clads

[john sullivan]

i have been hunting a park with ball fields.i find alot of clads , like one every 5 feet. not bragging!
it get so i don't want to dig them. my question is if there is that many clad coins, where is the silver
is it possible that there is no silver, park is old enough to have silver with a trend like this is it better to move to a different site?.

 

[DougF]

Every situation is different, but I had an old park (+100 years) which had been hunted a lot. I found one section where I was finding a lot of semi-deep clad quarters (4 or 5 inches). I figured that if those quarters had been missed, it was likely that some silver had been missed. Sure enough, found five silver dimes and a seated quarter over about seven two-hour hunts. Good luck.

 

[sgoss66]

john -- if you are SURE your park is old enough to hold silver, then here's what I'd say...

UNLESS a few really good detectorists CLEANED OUT that park back in the late 60s and 70s, taking a good majority of the silver out...and now, the clad you are digging has been dropped more recently, in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, then otherwise it is quite likely that the silver is in there, just deeper. If the park had major "dirt work" done after the "silver era," that could have put the silver especially deep. Otherwise, though, I would bet the silver is still there, but just simply deeper than you are digging. A park with that much clad tells me that it has not been hunted heavily, at LEAST not RECENTLY. So, unless it was hit HARD back in the 70s and maybe 80s, there will be silver there.

What's the deepest coin you commonly dig? I'm not talking about the deepest EVER for you, just your average "deep" coin...do you dig many coins over 4" deep? Over 6" deep? If you are digging 6" to 8" deep clad, then it's possible that coins sink fast in your particular type of dirt (or else, were buried by park groundskeepers with a layer of topsoil and/or sod laying). BUT -- if you are digging most of your clad in the 2-3-4-5" deep range, but not digging much of anything deeper than that, coin-wise, then you may simply need to learn to "hunt deeper." Your machine is capable of it, you may simply need to learn to set it up properly, and then listen to the more subtle signals (and not expect them to ID "perfectly").

Hope that helps a bit,

Steve

 

[john sullivan]

doug, steve thanks for the input. most coins were 2 to 4 inches deep. forgot to mention the area i am hunting is a direct path from the ball field to the concession stand, probably getting their money out of their purse or pockets as they walk to the stand. don't think the ground has been filled . my thoughts if that many people are using the area there should be a ring or other trinkets. i do find a soda bottle cap once in awhile, wondering when they quit putting soda in bottles?
also i noticed subconsciously listening for quarter only, but i did correct that

 

[sgoss66]

john -- if you are digging most targets 2-4" deep, you have just identified your "silver issue!" Much of the silver will likely be a couple of inches deeper. Your unit can hit them deeper, that's the good news; are you running Bryce's settings? If not, you may want to give them a try.

Also, perhaps a "test garden" would help you get used to what deeper coins sound like. Bury a few 4-5-6-7-8" deep coins, and while the response you'll get from newly buried coins will not be exactly the same as a long-buried coin will give at that same depth, you can learn some things about how your unit responds to deeper coins, and you can experiment with different settings.

Bottom line is, if you can get into that 5-6-7" layer, digging coins from that depth consistently, you would then be into a depth that will yield you some silver. Not sure about what soil type you have, which affects how deep coins will generally be found, but here, while I do dig a few silver coins in the 2-4" deep range, most I have dug come from within the 4-8" deep range.

Steve