The 1,000 Coin School

[Harley-Dog]

This story has been 13 months in the making...that?s how long I?ve been hunting the surrounding grassy area of the oldest school building in our town.! And as the name of this article implies, I?ve managed to retrieve 1,000 coins so far.! Actually, the exact count at this moment is 1,023 coins.

I guess you could say that I?ve made it a project?a personal goal?to clean out the schoolyard to the best of my ability.! I?ve also kept detailed records of all my finds and I?d like everyone?s opinions, insights, feelings, etc. regarding the results so far:

Since late August 2005 til now I?ve made 37 visits to the school, and the average time spent detecting each visit would be around 3 hours....so, probably a little more than 100 hours total time invested.! I have found as many as 71 coins on an outing to as few as 6, but the numbers average out to 27 coins per visit.

The coin breakdown is as follows:

Lincoln Wheat ? 8
Lincoln Memorial ? 433
Jefferson Nickel ? 232
Roosevelt Dime ? 233
Washington Quarter ? 110
Sacagawea Dollar ? 1
Canadian Cent ? 4
Canadian Nickel ? 1
Canadian Quarter ? 1

No silver; zilch; nada!! This really surprises me.! 1,000+ coins, yet no silver and only 8 wheats!! This has led me to the conclusion that this area was detected sometime in the past.! I?m also guessing that somebody (or perhaps multiple somebodies) did a fairly thorough job of picking the place clean.! The fact that I was still able to find 1000+ coins in the last 13 months is strong evidence that a good many years have passed since it was detected in any kind of serious way.! I believe it would take a considerable amount of time for that many coins to be re-seeded.

I always keep my detector set at 1 setting above ?all metal? mode, and I dig every audible signal, repeatable or otherwise.! I believe that would explain the high nickel percentage; they often show up as ?foil? on my detector?s display.! And yes, I dig a great deal of foil, pull tabs, shredded cans, the eraser ends of pencils, and those single serving ketchup packets!! Now I?m the first to admit that the Whites Prizm III is not a high-end detector, but I still get my share of targets that are 8+ inches deep.! Out of 1,000 coins there should?ve been some silver, unless like I?ve already said, someone else before me invested some serious time (just as I?m doing now) and pretty much cleaned the place out.

The school (known as Hauenstein Hall) was built in 1916 and was used for teaching 9th through 12th grades only, until 1924 when a new high school was erected just 75 yards to the east.! Then Hauenstein Hall became the elementary school until the 1950s when a new elementary school was built next door (less than 25 yards to the north).! It is evident the area has been in use long enough for lots of silver to have been dropped.! With all 3 buildings situated so close to each other I spend the majority of my time detecting the grassy places that are in the center of all three buildings.

Today, Hauenstein Hall no longer has any classrooms in use for teaching....the building now serves as an Administration Building.! But here is a very interesting note: of the three buildings, Hauenstein Hall is the only one that ever had a cafeteria; the students in the other two buildings always had to go to Hauenstein Hall for lunch...and that?s still true to this day!! That little fact suggests that there has always been an enormous amount of foot traffic between the 3 school buildings, thus a lot of opportunities for kids to drop their lunch money!

I will post some photos of the school in a couple of days so you all can see where 75% of my detecting has been done.! At that time I will also post some graphs I?ve made showing the quantities by dates of each coin denomination.! The patterns on the graphs make for some very interesting speculation as to when the place may have been last detected real heavy.

Harley-Dog

[FelixtheCat]

Harley - Good going! It's very interesting that you have decided to attack and thoroughly hunt a specific site. I really think your nickel ratio is high. My ratio in that category is close to quarters and you're double. So obviously you are probably hunting more thoroughly than I do. I would like to see your final analysis!

[Jason]

Way to go Harley. I would be interested in reading a more in depth story about you expidition with stories, techniques and such. Maybe you could do it as a mini-book and post it. I'd bet it would be good reading for the experienced as well as the newbies.

[roadrunner_426]

Outstanding, HD ! I've got a school yard I've been doing the same thing with since late June/early July..it's only 1 mile from my home and I hunt it when nothing else is available ..current coin total is 660..1 silver piece of jewelry, i wheatie, and 0 silver coins..the school was built in the 50's and I used to hunt it a lot back in the 80's ; back then I took out several silver coins and silver rings..this summer is the first time I've been back there in 25 years..HH Roadrunner_426

[spittfire]

Nice commentary on your finds! Glad you did the research on your properties, it seems to have paid off. HH

[mxtswinger]

Awesome story Harley! I think you theories are right on about someone else getting the silver, but it's hard to believe that they got it all unless they were as thorough as you are. Once you have it "cleaned out" it would be interesting to go over it with some different machines.

