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Quest For Silver


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19 hours ago, MontAmmie said:

If you need help, just shoot me a PM.  I've been reading those things since I was 25, which was about 10 years ago. :laugh:

When dirt hunting for jewelry I go for the easy pull tabs and can slaw.  If my sun-ray pin pointer won't find it (2-3 inches, tops), I skip it.  I think it's a numbers game in city parks and such.  Maybe one out of 100 targets will be something good?  Deft can probably answer that question.  Last time I went to the park, I gave up after pull tab number 34.

I'd be interested in hearing your take on interpreting Sanborn maps; I have used them and generally know what they show for the most part, but you mentioned that they'd show "where the biggest tree in the school yard was."  I guess I don't know everything there is to know about reading the maps, because I don't recall seeing trees noted on the maps.  How are they depicted by Sanborn?

Steve

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2 hours ago, steveg said:

I'd be interested in hearing your take on interpreting Sanborn maps; I have used them and generally know what they show for the most part, but you mentioned that they'd show "where the biggest tree in the school yard was."  I guess I don't know everything there is to know about reading the maps, because I don't recall seeing trees noted on the maps.  How are they depicted by Sanborn?

Steve

I looked at some of my maps and you're right, no trees.  Not sure where I dreamed that up from.  :smile: 

I do see what I think may have been outhouses.  Small square "sheds" behind the houses without an "X", which would indicate a stable.  Even if they weren't, there would have been foot traffic between the main house and the shed.

2017-10-17_1603.png

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46 minutes ago, MontAmmie said:

I looked at some of my maps and you're right, no trees.  Not sure where I dreamed that up from.  :smile: 

I do see what I think may have been outhouses.  Small square "sheds" behind the houses without an "X", which would indicate a stable.  Even if they weren't, there would have been foot traffic between the main house and the shed.

2017-10-17_1603.png

Gotcha!  I know I have seen outbuildings and such, but hadn't recalled seeing trees!

In any case, Sanborn maps are very helpful, especially in small towns that haven't grown significantly in the last 100 years or so...I use them quite a bit.

Steve

 

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Thanks Steve and DT, great comments that I will incorporate into my next research/hunt. 

 

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1 hour ago, MontAmmie said:

I looked at some of my maps and you're right, no trees.  Not sure where I dreamed that up from.  :smile: 

I do see what I think may have been outhouses.  Small square "sheds" behind the houses without an "X", which would indicate a stable.  Even if they weren't, there would have been foot traffic between the main house and the shed.

2017-10-17_1603.png

Thanks Ammie, That is really helpful in researching some of these old neighborhoods in my area.  Tim.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Great post! I've got silver on my bucket list and sites to explore as well. so good read for that. But the jewelry tips as well!!

 I can't be on this site while at work!! the reading here is too good and I get sucked up into it all! Darn you all !! 

 

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I have been a long time prospector for gold with a metal detector and have played with coins detecting in the past. This summer my brother sucked me back into coins and we hit some sites that should be great. We were both amazed at the lack of silver. We keep asking what the heck?

Did the old coin machines suck up the easy silver or what?

Not interested in new money at all, just old finds. Can this be explained as the obvious easy money was hit when detectors first came out and no real advances in technology have really overcome this? I have used the original Minelab explorer xs and the F75 and gold bug Pro. We have found some good coins but silver seems rare.

IMG_2591.JPG

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10 hours ago, inthemountains said:

Not interested in new money at all, just old finds. Can this be explained as the obvious easy money was hit when detectors first came out and no real advances in technology have really overcome this? I have used the original Minelab explorer xs and the F75 and gold bug Pro. We have found some good coins but silver seems rare.

You and I share the same interest (passion?) when it comes to what kind of coins excite us.  (I also use both the Fisher F75 and Gold Bug Pro.)  I dig the clad and the annoying Stinkin' Zincolns but they just go in jars waiting to take to the bank.  Well, not the Zincolns since they're in such bad shape I doubt the bank will even accept them.  Wait for zinc to go up in value???

I certainly can't speak for the 'good old days' since I quit hunting in 1980 and didn't return until 2015.  But my observation/speculation is that the silver and copper were pretty easy pickens.  If you find wheat pennies you'll find silver.  It's just that silver showed up easier to the eye after being dropped, and even more imporartantly there were a lot more pennies in the pocket/purse than dimes.  Quarters and especially halves even more so (that is, fewer still), plus their size made them even easier to spot.  I find more dimes than nickels (clad vs. newer Jeffersons and also silver vs. old Jeffies and Buffalo/Indian).  Again I think size is the reason, although the conductivity vs. detector frequency considerations might enter as well.

It's my opinion that there's a lot of unhunted ground out there, you just have to work (= research) harder to find it today than 20-30 years ago.  Also, master detectorist Tom Dankowski has said that his research/experimentation indicates far more is still in searched ground, but masked by trash, than what has already been harvested.  So even in previously hunted sites there is still hope as the technology improves.

Keep pluggin' away and please share with us the pictures of your finds as you get them.

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23 hours ago, inthemountains said:

Oh by the way. No one can turn a detector on in the above photo because it is off limits. Just like to think what could be here and what a cool place !

I think I know where this is.  Looks like one of the old houses in Coolidge, Montana that we visited a couple of years ago.  Yeah, I was just itching to fire up the DFX, but I think that might have been frowned upon. :laugh:

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