How randomly spread are really old coins

jessewvu

I've always wondered if old coins and relics in old areas are really randomly spread around and not concentrated in small areas.



Do any of you guys GPS tag your finds over the years in large areas to see if there is any correlation to where old towns or villages used to be? Or is it just that you remember areas that yield good items so you frequent them more and maybe because you frequent them more you find more nice things so you associate them with being well traveled/populated areas?



The main reason i ask is i recently found two nice little coins within about 100' of each other using wildly erratic search patterns and was wondering if i should continue being erratic or start making a grid. Where is the trade-off from the experienced guys?

pcgs69

A few years ago when I hit a corn field I marked the approximate location on a photo (this was before the CTX, and even after I got the CTX, I haven't used the gps function). The finds were all over the place. Of course if was an active farm field for over 200 years, so with continuous plowing, you really can't tell anything. I'll see if I can dust off that image somewhere.



Usually I wander around a field until I find something. Then grid that immediate area for a while to see if anything else comes up. So your two finds, could be random, but might be a small concentration there. Worth focusing on for now.



The problem with wandering aimlessly forever if you never know where you were previously. Makes it hard to detect next time because it'll just be another random squiggly line.

ricko

Since I mainly hunt researched areas now, I move systematically. When I do an old (and I mean really old) home site, I picture where the back was, the property lines and view from likely kitchen and bedroom. If anything was buried, it likely was in view of these vantage points.

Cheers, RickO

Bayard1908

I don't think they're random at all. If I find an old baseball diamond, I'm first going to check along the first base line and then in center field. At an old football field, I'll first check the sidelines near each end zone. If I hit a concentration of coins elsewhere, that might be where a concession stand was located.



If a site has been heavily hunted, you're more likely to find coins along the edges of the property as most detectorists head straight for the middle.



At a new site that is large, I don't bother making a grid until I start making good finds. Once I find something worthwhile, I'll focus on that area for a while.

Zot

I've found that there can be a pattern, but other good coins (if they exist) are often pretty close by.
Note: I don't do any detecting in open fields, so this is mainly for "old picnic ground", "random old forest/homestead" types of sites

If I find something nice, my "strategy" has usually been:

1. Hit the ground around it with everything I've got for quite a while
2. Repeat step 1 a couple times..
3. If more stuff is found, keep repeating steps 1 and 2
4. Wait for a day when conditions are absolutely perfect and give it one last try. If stuff is found, go back to step 1.
5. Hmm. OK, so it really did dry up. Let's try doing more research and see if I can figure out what's going on and locate the motherload.
6. To date, step 5 has failed every single time

I do some planning & research when choosing where I go in the first place, but once I find something, the above is usually what happens

ricko

Zot mentions research... I find that is key to old sites.... I am a cache hunter, so it is integral to my pursuit. I do find old cellar holes in the mountains.... when I do, I will search the area since research rarely turns up information on these sites. Remember, this area was settled in the mid to late 1600's.... so only the village areas have much recorded history. Cheers, RickO