City Coinshooting

From page 17 of the May 1993 issue of Treasure Facts magazine.
Copyright ©1993, 2000 Lost Treasure, Inc.

We can still remember when we first began metal detecting, way back in 1971. In those days, almost every spot you went to was, more often than not, practically untouched by metal detectorists. Not only was almost every site loaded with coins but your take of silver coins was usually very high. Understandably so, since only seven years earlier, there were no clads in circulation, only bright silver coins.
Nowadays, to find a new site still obscured to other treasure hunters is difficult, to say the least. In an effort to find such a site, city hunters head into the country and any out of the way places they can think of. Good strategy, right? Wrong! If that was true, why do so many treasure hunters regularly come into the city to hunt?
The cities, especially those in the northeast are still the best places to coinshoot. Urban areas offer peace and quiet, a chance to relic and cache hunt and perhaps an untouched site or two. By the same token, you have to deal with posted and private properties, landowners, scattered targets over large areas, lots of traveling time and lots of research. Therefore, if you live in the city, stay there to coinshoot.
As previously stated, larger cities, especially in the past were the first areas to be inhabited in our country. Only slowly did people radiate to the outlying areas. Since the largest concentration of people was in the cities, that is where the best coinshooting will be encountered.
The variety of sites you can hunt in your city are just about endless. In a place like New York, there are plenty of vintage houses with large front and back yards. Many of these are very, very, old and will offer great coinshooting potential. Whenever possible, we hunt such sites in low discrimination or even in all metal depending on the presence of trash. Over the years, we've dug some fine coins, kids toys and even relics in such old yards.
Even if permission cannot be secured from the owners, the grassy strips along the sidewalks still offer good sport and in old neighborhoods, these grassy strips run for many blocks. Since innumerable people got in and out of their cars along these strips, it is easy to see how fast coins can accumulate here.
You may not know that mostly all of these curb side grassy areas belong to the city and not the adjacent landowner. However, if the landowner should ask you to leave, please do so. Since regulations may change from city to city, you may want to check city ordinances on this topic for your own protection.
Without a doubt, the older city parks will offer the best coinshooting in the city but this too is not trouble free. In many big cities, some of the oldest parks will be in less than top notch neighborhoods, where you often see lovers holding hands-up.
The recreational areas of the park will produce the largest amount of coins and unfortunately also lots of trash. To properly hunt these areas be prepared to work very slow and pay lots of attention to what your detector is telling you. Among all these trash readings there will be lots of coins, many of the older variety and undoubtedly some gold jewelry. If you never used smaller coils, you should definitely consider purchasing one.
A 4.5 coil or so is a good choice. The new elliptical coils should also be considered if one is available for your detector. The idea here is to isolate your targets so that you can recover those old coins that are not necessarily deep but are masked out by trash items. Lots of depth is not always the answer, even though we all think so.
What is the purpose of having a detector that reaches 8 inches down if it cannot see through a carpet of pull-tabs?
Look for spots that most other treasure hunters shy away from. For example, you will notice that 8 out of 10 coinshooters will walk into a field before turning on their detector. Hardly anyone works the edges of the field or the path leading to it and that is where you want to work. Old trees, the bottom of sloping hills, ball fields, grassy areas along the edges of ponds or lakes are just some examples of where to conduct your search. Other city areas that may prove very productive for you are church grounds, school athletic fields, land development sites, college campuses, dirt playgrounds, institution grounds, etc., just to scratch the surface.
Regardless of which of these sites you choose to work, one thing stands between you and success -- your metal detector. Regardless of which brand you own, you must get to know its abilities and limitations well, in order to meet with coinshooting success.
City areas that may prove very productive for you are church grounds, school athletic fields, land development sites, college campuses, dirt playgrounds, institution grounds, etc., just to scratch the surface.
The detector does not lie to you but you must learn to speak its language, to be able to interpret what it is telling you. If you are using a target I.D. detector, do not rely on the meter only but also listen to the sounds. Be equally careful when recovering a target, so as not to damage it or the ground.
As you can see, city coinshooting can be lots of fun and very rewarding if you use your imagination and some common sense. Thus, if you live in the city, do your coinshooting close to home and if you live in a rural area, come on down. We would love to have you visit.