Still hitting the fairgrounds hard. The amusement area where the carnival rides and games are held and have been held for almost 100 years is the area I am concentrating on. It is around two acres and not only do the carnies set up there but they camp there as well. Years ago all the fair goers that camped at the fairgrounds camped in the same area according to a elderly gentleman in his 90's.
Hitting it hard every day for the last two weeks. I have found over 140 good targets. Mostly pennies!!!!! A couple of Nickels a few dimes and quarters. Am i discouraged no, with all these targets there were 4 silver dimes. Most of the pennies are copper. A few wheat cents but a lot of the copper pennies dating back to the 1960's. Most are in the 3 to 4 inches deep range. The dimes were from two inches to five inches deep. Why weren't they found until now? Why were the pennies not found were they ignored or missed?
Part of the answer is cherry picking. Every one wanted the silver but not the copper. The other part of the answer is they were simply missed by operator error. The general hobbyist has a limited amount of time and fails to cover the ground properly. He may be under the mistaken understanding that the bigger the coil the deeper the find. Everyone that sees me detect think that my 6.5 inch concentric coil is not going to find anything only modern coins because it can't see the deep targets. It finds coins that they have been passed up day after day. It also finds bottle caps, nails and pull tabs and copper pennies and silver dimes. Remember this fairground is supposed to be hunted out!!!!!
A penny minted in 1960 is now 60 years old. In 1974 when I got my first detector a 60 year old coin would have been minted in 1914. Back then most of the coins we found were from the late 1930's on. Yes we found lots of silver but silver had been lost for years. Now in 2020 we have had nothing but clad and copper plated zinc coins lost for at least 50 years. Is it any wonder that we come home with so much clad. I am happy to find a 1968 penny at 5 inches as it tells me that some where around there is a piece of silver or there is still good coins waiting to be found.
Just some thought to encourage those who may be having a dry spell.
All the Best
Senior Deacon