Clad to Silver Ratio? Opinions please

[samuel_schumaker]

Ok, i posted last week about the spot i have been detecting. Its on the local fairgrounds where the iron bleachers have sat for years but since been removed. The first time i tried it i dug my first ever silver coin on the second target, a rosie from 1960. Since then i have been hunting on my lunch hours and today is the 4th day i have done it. I have since found probly a half dozen clad quarters, copper memorials, clad dimes and a couple clad nickels. Also a kids earing and a ladies broach pin, lots of pulltabs and some screw caps as to be expected. My question is this, i figured out just the other day that this fairgrounds was built in 1953. Wether or not the bleachers were there right from the start i do not know. I am kind of wondering if they didnt come by at a later year since i havent found more then the 1 silver coin and no wheat pennies at all. Or do you guys normally find this much clad without any silver or wheats? Most of the clad is only a couple inches or less deep and the one silver i found was about the same depth. A couple of the memorials dated in the early 60's were probly about 3-4 inches deep. Surely if i can find them with no problems i can find silver if its there? Yes the area is very trashy and i plan on ordering a small coil to help with all the different targets. I guess im just looking for opinions, now that i know the fairgrounds arent as old as i had hoped im wondering if this is the main reason im not finding the silver. Also, i ran out to the field where the old county horse race track and a ball diamond was back in the 1870's-1950's. Its a farm field and was soybeans last fall. It has since been cultivated and anhydroused so the dirt is kind of loose, easy digging. Question is, with this field always being farmed and tilled up do a fair amount of coins stay close enough to the top to be found? I know other people detect it in the past and i need to find out exactly where the events took place because the field is very large. I did find some areas that were much more trashy then others and one area was where someone told me the bleachers still sat into the 1960s from the later years. I found a couple small copper buttons like what i suppose were used for cufflinks? Not real sure but it picked them out easily at 5 inches or so and they are small. Hoping to be able to find some coins in this field before its planted this spring. Thanks for any help, Sam

 

[samuel_schumaker]

Btw, the total for clad isnt just a half dozen, thats just for quarters, i have found about that many of each type of clad coin and maybe more like 12 dimes. thanks

 

[detecterx]

On researching where stuff use to be I find "google earth" archive data dates back to the 50's for satellite data. Hope it helps you

Also most earlier maps can be found at your city library.

Having some people hunt the area you are currently working can be a good thing (if you like the challenge) or a bad thing. Finding one silver on your second dig, well I would keep digging to, just like you.

My cut off dates for parks and fairgrounds are 1965 if I am in a silver mood. Jewelry mood all parks are game, heck anywhere large groups of people congregate.

I think your doing great, clad is just a bonus in between those sweet silver finds.

Edited: Clad to silver ratio really varies site to site. Typically my locations are slim pickings. I base mine by hour which is 1-1/2 to 2 hrs= one silver. Not to impressive, but then again I have had dry spells of up to a month with nothing but clad and jewelry. Some days a pocket spill with five or six silvers. That's a tough one to answer

HH,

Tom

 

[sgoss66]

My silver count in my first year of detecting was, like detecterx, about a silver every 1 1/2 to 2 hours, on average. How many silvers per clad coin is a tough one, depends upon the site, age of the site, how the usage of the site has varied over the years, whether you are "skipping" clad to "cherry pick" deeper coins, etc. etc. etc.

At this point, when I hunt, I can dig almost zero clad and ONLY old coins (silver, wheats, Indian Head pennies, etc.) if I'm really focusing on digging only the deeper, older stuff. On the other hand, if I am "digging all coins," I may find no silvers at all that day. Again, it depends totally on the site, and what I'm focused on. Very tough question to answer, BUT, I can tell you this with certainty -- if your research is right, and your site is from the 50s, there are more silvers there than just that one '60 Rosie you found...

Steve

 

[MNCoinhunter]

There is likely more silver to be found at the bleacher site. But certainly not as much as you might find at your other spot with the horse racetrack and ball diamond. I would focus on there if you want to find more silver and older coins for sure. Finding clad is still a good thing because money is money. And I am certainly not going to pat myself on the back and say that I don't dig clad by accident, even when focusing on deep signals. We're only human..

