First, congrats on getting out Coin Hunting and having some success. I am kind of a numbers guy and like to put some things in perspective, such as the percentages you posted to break down the denominations of your monthly coin count. I always take a loom at the percentages of my Urban Coin Hunting or Flash Money Finds, always hoping to keep my 1¢ percentages under control. I don't bypass any coins, including Zinc Cents. It's out there to be found, and quite often in high-traffic/high-loss sites you can get other coins in a mix so I always recover all targets.
I also like to look at my PCV or Per-Coin Value. It hints to me that I'm getting too many pennies and not as many higher denomination coins so I might want to find some better areas. Looking at your 111 coins for August, you had $2.00 in Quarters, $1.50 in Dimes, 15¢ in Nickels and 85¢ in Pennies for a total of $4.50. Divide that by the coins found [size=small](111)[/size] and your PCV is 4.[size=small]054[/size]¢ per average for each coin found.
Now for some questions, if you don't mind. I'm curious if you live in the spare hunk of Eastern Washington, or in, or close to, a more populated urban area in Western Washington?
You said some rains arrived, back 10 days ago, and after living in Western Oregon [size=small](the Portland metro area)[/size] for about 55 years, I know what it's like when rains arrive, especially star6ing in a couple more months. I love to get out detecting, especially when grassy areas are wet or damp/soft and easy recovery compared with unmaintained and dry, hard lawns during a summer. While I am not a big fan of a lot of 'wet' and dislike the rainy seasons of the NW, I will say that it is better than being blanketed with deep snow and super cold temps like some people have during a winter. When the rain stops I can still get out detecting in the greater Portland metro area [size=small](or could when I lived here)[/size]. So I was just checking to figure out what part of Washington you're in.
Also, I am curious how often you try to get out detecting and, if you live in a more populated locations, do you hunt the woodchip and sand-filler playground at parks and schools?
If so, have they been very productive or not?
September of last year I moved to a little town of ±600 people in Eastern Oregon. There's not a lot of Coin Hunting opportunity there. I had to drive into a VA appointment in Portland last Friday the 5th, and only had time to hit one park before I headed out on the drive back up the Columbia. I did manage '31' coins from that park, but didn't have time to hit any others. From the start of the month I had '68' the first four days of the month, mostly from hitting parks in Hermiston, and the bulk of that came from one out-of-the-way and not-on-a-map park I stumbled upon. It was a smaller, older park with pea gravel instead of woodchips. That little park was mostly pennies and my 1st thru 4th tally was 61.[size=small]7[/size]% pennies, which is much higher than my typical averaging.
On the 6th I made a run into Pendleton for some shopping, but hit one school and one park for a total of only '37' coins in the tot-lots. Driving home I took a scenic route to look for pheasants and other wildlife and made three stops in Stanfield, Irrigon and Boardman to get Miss Rikki, by 8 mo. old dog, out for a little stretch and to relieve herself. While paused, I also worked the three playgrounds. My Coin Count totals for the 1st thru 6th were then:
$ = 1 ......... 0.[size=small]0048[/size]%
50¢ = 0 ..... 0%
25¢ = 27 ... 12.[size=small]92[/size]%
10¢ = 38 ... 18.[size=small]18[/size]%
5¢ = 13 ..... 6.[size=small]2[/size]%
1¢ = 130 ....62.[size=small]2[/size]%
a total of 209 coins, making $13.50 and a PCV of 6.46¢ per coin recovered.
Still, 62+% pennies is higher than what I have averaged since 1997, usually keeping the penny count between 52% and 56%
I am hitting a few places today while I am in town (Portland) for our monthly Detector Owner Rendezvous meeting tomorrow morning. I had some chores to take care of and came in on Wednesday evening, and late Wednesday and yesterday, Thursday, I hit a few places when I stopped to get Rikki out. They were just quick stops at park playgrounds, and they definitely were not as productive as they used to be. I only got '82' coins, but numbers improved. to 13 Quarters, 17 Dimes, 8 Nickels and only 44 Pennies for 15.[size=small]6[/size]%, 20.[size=small]73[/size]%, 9.[size=small]75[/size]% and just 53.[size=small]65[/size]% . An improvement on lower penny count, and 82 coins @ 5.79 = 7.[size=small]06[/size]¢ Per-Coin Value.
Anyway, just wondering about the types of sites you tend to hunt, suggesting a PCV to have an idea of the value your average every time you bend to pick up a coin, and I'm curious how often you might plan to get out Coin Hunting?
Best of continued success!
Monte
