Tom_in_CA

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

16 gold coins from CA and only 3 large cents here. And I know many hunters here with 1 or 2 or 5 or 7 gold coins, yet with no LC's. You're also more likely to get bust halves than LC's here, I got a 4th large cent while on a trip to VA. But .... shucks .... LC's are a common as pulltabs over there on the east coast.

I remember our conversation now ! Give me a holler if you ever visit this area.

That's what threw me for a loop. I could feel that it was seemingly dainty and light-weight. Almost like you could bend it if you wanted. None of our coins are like that . Except if it's modern kids play money or modern token or whatever. So I just assumed : Modern. Yet I couldn't deny it looked old. And the holes are not a modern practice. So .... it was confusing. We *do* get foreign coins of the world at our colonial exploration Spanish period sites in CA, from time to time. Go figure, they traveled the oceans to get here, and port-trading went on. But this is the first of that type storied coin I've ever seen here. Hey Brian, I'll trade you my seated half for that. Huh ? Huh ? 🧐

What state is your family ranch in, that you feel there was Spanish west colonial activity in/at ?

Yes, it was semi-folded. Like a taco-shell. I bent it back out in a vice, between two pieces of wood. But .... still bit warbled. Doh !

Also Brian : Great sleuthing work and great pix !

That was a fun hunt. I think you got the most interesting find , of course. Congratz ! I got this heavily damaged 1858 O seated half. Also a common date, doh ! So this is nothing more than my $7-ish melt value of silver. But hey, it's hard to argue with a seated half, eh ? Also pictured is a Chinese cash coin, and some of the black-smithed green copper snippets that keeps us sitting on the edge of our seats there.

Good show !!

Exactly. Why this notion that we need to please every-last -person on earth ? If there's a singular lookie-lou busy-body that "doesn't like it", then ...... presto : Avoid that singular individual. Problem solved. Kind of like nose-picking : You can run around trying to get everyone to approve of you picking your nose, OR you can opt for more discreet times so as not to offend the squeamish 🙄 🤣 We had a park like that in San Francisco that was giving up silver years ago. But a certain man in a business suit booted me one day. Then a week or so later, my friend told me he too got scrammed. We compared notes and realized it was the same fellow. And we put 2+2 together and realized he worked in the public worker building that was next to the park (requiring him to walk through the park to get to-&-from his office). So we merely looked up the operating hours of that particular office, and merely detected outside those hours. Eg.: After 5pm, or on weekends, etc.... Problem solved. I do not interpret every single "scram" as necessarily meaning that it's illegal, or that I have to "fight the scram" or "seek clarification". Instead it often simply means : Avoid singular said individual. 😎

That's what I was thinking. If they're public fairgrounds, then ..... why subject yourself to the potential of : "no one cared UNTIL you asked psychology" ? I realize that a lot of fairground are only open (unlocked) at event times. Ok, fine then : Go the day after the fair, when the cleanup crew is there, and the gates will be open. I work in the street sweeper industry, and we do a lot of post-event cleanups . Including at our local county fairgrounds, the local race-track, etc.... And .... I never once had the notion that I "needed permission". 🤔 Since when is md'ing so dangerous or risky that it needs someone else's princely sanction ? 🤔 The mere fact of thinking you need to ask, simply cast aspersions on you or the hobby, that you thought you needed to ask, in the first place. Ie.: No one "asks" to do benign harmless things. So the moment you think you need to ask , is the moment you've already put your issue in a bad light. Ie.: as if it's harmful or dangerous or whatever . Lest .... why else would you be asking if it were benign and harmless ? I happen to consider the hobby innocuous and harmless. And I will not risk the "no one cared TILL you asked" phenomenon.

Congratz Troy !

That picture is oh-so what it's all-about, when hunting those western frontier fort sites. Great show !! Thanx for bringing us along.

Good show. Thanx for sharing.

fun little story. Thanx for sharing.

I keep telling you that there's nothing left at this site. But now that you've pulled this "one last button", I revise my statement to : NOW (after this final button) the place is finally worked out. 🤔 So now that the site is cleaned out, can we PPUULLEEAASSEEEEeee move on to other sites now ? haha

Great post Cal-Cobra. And great feedback you got ! Gee, I wonder where you were hunting at ? 😇 And as for the 1896 date : C'mon dude, that is too new for this site ! Tsk tsk. 😏

thanx for sharing the link.

Good story. Good pix. Thanx for bringing us along.

pix of the Dog license ? What was the city name on it ?

Hey there Beeper Bob, I think I know the ranch you're referring to. If we're talking the same location, I've pulled some PBs, a reale, and an early seated from there. Drop me a PM and let's compare notes.

Some of the guy who fought in the 1860s in the CW, had previously gone to the CA gold rush. And then returned back home to their eastern states. And could conceivably have brought buttons back eastward. And while these pre-date the G.R. (1850s), yet : In CA, when the Gold Rush hit, a lot of coastal folk here in CA (where the missions were, and thus the PB's were), left the coast and went inland to the Sierras. This is one possible explanation as to why a few PB's have been found in the GR country. Since it's conceivable that some were still circulating along the coast in the late '40s/early '50s. And might thus explain why some THEN made their way back east. But others disagree and think they started from the east coast, and came overland westward. I don't buy that. There's just too many of them on the west coast , compared to only scattered presence on the east coast. So I say they arrived here on the west coast by ship, to the CA ports, and the Columbia River area. I know of hundreds and hundreds found in CA (heck, 100 from a single field alone !). Compared to the east coast where they are flukes. While it's true that the vast majority of the migration was east to west , yet some guys did indeed return back home to the east, when the GR fever petered out. This explains, for example, why 1850's S mint coins show up in CW sites, for example (albeit rare). The circulation time for PBs was the 1810s/20s. But I've found them in sites that were not habitated (by Europeans anyhow) till the 1840s. Meaning that some were still in use, even to the 1840s. Considering that there was a shortage of manufactured good on the west coast during Spanish & Mexican times, it makes sense that buttons would have been used and re-used, over and over. Thus some all the way to GR times, and thus perhaps making their way east. Interesting !

Then I'm glad it's in the hands of persons who likewise appreciates the history . BTW, while these have been found east of the Mississippi, in various east coast states, yet for some reason NH seems to get the highest # of incidents. That adds to the intrigue of their travel path history of distribution. Ie.: Is there some particular reason for more there, than a few other east coast states that come to mind ? Interesting.

Nice job. Those buttons are a "goal unto themselves" here in the extreme-hunter circles of CA. We love them. Here's an article I wrote on the subject. You can find your particular button here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rX9XFCFw-SKRiUFZfdtzFg7GIjUwzoJJ/view?ts=6182e46f thanx for sharing !