He no doubt cleaned up a ton of it however there's still plenty to be found. Detector technology has improved greatly in the past 30 years to where even a midlevel unit today will out hunt a top notch detector back then. He was using a whites detector who even today make some top notch gear. The signal signature for a lot of things actually overlap quite a bit and the old detectors did not have the discrimination range to weed them out. A good operator good usually tell but they also skipped over a lot of things thinking it was trash. For instance the tone for a aluminum pop can and a silver coin is very similar. Back then you had two options, you could dig it, or skip it. After digging up four or five pop cans or pulltabs a lot of guys started skipping stuff. Today's detectors have a lot of discrimination and you can notch out that pot can to where it doesn't read them anymore.
A lot of it has to do with where you hunt to. An old homestead from the 1800s isn't likely going to produce much coinage. People were poor, and if they did have money it was usually inside tucked away somewhere for safekeeping. Money was something to cherish as it was hard to come by. They didn't do much work on the homestead with change in their pocket or wearing jewelry. Typically you'll find a lot of things you would expect to find on a farm nails, pieces of chain, horse stirrup, etc.
To hunt coins and jewelry you usually have to hunt gathering places like old churches or schools. Churches seem to be very productive because people would wear their fancy dresses and some jewelry and have tithes in their pocket. Schools are great because kids play and they're notorious for losing stuff.
Should have known better as i was mostly coin shooting with my discrimination turned way up. At that setting the detector will pretty much ignore anything in the low range like gold and only ping silver items, coins, and some pot metals. I can't manually notch out old cans so in trashy areas i turn the disc up high. I was mostly looking for pre 65 coins.That ring even looks gold in the photo Joe. That color does make the heart skip a beat. I found lots of "fools" gold rings in my day.
Cool stuff. I havent found a flat button yet. Its quite addicting and a couple hours will fly by. I'm already looking at a new detector. Not that mine is bad, but as with any hobby theres always better gear.I've found lots of typical coins and brass shotgun shell bases from when they had wax cardboard hulls but the coolest was working a flood plain along the Ashtabula river. We were finding some ox shoes which were used for draging big old growth trees down the shale river bed to the ship yards pre 1850. There were lots of 80 year old and younger trees but there was one big old tree that would have taken 3-4 men to put their arms all the way around. I started working around that tree and the metal detector went off. About 2-3 inches down right next to a large root I dug up what turned out to be a button off a union soldiers uniform.
My mind envisioned a soldier home, sitting under the tree, ( quite smaller then) maybe taking a break from cutting trees for the boat yard several miles down stream. He probably got up to go back to work, grabbed his jacket and snagged the sleeve on that root, popping it off.
Ya. It's an addicting hobby. You just never know what the next turn of a shovel will produce.
Back out this evening for about an hour and managed to find a 1990 quarter, a dime and some pennies form the 70s, and a 1950 wheat penny. Nothing that can't be found in your average sock drawer. But the 1950 wheatie gives hope that there may be some pre 65 in there somewhere.
65 and older have actual silver in them. Silver content is worth more than a quarter's face value. Many people buy bags of pre 65 nickels or quarters. Known as "junk silver."Care to enlighten the ignorant on values on the pre 65 coinage?
90% silver, dimes, quarters, half dollars, and silver dollars.Care to enlighten the ignorant on values on the pre 65 coinage?
65 and older have actual silver in them. Silver content is worth more than a quarter's face value. Many people buy bags of pre 65 nickels or quarters. Known as "junk silver."
For circulated condition. Usually those that have been buried are very low grade and only worth melt value, 3 bucks or so for a quarter.Looks like going purchase silver price is about 12-13 times value. $1 silver coins $12-13 to purchase.
I have a couple of steel pennies from wartime at the house. Found those in my pocket when they stuck to my money clip.Unless it is a "War" nickel made from 42-45 they are 35% silver. They have a large mint mark of P, D or S on the back of the coin.
For circulated condition. Usually those that have been buried are very low grade and only worth melt value, 3 bucks or so for a quarter.