Noob here, got a question...

ok ive been lookin round and this seems to be the most active spot for prospecting.  (nice site!)
heres the deal:  about 40 yrs ago a couple of my relatives put about 50 to 75 gold coins in a roughly quart sized glass jar with a metal lid.  im sure the metal has dissolved lol.  it was buried about 4ft deep.

we recently rented an old whites metal detector for 25bux and took some shovels to the site which is at the edge of a farm field.  im new to this so because we new within a 20ft x 20ft area where it would be, i assumed we could take off a foot or so at a time and scan with the metal detecor as we dug.   unfortunately the ground was wetter than i thought and after bout 18in, everything we dug filled up with water lol.  now from what i understand, even the best detector can only find a gold coin on average, about 18 inch max.  correct me if im wrong.  so i was thinkin bout renting or purchasing the system b, electroscope by thomas.  ive heard good and bad things bout them.  since we have it narrowed down to a small area, perhaps not extending the antennae all the way out, and being practically on top of the coins, we can narrow it down to 3ft by 3ft.   so thats the jist of it.  any ideas?

thx in advance.
supafly136

Well welcome to Tnet!  Glad you joined us!  There are cache detectors that I am sure you could use as well.  Many refer to them as two box detectors and they can search a much deeper area like you are talking about.  The Fisher Gemini 3 is one of the 2 box detectors that would work for what you are talking about.  I don't know what area you are in so I am not sure who the Fisher dealer would be close to you but I am sure you can check at Fisher labs online and find out.  Best of luck to you and again, welcome to Tnet!

hey thx for the quick reply.  i will chek those out.  wasnt sure how well the scopes work. (hand held i mean)
and im in indiana by the way. 

I know Dallas who is a dealer here on tnet has Fishers and could probably answer some of your questions regarding them but he is a long ways from you.  He lives out here in Oregon like I do.  Dallas is a great guy and very helpful.  If you contact Fisher they should be able to help you find someone close to you if you decide you want to try it.  I sure hope you are able to find the coins!  That would be a great find indeed!  Good luck!

lol thank you very much.
we r 90% sure its still there cuz its such a desolate area, and if we dug for day we would prolly find it.  but that would destroy a perfect old time spot to practice and test on.  i read a quote on the fisher site and it said the smallest metallic object you could find with it was the size of a melon.  so im not sure a clump of maybe 70 coins would be equal to a melon sized object.  but ill look further into their site and maybe research the other model u suggested.  thx again man!

having never actually used one I could not tell you for sure if it would locate a cache that size.  Sure would be exciting to try it!  Make sure someone has a camera so you can take me with ya    lol

hehehe, rgr that!

     Supafly,   I have a question for you! What makes you so sure that your on the correct spot? Did you find a map to lead you to where your digging now? Or maybe information handed down through the family?
     There is most always a marker, such as a rock near or on top the target. and most people wouldn't bury a jar 4 foot deep. A large treasure yes, but a jar not likely. unless you found something that said it was buried 4 foot, I would question it. That depth wouldn't allow for a quick recovery. A jar wouldn't likely be buried were a plow would pass over it. Better a fence line, Big rock. There would be a marker! I look forwards to your reply.

Don't know the price of that 'scope thing but before I bought one to use once
I would obtain a rental minelab explorer w/large searchcoil (WOT) or some other
top line detector w/big coil and go over area slowly with no discrimation and mark
with golf tees each metal signal.  Get a probe with handle or make yourself one
to sink below water table under each indication.  20 X 20 isn't that big.  Cache
hunters would drool to have a probable hit that small.  If you are afraid to make
holes you might as well give up now.

monk:  thx for the reply.  the reason im digging where im at is because the relative that buried it bak then was there with me while i was digging lol.  hes coo, and if its still there, were gonna split it.  and yes it is buried along an old fence line which has recently been removed and the marker was a gate to enter the field and its gone too but was at 90 degree turn in road, thats how we know we are down to a very small area.  we began digging but at bout 3 foot every thing filled up with water due to runoff from fields.  no biggie, couple dry days and were good.  he said he dug it with a post hole type tool and could go no deeper, then dropped the jar in hole and filled it up.

lastleg:  thank you also for reply.
the cheap o detector i used wouldnt hit on anything in the area and i tried a nikle and a quarter and it could only hit it at about 5 inches so i just scanned as i dug, but got no hits.  i know it was a piece of crap but as some of u mentioned ill be renting something better this time fo sho.  and believe me im not afraid of diggin holes, did heavy commercial landscaping for 15 yrs lol.

Supafly!   Sounds like a backhoe may be in order.  Along with a good M/D. Good luck. 

This is great info for me ... I use to work on farm with we called a post bar, I often went 3-4 feet down then would work in circle motion to widen hole to put post in then hammer it down.

I now sorta understand how quick and easy it could have been to cache something especially if on old farm.

Which brings me to my question ... If I was doing fence work and the electric fence was turned off and I was hr or 2 into the work on long stretch of fence and I knealt down to fix staple and put knee in water at base of post and got shocked/zapped pretty good ... would that be any indication that a cache of metal coins could have been at the very bottom of that wet soaked post ?

