Hello fine members of Coin Talk! First time I've been here in a while but I've been saying for many years that I want to start metal detecting and I've finally taken the plunge. Searched around the backyard today for about 20 minutes just to get a feel for it. Found a jagged piece of junk metal and.. my first coin! It's a run of the mill 1975 nickel but I was glad to find a coin nonetheless. I have many questions and surely more to come as I traverse the learning curve but I'll just toss out the couple that I'm most curious about for the time being. 1.The nickel I found is caked in dirt, as is to be expected. I'm currently soaking it in warm soapy water to pretty ol TJ up a bit. If that's a poor cleaning method I'm not concerned as it's only worth 5 cents either way, but in the event that I do find something of value what is the best method of cleaning? 2.Also, on average, how deep are the shallowest wheat cents and pre 1965 silver coins? I wanna know where the honey holes are at! Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Good luck on your new hobby. The safest way to remove the dirt deposits is to soak it in distilled water. If after rinsing, do not rub, there are any organic deposits on the coin, a bath in 100% acetone (not nail polish remover) is the next step. As for technical aspects of detecting, there are some very experienced members here who will answer your questions.
Thought: regarding your found money, you might consider filling an inexpensive Whitman folder with your detection finds. I'm wondering how far some of our more dedicated, detecting members could get filling out a folder? @paddyman98 Personally, I would only soak the finds in distilled water and acetone to conserve the coin a bit, but it's fully expected that found coins will have some level of environmental toning/damage. Why not appreciate it? Depths vary: Paddyman would have a more definitive estimate but I have found LWCs from the surface to about 10" deep (in sand in that instance). I've learned to mostly ignore the discrimination features on my detectors as things will reflect various signals after a few decades in the earth. NOTE: you see many Youtube hunters immediately rub the dirt off a coin for their productions. It makes me cringe. Wait until you have better conditions to remove loose dirt/debris. Also, do some research on coin conservation. Conservation is a more acceptable form of coin cleaning, but in some cases, especially for our Acients members, there is no other way to learn what you might have. Their procedures for conservation are detailed and deliberate. That will be the best way to preserve a coins value and numismatic interest. Good luck on the hunt!!
There is no average depth of coins. Every spot differs, I suppose you could grid off an area and chart depth but your time would be spent better on swinging over more ground. Too many variables, that's why they say dig everything.
Hello Mad, I have to be a bit of a contrarian here, in that the majority of your coin finds will probably be average (non-collectible) coinage. When I was actively hunting, after checking the dirty coins for any that were perhaps worth collecting, I tumbled the rest in a rock tumbler with white sand & a mixture of salt and vinegar. (This method of cleaning does not work with cents) You have to understand that many times after searching a school, park, or playground I'd end up with $10-20 in filthy, blackened, quarters, nickels & dimes. Over the 10 years detecting I paid for my detector & gas money many times over, just in spare change. Silver Finds: I used a Tesoro Golden Saber w/ notch discrimination exclusively and found silver anywhere from 1" to 8" depending on soil conditions & size of the coin. Hope this helps, J.T.
I learned to do very little rubbing when the coin comes out of the ground and wait to do a bath in water. I was always really careful with silver. No need to add a bunch of hairlines. I was never been a big fan of any type of soap. It can give surfaces a strange color.
Thanks for the advice everyone! All good information to help me get started. Already looking forward to the weekend so I can give it a real go, that quick backyard dig already has me itching lol. And that's a good idea Kevin, I'm gonna set all of my detecting finds aside and once I've got a half decent pile I may very well buy some folders/albums and see how much of them I can fill up. I've always been drawn to the allure of long forgotten treasure, even if it's just a corroded old cent
Hello Mad, It's a really grand feeling to dig that 1st solver coin. No one explained to me just what to expect, so after digging handfuls of stained dirty clad coins, imagine the feeling I had after digging down into 6" caliche clay & uncovering this bright shiny, almost mint, 1945 Mercury dime! My 1st of many silver coins...Thanks goodness, J.T.
I bet! I'm sure your heart skipped a beat when you realized what you had. That's what I'd love to unearth.. silver and gold! I just bought a handheld pinpointer this morning to make the search a bit easier. Unfortunately the rain up here drowned my weekend plans yet again :/ Oh well.. Hopefully next weekend the sun will shine for me! About 7 years ago I lucked into an entire roll of silver dimes coin roll hunting. Including 5 mercs. I can imagine the feeling of extricating one from the unforgiving earth is an even more amazing feeling though. You got a pic of the '45?
I recall taking a shovel of earth to reveal two gold rings and 47 cents in change, a silver quarter and two silver dimes with two LMCs. Silver looked untarnished.
Hello Mad, Unfortunately I did not take a pic ,and recall it being in AU condition, but no split bands..ha! I recently came across my metal detecting log book and by the time I pretty much stopped detecting in 1994 I had found a total of 314 U.S. silver coins. Not a great amount but I was pleased & I'm sure I left quite a few for you. J.T.
314 sounds like quite the haul to me! If that's a mediocre amount then that makes me all the more excited to get out there lol. Where did you find that you had your best luck.. parks, beaches, trails, ...?
My best finds were where wood decks/decking were. Like an old changing room at a lakeside. Or where a deck once stood off the back of a house. Items dropped between usually fall into soft soil and since it isn't likely folks would retrieve lost items, they left them. Study old photos at a local library and find spots that are now, grown over areas less likely to be searched.
Hi Mad Living close to Galveston, strangely enough, I did very little hunting beaches as salt water has an adverse effect on all silver coins. Most of my silver was found hunting H.U.D./V.A. house locations, private property, (w/ permission) & parks built prior to 1964. One of the best locations found was an empty lot in the heart of downtown Houston where I started finding brass 5¢ 'Good For' tokens made for the log mill at Carolina TX. Until then, no tokens were known from this mill. Carolina TX ceased to exist by the end of the 1920's. These tokens caused quite a feeding frenzy between token collectors in TX. (I recall trading a nice example for one roll of VF mercury dimes!). Hope you have good luck hunting, as surly other 'treasures' are awaiting. J.T.
Thanks for the advice guys! Searching under and around decks is a great idea! Also that's awesome that you found those tokens JT! You don't happen to have a pic do ya?
I don't get out with my detector that often anymore due to double carpel tunnel. This is a result of digging for decades like a rabid woodchuck through rocky or hard clay soil and tree roots to unearth that 'good signal'! No regrets mind you - plenty of amazing finds from the colonial era thru modern fine jewelry. I live in a very historic area and many of my great early period finds came from research found in town libraries. Old maps and other early local records found in the archives can give many clues to locations of old fair grounds, picnic areas, schools, camps, battlegrounds, boarding houses, gin mills and so on. Another good tip is tightly skirting the inner parameters near the trunk of the biggest oldest trees in any early gathering areas. In the hot summer naturally people gathered under trees for shade in parks and picnic areas. Good luck and enjoy this great hobby!
There are many answers to those questions. I have been metal detecting for 15 years. It depends on the location, history, type of soil or dirt. Locating those items takes time and patience to learn how to find the honey holes. I have detected areas where I thought would be good and have found nothing and then 8 trips later I find a spot where the silver and relics just pop up!
Here are most of my Silver Mercury Dimes I have Metal Detected.. I probably could fill a Whitman folder But no 1916 D yet
Ed - that would be really interesting to learn. I’d do it in a heartbeat. I have specific folders for different sources: purchased, CRH, environmental toning, etc Some further developed than others but fun to see what’s possible. I’d think your IHC and LWC folders would raise an eyebrow too!
