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

[bazeball7]

Thanks for the replies - - - I'll put together some stats early next week...

 

[Darkman]

I found a 1957 dime 2nd day with detector

 

[bowman64]

took me about 10 minutes and I was hooked. However it was an old homesite on my hunting property that was from the 1920's. Location, location, location

 

[YARDBYRD]

within the first year i detected.

 

[tabdog]

The first time I detected was about 1966.
I don't even know what kind of metal detector it was.

I am guessing that it was 1974 when I found my first
silver coin.

So,,,,, what?

Eight years????

I always was kinda slow,,,,

 

[George in PA]

I have been swinging a coil for over 6 years and have never found a silver coin, silver ear rings, silver toe rings and several finger rings, but never a silver coin.

 

[Silver Strike]

4 days after I got my detector I found a 1963 Washington Quarter.

 

[ROLL METAL ROLL]

3 days

 

[WNYcoinshooter]

Just checked my log books and I bought my Whites Spectrun XLT on 6/12/98 and bagged a 1950 Washington Quarter on 6/14/98. It pays to log your finds...lol!

 

[bazeball7]

Update. . . . . .

To date (3-18-2011), there have been 39 replies to this thread. Note that not everyone was able to give their response in hours or days. Nevertheless the following numbers were obtained:

1) 22 people found their first their silver coin within an average time frame of 50 hours of hunting.

2) 9 people (including daddydigger, amxfred, dustyloins, fred sanford, diggermagoo, mark v, bowman 64, Me&myBoy, Silver Eagle) found their first silver on their very first hunt!

3) All but 3 people found their first silver coin within 6 months of hunting.

4) All but 2 folks found their first silver coin within the first year of hunting.

5) Neil Diggit gave up MDing for a while for girls (sorry Neil, couldn't resist that!)

So this very unscientific study appears to indicate that you could be lucky and find a silver coin almost immediately, but it is more likely that you will have to work the ground for up to 6 months or so for that first silver.

Happy Hunting!

 

[zeemang]

Good study, very interesting to see how many folks got there first silver right off the bat.

 

[bazeball7]

Good study, very interesting to see how many folks got there first silver right off the bat.

I suspect that the results may be a little biased toward the "early finders" since it was probably easier to remember (and post a reply to this thread) when the first silver was found so soon.

 

[dogpound]

when i got my first detector 17 yrs ago my first silver was on the 3 rd day, hunted around an old farmhouse. took a break for several years and bought my GTI and found a barber dime about the second week out, it really is all about location.

 

[Coyote65]

I got my first silver over 15 years ago with a Whites coin master on my second outing with it, probably within my first 10 hours of hunting. I dropped out of the hobby for several years and got back into it about 4 years ago and again found silver within the first 10 hours, bought an E-Trac and found silver withing my first 5 hours use with it, bought the AT Pro and found silver withing the first 5 hours.

I think location has a lot to do with finding silver.

 

[Creek]

3 Days.

 

[chipper01work]

I bought a detector that I hunted with for 3 days and was not satisfied with at all so I bought an Etrac. The very first signal that inspired me to dig (after about 1 minute) was a 1914-D Barber Quarter in XF+ condition. I'll also add that I'm 100% sure that the coil of the other detector was swung over that coin several times, since it was laying beside a 10 ft. section of sidewalk at a friends house. I hunted there with the first detector and I go after a sidewalk like a moth to the flame. So if you count the time with the detector I was not happy with it was 4 days. If not it was about 1 minute.

 

[ryasi51]

After about six hours of hunting i found my first silver. A sterling butterfly ring not more than 1o feet from my front door. About two inches deep and it looked to be chopped by a lawnmower a couple times as well.

 

[Stevo]

I bought my first MD, the ACE250, on tax day 2009. During that summer, the city was tearing up the old sidewalks in my neighborhood and replacing them. I found a Merc and a Rosie. Another MD'r, that I didn't know yet, sniped the area in front of my house while I was on the other side. He found a Barber Quarter. That would have been my first silver, had he not been there. Oh well.

 

[Cybert99]

I should NOT have read this thread. I bought a Whites metal detector back in 1985 because I wanted to find old coins. I went out every weekend for about a year and never came home with a single silver. I found 3 rings, a bracelet, tons of clad coins and a few wheaties. No silver.

This weekend I went out with my new Ace 350 and I found a bunch of clad, some of it 5 or so inches down, but still no luck. (My first find was a 1965 quarter. SO CLOSE!)

So I've probably spent 400 hours detecting and still no silver.

EDIT: To be fair, most of my searching was done when I was much younger and more impatient. It was so much trouble to pinpoint and dig the deep stuff I sort of stopped trying. Went to the beach a lot, searched tot lots, etc. Now that I'm really serious about finding silver we'll see how long it takes.

 

[Bonesquat]

Maybe 10 hours, 1890 seated dime, front yard. Bh 202.