My T2 will hit Mason jar lids at 16".   Sounds like your on the right track.  If they used post hole diggers then 4 ft would be about the right depth.  As far as scrapping off layers, have you considered renting a Bobcat? 

Trying to be helpful here, sorry if I bore the old-timers.  I will split up metal detectors into 3 groups:

1.  The little ones you see everybody using at the beach.  Mainly good for coins or jewelry dropped rather than deliberately buried.

2.  Deep-seekers with a 15 to 18 inch diameter coil.  Examples would be Garrett Master Hunter or White's Sierra Madre. Minelab also makes these.  Good for buried treasures but may lack sensitivity to a single coin due to the large coil size.  This is probably what you want for the present hunt.

4.  Two-box units like the Gemini.  Can easily get six feet deep but requires a large target.  Think 2-pound coffee can or 5-gallon bucket lid.  Your present target might or not set off one of these.

If I was going after this target (and spending other people's money) I'd get a Minelab with large aftermarket coil.  Spending my own money I'd use my homemade PI with its 18-inch coil.

Chip V. 

eagle77:  thx for the reply.  yes we have access to an 873 bobcat but first want to locate it with a detector.  if its still there i dont want to tear up the area cuz of the halo affect.  want to find that halo first.  perfect practice spot lol.

chipveres: thank u for reply
goin later today to local dealer that we rented cheap detector from initially.  i guess its mostly a whites dealer but will see what he offers.   

heres wat we are thinkin about using as soon as it dries up:
http://www.ditchwitch.com/model.asp?modid=77

at bottom of page it lists the frequencies.  detects iron really well and ive read gold and iron put out a similar signal.  what do ya think?

Remember if the jar with a metal lid was inserted 4' down with a post hole digger
it will take a deep seeking coil to detect and the lid will be rusted but still intact and will be what your detector will 'see'.  You don't have to dig anything other than deep signals and a 5' steel probe w/handle will hit a target that big.  Maybe some
cache hunter can provide a diagram or picture of a pro probe, I have one but can
not send pictures yet.  Keep at it.  Use no discrimanation!

heres wat we are thinkin about using as soon as it dries up:
http://www.ditchwitch.com/model.asp?modid=77

at bottom of page it lists the frequencies.  detects iron really well and ive read gold and iron put out a similar signal.  what do ya think?

hmmmm I did not even know that ditchwitch made detectors.  I had only used their trenchers....I saw your link and it said ditchwitch and I was like     I wonder how well it would work??  Not familiar with them at all but if you could rent one it sure would be worth a try.   

Supafly136, Does he still have the post hole diggers that he used to bury the cache? I have dug many many fence post holes with mine but I do no remember ever going four feet down, typical is two to three feet.

The post hole diggers I use have two handles and rounded shovels on the ends that you jam into the ground. You have to open the top of the hole up some point, otherwise you cannot open the handles wide enough to remove any dirt. Four feet seems to be an extreme depth to go with manual post-hole diggers.

Another thing you could do at the site, if you have the area narrowed down enough, is to remove a bit of the top layer and look to see where the ground underneath is disturbed. You may find the remaining wood from fence posts or at least a round discolored area the size of a coffee can. Any of these should lead you to the jar.

Good Luck,

Scott (MI)

thx for the replys folks.   

here in indiana the freeze line is about 42 inches.  so when we pour concrete  for posts we try to go at least that deep.  and yes u do have to widen the top some to get the the arms pulled apart.  i reserved the cable locator for tomorrow afternoon and we hope to rent a two box if they are available.

My opinion is to use a 4-5 ft. probe. If they didn't fill it in with rocks, the probe should slide down quite easy. With a little practice you will feel the difference between a rock and a glass jar.
Good luck, hope you recover it.

Back in the '80's I had a Garret 2 box  detector, and  it would sure pick up things like that at really deep depths.

       Years ago I worked for a company that built the right-of-way fence along interstate highways .
I have dug thousands of post holes with wooden handled post hole diggers . State specs . required
that the pull posts & the corner posts have four foot deep holes . Four foot is about the max with a
set of this type digger . Pretty deep for those diggers but not to hard to accomplish in decent soil .
       As far as a detector , that will detect a mason jar lid at that depth , I don't know . I haven't had
any experience with two box detectors or other detectors that go that deep on that small of a target .
       Good luck & I hope you find it . HH

Midnightrider may have given us the answer.  If you follow his logic why not
add current to the wet soil such a Compass did years ago to "bring the target
within reach" of any good relic detector?

How's goes it, supafly?  Making any progress?

sorry for delay.  thx for all the advice.  ended up buying a new whites tm-808 2box and it has the meter on top.
 lol i cannot believe how lite this thing is.  been flooded hard here lately and a couple tornados a lil south of us.  update tomorrow.

Is it tomorrow yet??   lol 

flood flood flood flood flood flood!  this is ridiculous.  we r gonna need scuba gear in indy to finish this mission, lmao!

clear skys for the next 3 days.

to be continued...

