Old yards are hard to figure out.

[robertj298]

I've hunted a lot of old yards since I got me etrac almost a year ago and I have to admit its confusing. The really nice , really old homes hardly ever produce old coins for me. I hunted one today that was almost 200 years old. A nice well kept frame home with a nice big front yard. Never been hunted ,1 wheat penny and a few clad was all 2 of us could come up with after over an hour and a half hunting. Really nice , big old brick homes are almost all the same way for me. Most of my best finds have come from old homes that are not nearly as nice or elaborate as the others. Just hard for me to figure out why.

 

[DigDugNY]

I seem to think that people who were maybe not as rich but still had some sort of decent income maybe didnt wear the best quality clothing and perhaps it led to holes forming in their pockets and such. Also those people probably did most of their own yard work and hence made it more possible to drop things.

The richer people on the other hand probably had more means to keep money safe and had other people who didnt have money do the work for them. That's just my thought

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Tired Rooster]

I am still laughing at Elton's comment.......very true!!! But I honestly think that the more "wealthy" people probably did not spend as much time outside in the yard as the less wealthy did......much the same as today.....?

 

[NebTrac]

I feel your pain. Many things attribute to this. I had same scenerio (but only 100 yrs old), big 2 story house, large yard. It did produce my first WLH, silver wash, and a few wheats. Next to it was small bungalow type house, very small yard. Had barber dime and 3 IH's, Merc. War nickel, 8-10 wheats come out of a yard maybe 20x20.

Come to find out the big 2 story, never had any children living there. Go figure.

Many things may have happened, such as no children, major landscaping, basement dug and added later and dirt spread over yard, or even the house being moved before. You just never know. All we can do is hunt and listen.

NebTrac

 

[Altamaha]

I feel your pain. Many things attribute to this. I had same scenerio (but only 100 yrs old), big 2 story house, large yard. It did produce my first WLH, silver wash, and a few wheats. Next to it was small bungalow type house, very small yard. Had barber dime and 3 IH's, Merc. War nickel, 8-10 wheats come out of a yard maybe 20x20.

Come to find out the big 2 story, never had any children living there. Go figure.

Many things may have happened, such as no children, major landscaping, basement dug and added later and dirt spread over yard, or even the house being moved before. You just never know. All we can do is hunt and listen.

NebTrac

I have experienced the same thing with countless old yards and you are right, one of the main problems with old yards is that most of them have been landscaped/filled. I've hardly ever found a totally original one that hasn't been filled/disturbed at some time in the past. Another thing is masking by nails/ferrous trash in old yards as over the years many old houses have had several roof changes and the nails/ferrous trash from the old roofs, etc is spread all over the yard which really mask good targets. This was the case with my own house which is 125 years old. Almost every hole would have several rusted nails/other ferrous junk. I suspected that all of this ferrous junk trash was masking many good targets so I took the time to clear the yard by digging every single beep (using all metal mode) and boy it was amazing the coins and other good items that I found masked by Nails/ferrous trash. Of course this took a lot of work/time and you can't do this in other peoples' yards. Even after all of that I'm sure that there are more good deep targets out of range of my detectors that were covered by early filling probably 100 years ago. It's easy to tell fill dirt once you start digging.

 

[screw cap junky]

I feel your pain. Many things attribute to this. I had same scenerio (but only 100 yrs old), big 2 story house, large yard. It did produce my first WLH, silver wash, and a few wheats. Next to it was small bungalow type house, very small yard. Had barber dime and 3 IH's, Merc. War nickel, 8-10 wheats come out of a yard maybe 20x20.

Come to find out the big 2 story, never had any children living there. Go figure.

Many things may have happened, such as no children, major landscaping, basement dug and added later and dirt spread over yard, or even the house being moved before. You just never know. All we can do is hunt and listen.

