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[Myownwings]

A month an a half ago I received permission to hunt a 1802 Stone farmhouse that was built by one of the original leaders of this old Pennsylvania township. This mansion has been continuously occupied by wealthy families since then. I am fairly sure it has never been detected before. The site has a stone smokehouse, stone barn, stone springhouse and an old limekiln.

I have a DFX and 3 coils, the standard 950, 6 x 10 dd and a 5.3. I also hunt another site built in 1929 and I have pulled up old silver (1892 Quarter, a bunch of mercs, etc). I dig just about everything and have dug a tack up at 8" so I know how to run hot.

When I first arrived at the 1802 site I had the 950 on for depth and I immediated started pulling up tons of clad and loads of pennies. I also noticed the ground was extremely easy to dig. The current owner (74 year old woman, Columbia U. grad with Masters degree in Historic Preservation..lol) told me her Father used to buried jars of pennies and pocket change on the property.

Well, it's been over a month now and I have yet to find anything older than a 1932 penny. I have found a bunch of old spoons, knives, etc. that are silver plated and I estimate them to be from the late 1800's. Generally I find old Iron stuff like Axe heads, hinges, and chunks of lead things (all of which read a VDI of 83-89 and they are almost always under roots of trees, making them difficult to dig. The high solid sound always gets me to thinking I've found a jar of this buried pocket change. I'm getting really frustrated. Yesterday I hunted for 4 hours in 90 degree heat and found two pennies (1978 and 1990), a 8" ring from a water wheel and a big chunk of lead and two old type pull tabs. I mean c'mon, 208 years and nobody lost any coins for the first 130 years? Is the ground so soft that all the really old coins are too deep for me to detect? I have used Fox'es Mixed mode and variations of minimal descrimination, maximum PAG, AC and DC setting for the day and nothing has yielded any old coins. I need help and advice from you long time professionals.

[PlunkTwang]

Soft ground is *good*, that usu. means to me 'original ground'.

I'd suggest Mixed Mode. I'm running 3KHz MM, and if PAG 3 and AC72 are too hot, I go to Correlate. I Accept down to -30. Iron is readily-identifiable as such. I've got Tone ID Off, and a good target usually has a steady mid-range tone.
If I pinpoint any + VDI, I'm digging (on an old site); this includes an intermittent-but-repeatable + number "amid" iron, because I've found IHes in a hole with a cut nail more than once.
It sounds like you're well-familiar with the DFX, and it's probably "taking coals to Newcastle" to advise heavy reliance on the Signagraph.

Good Luck with that site, it sounds like the Stuff is there!
_________________
"There comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure." - Mark Twain in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

DFX w/ D2 & Eclipse 5.3; Sunray DX-1. M6 2nd Detector

[Myownwings]

"Soft ground is *good*, that usu. means to me 'original ground'. "

Interesting. I was thinking because it is so easy to plunge my Lesche in, that all the old coins just keep sinking because of the low resistance and they are now beyond my DFX's ability to detect them. I have considered purchasing a 12" but Jeff's book clearly states that large coils are less sensitive to coin sized objects. I believe the stock 950 is probably the deepest I can use, although I often use the 6 x 10 because I can pinpoint nearly perfectly with it. I wonder if I am just pushing the DFX too far and it is at or near unstable. I often put up with all the falsing in an effort to get deeper.

[PlunkTwang]

The reason I went to Mixed Mode 2 seasons ago was that I was tired of not being able to run Best Data w/ Tone ID at 3 or 4 without EMI problems or general battiness. I've found deep items with MM. I can ignore the high tones from iron wrap-around. I've found silver on sites I had previously swept with Best Data. Seriously-good hunters like Neil in Jersey swear by Mixed Mode. I'm using a D2, but your 950 should do fine and go deep.
I use a DX-1 probe (and heartily recommend those), run AC72 and DC52.

If there might be jars of coins, they'll sound off even if they're 14" down, but I think you'll find good single targets, too.
_________________
"There comes a time in every rightly-constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure." - Mark Twain in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

DFX w/ D2 & Eclipse 5.3; Sunray DX-1. M6 2nd Detector

[That'll_Do]

Sounds like you have two problems:
1. Where's the Coin Jars?
2. Where's anything Pre-1932 ?

What they both have in common is they are both ASSUMPTIONS
you have made. "Coin Jars" are Legends as old as the hills and
"Where's the Old Stuff?" even I've said many times. Also, you are
"fairly sure" it's a virgin site - another thing you can't prove.
The only thing you can prove is what you hold in your hand if you
are a Detectorist.

I'm not trying to 'dis you or your intelligence or your Contacts.
But you're right about one thing; If it's there you ought to be
finding something to better match the age of the estate. The fact
that you aren't means either you missed it or it's gone already.
I agree with the idea of re-sweeping in another mode. A low
battery will also reduce depth dramatically and Power Lines feeding
the house maye be leaking all kinds of interference - so can old wiring
if the house is still "live".

