ToySoldier
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I was at lunch waiting on my order and overheard a guy talking about two vacant 1890s brick houses he purchased to rehab and how he had to board them up to stop the homeless people and heroin users from trespassing inside. I piped up and asked permission to see what I could find with my metal detector. He said "Have at it, but let me know if you find any gold!"
I went out early on a weekend morning and walked the property. Very small front yards full of roots. Visible bits of trash on the surface. Half of the rear yard mixed with gravel from people using it as a parking lot. I noted the location of a few needles near the house to avoid. The grass was cut short, so I didn't have to worry much about any surprises. Fortunately, nobody was around and there was no evidence of anybody using the backyard as a bathroom.
Still, when detecting yards like this I wear hiking boots, a padded plastic kneepad to kneel on, and I wear disposable, industrial nitrile gloves under and over my detecting gloves. The gloves hold up well, but I carry a big box in the car. (In a well-maintained yard I often wear the nitrile golves under my detecting gloves but not over unless the dirt is really wet.)
So, long story short, the permission was a bust as far as interesting relics or silver or older nickels or Indian Head Cents. I rarely heard a signal deeper than a few inches because of all the junk. That's a common consequence when these old houses were divided into multi-unit low cost housing decades ago. I could go a few houses over to a similar 1890s house that has continuously been a single family home and actually hear deep targets and even the occasional silence.
But, old goodies aren't always a deep. I could see that the backyard has probably never been thick lush grass, the dirt is still at or below the original brick walkways, and there's areas of erosion. It's possible a few silver coins, tokens or relics aren't actually deep. It's just a matter of digging enough targets.
If they were in this particular yard, I couldn't find them. I could have kept digging out trash and pennies, but with over 100 coins from a small yard, only four wheat pennies (oldest 1917) and no noteworthy relics, it was time to move on.
I went out early on a weekend morning and walked the property. Very small front yards full of roots. Visible bits of trash on the surface. Half of the rear yard mixed with gravel from people using it as a parking lot. I noted the location of a few needles near the house to avoid. The grass was cut short, so I didn't have to worry much about any surprises. Fortunately, nobody was around and there was no evidence of anybody using the backyard as a bathroom.
Still, when detecting yards like this I wear hiking boots, a padded plastic kneepad to kneel on, and I wear disposable, industrial nitrile gloves under and over my detecting gloves. The gloves hold up well, but I carry a big box in the car. (In a well-maintained yard I often wear the nitrile golves under my detecting gloves but not over unless the dirt is really wet.)
So, long story short, the permission was a bust as far as interesting relics or silver or older nickels or Indian Head Cents. I rarely heard a signal deeper than a few inches because of all the junk. That's a common consequence when these old houses were divided into multi-unit low cost housing decades ago. I could go a few houses over to a similar 1890s house that has continuously been a single family home and actually hear deep targets and even the occasional silence.
But, old goodies aren't always a deep. I could see that the backyard has probably never been thick lush grass, the dirt is still at or below the original brick walkways, and there's areas of erosion. It's possible a few silver coins, tokens or relics aren't actually deep. It's just a matter of digging enough targets.
If they were in this particular yard, I couldn't find them. I could have kept digging out trash and pennies, but with over 100 coins from a small yard, only four wheat pennies (oldest 1917) and no noteworthy relics, it was time to move on.
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At least you gave it a shot and don't have to wish you had hunted it when you had the chance.
