Are you finding Silver?
mr3holesinone
Posts: 444
I am perplexed. I read a post in another message about someone not finding much silver after a few years of metal detecting. Where have you been detecting for such a long time without finding silver?
If you want to find silver that means you are looking for older coins. That means you must go to places that had lots of people tromping/playing/working/gathering/visiting around prior to 1970 and preferably before or around the turn of the century (1900s not 2000s.)
Searching schoolyards and modern parks and the beach isn't going to cut it...usually. You may find the odd silver item here and there but for the most part you have to go where the coins were. Old parks, old schoolyards, old swimming holes, old places....Not new places. Yards in old neighborhoods, not new subdivisions.
Look for old buildings. They usually do not look anything like new buildings. Last year I had a few hours during a golf trip and while eating lunch I looked out the window and saw what appeared to be an old school across the street from the Arby's I was at. A few hours later I had two silver war nickels and three Mercury dimes plus a couple wheat cents. It was hard digging in mid-summer but when silver lurks I dig. The building site had a monument from, I think, the mid-1850s. Therefore, the possibility existed that any coins found could potentially be worth the effort. I LOVE finding sites like this and will search and search and search them. I don't ever believe a site to be 'searched out' of silver if it's old---just harder to find it.
If you live in a small town there is possibly an old court house in your county. A friend of mine's dad once found a gold dollar coin at the one in our town. He had JARS full of silver coins he had found in our town because he was the only one with a detector for years.
Old church yards and cemetaries are good places that are easy to find. I prefer the country variety without many people around. Deserted churches are great, usually searched but still have some silver if you're lucky. My best finds were at a country church with a huge cemetary behind it. I found an 1865 Indian cent in beautiful condition. It would have probably gone 64 or 65 but.... it was corroded around the edges. I also found an 1857 half dime along the road leading to the cemetary. Half dimes are TINY. Alongside the church in what I believe was probably an area where they held lunches and outdoor meetings under a big tree I found an old railroad tag that's probably as good as any coin I've ever found.
You just have to go where you have the possibility of finding old stuff....sometimes it will be silver and sometimes it will be old junk....seek and ye shall find!
If you want to find silver that means you are looking for older coins. That means you must go to places that had lots of people tromping/playing/working/gathering/visiting around prior to 1970 and preferably before or around the turn of the century (1900s not 2000s.)
Searching schoolyards and modern parks and the beach isn't going to cut it...usually. You may find the odd silver item here and there but for the most part you have to go where the coins were. Old parks, old schoolyards, old swimming holes, old places....Not new places. Yards in old neighborhoods, not new subdivisions.
Look for old buildings. They usually do not look anything like new buildings. Last year I had a few hours during a golf trip and while eating lunch I looked out the window and saw what appeared to be an old school across the street from the Arby's I was at. A few hours later I had two silver war nickels and three Mercury dimes plus a couple wheat cents. It was hard digging in mid-summer but when silver lurks I dig. The building site had a monument from, I think, the mid-1850s. Therefore, the possibility existed that any coins found could potentially be worth the effort. I LOVE finding sites like this and will search and search and search them. I don't ever believe a site to be 'searched out' of silver if it's old---just harder to find it.
If you live in a small town there is possibly an old court house in your county. A friend of mine's dad once found a gold dollar coin at the one in our town. He had JARS full of silver coins he had found in our town because he was the only one with a detector for years.
Old church yards and cemetaries are good places that are easy to find. I prefer the country variety without many people around. Deserted churches are great, usually searched but still have some silver if you're lucky. My best finds were at a country church with a huge cemetary behind it. I found an 1865 Indian cent in beautiful condition. It would have probably gone 64 or 65 but.... it was corroded around the edges. I also found an 1857 half dime along the road leading to the cemetary. Half dimes are TINY. Alongside the church in what I believe was probably an area where they held lunches and outdoor meetings under a big tree I found an old railroad tag that's probably as good as any coin I've ever found.
You just have to go where you have the possibility of finding old stuff....sometimes it will be silver and sometimes it will be old junk....seek and ye shall find!
