down. You just need to know how to make a real clean recovery in a park, or you'll have lots of folks breathing down your neck just waiting to complain that you're making a mess or vandalizing the place. Hunting at off hours will help sometimes, but, you still need to be proficient at cutting trap door plugs and leaving the place like you found it (or in some cases better). That's a bit harder to do after dark if you don't have enough experience. Using a headlamp can draw even more attention to what you're doing, so, you need to be able to make a recovery with your eyes closed, or, hunt during the day.