Ammie's Travel Blog

[MontAmmie]

10 hours ago, strick said:

How about the back yard? did you try the back yard area? 

strick

Strick, I hit every area at least twice.  The dirt next to the gravel driveway is where the wheats were hiding so I spent most of my time there.  I did find the old shoe buckle in what was the backyard. You couldn't cherry-pick by depth either, since it seemed to have been all pushed around by the bulldozer.  The oldest wheatie was actually laying right on top of the ground!  And then there were tons of 1 or 2 square inch white pieces of what looked like aluminum siding that rang up between 23 and 30 and nearly drove me nuts.

Gary, I probably qualify as a local since I grew up in this area.  I think that permission was probably just a one-time thing and I was at the right place/right time, like you said.  I really don't see the owners letting lots more people detect it, since I didn't find much.  I could be wrong, though. 

I think we're going to the Civil War site tomorrow, still waiting for the owner to call me back.  I'm taking the 800, of course,  and the Infinium as a back up.  The dirt here is not heavily mineralized,  but if the 800 isn't finding anything I'll try the PI machine.  I think I'll start out in Field 1, 50 tones, all metal, with the sensitivity as high as I can get it, threshold up where I can hear it, and the recovery speed on about 3 or 4, since I don't believe this will be a target-dense location.  I'll be digging everything except probably big iron.

Ya'll please wish me luck!

Ammie

[GB_Amateur]

16 minutes ago, MontAmmie said:

...It seemed to have been all pushed around by the bulldozer.  The oldest wheatie was actually laying right on top of the ground!  And then there were tons of 1 or 2 square inch white pieces of what looked like aluminum siding that rang up between 23 and 30 and nearly drove me nuts.

Yep, it's too bad you couldn't have searched this site before they brought the house down, backfilled, and reworked the yard.  I was lucky last year that I got into a site where the only thing backfilled was the house's footprint.  We take what we can get, though.  Four Wheat's are..., well..., better than four Zincolns.  Did you check the dates+MM's?

Good fortune at the CW site.

[MontAmmie]

52 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Yep, it's too bad you couldn't have searched this site before they brought the house down, backfilled, and reworked the yard.  I was lucky last year that I got into a site where the only thing backfilled was the house's footprint.  We take what we can get, though.  Four Wheat's are..., well..., better than four Zincolns.  Did you check the dates+MM's?

Good fortune at the CW site.

Yeah, GB, I checked them.  Nothing special, so I gave 'em to a friend of my dad's who collects them.  I kept the Cougar Whiskey token, it seems to be a fairly nice one. Thanks for the good wishes.  There will, of course, be a long, full, probably boring, term paper on the whole experience. ?

[Jim Hemmingway]

Hi Ammie… demolition sites are a tough proposition for the reasons you described, the elevated trash levels masking good targets and no doubt some desirable targets were buried beyond detection depth. Moreover, the soil movement (disturbed soil conditions), plays havoc with target ID on coins deeper than roughly four inches depth in our soils, and we keep that in mind when detecting urban renewal projects. 

Searching in such difficult conditions, those wheaties could just as easily have been silver and obviously had to be dug. The Whiskey Good Luck token is an unusual and interesting find, a keeper. For a first time visit, I think you did as well as could be reasonably expected, especially considering your limited time on site. 

As you continue traveling to new areas, if at all possible (and I realize that it is easier said than done when you’re on the road) keep an eye out for old schools and ballparks, and especially the old picnic groves. (Any sign indicating “something Grove” is liable to be a picnic grove of long standing with the local community). These are great places to find older silver coins, tokens, and occasional jewelry items without having to deal with excessive junk. 

Incidentally, I don’t know for sure, but that the CSA belt buckle you posted above would probably read somewhere in the copper penny / silver target ID range. When relic hunting that three-acre property adjacent to the civil war site, it is also possible that a very deeply buried buckle might produce a questionable target ID signal. Target ID will depend on just how deep it is, the soil moisture and mineralization present, and the buckle profile presented to the coil… something to keep in mind when detecting deeper, but reasonably well defined target signals that are indicative of non-ferrous targets despite a possible iron target ID. 

Thanks for keeping us updated Ammie, and again for those illustrative photos, it’s been fun reading about your travel / detecting adventures. Good luck if you get to detect that civil war site tomorrow!!! 

Jim.
 

[MontAmmie]

Hi Ya'll!

Well, I didn't get a plate or even a button at the Civil War site. ?   It was a beautiful place to dig,  but I think it was just too far from the actual battlefield (pic 1).  What I did get was some assorted lead (pic 2) and what I think is a copper percussion cap (pic 3).  I know? some of this is not Civil War era, like the cone-shaped bullets, at least according to my dad.  I think some of it is Civil War lead like the small lead round balls?, some of which look like they hit something, sorry about the Tennessee clay still on them (pic 4).  I have no idea what the tiny little fuse-looking things are (pic 5), but they look old, I think they are lead, and they were found in the same area as the round lead balls. I was amazed that my 800 could pick these tiny little things out of the iron trash in that area. I used Field 1, all metal, sens 23, rec speed 5, everything else default.  Most of the lead was down 3-4 inches ?, which had me scratching my head and thinking there was no way any of it could possibly be that old, UNTIL the owner told me I was digging in the area where he dumped dirt from excavating the small pond.  OK, that made more sense!  Even though I didn't find much, I still had fun digging it (pic 6).   So if anyone knows anything about this Civil War stuff, enlighten me please!  I know what a 3 ringer looks like, since that is about all I have ever dug, but as for the rest, I'm clueless.  I'm fairly confident that all of this is Confederate, if it is old, since there were supposedly no US troops in this area.  Thanks a bunch and I'm looking forward to any identification help you guys would be kind enough to provide.

Happy Hunting!

Ammie

[Jim Hemmingway]

Hi Ammie… well you didn’t find a plate or button, but still... you did find some nice relics, even I can recognize those three-ringers, definitely keepers. The copper percussion cap is a real nice find too. Can’t help you with identification, hopefully someone else will do so.

I think your readers will agree that we admire your enthusiasm and willingness to get into the field and give it the old college try. I think you've done very well. Thanks for the excellent photos, and for this latest update to your detecting adventures. 

WTG 

Jim.
 

[MontAmmie]

Hi Ya'll!

We're leaving Obion County tomorrow and going to Louisville, KY.  My baby girl's getting her Master's Degree on Friday!  Then we're finally heading west.  The Polaris and the 800 can't wait.  Check out my throne on the back.  ?

 

[GB_Amateur]

23 hours ago, MontAmmie said:

We're leaving Obion County tomorrow and going to Louisville, KY.

Good news about Louisville:  been there since the 18th Century.  Bad news:  md'ing in city parks is forbidden.  ?

Enjoy the graduation.

[MontAmmie]

12 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Good news about Louisville:  been there since the 18th Century.  Bad news:  md'ing in city parks is forbidden.  ?

Enjoy the graduation.

No time to metal detect with all the family festivities anyway.  Our hobby is going to be outlawed in every city park in a few years. ☹️

[Judy]

On 17 May 2018 at 11:25 PM, MontAmmie said:

No time to metal detect with all the family festivities anyway.  Our hobby is going to be outlawed in every city park in a few years. ☹️

Great to follow your adventure and we did the same thing 11 years ago and are still RVing full time . Here in Australia we have a lot of younger people out detecting with no respect for private property . They are going in on school grounds which have signs of no entry and onto church ground and they are private property . It is everywhere here so I think it is going to cause  our hobby a lot of harm . Keep enjoying your travels