Tom_in_CA

I'm not George, but I'll take a crack at this : It depended on who you were , and how hard-core you were. There were a LOT of hunters back in those days that were strictly doing park turf, beach, etc... And did not have the "presence of mind" to do exotic things like stage stops, forts, old-town demolition, etc..... Not sure how true this is of back-east (and CW areas, etc...) . But it's true of where I'm at in CA. We were content to ply the parks for silver . Didn't know any better. Doh ! And the machines had no disc. up to the mid 1970s, in the era of 77b, 66TR, etc... (aside from ignoring small iron). And the early TR discriminators (mid to late 1970s) were wimpy. And didn't tackle minerals. And were a bear to keep balanced. Even when the original motion discrimination came out (1978 -ish with the Red Baron and the 6000d), they were slow to catch on. News traveled slower in those days. And these early motion machines were wimpy compared to today's depth. Nonetheless, silver was "easy" for a few years in the late 1970s to early 1980s, for turf hunters. Albeit just mercs and roosies type-stuff. To be honest with you, we'd have thought 3 or 4 silver from park hunt day was good. And , heck, I can still do that today at-will. I'm sure there were pioneers who got the better tech. earlier. And who went to virgin sites first (virgin fairgrounds, etc....). And I'm sure there were guys that wised up to relic-mindset earlier than others. But for others of us, it was all about turf and tame beach stuff in the earlier years. So there was still virgin stage stop stuff into the 1990s and 2000s (heck, even to this day if you're a researcher and ballsy-type).

Beautiful. Drips with old-ness.

Very interesting. I'd like to find one of those !

Amazing find. Here on the west coast, we can only dream of finding cobs. Our earliest European toe-holds only date to the 1770s, at the earliest. At which time it was milled coins by then, not cobs. I've heard of at least 2 cobs found here in CA. They're rare !

sweet

You east coast guys make me sick, with all those LC's and Colonial coppers ! Sick sick sick 🤬

My stuff if posted there. But Brian has yet to add in his pix there.

Yes. I'm not trying to boast or anything, but ... it *is* rather curious that Brian didn't get any coins on this trip, eh ? I keep telling him that my preferred pronoun is "Oh Mighty One". But ... he refuses. So someone do me a favor and ask him : "How many seated coins did you find on this trip Brian ?" 🤨 (just kiddin' Brian, I luv ya bro ! 😁 )

Once every 100 yrs, you are right and I'm wrong. This was one-such rare occurrence 🙄

I dunno about this. It'll have to be posthumous published book, for our heirs to submit, post, etc.... Same for some of the collections we have assembled. Doh !

Luv that Navy button.

Great pix and great play-by-play. I like the shot of the field hunt-objective too.

thanx for coming along on our hunt with us F350-platinum. Question for you : How are you liking your D-II ? Does it mimic the D-I in the iron-see-through un-masking ability ? And how does it do on the wet-salt-beach ? (akin to Sov, Excal, Nox, etc.... ?). And how about turf-cherry picking : Does it mimic the old school explorers, or exceed them ?

Thanx for the closeup of the religious medallion. What's the other side look like ? Anything visible ? I love how it was so-worn down that the image is a blur. That is definite early-contact era (1700s ?) Love it ! And the re-purposed bottle base is exactly what the fur-trade md'ing buffs cherish : Things like glass and metal were new to the Native Americans, they would re-tool benign items into various other things, adornment, tools, etc..... That fits in nicely with the history of this site. Possibly dating to even prior to the westward-ho era times (ie.: to exploration era). To a time when manufactured goods would have been a rarity, then anything was used over-&-over, and re-tooled.

