Big Boys Hobbies

The elusive silver quarters

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MuddyMo

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Why is it so hard to find silver quarters? I find 20(?) silver dimes to every 1 quarter. Clad around 2 to 1. Silver quarters seem more elusive than half's. I don't think the older detectors had a hard time finding the silver dimes so were people that much more careful with quarters or what??
 
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That’s a bucket lister for me as well. I have a seated half, walker half, seated,barber,merc and rosie dimes zero silver quarters. Hopefully soon though.
 
I just figure they’re bigger and easier to find if dropped compared to a dime. And maybe worth a bit more search effort back in the day, I dunno
 
I wish I could find silver coins period :-) I have one for the year, a silver rosie from a coinstar tray! (Facepalm)
Lifetime silver quarters? Two.
What twists me sometimes is the number of 1965 clad quarters I find, just one year earlier....DOH!
 
I’ve dug 33 silver quarters: 1 seated, 6 Barbers, 5 SLQ’s, 2 Canadian and the rest Washington. I dug most of these about ten years ago, within three years time.

I’ve dug 10 silver halves: 2 Barbers, 2 Franklins and 6 walkers, also dug within three years time.

About a 3:1 ratio quarters to halves.

Then they dried up.

Losing a 50 cent piece back in 1955 would have been similar to losing a $5 bill today.
What would one buy with a $5 bill today? Most don’t even carry change, but plastic.
A quarter then would be worth around $2.50 today.
A dime, now one dollar.

I believe most silver quarters were hoovered up back in the earlier days of detectors. That, and if someone lost a dime - oh well. Lost a quarter? Eh...couple bucks, look harder for it.
 
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I was lucky enough to find three silver quarters last year in what was my first "season" of serious detecting for older goodies from June to December. '63 and '36 Washington's, as well as the star of the show, an 1898 Barber found right up against a very old sidewalk in a small town. So far this year, one quarter, my first SLQ, a 1926.

I've heard that the older machines had no trouble at all finding quarters. They're still hard to miss. Whereas, dimes tend to be deeper, are definitely smaller, and are probably more easily masked by the junk around and on top of them.
 
Space aliens sneak down at night and scoop them all up. I’ve seen them do it!
 

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In my 38 years of detecting my silver dimes outnumber my silver quarters by about 10 to 1. Dimes are a lot easier to lose. My silver quarters outnumber my silver wartime nickels by about 3 to 1.
 
I agree with the replies but they don't explain the different ratios of clad vs silver.
 
Back in the '70's, finding silver quarters wasn't that difficult. Finding silver dimes and wheaties were pretty easy to find too. Nowadays (for me at least) finding anything that old is something to celebrate. Since getting back into the hobby last year, I've found 2 silvers (a quarter and a dime), and 3 wheat back pennies. Here in California, housing is so concentrated, there's not much open land and the "older" houses only date back to the 70's & 80's.
 
9 + yrs detecting not 1 silver quarter about 20 Silver dimes .. Wheat cents about 1 per detecting day.. Buddy 3rd day detecting and he finds a Silver quarter the first day with his new Simplex + .. Like what the *&*& ..
 
Valley Hunter said:
9 + yrs detecting not 1 silver quarter about 20 Silver dimes .. Wheat cents about 1 per detecting day.. Buddy 3rd day detecting and he finds a Silver quarter the first day with his new Simplex + .. Like what the *&*& ..
Click to expand...

they are still out there!..keep humpin'

(h.h.!)
j.t.
 
Found my first seated quarter the other day and when I read up on it, it says they made more halves and dimes than quarters. Didn’t say why or if same holds for other varieties.
 
The big difference I saw between my Ace 250 and my AT Pro was the AT Pro found a lot more silver dimes. So I would have to say that the cheaper machines just don't find the silver dimes as much, while almost any decent metal detector will find a quarter. That would explain the ratio of dimes to quarters finds. You can't find them if someone beat you to them!
 
I have posted on the ratio of my silver dime to quarters finds before. Seems to average 10:1 in favor of dimes for me. It can fluctuate wildly occasionally. Like last year I found 1 Barber, 2 SLQ's, 2 Washingtons. I only found 34 silver coins total for the year 2020. When I found my first silver quarter of 2020 it had been a little over a year since the last one I had found.

1. I think most change lost in yards and parks was kids losing it. They didn't have as many quarters.
2. The ratio of quarters to dimes in any ones pockets at any given time favors dimes.
3. In public areas namely parks and ball fields how many quarters you find depends on if it's been detected before. Quarters are going to get hoovered up before all the dimes are in most cases. One park in my town that me and a buddy hunt has been basically dime finds. He thinks possibly one quarter. That's roughly 1 quarter to around 50 silver dimes.

Half dollars are a completely different thing all together. I have found a total of 2 Walker half dollars in 4 years of detecting.
 
MuddyMo said:
Why is it so hard to find silver quarters? I find 20(?) silver dimes to every 1 quarter. Clad around 2 to 1. Silver quarters seem more elusive than half's. I don't think the older detectors had a hard time finding the silver dimes so were people that much more careful with quarters or what??
Click to expand...

Totally agree with your post. I have found almost 100 large cents and only two silver quarters and both of those were in the same yard ( both Washington quarters). A seated quarter is my white whale for sure. Coppers are bigger than a quarter and sound pretty much the same in the hole. I don’t think the quarters were already found by other detectorists, I just think they’re not there.
 
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