Home Metal Detecting

A Little Frustrating

I recently got the opportunity to hunt at two houses that were built in the 18th century. However, I didn't find anything that was older than 1965. Both homes were never detected before. I'm still learning what my machine does but I was at least hoping to break the 19th century barrier. Oh well, I guess I just have to stay patient and continue to swing away.
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Comments

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yep.. hang in there... work your settings, learn your tones...there MUST be some old ones there if they have never been MD'd before... just has to be... What machine are you swinging? Cheers, RickO
  • It may be that new soil/dirt was brought in at some point. This happened to me at an older farm house. It was not till I talked to the owner that I found out new dirt was brought up around the house to manage some water problems in the basement. Keep trying you never know.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Happens all the time, no matter how experienced you get and how good your machine is, or how promising the site.

    Just work on the skill portion and the luck portion will take care of itself over time.

    Lady Luck favors the persistent, I'm fond of saying. Sometimes it just takes a while to "break the jinx". Often, when you do, and cross a milestone like the first 19th century coin, other finds follow in rapid succession.

    I found my first 19th century coin almost exactly 15 years ago to the day. It was approximately 4:00 or so on the afternoon of August 8, 1993. (Aside from keeping records of my coin finds, I can remember it like it was yesterday.)

    I had been hunting for several hours, hoping for some Wheat cents at least (historical activity on the site dated back to at least 1885). After a while I got tired and decided to quit. I began to walk back to the car, and on my way, got a signal that registered as a "penny" about 4.5" inches down, according to the meter.

    "Hmm, could be a Wheatie," I thought. So I dug. Out popped a sweet little 1899 Barber dime, in pretty nice condition. My adrenaline level rose considerably, and I was suddenly refreshed and renewed. Within another hour I had dug a 1941-D silver quarter and a second coin from the 1800s- an 1875 Indian cent that was in rather poor condition, but readable.

    I had finally "broken the jinx" after hours upon hours of fruitless searching. Part of it was choosing a site with potential, which had not been visited by other detectorists. However, if you are hunting private homes built in the 1700s, regardless of whether they were hunted before or not, you DEFINITELY need to stay the course and keep at it, as long as the property owners let you! Heck, you could skip the 19th century barrier altogether- it happens.

    Keep at it, and stay on those potentially sweet sites! Try some other sites, too, to improve your odds. You'll score eventually.

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  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    LordM has it right... persistance and knowing your machine will pull the good stuff... and you will pull a lot of trash getting there... image Cheers, RickO
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    You'll pull a lot of trash afterwards, too. image

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