Holes-in-One
1. 7-17-81 Warrenton GC Driver 310 yards 7th Hole (Par 4)
2. 5-22-99 Warrenton GC 6 iron 189 yards 10th Hole
3. 7-23-99 Oak Meadow CC 5 iron 180 yards 17th Hole
4. 9-19-99 Country Lake GC 6 iron 164 yards 15th Hole
5. 8-30-09 Country Lake GC Driver 258 yards 17th Hole (Par 4)
Collector of Barber Halves, Commems, MS64FBL Frankies, Full Step Jeffersons & Mint state Washington Quarters
1. 7-17-81 Warrenton GC Driver 310 yards 7th Hole (Par 4)
2. 5-22-99 Warrenton GC 6 iron 189 yards 10th Hole
3. 7-23-99 Oak Meadow CC 5 iron 180 yards 17th Hole
4. 9-19-99 Country Lake GC 6 iron 164 yards 15th Hole
5. 8-30-09 Country Lake GC Driver 258 yards 17th Hole (Par 4)
Collector of Barber Halves, Commems, MS64FBL Frankies, Full Step Jeffersons & Mint state Washington Quarters
0
Comments
Kiyote: Are there older neighborhoods close to your location? Do you know anyone who lives around or in an older house? Is there an old park within driving distance? Old churches? Find out where the OLD schools were and see if you can get out there and find some silver. There's nothing like looking in the dirt and seeing a shiny silver coin. (Yes, they usually can be found without much dirt on them and usually they are pretty much like you're picking them out of circulation--though sometimes they'll have tarnish, which can sometimes be cool and sometimes it isn't.) I guess looking in the dirt and finding Gold would top a shiny silver coin eh?
In the town where I live there was an old college with dormitories on it that was open from the late 1800s until the '20s or '30s. You would never know it was there now. The few college buildings that remained until the 1980s were torn down and replaced with a bank and a couple of office buildings. I've been there a few times and believe they filled dirt over where coins could be found because I've only found a Liberty nickel in a couple hours of looking. It's things like that though that can lead you to a nice day of hunting. I've also heard about the old school in our town which I would never have known was there if an old timer hadn't mentioned it. So talk with the old timers. Ask them where they used to play ball or go to school...
You may want to subscribe to Eastern and Western Treasure or whatever they are calling it now. It's a metal detecting magazine that can give you leads to finding the good stuff. Kellyco (or on ebay) also sells books that can help you. I had one when I first started out from I think White's that was pretty good at helping to start on locations that are good.
Missouri produced a book of large maps of each county a few years ago that I was able to buy at Walmart of all places. Each county map shows where houses, schools, churches, caves, roads, streams, lakes...any landmark or building is located. I use the books for day road trips to new counties and mainly hit the old churches that are out of the way. Churches with cemeteries are the best. Sometimes you can find a real OLD schoolhouse--the one room type from the 1880s to 1900s. Never had much luck at those but you never know...
Keep lookin', you have to go where the people were. Good luck!
1. 7-17-81 Warrenton GC Driver 310 yards 7th Hole (Par 4)
2. 5-22-99 Warrenton GC 6 iron 189 yards 10th Hole
3. 7-23-99 Oak Meadow CC 5 iron 180 yards 17th Hole
4. 9-19-99 Country Lake GC 6 iron 164 yards 15th Hole
5. 8-30-09 Country Lake GC Driver 258 yards 17th Hole (Par 4)
Collector of Barber Halves, Commems, MS64FBL Frankies, Full Step Jeffersons & Mint state Washington Quarters
There is good advice in here about detecting in old locations over new locations so i won't repeat it here.
Years ago when i detected (late '70's) most of the silver i found in Denver's City Park was 2-3 inches down.Any that was not found in that park in those "salad" days has gone deeper given 30 more years to settle.
What was 2-3 inches in the ground in the late '70's is going to now be perhaps 4-5 inches.This is not exact science just common sense.
What this means to the detectorist is that the silver still in the ground as we speak here in 2009 is going to be harder to find.
I would say mix it up between all-metal and discriminate mode.Virtually all my good finds in the '70's and '80's were in the all-metal mode on my White's. The discriminators of today are vastly superior to the discriminator of the '70's. You can count on that.The problem these days with using the discriminator exclusively and never using all-metal mode is that you could easily be going over deeper coins without detection.Why? The coin is out of the discriminator's range of detection.
Get yourself a set of headsets,use the all-metal mode,and dig the sounds that interest you.Yes,you will find plenty of junk but with practice and paying attention you will eventually be rewarded.
There's nothing like that first silver coin find.I remember mine very well.
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.-Albert Einstein