If you are searching for quart jars full of gold coins in saturated wet ground, unless ground is very hard clay or rock, etc., like any high specific gravity objects, gold nuggets for example, they would have continued to settle deeper until reaching something that would stop the downward settling, like a big flat rock, bedrock or hard clay layer.  If it is soggy wet there much of the time, I would hate to think how deep they might have sunk.  You may be out of luck with a detector because most will not detect a quart size object over about 3 feet deep or so, depending on mineralization, and gold is difficult to detect compared to copper or silver.  The lid may or may not be rusted, depending if it was an old zinc type lid, but probably would not help the signal you would receive by much.  A cache hunting detector with a really large round coil may detect a little deeper, but 2-box units lose depth of detection on smaller objects at greater depths.  It may detect a quart jar at 4 feet, but so would a really large coil if conditions are perfect.  Wet ground is also best for deeper detection for some reason, maybe better conductivity.  A long probe and a lot of effort might work if there are no rocks and the soil is reasonably soft.  Now that it is wet would be a great time for probing.  A backhoe still might be the only solution.  Good luck.

hey thx again folks for all your input.  field was still soaked, but did find more junk cans etc with the 2box.  i believe when it dries out (any digging still results in water filling it up) we will have to use the bobcat to shave a few feet off the ground, then rescan.  but since then, ive asked permisson to hunt 2 pieces of property near my town.  ive done some research and found a ghost town that has a couple standing buildings, and a couple foundations.  there is a school built in 1913 and the owners are allowing us to hunt it this weekend while they r theyre.  the building is being damaged by local kids over the years so i understand their concern.  once they see us taking out trash we find, and covering our holes, we might get unlimited access.  there is also a very old abandoned church but have to git permisssion for that one still.  also found the old cemetery with google earth lol.  the actual town was established round 1880  and had several businesses and saloons.  the first place i got permission was a gentleman who owns 52 acres.  he told me there was a safe at the edge of his property in one of the valleys.  he tried once to get it open but gave up after putting a few holes in one side of it.  so i headed out and sure enough there it was.  gotta weigh at least 3-400lbs.  its bout 2foot square with the old iron or steel spoke wheels on it.  ill put up a pic after i go bak.  didnt have camera with.  didnt hear anythin rattle when i flipped it over.  and if theres paper in there its prolly destroyed cause of the few holes (water, mice etc.).   but will be fun to mess with.  hopefully has seperate compartments that maybe werent punctured by holes.  wishfull thinking, i know lmao.  anyway thats the scoop so far.  goin to town hall when it opens in 20min to see bout getting the old maps of that lil area.  gonna hit the saloons first so i can find some drunken coins, burp!

Might I inquire of your age?

certainly, im 39.  and although i love to drink, what i meant bout drunken coins, was that im gonna try to find the saloons in the ghost town first, because it seems the most likely place to find a few that wouldnt be too deep.

Shouldn't the gold coins receive top priority?  We are anxiously awaiting a photo
of you displaying them on this forum.  If I knew they were in a 20' x 20' plot I
would be out there all day trenching until signals started showing up.  Now, see
how easy it is?  Good luck, supafly.

yes i hope to find them too.  but i have work, and my son to support and spend time with also.  and like i said, most of the area was under water.  and it would be a massive mess with bobcat so close to lawn and field.  so i figure, if they r still there, they aint goin no where.  wont take long to dry up.  so we decided to research a couple other places in the mean time.

and your age?

Too old to wait much longer.  I'm sure you have a busy life so let's all move on.

yes i do, and theres plenty of threads to hold u over, so take a geritol and move on.

Supafly, that safe sounds interesting.  Does the guy have any idea on how it came to be on his property?  That is a mystery.

no sir Ryan.  he didnt get into that much detail, but i too would love to know.  ill be bak there tomorrow most likely and will try to get a lil more info on it.  ill also have my camera with me so when i git bak ill upload it.
i hope he says, "u can take that hunk o junk outta there if u like". lol  would be a bear to git up the valley but ill git it done if that miracle statement came true.

Years ago Garrett made a cash hunting detector it was the large coil master hunter.  That is what you should have for the job!  For each type of detecting you need a special type of detector.  One for deep treasure, one for coin hunting, one for gold, etc.  I have about eight detecters all different.  Also remember there is a T.R. and a B.F.O.   To end the rant, I would go with any detector with a large coil.  But two box systems are sometimes hard to use.  GOOD LUCK!  and HAPPY HUNTING!  Jim B

Might try getting on the Kellyco site. Whites had a detector that had about a 3' coil, don't know if you can still get them heard they worked better than two-boxes. Another lead might be to try some of the eqiupment rental places near by. Some have two boxes to rent and other cable locators that might work.

What's the soil like? Are there a lot of rocks? You can make a 5' probe and check your signals before doing a lot of digging. You can build a probe from most any iron rod. One of mine was built in a pinch from a rod used to keep a large gate from sagging 7/16" x 5'4" with a piece of 1/2" pipe welded on for a t handle.

Bump!

Time for an update.

     Waiting for:  An offer to find for free ? ? ?