Old park & creek

[grantham]

Howdy y'all,

Just wanted to update you all with this newbie's hunting progress. I believe I crested 50hours flying the F19 on this venture.
Ran volume at 11, no disc, full gain, VCO at 40, pretty much near factory startup.
I went out for a good stretch yesterday at an old nearby park. Last time I was there, I did pretty good with the clad, so I decided to go back and really stick to it.
I was stopped by a ranger halfway, but I had the permit at the ready, so he left me alone (teehee).
After a while, I met another hunter who talked with me and shed some light for a good half hour, got his contact info, really nice guy. He suggested I go to the back of the park near a creek and hunt the outskirts of the park. I had already surpassed my highest coin count that morning, and was feeling lucky, so I thought sure, go wandering. Out back where he suggested, I unearthed an internal hard drive (I posted about that in today's finds). I know we play this fun game of 'what is it' but this was so far off my radar of possibilities, I was getting mentally exhausted trying to figure it out, like a kid who just took the ACT exam for the first time. Regardless, I guess over time we will see how that story unfolds. Back on track, I did find a cool spoon 40-50's I suppose, it is a knock off, stamp reads "National Siver Co." the missing "L" is what makes me think reproduction. I doubt the spoon is even plated, anyway spoons are pretty cool. I also found a working tactical flashlight, never can have enough of those. Finally, yet again, another close call shooting for my first silver, a 1965 Washington emerged, close but still no cigar, but a 1965 quarter starts at $1 for average condition so thats still better than face value!

 

[still looking 52]

Thanks for sharing, enjoyed reading about your hunts. Not sure what part of the country you are from but here in WV the silver is getting really hard to find. Most all that I've found in the last couple years have been between 6" and 9" deep. I use the Fisher F5 which is similar to the F19 and hunting for deeper coins is different than hunting for swallow coins.
Earlier this year I found a 1902 silver halve dollar with an O mint mark right in the middle of our public park which is hunted to death. I know there had to be a thousand coils pass right over this coin in the past. If your not finding coins in that depth range you may want to slow down and start listening for those faint far away high tone sounds.

 

[dfmike]

grantham just a thought. You don't mention the dates of the coins on the photo and I can't really tell by the picture but if your not finding old copper coins, rusted iron (as in square nails) or brass relics, you won't find silver or if you find it it will be in the form of newer jewelry. When I find a site that only produces 1960's and up coins, I don't even bother unless it's a beach or a tot lot where old coins are not expected and jewelry is the goal along with clad coins. Unusual finds are always a possibility like you found out for yourself.

Every single site where I have found silver coins this year and in years past has been a site where I usually find old copper pennies first and foremost. If you find pennies from the 50's, 40's and 30's on down, you have good chances of finding silver. Square nails are not necessarily something I am looking for but like old pennies, they indicate something very important (approximate age of a site). Same thing with brass relics (buttons, pins, jewelry, cutlery).

So if you find a site with many old pennies (large or regular size), rejoice because silver is not far away. Just to give you an idea, the following silver coins were found recently. I initially found a few old pennies from the 1910's up to the 1950's. I new I was on the right track. I found 4 silver coins in the same hunt which admittedly doesn't happen every day. I found a few square nails as well but no pictures of those.

It's also possible that the places you are looking have potential but the good stuff might be lying underneath as still looking pointed out above. My experience has been that even at those sites, I will eventually find something old a tad deeper than the recent clad and if I find a few more, it's a dead giveaway that I need to pursue my hunting. I am lucky enough to live in a place where even the century old stuff is rarely found past 6 inches. I know it's hard to believe but all the items in the picture have been found at no more than 3 inches.

 

[grantham]

Both Still Looking 52 and Dfmike

I live in north Ohio and visit the lake frequently.
Signal strength and Depth, plus the variables that influence either, um yeah, still working on it.
I honestly admit, this is my biggest point of confusion at the moment, unfortunately it can be problematic when either get beyond the norm.
Part of it is applying the the variables, I suppose.
Thursday, the F19 indicated targets on the surface, with the pinpointer screaming 0in. and those same targets were 2-3in deep. The ground was pretty wet, although until now I havent taken that into consideration.
I use cheap black foam headphones, which I like because I maintain a sense of surroundings/awareness, but now I am considering a good pair that seal around the outside of the ear for better isolation.
Part of it is my desire to be efficient with time and not waste it if I can help it.
The elusive "one that got away" which insist that I stay at the helm, ready to harpoon the great white whale.
...I need better headphones and I need to slow my roll when I see some of those flags that point to the age of the site and I gotta dig more of the iffy ones, stop comfortably riding the screaming surface finds.

The oldest coins out of 33, from this hunt: a 65 Washington,a 70 Jefferson, a 68 & 60 Lincoln.
My intention this trip was simply aiming for more clad. It was a realistic and plausable task, that was about it.
I doubled my highest coin count that day and did most of it in the tot lot, my first hour. I found a fraction of it in comparison in the remaining 3hrs.
I am seriously thinking of trying a silver coin hunt in all metal mode at this same park to see if that helps me with depth and size, hear/learn the clues to finding these deeper targets.
Thanks guys!

 

[dfmike]

The volume of deeper targets fades away fairly quickly past 5 inches (on coin sized targets). If one is wearing over the ear headphones and there is the slightest wind, the deeper targets can get completely lost. You will benefit from sound isolation without a doubt.

Don't forget that the depth reading was calibrated for coin sized targets. If your target is larger or smaller, depth readings will become inaccurate.

I think you have a pretty good idea of what can be found at your park by the average date of all the coins you have found.

Here is another example of what I wrote in the previous message. After some online research I thought that this site had potential but wasn't sure. After many recent clad finds (a dozen coins perhaps), I found a 1940 penny (hint number 1), then a heavily corroded square nail (hint number 2) and then out of nowhere a 1928 standing liberty. Those were enough old finds among the clad to give me assurance that good old finds were more a probability than a possibility. I had only covered about 1/8 of the place. Many good finds followed in the form of silver coins even older than 1928 and relics. As this place is still in heavy use today, clad and trash make up most of what is underground but the F19 specializes in sniffing out the good among the bad.

 

[grantham]

Thanks Dfmike.

I ordered a pair of minelab rpg headphones, according to minelab they "Provide Ability to Hear Faint / Deep Treasure with Crisp Clear Sound"

Today I am going to hit a park that was recently converted to a public park about 6 years ago, but the woods/creeks were a popular place with history, going back to the 1910's.

Since I don't have the headphones today, I hope to get a better sense of the land and of course snag some clad from the tot lot, then venture away from high traffic, looking for hints and spots for next time.

Guys I appreciate you helping out a green newcomer. Im also learning that I might be a closet coin nerd too, which is why I want to find silver so badly.

Have a great day!

HH.

 

[dfmike]

You should find some good stuff there. Even if your park has been visited by other detectors, the F19 has the capability of opening up those sites especially with a smaller coil if trash is abundant. Good luck and keep us posted.