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This school was built in 1931. It has everything a detectorist looks for in an old school. Lots of grass, an old
playground and large trees in the front of the building. I can
tell you that I found 100's (yes 100's) of silver coins at this
location. Best of all, it was only 5 miles from where I lived.
It has since been converted into an apartment complex.
This is a school that my partner Jeff Herke and I hunted in Windsor,
NY. It looks to be in the 1920-1930 era. We found it by
just driving around looking for good places to metal detect.
This is an older school built
in 1879. When I hunted it (one of the first) it was
still being used as a school. It has since been turned into a
private residence. In the back was an old ball field where I
found at least 4 old silver rings. In the front yard
(pictured) is where I found the Roy Roger's silver ring. I
also dug up a Barber quarter in this front yard. It has since
been turned into an art studio and the new owner has given me
permission to metal detect the old school grounds.
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Since Metal Detecting In The USA has been
on line, I have received quite a few emails concerning the subject of where to
actually go metal detecting. Visitors to the web site have probably
already gathered that schools, churches and parks are some pretty good places to
go coin shooting as evidenced by my finds.
One has to keep in mind that you have to hunt the older
places if you want to find quality coins. Coin shooting a school that was
built in the 70's is typically not going to produce silver coins and wheat
pennies. Look for the older schools. Some of these schools had
corner stones with the date on them, others have a plaque in the entrance where
you can usually see it if you peer through the front doors. It is not hard
to distinguish an old school from the new modern types. The old schools
are being torn down at an alarming rate and new schools are built right onto the
old property. This is where research would pay off.
Churches are my favorite place to
coin shoot because they hold the oldest coins.
Why? Because churches are usually the oldest building in the community!
They were probably the first building erected in a small town after the homes
were built. Every Sunday all of the town folk would gather at the church
and children would play on both sides, front, and in back of the church.
Trees are great places to search under at an old church. It was a good
place to get out of the sun on a hot day and children loved to climb and play in
them. Remember, they didn't have jungle gyms back then.
Other places to search are gazebo's and bandshells.
These places were usually center stage for a large crowd gathering back in the
1800-1900's. Gazebo's can be found on church grounds, parks and city
courtyards. Bandshells can be found in the same places but they offer the
additional bonus of a seating area to coin shoot around. They are
excellent sources of quality coins and the older the better.
There is a host of other locations to coin shoot and the list
is as long as your imagination. Coins are found where money exchanged
hands or could fall out of pockets or purses...that means there are a lot of
places to go metal detecting. Old drive-in movies are good sources.
Sure, they are full of trash, but there are ways to get around that. A
smaller coil will allow the detectorist to actually detect between pieces of
trash. Discrimination options can cut a lot of the trash out. Some
detectors have a bell tone alert or TONE ID which really sounds off on coins but
gives a low hum on trash. Asking if a drive-in is a good place to go treasure
hunting is like asking
are annuities a good investment...the answer of course is, yes! Most
drive-ins had a playground in front of the screen which is an excellent source
of coins.
The grassy areas between the sidewalks and the road are another good source of
coins. Check with the homeowner before you start detecting. It may
be public property but it is only common courtesy to ask first. Besides,
they might give you some more clues on where to hunt. The grassy medians
in the center of the road in some housing areas are another good source for
finding coins. Children would use these areas as
football and baseball
fields. Don't forget to check around old parking meters if they are in the
grassy area next to the sidewalks. If they still have grass around them
you can bet you will find some silver!
Another area that is usually
not hunted is under old bleachers. I have said it before, these places are silver mines. Sure, they have a lot of
trash but it is worth digging up a little trash if you are finding
silver. Remember, the older fields pulled double duty as
baseball fields as well as a football fields. Let's put the bleacher
area in another perspective. Let's say the average "old"
bleacher had 200 spectators per game once a week. If you are
hunting under school bleachers, they were probably used at least 8
months out of the school year. That is 32 weeks where 200
spectators were gathered together and lost coins. If the
school was built in the 40's that is 60 years of loosing coins in a
confined area. See what I mean!
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