OK, It took me one year of detecting before I found my first silver, a 1964 dime. A couple days later I found a Mercury Dime laying in the bottom of a plug I dug. That's two silvers in the first year of detecting. Then my son told me about "historicaerials" web site. It took me a while to figure out to navigate the site. Find "aerials" and look for a list of "years" . Click on the oldest year, it may be 1946 or maybe 1954. Type in your town and click on "roads". So now your in an older part of town and the streets are given, so now you know where you can find silver. Location location location. So to start, look for what is called in this sport, "city strips". Those are the grassy areas between the sidewalks and the street. In every town I've ever hunted it is legal to hunt there. If you are not sure, find a police station and go inside and ask if you can hunt those areas. When you find such a street that has a sidewalk maybe eight or ten or fifteen feet from the street and grass is growning there, it is, depending how old the houses are, people have been getting in and out of their cars for a long time. When they reach in their pocket and pull out their keys, a coin fell out, or maybe even a gold ring, as I have found a few times. There are communites that date back to the 1800's. You can tell these neighborhoods by looking at the houses. If most of the houses have a single garage, well it's an old house, people back then had just one car. If you're detecting these parkways, and you come upon one that is groomed real nice, I will skip that house. Go slow, and overlap your swings. I've found coins right up against the sidewalk and the curb so detect on the edges too, and be mindful to cover every inch. You found this old part of town with "historicaerials". So you know over the years people dropped silver coins there. It has happened to me, where a homeowner will tell you "don't dig in my yard". Do not argue, just say ok, and move on. In every town I've been in, that area is city-owned. And too there will be homeowners who are curious and want to know what your doing. Tell them you are looking for dropped coins and jewelry, and (I will lie and tell them and say, yesterday a couple of blocks over I dug a silver half dollar). I have dug Probably five silver half dollars and even one silver Dollar in a parkway. But too, probably over 500 silver coins, dimes and quarters. And then, ask if you could run your metal detector over their yard and whatever you find, they can have. Only a few times did they want anything I found. If you think someone has already detected that city strip, just drive a few blocks over and try another spot. There are literally hundreds of parkways in the older parts of town and sooner or later your gonna find one that no one has detected and you will find silver. Also, when your driving around, and you see someone outside in their yard. stop and ask if you can metal detect their yard. Tell them it's your hobby and you've been finding some cool stuff. I have asked maybe a hundred people if I could detect their yard, and I would guess 45 at least said yes. I've had days where everyone I asked said no, but I've had days where I asked maybe five people and they all said yes. Today, my best friend said yes, and it was hot that day, and he brought me out a cold beer. And when I got done he gave me another cold beer. He is now my best friend, and his kids call me uncle. I dug a mercury dime in his yard and he told me to keep it. On his short block, I've detected every house, over maybe a seven-year span, and have found, let's see, ten silver dies centavos, two silver Washingtons, three Mercury Dimes, and maybe six silver Roosevelts, plus a handful of wheat pennies. Just remember, if you're not in the old part of town, you're not going to find silver. I know this is long, but now I have to tell you this, I bought an XP Deus II nine months ago, and programmed it to find coins. I programmed it by using the volume control, which you probably cannot do. Now my detector is super quiet, but when I pass the coil over a nickel, it rings out loud and clear, or if I pass over a copper penny, or a dime, or a quarter it screams. Most silver coins I've dug before the Deus II were between four and six inches deep. Now I am going back over those same old city strips and finding silver coins down to ten inches and deeper. My Deus II is finding a lot of silver coins my NOX 800 passed over. I love my Deus II and have dug 140 silver coins since April of 2022, and most of them dug in places where I have hunted before. I don't find gold, but that's ok. I am retired and hunt on average five days a week.
Good luck and find those old parts of town, you will find silver. If you lived in S. California, I would get you silver coins for sure.
