Depth of finds

~Alan~

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On another forum I use, there was some question as to whether the depths people say they find small coins (for instance), is quite accurate.
They were saying that sometimes you may dig a big hole and then find a small coin at the bottom, but it could be because it's dropped there as you were digging the hole.

Could it be that people tend to unintentionally exaggerate the capabilities of their machines, and can any detector really give you a reasonably accurate ID at 6? or more ?
 
Alan, I caught a fish this BIG
Seriously though I find clad coins less than 2 inches down
Mercury dimes in the 3-4 range
Standing liberties and sitting liberties at 5-7
My 1806 was 6 inches (or half way up my shovel) on a steep slope of hill.
1787 Brit ½ penny 10 inches
Musket balls about the same 10 inches
Colonial buttons and such 10 inches
General rules only!
You must consider the terrain, hard soil you will find thins up top softer soils = ????? Slopes of hills, open field etc.

My Minelab is very accurate with the depth but it will miscalculate depth on shot gun shells that are 2-3 inches deep. It tends to tell me it is in the 8-10 inch range. But, shotgun shells signal breaks up a little or changes on the digital read out. In a field that has been plowed I found a 1941 Mercury on the top of the ground.
 
Coin Depths

Alan I have a long established test bed...or rather beds. Every time a new machine comes out people turn up and find they can't get the depths the testers quote.
On the beach I use a small piece of wood with a string passing down to a ring tied cats-cradle like so its sitting level when buried. Bury in wet sand and leave for a period to allow things to settle. Then test any machine.
People always end up disappointed. The bigger the coil and the worse the pinpointing of the detector then the more likely that the item being recovered has been dug past and then slipped down.
 
Alan:
My DFX will read a mercury dime at 12 inches and I just dug a mercury dime at a measured 11 1/2 inches which was buried under a 4 inch oak tree root with my Fisher CZ 7a pro. You can get them deep but you have to go slow,overlap sweeps by 1/3rd, omit the audio boost (use the headphone volume control) and dig the soft ones. Good luck
 
I am sure sometimes the coin falls deeper into the hole. Sometimes an estimate is off, a hole always looks deeper than it really is, sometimes there may be an exaggeration factor. I have found coins at over 12 inches, but not many, and not all detectors are capable of finding coins at that depth. I have used many detectors and only two have had that kind of depth capability.
 
In all seriousness Alan, my MXT with the 8" Excelerator is pretty darn good at judging coin depth. Every now and then it gets fooled, but I'd say 95% of the time or better it's at the depth it says it is (for single coins). I have honestly dug coins at 8.5" to close to 9" with this setup. My digging tool has a measuring "stick" built into it. These coins were "whisper" targets that the VDI reading jumped around a bit on, but still came in around what the machine thought it was. I'm very happy with my MXT's depth :D
 
When a coin is on top of the ground my MXT says 0-2 and pinpoints to 0 beyond that it can fool you. The more you get used to it the less it fools you. Example: If I get a VDI of 86 (Quarter range) and it says 2" and I use the pinpointer and can't find it or it is 4" down it is a chunk of melted aluminum 95% of the time. Trust me when you have dug in yards on farms where people moved their trash dumping sites from place to place you catch on to this very quickly.

Just remember any detector can fool you, the trick is to figure out when it's doing it to you. Then again it can fool you right out of a gold ring if you let it. :yes:
 
The depth your going to get depends on the strength of the ground mineralization. The stronger the mineralization the more signal competition there is with the target signal, if it's high you won't get as much depth in one area as another area with less mineralization strength.
 
a dime at 12 inches aint gonna happen. There was something above it and once some dirt was removed, the dime became more accessible to a good signal. If Roland Martin Metal detected, he would find dimes at 18 inches. :lol:
 
ive taken a well worn bawbee (scottish coin)from 12" it was in the bottom of a hole had to use a trowel to locate it.

machine was the goldmaxx power
 
It depends on the type of coin too, the only coins I have found at 12 inches were large cents and big coppers. Indian head cent at 10 1/2, dimes at 8 inches or so, a dime by itself would be hard to hit much beyond that.
 
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