Credit-debit cards cutting down on the clad..

Sure apparent to me at local parks...

Heck all I use is plastic 95 percent of the time so imagine if the oldies are using plastic so are the young set...

Silver is still there but getting tougher every year even with better equipment as in the last 20 years the hobby has skyrocketed relative the number in the hobby...

I am of the mindset that I find what I findIf clad pops up, cool. I like finding tokens more than anything. Old keys are cool too.

Not sure that credit/debit cards is the reason for the decline in silver coins, Dan. Rather, as you know, once a silver is pulled from the dirt it isn't coming back. Unlike the beaches which are constantly replenished, land sites are not. So, if many detectorists keep hitting the same spot year in & year out, sooner or later it's gonna be picked pretty slim. I think it's a combination of many things when it comes to the decline of silver...

1. Silver that's left is too deep for current machines

2. Too much iron makes a lot of sites un-huntable

3. As detecting becomes more popular, so too does the competition. And if there isn't that much left to begin with, well, you do the math

4. More & more sites are becoming off limits or are being built on top of

5. Due to the slimmer amount of silver coinage out there, hunters have to devote MANY more hours to turn out good finds versus the easy pickins of yesteryear. Most of us have something called a 'life', so, time constraints cut down on the finds as well

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. You can throw out everything I said above if you come across an untouched site or a little known cellar hole, etc. But those types of sites are becoming very, very hard to find nowadays. That's why I always say & will continue to say...

The future of this hobby is PRIVATE PROPERTY and the BEACHES

Just my two cents.

Joe



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/11/2011 12:14AM by njnydigger.

Kind of on the same topic....

The parking meters here in Newport Beach just converted to plastic. But not all. The plastic ones don't take coin!!! Figure that one out. Should hurt some beach finds. I am always finding pockets of quarters. A few shopkeepers actually put in change machines for the meters. 5 bucks gets you 4 bucks back in quarters, 20% return not bad!! I thought about doing the same with a sign while detecting.... lol

PB

With the way clad deteriorates in the soil we are headed to a time where it will also cut down on detectable clad.

Actually referring to clad but your post on silver coins is dead on...but still a lot of silver on those NJ beaches if the tides and winds are spot on....to uncover the old silver coins but salt water sure does a job on them...

Not as many people using the parks the way they used to either. More shelter houses and less blankets. All the sports have move to locations other than parks. They are just green space that dont have nearly the traffic they used to.

Dew

I see joggers, walkers and cyclists mostly, using the parks these days, from early morning to sunset. I guess the picnic basket and blanket are a thing of the past. Yogie and Bo-Bo won't be happy =]

I know what you mean as far as silver. I have only gotten 52 so far this year. The last 3 years in a row I got over a 100. I don't think that will happen this year. But I will take all the older copper coins I can get my hands on. I have even learned to apprieciate wheaties more espeically the older greenies from the teens.

I agree that the increased popularity and usage of Debit cards have change the equation to some degree and affected some niches moreso than others. Add the increased number of hobbiests and finite availability of "silver" it is plausable that the overall potentiality for discovery is diminished; but to what degree? It's hard to quantify a specific number in this case without knowing the starting quantity. I also believe that the various modalities of MD are affected disportionally; i.e. relic hunters less affected than beach hunters who may be less affected than pure coin-shooters. Again; hard to absolutely quantify but the "gut feeling" is certainly there. I know from my experience that clad is still abundant and still being replenished in some cases; especially athletic fields with concession stands that do not have provisions for debit cards. Right now I have over-ridden my "gut feeling" of diminishing sites/resources with the mindset that with such a vast area to cover that much "find potential" still readily exists. Access to the easy and obvious sites may be declining, development absolutely plays a role too; but historically speaking I think we must appreciate the fact that just about every land area in this county has been traversed at one time or another. I think the reality is that high pay-off sites (high probability of finds sites) are becoming less evident and forcing us to migrate to sites with percieved less potential. I believe this is what gives the edge to relic hunters who tend to venture onto roads less traveled and end up with incredible finds. The wild card to all this is how advances in technology influence the future. A ten to twenty percent increase in detecting depth would undoubtedly reveal targets just beyond the fringe of existing detectors and continue to fuel the interests of the detectorists somewhat counteracting the decline in currently deemed unhuntable sites. I do totally agree that Private Property and Beach sites possess a higher probability of success and when able would definitely favor exploring such sites as opposed to playing pot-luck but all-in-all I think adaquate resource still exist to feed the passion of the masses and that incredible finds still await us all...
Cheers;
Steve

Exactly. And......... with full confidence.......... us detectorists have detected/recovered substantially less than 1% of the good targets out of the Earth. Technological advancements will validate/prove this.

With the computerized lunch systems at schools, kids don't use cash to buy snacks or lunches any more. They all have lunch accounts that are funded by parent deposits.

Dan, you can always find clad, I'm looking for the places the old timers played, and they are getting hard to get into and gain permission to hunt, with all these mega discoveries in Europe, I have had denials and they state that they are going to get a machine and find treasure like they do in England, I think everyone but us think there is a billion dollars in their back yard, they think, but we know where to look

It seems to me that location of the treasure hunter plays an important part in the type of sites he or she has available to hunt. People in the larger cities are more apt to be confined to hunting public areas such as parks and schools whereas the treasure hunter in the more
rural setting has a much larger area to choose from. As an example I live in a rural area in Midwestern Illinois surrounded by lots of smaller towns with populations of 100 to maybe 2000 people. After researching the history of 2 of the small towns I have located 2 groves that
were used in the 1860's and 1870's for 4th of July picnics and both held Old Settlers picnics for the early settlers of the county. After about a years worth of research I have located the groves and obtained permission to hunt. The first grove is covered with tall grass and weeds
presently, but the landowner will be mowing the grove in the early spring. He owns and farms over 600 acres surrounding the grove and gave me permission to hunt anytime and anyplace I want. This includes the old train depot location, the areas where the stores used to stand
and the area where an old grist mill was located. Both areas are unsearched and should contains some nice coins and artifacts.

The second grove has actually been cleared and is presently in crops. It was used by many people over the years for picnics and other celebrations in the 1860's and 1870's. As soon as the crops are harvested we will be able to hunt this location. With some research and a little
luck there are still many obscure sites to be found such as these groves. While these sites may not be loaded with the amount of coins normally found in a city park I will take quality over quantity anytime. I'd rather dig a nice seated quarter versus a handfull of clad quarters.

I found both of these groves by reading the old county atlas for the particular counties they are located in. They provide a wealth of information about the early settlers and their way of life. Combine the atlas information with historic maps and Google Earth and you can locate some amazing
treasure hunting information. One interesting thing about Google Earth is it lets you see features you couldn't see from the ground. One farm field had a small rectangle of darker green crops growing in it and when overlayed with a historic map of the area it showed a house site in the field.

Old sites are still out there if you spend the time and find them........HH.

Roger

Roger,

Well stated, very perceptive.