Old coins shallow

[samuel_schumaker]

Okay, this is gonna seem weird to most of you guys but do you ever have spots where the coins just dont sink too far? I have been hunting 3 old one room country schoolhouse locations lately. I have been finding coins as new as early 50 wheats and as old as 1870's ih and v nickles. Along with several old rings and buttons. Probly out of the 3 locations have recovered around 60 plus coins and jewerly items. Good percentage of pennies but a few silver coins and rings. Not a single one of the targets has been over 6 inches deep. And probly close to 75 percent have been 4 inches or shallower. I dug a 42 merc lastnight that was 2 inches deep. I think i know why the targets are all so shallow. These spots are all pasture. Have always been pasture except for when the schoolhlouses were in use and they would have been grass lawn then. The soils never disturbed and the grass is grazed off every summer leaving very little forage to decompose and add to the topsoil. But i always keep wondering if im just not finding the deep targets. My machine as far as i know works right, i have taken it to crop fields where the ground has been turned over every year and there i can get some deep targets with no problems. One of the first silver dimes i found was in a park and was 10 inches deep, the 1st 1907 barber dime. It repeated solid from all angles and i had way lesser time on the machine then i do now. I think the targets are just not sinker at these spots. The ground is so hard packed. And its been very very dry lately. Which may be making it harder to get the deep signals without any moisture. I guess what im rambling on is just a question. Do you have any old locations where the targets all seem so shallow. HH < Sam

 

[drkp88]

I'm no expert but I've never really believed in the "sinking rate per year" theory. I think everything has to do with many variables regarding any area.
Ask any woods or cellar hole hunter how many times they've found targets right on the surface or just under the leaves. I've found flat buttons and older coins that way. I even found a war of 1812 artillery hat plate right on the surface just under the leaves. Of course the laws of physics will cause most items to sink to an extent depending on the type of ground, but I think more has to do with the rate of build up OVER the item (natural or otherwise). I might be way off base but that's my opinion.
Bruce

 

[ToddWisconsin]

I agree with Bruce..last week I found an 1874 Indian two to three inches deep in an area of the park that had almost no grass growing..Whenever I am at a plush green yards..the coins are always deeper..and if the soil is five inches over the sidewalk , my odds of finding an old coin seem to get worse.. Out in a woods , with big trees ,, with no grass..the coined tend to be on or near the surface..same with crappy sandy lawns..coins are ussually shallow.. Some black dirt areas with plush grass soil just about swallow coins..I've found quarters from the nineties at six inches..Whenever I find a site like this..I tend to leave soon..as I have never done any good at them for OLD coins.. Coins will settle to the level at which is close to their density.. Dimes the deepest , pennies close.. quarters and halves are USSUALLY not as deep ...then whatever the soil condition above it is will dictate how deep they are.. Did dinasour bones sink ten feet??? Nope probably a foot. , and millions af years of dust settled on top of them...If I got an area that I am finding old coins shallow.. that is a bonus.. Every area is different.. but a few finds will tell you what kind of area u r in..Hope this helps..

 

[samuel_schumaker]

-- moved topic --

 

[dewcon4414]

I agree about them settleing to their own density.... but a lot depends on the hard pan or larger items they might settle on. If the grounds soft they are going to move a little faster as well as being covered. Hard ground.... they settle..... not push. Also..... in some of the old home sites ive hunted, small homes got added onto...... they moved the dirt from the foundation onto the yard.... covering everything. There are highs and lows..... and on say the top of the hill the soil is shallower coins arent going deep there.

Dew

 

[samuel_schumaker]

Just got in from a short hunt. Tried an old country church that burned down in 1920. First time there and it seems very trashy with lots of iron. Had to run sensitivity from 16-20. Managed two v nickels. A 1902 and a 1905. Both about 3-4 inches deep. Also found some kind of old large token of some kind. Not sure. Il clean it up and post it later

 

[sgoss66]

I find many, many old coins 3-6" deep. I live in Oklahoma, soil is generally hard, dense clay. The 6" and deeper coins are usually in areas of better topsoil. But, in the hard/clay ground? No more than 3-4" is where you can find alot of the old coins. I think ONE reason we don't find shallow (3-4") coins more often in public places, is that ANY machine can detect a 3" coin. ANY machine -- which means ANYONE detecting over the years has removed most of the 3-4" coins. At a "virgin" site, though? Especially one where the soil is hard/dense? All those 3-4" coins have NOT been found -- and thus are still there for you, at that depth. That's may take on it.

Soil type, IMO, has alot to do with it, as well as (obviously) any dirt work/fill dirt/excavation over the years.

Steve

 

[Old Longhair]

I'm with Steve, in that substrate makeup has a lot to do with it.

Michigan is largely glacial morrain, and around here there are a lot of places where the "topsoil" can be over a foot deep. When it rains enough to saturate the ground, everything below the sod in that bottom land turns to a viscus soup.
Higher ground that has been worn down some tends to have either clay or gravel providing the sub-structure. So at those places old coins are more often found at shallower depths.

Up here in cold country, we have another element added to the equation.....frost.
It causes the ground to heave, and items that were deep get pushed back up. I've found old coins at shallow depths, riding the top of rocks that were being heaved back up by the frost.

So between the saturation from rain and the frost, things are almost constantly on the move below the sod. A site that has been hunted hard and has quit producing, could be a treasure trove just a few years from now.

 

[teleman2525]

i find parks and high school fields tend to have old coins deeper the the old coins i find at colonial type woods and cellar hole sites buttons at the colonial site about5 inch,s per average as are most copper coins here in northern vt constant lawn mowing and foot traffic i feel help move coins deeper down and less insulation in winter gets more frost movement the the woods site with the fall leave cover to protect from deeper frost just my thoughts

 

[Coilfisher]

If you have a hard rocky soil, they are not going to sink far.
I have found old coins below 3".

I found 2 wheats last year as surface finds.