Would you give it a swing?

[Oldhead]

There is a big field right next to my development that has been nothing but a farm field since the 30's. It's now township owned and has a ball field on one end. I was thinking of swinging the more open end away from the ball field. Power lines split the field down the middle so anything more than 4 to 5 inches I doubt I'll find due to the settings I'll have to run to keep the machine quiet. Think it is worth a swing hoping to find coin that may have fallen out of a farmers pocket while plowing?

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

....Think it is worth a swing hoping to find coin that may have fallen out of a farmers pocket while plowing?

Personally, I do not think that just hunting "any old farmer's field" is worthwhile. There has to have been something that went on there. Eg.: a cellar hole, stage stop, park, trading post, traveler stop spot, habitation, etc....

Perhaps in Europe they can just walk out to "any cultivated field", and detect, and find stuff. But they've had 2000+ yrs. of continuous cultivation/civilization there (of which 1800+ of those years were hand-labor). Versus the USA, where our history is just too young.

Oh sure, somewhere ... in any random field in the USA, is *bound* to be a fluke wheatie, buffalo nickel, or whatever. But it's needles in hay-stacks, if you're relying on random field-worker losses. JMHO.

 

[marjam]

If it was used by people in the past, then it's worth it. You need to find out a little history before you go. Was dirt transferred there from other places, and if so, what kind of places was it? The reason i say that is We have some ball fields in my area they built in the 60s and 70s, but they brought in fill dirt from much older areas, and i have found Mercury dimes, war nickels, and old sterling out of it, not to mention new clad. And where i found the older items is where the fill dirt was put in. I wouldn't write it off, but i would ask some questions and see if i can find some information on it before i go.

 

[smokeythecat]

Only one way to find out.

 

[Red James Cash]

Go nuts,there's more history in the New England area than most books will tell you.

 

[dts52]

What's the downside? Even if you don't find a copper or a reale you might score an ox knob, shoe buckle or whatever. Lots of colonial stuff got dropped over the years. If you get enjoyment from just MDing regardless of finds, then you're way ahead of the game. I'd certainly give it a shot unless you have more promising sites.
HH
dts

 

[GB1]

i would do it. I swing in a field anyway i mostly find relics but a coin pops up every now and then

 

[Red James Cash]

Lots of things have been found in New England that have no business being here.Celt bronze dagger,Roman oil lamp,Roman amphora off the coast of maine,etc.the list goes on.

 

[Red James Cash]

Don't listen to the narrow minded nay sayers who can't think outside the box that public school system put them. in

 

[slider66]

If you don’t look for it you won’t find it! Get out there and dig it!!

 

[slider66]

P.S take an hour and look. You spend more time than that watching TV commercials. [emoji23]

 

[Megalodon]

"Nothing ventured - nothing gained"

 

[CoinHunterAZ]

Personally, I would hunt the heck out of that field. Stuff is everywhere in the ground. You never know what you might find until you hunt it.

 

[Oldhead]

I think I'll give it a try. Took a walk out there this morning and realized there is a tot lot at one end. Gonna hit that first. Looking at historical aerials it looks like a field that was kept plowed from the 1930's until the late 90's. now its just grass.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Don't listen to the narrow minded nay sayers who can't think outside the box that public school system put them. in

Red J-Cash: Love your posts

We have a farmer's ag field (leaf vegetables) here in CA (probably been under continuous cultivation since the 1880s), that we hunt because it was the site of a contact-era Indian rancheria. And, of course, we are looking for reales, buttons, etc.... of the 1790s to 1820s era.

But every once in awhile, over this 60-ish acres, yes .... an occasional silver washington, or wheatie, or buffalo or clad dime has surfaced. Those, of course, are nuisance finds and obviously not what we're looking for And one day, after years of working this site, I sat down and mentally calculated the amount of "random field worker losses" we'd pulled over the years. And I can honestly say, that if THOSE were someone's goal (ie.: if the earlier history had not gone on there), then it would have been a very poor use of their time (Eg.: 30 hrs. for a wheatie, etc....) .

Yes, the east coast has more history, but , here's another example:

At the Virginia NDL hunt that just finished up, there were 600 acres. Of which it has been under continuous cultivation since maybe even colonial times (certainly by the CW era). And let me assure you: There were VAST areas , of that 600 acres of fallow corn fields, that had UTTERLY nothing in them (except an occasional aluminum can glob by a tractor driver who chucked his soda can out of the window). The hunters all ended up gravitating to the zones where suspected CW front line sentry camps had been. And to several cellar-hole home-site portions that had been in the 600 acres. Once you got out of these zones (into "random furrowed ag"), it was quite sterile indeed.

So ... as you can see, even on the east coast, they will study history, and don't simply just go to "any random field".

 

[marjam]

I think I'll give it a try. Took a walk out there this morning and realized there is a tot lot at one end. Gonna hit that first. Looking at historical aerials it looks like a field that was kept plowed from the 1930's until the late 90's. now its just grass.

I would definitely try it. Whomever plowed that field most likely lost stuff. If it gives up a couple of old goodies, it would be worth it to me. And if it has a tot lot plus the ball field now, you should find some clad as well.

 

[Davers]

Personally, I do not think that just hunting "any old farmer's field" is worthwhile. There has to have been something that went on there. Eg.: a cellar hole, stage stop, park, trading post, traveler stop spot, habitation, etc....

Perhaps in Europe they can just walk out to "any cultivated field", and detect, and find stuff. But they've had 2000+ yrs. of continuous cultivation/civilization there (of which 1800+ of those years were hand-labor). Versus the USA, where our history is just too young.

Oh sure, somewhere ... in any random field in the USA, is *bound* to be a fluke wheatie, buffalo nickel, or whatever. But it's needles in hay-stacks, if you're relying on random field-worker losses. JMHO.

True but the more modern Farm hands were at-least paid in the NJ area , hitting a random farm field here in the SE (it's more like finding 'marked' piece of hay in a hay stack , LOL but items do appear , Me i'd love to hunt a random field in NJ , heck I may find my first LC or something Colonial -ish.

So imo I'd hunt the heck out of it.
Davers

 

[Red James Cash]

Don't worry tom I wasn't referring to you as a nay sayer.Kids weren't taught crap in school about history.People have to get that crap out of their minds,think outside the box,and learn things for themselves.Basically start over if you will.

 

[oldkoot]

I would hunt every inch of that field

The way you have to look at it is this if people have ventured onto that area there is always the possibility they have dropped something

The area I live is completely off grid and believe it or not I was hunting a wash where cattle cross and found a large coin spill and if you were to venture into this and found a coin spill the light bulbs would suddenly turn on and you would think how in the world did that get there,it just shows there is always the possibility someone from somewhere has dropped something so hunt,hunt,and hunt

 

[oldkoot]

Don't worry tom I wasn't referring to you as a nay sayer.Kids weren't taught crap in school about history.People have to get that crap out of their minds,think outside the box,and learn things for themselves.Basically start over if you will.

Man you hit the nail on the head there most kids these days are dumber than a box of rocks,and have absolutely zero common since,which is the one thing that cannot be taught