How long before 1st silver coin find - an unscientific study

[amxfred]

July 1976 in a city park in Illinois and it took me about 1 hour. It was a 1903 Barber quarter and I still have it. Then I was asked to leave the park.

 

[Suppo]

I found two Merc's the second time out with my first detector, probably three hours total detecting time.

 

[Digger Magoo]

My first silver was about 10 minutes into my maiden hunt outsie my yard. It was a 1954 Franklin Half Dollar. Couldn't have been luckier!

 

[Sonny b]

My best guess is three months.

 

[fred sanford]

1 day

I was fortunate to find a mercury dime my 1st day out. I did not go to the spot blindly. It was an old beach resort that I had researched. Location and research is everything.

 

[HighTone]

Took me about 25 hours or 8 days of swinging that heavy old whites 4000 D. Then it happened a 59 rosie put it in a holder still got it

 

[Silver Eagle]

First Silver

I will be 42 next Friday. I started detecting at age 7 or 8, my first machine wad a whites Coin Getter, way back when the Whites Beach Comber was a"HOT MACHINE". The second hole I dug, not 5 min out of the box was a 1944 Washington Quarter, the first find was a 30 something Wheatie.
Fast Forward to 2008, after taking a decade away from the Hobby, I ordered a machine and made plans to go MD'ing with my Dad, but the Guy on E=Bay failed to ship in a timely manner, so I went along any way, and used an old 1970's Blue Bounty Hunter my dad had inherited from his father in law (he is re-married, not my grandpa).
Once we got the machine ground balanced, I put the coil on the ground right next to the truck, and Bam first hole in 20 years, a 1958 Silver Washington Quarter.
When My machine Finally arrived, went to a park and found a silver ring, as well as a saphire and diamond ring and was appraised close to $1200.00
So I guess I am the Curve breaker, I would have to say average time of 7-10 minutes before I found Silver.

 

[dglantz]

If you don't count the first day I received it fooling around in my yard, the first silver coin I found was on my first hunt with an X-Terra 305 last year. It was a 1943 silver war nickel about an hour into the hunt.

 

[CoolAzDad]

2nd Day

I found my first silver coin on my second hunt back in 1988, it was a '63 Roosie..... I thought that I was hooked before that, but finding that coin made me sure I was hooked for life.....
(I'd guess 6 hours)

HH, Dave...........

 

[midwest]

I just stared mding last Friday the 4th of February, and dug my first silver (1937 mercury dime) on the following Monday the 7th. Is say about 14 hrs.

 

[NevTrac]

Took me 4 months averaging about 25 hours A week to find my first silver coin.
I was starting to think digging silver coins was a myth. If it wasn't for seeing them posted on this forum I might have given up. Glad I didn't quit though because I dug 49 more in the past 6 months.
Keith

 

[Quazi15]

Prob took me 4-5 hrs. That day i found 3 silvers, 1943 Washington, 1942P Nickel, and a 51D roosie. However in the 2 years since then the only silver i have found is a St. Christopher medal

 

[bazeball7]

The data is still coming in . . .

Thanks for all the replies. I will start compiling the numbers after we get a few more data points.

Please remember to give your best estimate in HOURS so we can be consistent.

Thanks - Tim

 

[David in DC]

Best guess - 4-5 weeks before popping a silver roosevelt.

I agree with Jersey...who can remember the hours? I can't even remember the number weeks and I started less than 6 mos ago.

 

[mark v]

I found my first coin, a '57 dime, less than 1 minute after turning on my detector for the first time!
Now 7 years later I average about only 2 silvers a year.

 

[mrwilburino]

I got back into detecting last year after many years away from it. It took me two months to find my first silver coin. This was in the same park where I used to find silver every-single-hunt back in the 1970's. As others have said, nowadays it's all about finding the right location.

 

[techdetect]

3rd time out with the ACE250

I found a Barber dime the third time out. <10 hours. This was the first detector i have used. It had just rained and dug a deep 6+ and in the plug was an 1908D Barber. I have been looking for its family for quite some time. Haven't found much after that in the way of silver.

 

[dirtdiggr]

I found my first Silver Coin about two weeks ago and only had been out with a neighbor about 4 times so total I would say less then ten hours, it turned out to be a 1 reale spanish coin dated 1777 and in pretty good shape. Found it on private land that had been hunted many times before me which was a battefield (civil war) I did a little searching the net and found out that soldiers would carry them incase they were killed, it would pay for their personel things to be sent home and a decent burriel. The story means something to me not the value of the coin. Why is this so addicting?

I got a BH 505 for Xmas and now I want a Whites xlt or mxt..

 

[Chuckciao]

Can't really give accurate hours but I began detecting in Oct. 2009 and found my first silver (1901 Barber) in Oct. of 2010. Excluding winter when I was idle, that would be 9 months at about 3 to 4 hours a day on average. I hope this helps with your project.

 

[IMShooter]

Got my first two within days of getting my MD from Kellyco. 1947 quarter and a 51 rosie. then i was fortunate enough to find a ton of roofing nails..

As far as in how many hours of detecting: two hours