Brian, we weren't concerned that it had rained in the few days PRIOR to our arrival. Since, shucks, what did we care ? As long as it's not raining on the days WE were going to be there, then, no problem, right ? 🤪 😬 But yes : Those previous days' rains had activated little feeder-creeks, in the middle of BFE. Yes they were so small that they were only a trickle . You could step across them if you were merely a pedestrian on-foot. And the opposite banks, was only ~ 5 ft. tall, that a pedestrian can ascend no problem. But the margarine consistency mud banks was a problem for our super heavy e-bikes . Even in broad daylight, so that element wasn't a problem-only for dark-issue. We found ourselves having to man-handle them through the margarine ascents . 🤬 And yes, the satellite map made the exit plan look like child's play , on a nice flat hard road. But who would have thought that an innocent looking gully-wash on the satellite view, would be calf-deep water with margarine descent and ascent ? And no matter which direction we went, there were other washes too. Yes I think we've got a few spots that are deserving of a "round II", now that we're experts on Ebikes . And know which sites to invest our time in, going forward. Very intriguing and promising finds. Touching the true western-frontier emigrant history flavor. (the "Spanish Trail "). There's going to be some coins in the future to pay us back for our hardship, I promise 😏 I lost an 1864 s half dime somewhere on the remainder of our trip. Might have left it in the hotel room, or ... who knows ? But here's my stuff :

Luv those "md'r to the rescue" stories. Good job !

Let's compromise : We each get a gold coin on this upcoming trek, ok ? 😏

You dirty dog ! Last time we talked on the phone, I was barely ahead of you. Now you've gone and rained on my parade. I gotta get my duff in gear and catch up !! 🤣

You know one or two of them will be the next "magnum opus". After all, I'm over-due for #17 tsk tsk 😏

You mean naval jelly, right ?

Worked great. There is a .75 mile walk from where we had to park the car, to where we actually wanted to hunt. In the past, that would be a 10 or 12 minute walk. The Ebikes made that a 2 minute whirl. This was just a practice run, for an objective we have coming up, where a few spots involve several miles to get to. One of them over landscape terra firma (poor trails, at best). So we got the "fat tire" variety. Already I can tell that's a benefit at our practice run. Because in the particular case of where we were, it was grass at one point that we were crossing (cow-pasture type grass). And it had just rained HARD the previous days. So : If we'd had regular street tires, I'm guessing they would have been more prone to "cut into the mud" (get stuck). Versus fat tire where you have a better chance of traction in loose- or wet- terra-firma . Also : At the current price of gas, I find myself using mine for round-town errands (bank deposit, post office, etc....). So it's beneficial in other ways besides the detecting purpose.

a view of the rear of the buckle :

A view with the other period targets from this "buckle village" side of our site : Camp lead, Toe-tap, keeper, pistol balls, gun part, thimble, underwear buttons, ball button, and 2 -piece button (nothing on either of them). These are all fun history to our growing collection to the provenance of this site. Nothing here has dated to after the mid to late 1850s, so : Any find is an interesting find. Even the junk is "fun junk", so-to-speak.

Hey Brian, that was a fun hunt. You got more targets than me, d/t you got in that green-copper zone. And I like your dagger hilt and your anchor button. I realize the scads of green copper and copper spikes are probably 'ho hum' to anyone else, but you and I know that these keep-us on the edge-of-our-seats. Thinking that a wickedly old coin is just around the corner @ the next beep. But I have to admit, by the end of the hunt, I was starting to get annoyed by this otherwise "fun age-indicators". 🤪 We paid too much in, and are deserving of a period coin by now !! haha Yes, these buckles have become sort of a "goal unto themselves". They have gained a cult following in the recent decade or so here in CA. We love finding them ... so ... I'll take the title of having the "best find" of this trek. And I'll be humble about it too ! 😏 It was especially gratifying since we've dubbed this spot the "buckle village". How fitting, eh ? The item to the right of the buckle is ... I think ... some sort of gun part.

I know you say you are interested in "... not so much avoiding iron junk ....", but .... you could be hating life. A standard coin machine will get coins up to a foot deep these days. Heck, the CTX or Sov. with monster bigger coils, perhaps to 14" with ease. And yes: Various nugget pulse machines can do 16 or 18" on a coin. Woohoo, who can argue with a few more inches, right ? But the devil is in the details : When every birdshot or paper clip or nail 'rings the bells of notre dame', you may wish you had a regular machine . JMHO