 

[samuel_schumaker]

Ok answer me this then, someday when i get good at telling the difference in shallow clad and deep oldies, what about like the rosie i found that was only 2 inches deep, would you pass that up thinking its just shallow clad or can you honsestly tell a difference in tone if its silver or clad? When i dug it i thought it sounded just like a clad dime, but its the first silver i have ever heard, so maybe there is a big difference. I can see where it would be good to be able to find only old coins but also like finding the clad to help pay for my next purchase, a smaller coil. Thanks for the replys and i may start hunting the actuall fairgrounds where the rides and other events take place instead of just the bleachers, I know its been hunted some but not many people detect around here and im sure theres a few stray silvers still waiting. I know for a fact that the fair was held here in the early 50's just not sure if the bleachers were where they were lately clear back then.

 

[Ratman]

I'd try some some other spots also in the fair grounds that your working . Think out of the box and swing your coil else where to see what you can find . Silver is where you find it !

HH
Mike

 

[MNCoinhunter]

I suppose you could attain that holiest of statuses if you choose to. But I personally will dig every dime, nickel and quarter signal I come across depending on the site. I may pass up shallow pennies, but if it's deeper than six inches I'm digging it. And no, I'm not blessed with the silver twinkle really. Anything that sounds remotely good will fall to my shovel.

And on a side note .... I got a clad penny signal one time that was just under the grass roots. I'm glad a decided to pick it out because it was a black hills gold and silver diamond ring ..

 

[samuel_schumaker]

What percentage of silver targets that you dig give a textbook repeating every swing signal? Like clad does

 

[MNCoinhunter]

Definately less than half ...

 

[Elton]

Sam:

One thing I think your missing in your quest for Silver..... Built in 1953..maybe later for the bleachers.. Last year of Silver was 1964....11 years for Silver loss by Patrons.... Since then it's been 48 years of clad loss on top of the Silver.. You don't say ...(Unless I missed the tear down of the bleachers year..so you have a small window for Silver drops... So slow down and dig all signals.... Most likely Silver there, but your going to have to work it hard to find it..............

 

[samuel_schumaker]

I know theres a lot of clad and trash on top of the silver and yes there was probly only a limited amount of time that silver was still in circulation while this fairgrounds was used. Sometimes i hear targets that sound good as far as the tone, it id's in the upper right corner where it should, but it dont repeat unless i work really hard at the wiggle and from just the right direction. I think its because there is a piece of trash nearby because when i go into pinpoint mode i usually cant find the target again, everything will start reading in the left side of the screen where its discriminated out. So i end up trying to just wiggle it off the back of the coil or front and then dig a small plug. Never can find anything. I wish the grass was green, i would feel better about digging a bigger plug if the grass was actually rooted in holding the plug together well. The dirts really looose so its hard to do anything other than dig and take out scoops and repeat. I need to get a small coil but for now i think i will focus on the actuall fairgrounds and parking areas where other detectors have been. There seems to be less targets then the trashy bleacher sight and the grass is well enough established that i can dig a usuall nice plug and leave the place looking like i was never there. Thanks for the help, i know i need to dig more of the iffy and not perfect targets to get a feel for what the deeper silver may sound like.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Sam:

One thing I think your missing in your quest for Silver..... Built in 1953..maybe later for the bleachers.. Last year of Silver was 1964....11 years for Silver loss by Patrons.... Since then it's been 48 years of clad loss on top of the Silver.. You don't say ...(Unless I missed the tear down of the bleachers year..so you have a small window for Silver drops... So slow down and dig all signals.... Most likely Silver there, but your going to have to work it hard to find it..............

Great post Steve!

 

[detecterx]

I have pulled mercs at 1" deep, an 1892 o barb at 2". I never skip clad, that's how I get my redbull and bag of chips at the end of the hunt

 

[samuel_schumaker]

Well on my lunch break today i tried to dig a couple of those what i call iffy targets that have good tone but you really have to work to get them to repeat by using small wiggles and then try really hard to pinpoint becasue other targets close by are trying to overpower it. Out of the 2 that i dug, one was a 1962 memorial that was about 5 inches down. Must have been other targets close by making it hard for me to get that repeating textbook signal. The other was a small very very rusted bolt that was bent. Which as i understand can read and sound close to what i should be digging.

 

[MNCoinhunter]

Sounds like you are on the right track. With enough time under your belt you should be able to pass over those iron targets. Sometimes they sound so good you have to dig it. That is how I approach this hobby, and I like it that way because then I won't think I am better than I really am. I will always be digging junk and clad coins.