My Pr (best) Single Day Old Coin Count, All In A Single Hour

[GB_Amateur]

As mentioned previously, after rereading Dick Stout's Coin Hunting... In Depth book over the holidays I took his advice and stepped away from my standard sites to find new ones.  It seems to be working (thanks, Dick).  Statistics on that later in this post.  Last week I went to one of those 'new sites', a century old park, and in the first 2 hours I found 83 cents in modern coins searching along a road and around a crushed stone parking lot that had previously produced only one old coin -- a beat up Wartime nickel ('Warnick').  I decided to move to a picnic area for the last hour, and as you can see in the picture, I was rewarded.  (Sorry for the overexposure on the Warnick.)

One of the Buffies showed up first, about 5-6 inches.  Next was the Merc at 4-5 inches.  The other two nickels followed (neither more than about 4 inches deep) and the big surprise was the Indian Head, also only about 4 inches deep.  My previous Personal Record ('PR') was only two old coins in one day's hunting.  Note that I don't count Wheat pennies in this category.  My single day PR there is 27.  Needless to say I was quite pleased.

Oh, the 22 cartridge was found next to the above mentioned parking lot on a previous hunt.  Given that it's in a muni park (and we don't have gang problems..., etc.) I assume this was dropped long ago.  It's possible it was dropped after the park opened by a hunter who was getting his gear together after getting out of the car, before exiting the park on foot into the nearby woods.  The lead bullet appears to have 3 rings, one smooth and two serrated (if that's the correct word).  Can anyone put an age on this?  It was oriented vertically about 6 inches deep and sounded as sweet as any silver dime I've ever found, with the TID centered around 27.  Except for the 'P' on the back of the Warnick, there is no mintmark on any of the other coins.  The IH is 1903 and the Buffie dates are only partially visible.  I think one is 1916 and the other 1924.  None of these is scarce, but they still get counted in my 'other old coin' category.

A little about the park.  As I mentioned it was established over a century ago.  I knew of its existence but figured so did every coin hunter within 100 miles.  Surely there was nothing left for me....  But another thing I've learned is that there is no such thing as "hunted out".  I've put 52 1/2 hours into hunting this park so far (all in 2020) and there's still more uncovered area awaiting.  Here are some numbers to mull over:  my 'other old coin' finds per hour is 0.27 for this site compared to 0.08 for all other hunted sites since beginning of 2017.  8 of the 14 finds are nickels.  Meanwhile Wheat pennies recovered per hour is 0.21, compared to 0.26/hr for all other sites starting in 2017.  And here is a sampling of my trash finds:

These are from 12 1/2 hours of hunting this park.  All but a couple of the ring-and-beavertail pulltabs had Equinox TID's in the modern USA coin regions:  12-14 (nickels) and 19 and above.  If the nickel and pseudo-nickel target ID touches 15 I don't dig.  My custom high tone is 20 and up to make sure I notice Indian Head pennies.  (Note from the photo: I count Zincolns as trash and that's what the pictured discs are.)  The 14-18 region is typically thought of as pulltabs, but those in the photo (exception of a couple r&b's) all sounded and TID'ed like nickels.  The aluminum screwcaps TID 21-23.  Crown caps can be in both nickel zone and Zincoln zone (elsewhere, too), depending upon composition.  I did dig more trash than this, mostly can slaw but also some aluminum foil and the usual few bent nails, square nails, copper wire, etc.  This park is absolutely loaded with the old pulltabs, and the broken off beavertails are the worst.  It got to where I was requiring the TID to at least flash a 13 for me to dig 'nickels', and still you see what I pull out.  Unfortunately I later dug a pure 12 and it was a nickel.  😪  I wonder how many of those I left in the ground.

If you're still here I hope you don't mind one more statistic:  for common coins of denomination 25 cents and less (so not counting Wheaties or other old coins, but including Zincolns), the fraction of nickels among common coins since beginning of 2017 (but not counting this site) is 15%.  At this site (again, not counting the eight old nickels) is 26%.

In summary, I'm finding a lot of old coins compared to my other sites, but not more Wheaties.  I'm finding a lot more nickels (relative to other coins) than my other sites.  I'm finding tons of pulltabs in the nickel zone.  How does all this tie together?  Simple:  the site has been hunted by detectorists cherry picking the high conductors and ignoring the nickels because they don't want to dig pulltabs.  Of course they missed some Indian Heads (probably didn't want to be bothered with Zincolns either) and a few silver dimes.  Hopefully I'll find a higher denomination silver coin, but even if I don't I'm happy with the oldies that have been showing up.

[Joe D.]

Great finds, and breakdown GB!

  The blogmaster at "Thetreasurebeachesreport.blogspot." is a Big Fan of these kind of statistics! Post it there too! He's a former consultant/analyst, and loves this stuff!👍👍

[Steve Herschbach]

Excellent finds, beats out my mornings 1948 Wheatie for sure! 

[kac]

Nice to see nickels in an area, good chance they passed over any gold too. I dig all ring tabs even though they are obvious as the rare occasions they are flying eagles. I try to keep my aluminum picking between beaver tails and square tabs so I get my fair share of cut and bent square tabs. Larger aluminum I think is easier to distinguish.

Thats a really good run you had congrats!

[Tometusns]

Nice finds! 

[dogodog]

Great job GB, I don't find to many nickles these days, but I find plenty of the trash Zincolns. It's been a bunch of years since my last buffalo. Digging the beaver tails makes you hate yourself until you find something golden, Then you forget all the crappy targets you dig. On a bad day I dig two pounds of aluminum. Overall I think you had a great day out.

[Tom_in_CA]

good play-by-play and pix !

 

[Dances With Doves]

7 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

Excellent finds, beats out my mornings 1948 Wheatie for sure! 

I only  got 1.70 in the shallows in Lake  Ontario.Not one piece of  jewelry.Should have brought my wetsuit  to see if my spot had a cut to the clay .My   First time out for a water hunt  this year.       

[Dances With Doves]

15 minutes ago, Tom_in_CA said:

good play-by-play and pix !

 

Tom, It is nice to see you  on this forum .Why don't you give the  Nox a shot again since it has already made you money.Bring it to your  relic spot and you can use your explorer as a pinpointer since  your so   attached to it   .  A  good  hunter like you with a good machine like the nox will bring good results if you give it time.

[UtahRich]

That's a great variety of coins there GB AM.  Highs, Mediums and Lows. 

Some of my favorites as well - Merc's, Buff's and IHC's.

Congrats on the Personal best of Old coins in a day.  I like that you've included the crusty nasty corroding Zincoln's in the garbage group.  I finally moved to that point this year. They've also been removed from my a record keeping. (They don't count as coins found anymore)  Perhaps tossing them out will start a movement to ending them altogether.  I can only hope.

The "old" days saw a good bunch of old coins in a days hunt. Things are certainly becoming leaner in regards to old coin finds in a day.  A handful like you have there is very well done.  I've even come to appreciate turning up the copper memorial cents, ('59-'82) which I used to think a nuisance.  Now I see them as an indicator than an area hasn't been hunted or at least not hunted well.  

Rich -