Why oh why is it always 5-6"?

Okie115

Full Member
Apr 15, 2012
129
42
Virginia Beach, VA
Detector(s) used
ACE 250
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
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5-6" deep in my area are normally older coins. Wheats for sure are almost always in that range.
 

Same here most are in the 4-6 range and sometimes a deep hit where dirt had been moved around
 

I'm totally new so take this for what its worth.

At the beach everything seems to be 8+.
I did find a wheat ('47) in a field by my house at 2-4" though. It was near a dime ('66) at same 2-4".
 

Years ago, on this forum, it was said that for every hundred years of time, about four inches of soil is added to the Earth. Obviously, soil erosion from wind and water are a factor. Now, figure the age of your coin finds and it could very well be in line with that estimate.
 

Type of soil I think has a lot to do with it.......clay--sandy--pumice----then you have the weather facter and shrubbery growth. Like the high desert of Oregon here, don't have too fight the brush much, not that much of it......
 

Coin depths can be anything really, I've found 100 year old coins on the surface and I once dug 6 inches in my own front yard only to find a 1994 dime(I was pissed)....My yard is really wet with soft dark earth...you can push your Lesche in to the hilt with one finger...other places near me you need to pound them in with a hammer basically.
 

If you dont want to dig that deep, buy a cheaper detector!

Personally, I love seeing my depth indicate the coin is that deep. That usually means I could have an older coin.
 

You should rework the area in all metal and see whats deeper. Gold rings and coins will sink faster than the finds you have been making though as Coinstriking says depth can have nothing to do with how long an item has been in the soil. There's wind effects, vegetation, floods, frost cracking of the ground even a cow treading on a modern coin in wet weather which will push it down many inches. All proves that the archaeological worries re metal detecting have no basis in fact.
 

I wouldn't mind finding coins at any depth ...

Mr. Pumice: knew with that moniker you had to be from Oregon or Washington!
 

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