Good Huntin

[Harley-Dog]

Here are some pix of Hauenstein Hall.! The 2 showing the grassy area in back of the school is where I have found the most coins.

Felix -- I hope to post analysis as I go.! I'm working on 3 coin charts right now, and I hope to post them within the next day or so.

Jason -- I plan on writing a more detailed account at a later date and will gladly post it.! I see you also hunt with a Prizm III.! I have a suggestion for you if you haven't already tried it:! Go back to the place (whereever that might be) where you've found the heaviest concentration of coins and detect the exact same area again with the discrimination set on "foil" and then dig every single signal you get! regardless of what the display tells you.! When I first tried this, 17 out of the next 30 coins were nickels.! Yes, this was an area I had already detected thoroughly (or so I thought) and lo and behold the nickels practically jumped out of the ground!! Obviously, I had been discriminating them out on my earlier attempts.! Well, no more!! I have kept my detector set on "foil" from that point on and judging from my nickel percentage, it has paid off.

Roadrunner -- Wow!!!! 660 coins since June of this year???! At that rate you'll pass me up in no time.! How thoroughly do you think you cleaned out your schoolyard 25 years ago?! It will be interesting to see what the re-seeding rate calculates out to if you reach a point where you can declare it cleaned out again.! (I know, I know, you can never totally clean out a place, but for the sake of conversation let's assume we've come close when we can reach the point where we cannot find anymore coins ourselves).

mtxswinger -- Believe it or not, but that thought has indeed crossed my mind.! My dream machine is a Minelab Explorer II.! Maybe some day I'll get that opportunity to give it a try!

Thanx everybody!

- Harley-Dog

[Harley-Dog]

Here is next photo

[Harley-Dog]

The 3rd and final photo, for now...

- Harley-Dog

[roadrunner_426]

HD, thanks for the pics..it's an interesting looking place..the coins at my site are now few and far between compared to what they were when I started this summer...No. 1,000 will be a while..I think I cleaned the site out pretty well back in the 80's..I probably hunted it on a weekly basis for almost a year and only stopped when it was posted..when I went back this summer I was hitting targets at almost every step..many of the coins had obviously been in the ground a very long time..the only areas that appeared to have been worked fairly recently were the sand areas surrounding the playground equipment...the school is still used and since school started 3 weeks ago I've been finding a good number of coins just under the grass ; they seem to be doing a good job of reseeding...as you know, when you work a site that thoroughly, you get a feeling for what went on there...there's one section, approx. 15 yrds. by 15 yds., where I've taken over 100 quarters and not much else..I'd love to know the reason behind that, but have no clue...I would maybe think a concession area or entrance to a sporting event at some time, but the school has always been elementary..I've been finding more nickels as I've gone back over the ground I searched at first..with so many easy targets, I guess it was easy to pass those "iffy" signals ...that neighborhood is a poor one now, and I guess that probably explains the lack of jewelry...I wasn't expecting silver coins, as I did my best to exhaust that supply many years ago...looking forward to your graphs and data...HH Roadrunner_426

[spittfire]

Nice Pic HarleyDog, thanks for sharing!

[steve in so az]

Harley - Good going on the persistence - it will make you a better detectorist for sure.
A couple thoughts on your site - could they have added some dirt to bring up the grassy areas - thereby covering the original lawn ? Some of the pics suggest that and some dont.

As you said, others could have worked out the silver years ago - it's impossible for you to not get any silver and only a few wheats if it had not been done before.

Maybe find an old janitor or maintainence man that worked there and ask him about dirt adding ? As you are very serious about the site it would be worth the effort. You could ask at the school (office workers, district office, etc) if there was an old janitor who worked for many years there and is retired now. Go see him and see if he can shed any light on things.
Good luck, Steve in so az

[Harley-Dog]

Steve,

I like your suggestion regarding finding an old janitor to check his memory. I will put that on my "to do" list.

In regard to the possibility that dirt has been added in places around the building, that is an interesting theory. I do know for a fact that some old steps and an entrance on the north side of the school (not pictured) were eliminated years ago. You can see where a double doorway used to be (now bricked over) that led out to where the original playground was situated. That old playground is now underneath the asphalt parking lot for the elementary school next door. If they ever decide to tear down the elementary school and rip up the parking lot, you can bet I'll be the first in line to detect that area.

Now that I think about it, in the front of Hauenstein Hall, directly behind the left-most picnic table pictured in the front view of the school, I hit gravel a couple of times when recovering targets. That would suggest that a gravel parking area had been there (now covered over with dirt and grass). I am going to try and find some old photos of the shcool which may show physical features no longer there. I did see one old photo of the school while it was under construction, but nothing else since. Thanx for the tips!

- Harley-Dog