NebTrac

I have experienced the same thing with countless old yards and you are right, one of the main problems with old yards is that most of them have been landscaped/filled. I've hardly ever found a totally original one that hasn't been filled/disturbed at some time in the past. Another thing is masking by nails/ferrous trash in old yards as over the years many old houses have had several roof changes and the nails/ferrous trash from the old roofs, etc is spread all over the yard which really mask good targets. This was the case with my own house which is 125 years old. Almost every hole would have several rusted nails/other ferrous junk. I suspected that all of this ferrous junk trash was masking many good targets so I took the time to clear the yard by digging every single beep (using all metal mode) and boy it was amazing the coins and other good items that I found masked by Nails/ferrous trash. Of course this took a lot of work/time and you can't do this in other peoples' yards. Even after all of that I'm sure that there are more good deep targets out of range of my detectors that were covered by early filling probably 100 years ago. It's easy to tell fill dirt once you start digging.

ill take hundred year old fill dirt anyday. been digging fill all summer one spot I know was filled in 1920 and dug a 1832 large and other spots found nice silver.
just because it's been filled don't pass on it.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

You can usually tell if there have been any grade changes made to yards over the years by looking at the "root flares" on the older trees.
Also, if your hunting at a farm house - look for the remains of old out buildings and hunt the most direct path to them walking from the house.
It's also good to look for old lag bolts or big nails in older trees - usually close to the back door - most houses had clothes lines years ago - these are good areas to hunt.

Good Luck !

 

[ChicagoJohn]

Maybe lawn change, maybe remove soil and new grass or change landscape but I don't know! I know one park is 1920's near my house and major repair in 1980's like new swimming pool, nice baseball field, etc. Yesterday I found 1971 penny at 8 inch deep! That's so deep for 1971 cent! Maybe older coins is much deeper! Don't give up at old yards. I would hunt old yards than new park. You never know that you might find early 1800's coins at old yard. Check out older trees, old fence or old brick walls, etc and if grass look old then good chance find old coins. I don't find old coins from nice thick green lawn. Add lawn make old coins down deeper. I believe that!

 

[cahil_2]

Back then a dime was a lot of money. If they dropped it, they looked for it and many times probably found it. They were careful with their money.

 

[Goes4ever]

my BEST yards are normally old houses that don't SCREAM detect me..........those ones that just look awesome, normally give up very little. Here is my thoughts:

the ones that look awesome to YOU also look good to everyone else who drives by it that also detects, and regardless what the homeowners say, I personally feel it is almost impossible to find a UNHUNTED yard in todays times

the ones that look like poor people lived there are also the ones most people dont give a second look and are probably CLOSER to being virgin because most people judge a book by it's cover.

in the past my best properties are ones that are unkept looking, not the nice looking ones. Keep that in mind when door knocking. Plus people with lower income, do LESS landscaping, prob NEVER have had fill dirt brought in as well.

if you see exposed tree roots that is a great sign there is not fill dirt

 

[robertj298]

Another thing I've found is that a lot of old homes have been resided and updated and its hard to tell they are that old. I always look at the foundation, thats a dead giveaway. A lot of old homes have a stone foundation instead of cement block although some old homes had basements put in later and used cement block.

 

[Altamaha]

my BEST yards are normally old houses that don't SCREAM detect me..........those ones that just look awesome, normally give up very little. Here is my thoughts:

the ones that look awesome to YOU also look good to everyone else who drives by it that also detects, and regardless what the homeowners say, I personally feel it is almost impossible to find a UNHUNTED yard in todays times

the ones that look like poor people lived there are also the ones most people dont give a second look and are probably CLOSER to being virgin because most people judge a book by it's cover.

in the past my best properties are ones that are unkept looking, not the nice looking ones. Keep that in mind when door knocking. Plus people with lower income, do LESS landscaping, prob NEVER have had fill dirt brought in as well.

if you see exposed tree roots that is a great sign there is not fill dirt

It all depends, sometimes the ones that look good and are for instance in plain sight for every one to see can surprise you. My best yard ever was an old brick house that was near the road, looked very interesting and I would have bet anything that everyone and his brother had detected it, so I never bothered to ask permission. Then one day I just decided to ask anyway, after all previous detectorists had probably left a few coins as they almost always do. Upon asking, the owner (a lady) said that I could detect it. To my surprised the place had never been touched by a metal detector. There were coins everywhere, turned out that the house was the only remaining building from an old camp from the 1920s & 30s. Total in silver coins recovered from this property was a little over $28.00, along with many other silver items including rings and religious medals, not to mention wheat backs and nickels. Just goes to show that you just can't tell what's in a yard unless you detect it.

 

[shawnIN]

Farm yards are hit or miss. My best yards have been the yards that are not well kept. Also, smaller yards seem to produce better for me. I recently hit an old farm house that looked fantastic. All I could scrounge up was 2 wheaties. I had another I hit a few years ago that produced 113 wheaties trom the front door to the road. Found that about 4 inches down was an old brick walkway from the front of the house to the mail box. also pulled out a 1876 seated dime, a couple indians, silver rings and such. You just never know.