Maybe I've missed something that someone else will offer too.
I truely wish you best luck,

That'll_Do
_________________
Remember: No matter where you go, there you are.

[Myownwings]

That'll_Do,
I agree with you. The wiring emi, never occured to me, but you are correct. The wiring is the old two wire type and may explain the bizarre emi problems I often experience at this site and the frequent falsing signals.

I failed to mention that I finds tons of clad everytime I go there, pennies mostly, but a lot of dimes and quarters too. Depth varies from 1/2" to 6" generally. I also found a nice old rusted axe head at about 8"...and you should see my collection of ancient nails..lol

As far as the jars of pennies, it was the owner who told me that (wish she hadn't), and, like you, my first impression is generally " yea, right". But I figured she knew her father (he lived for 104 years and, although incredibly wealthy, was known to be a bit odd I guess) and that was just added incentive. My primary motivation was based on the fact that this mansion was built 208 years ago by one of the truly wealthy people of the area, and it has been occupied continuously by very wealthy people ever since. It also happens to be approximately 1/3 of a mile from my home.

The one old picture I have of the property was taken in 1923 and the yard was made up of fruit trees and fairly high grass and weeds. Not the manicured lawns we see today. I believe the farm animals were the lawn mowers. The roof has been repaired and replaced over the many years and it appears that the workers just threw the nails, etc. out in the yard, knowing full well that some metal detector guy would come by in a hundred or so years and it would drive him crazy....they are probably still laughing.

I think I may just need to upgrade my DFX to a FEL* with optional VS* attachment.

FEL= Front End Loader
VS = Vibrating Screen attachment

[That'll_Do]

,....And if it is still occupied you can't just cut the power- too bad.
It might be possible for you to dig a little Test Garden near the house
(just a narrow temporary one). Then you could bury some silver and clad
at known depths, say 2", 4",6", 8" or whatever. Same coin types at each
level. That might tell you how far down you're really going and how much
EMI is disrupting your machine. You could repeat this at home or away from
the house and it might give you some numbers.

Then you could trial the 3 coils to see which does best and DFX modes for
same. No promises but it might help you. Caches (I've never found one)
I've heard are often anchored to some local landmark like a tree or rock.
Remember, that tree may only be a stump today.

Good Luck!

That'll_Do
_________________
Remember: No matter where you go, there you are.

[Del]

hello Myownwings , houses that have been around that long are usually tough to detect for a few reasons .no.1 they have acumilated lots of trash around them from repairs or renovations to the house and no.2 and more importanatly have been landscaped more than once , in 208 years i bet that fill dirt has been brought in which would explain why your finding clad as deep as you say . the next time your there take alook at the base of any very large trees if the roots are very exposed then you should be finding some older stuff , if no roots then looks like the goods are very deep under all that fill.at which point i'd hunt the edges of the yard as that might be you best chance of older goodies.

Dan

[Myownwings]

I think I'm just gonna take a break from that place for awhile. It just causes me to be too negative. I don't like to feel that way. I'm a happy go lucky kind of guy and have much better success at sites where my expectations are not so high. I will eventually find a spot that will yield some truly old coins. It's just tough to find a place, get comfortable with owner to the point that you can come and go as you please and it is close to your house.

[That'll_Do]

Thx.! for a nice tip on checking the tree roots, Del.

That'll_Do
_________________
Remember: No matter where you go, there you are.

[Bama Dave]

where was the outhouse- check the line from the house to where the outhouse stood- also is there an old raod bed nearby - if so detect the sides as they used to grade them by hand w shovel lots of releic s there-or a creek - troops/travelers would have stooped at the creek for water/camping overnite. check the nearby fields when the crops are harvested. dig all the iron/trash from a hi probability area then go back and cherry pick u will have to dig it all to get the good stuff

also your soft soil may cause old objects to sink below the abilty of your detector where as a dry - rocky soil may cause items to stay close tot he surface. like the prev tip- tree roots bring old items up into detecting range.

As for settings- MM for sure lock your GB by setting the tracking to off once you get a good GB in clean soil- this will keep it from tracking to all the iron in the soil.

BD

[Myownwings]

Thanks for the tips Bama. I was at the site again tonight and I learned something from the owner that I did not know. She was complaining that the basement windows were leaking into the basement. Basement? I said. Then she showed me where to top of the windows were...at ground level. That explained a lot, fill had been brought in and it was at least 18" because it completely covered the windows. Disappointing to say the least, but also explains why I have had only one decent find on the property (1857 coppper penny), and that was about 150 yards from the house behind the big stone barn...probably dropped by a field hand going in and out of the barn. I found it at no more than 3".