Quest For Silver

[Steve Herschbach]

Very nice!

For me jewelry detecting is first and foremost about ease of recovery and sheer numbers. I have two basic ranges I hunt. All non-ferrous OR all non-ferrous up to but not including zinc pennies. This eliminates all coins except nickels. I will however often will notch quarters back in however as they pay for batteries.

Part 2 is get target, and stab it with pinpointer. If pinpointer sees it, pop with screwdriver, move on. If pinpointer can't spot it, too deep, move on. Nearly all my targets will be trash, so I do not want to waste time digging deep targets.

Favorite sites are anywhere people are active. Sports fields obviously and tot lots, but any large open area in a park has probably been used for frisbee or whatever.

Since depth is not the goal a BigFoot or Cleansweep coil is killer for this application.

[Deft Tones]

Congratulations on the nice ring! 

Athletic areas can be very productive depending on who is using them. For example, I wouldn't waste effort looking for gold at a children's field on the field, but the sidelines to curbs where adults spend tons of time are prime areas for that kind of park.

Parks that are used to host community events are potential producers. I particularly like the "after 5" drink fests the many Jaycees in the area put on. The "movie in the park" nights are worth a look too.

You got it, 5-6 inches max in clean areas, most of the time. Moderate to heavy trash at older parks worked in layers.  The really trashed out parks in layers of depth and discrimination. In both cases working high to low.

When I've found a patch worth working bare I like to pull all the clean repeatable signals first.Then second pass take those signals I think are trash but hard to positively ID as such. By the third or fourth pass it's mostly trash, sometimes junk jewelry, but never gold jewelry yet.

You need to test your unit on deep/fringe signals (whatever that is for your soil). You may be shocked what happens. V3i will ID low or as iron. Deus tends to drive tone higher before dropping out, ime.

You want a unit that runs 12Khz at a minimum, IMO. Earrings and thin chains bang harder with higher frequencies. 18khz is an excellent frequency for most jewelry hunting.

I don't feel I need anything more than 22.5khz for a park. If it's that small I need a 45khz unit to find it, I don't want it. 

 

[steveg]

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. 

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

[MontAmmie]

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.   

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.

[steveg]

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.   

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.

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

 

[Tiftaaft]

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

 

[Tiftaaft]

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.   

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.

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

[Gbonus uralias]

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 !! 

 

[inthemountains]

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.