F350Platinum

Using 50 tones on the Equinox works especially well for buttons that have an iron shank. If i get a loud non ferrous tone with a small iron tone I've usually found a button. When I don't use all metal the iron disappears. I guess it's a trade off. 50 tones also identifies aluminum cans well, you get a wide range of tones that makes it kinda obvious.

Thanks! The earliest map of this area online is a USGS topo 1917. It marks the position of houses at the time. Most were gone by the 60s but there are some older aerials. Got about 4 places to scout after this one. I use: oldmapsonline.org historicaerials.com And the USGS viewer. Google Earth Pro is good too, but it only works on a laptop. They added a historical map feature. I'm trying to learn to use USGS LIDAR maps but it isn't easy. They show ground disturbance. I "guesstimate" the plot I'm going to grid in Tect-O-Trak on my phone and set up flags. It tracks my coverage. Of course there's nothing like good old "land reading", I look for level rises.

I stop on every chirp, especially ones that go up in tone. I'm using Field 2, 50 tones, all metal, sensitivity usually 22 unless I hear ground contours. F2=0. Just recently got the hang of ground balance 😀 the only time I use noise cancel is when someone else is around. Still not comfortable with turning off the horseshoe.

Thanks. Learned to keep a small spray bottle of water with me for silver. Saves on scratches. This farm is rough on everything!

It came up as a weak 16-17 on the Equinox at first. 17 out of the ground. Only silver I've ever found here is Spanish, I thought I found another Real. I'd like to find some quarters! Chase got the only large silver so far. 😀 Shame the place that would have yielded the most got hunted out. Going to hit the river when they plant the fields, and I have a few places I can look that I haven't been to yet, a couple of early houses. Using maps and grid searching is the way to go if you have time.

Is there a Trime club? 😀 Thanks. It was the first thing I dug this morning. I've found 4 wheats here, but it's good to find some silver!

Went back to the farmhouse site I scouted yesterday and set up a grid search. Dug a very odd button, no backmark. Appears to have had some sort of second piece but it's stamped on the back so the images show on the front. Crossed muskets or swords, a horn with an arrow coming out of it on the bottom, a sword that morphs into what looks like a snake, and I can distinctly make out the letter "B", but little else. Looks like there was another letter but it's obliterated. Found what I guess is a newer two-hole Scovill button, circle of dots on the front but nothing else. Small two hole button may be aluminum but it was a 23. Small shoe buckle, snap, D buckle, pewter piece (does anyone ever find a complete candlestick?), Harmonica reed. Then the good stuff, 1857 Trime (solid 17), 1917 mercury dime, and 1907 Indian head - 3 7s again...Just got to the well, there is a lot more ground to cover! Dug a lot of trash today, you know you're on a home site when you fill your bag with stuff that sounds good but isn't.

Beautiful day today. Didn't get out until 10, but by then it was already warm, about 47. It was 25 when I first got up. Headed out to the old farmhouse site to run a couple of passes I felt I could have done better, surprised a large Coyote hunting at the woods edge. Coyotes migrated to this area in the last 5 years or so, this one has wiped out all of the foxes and many of the rabbits around my house. I get photos of him now and again on my deer cameras. Today he was stalking a groundhog that I saw go in the woods where he was a day before. All I found at the old site was a cutlery handle like one I found not too far from it previously. This one says "Sterling 925" on it, well maybe the plating was 😀 Last night I set up a new plot for another farmhouse in Tect-O-Trak using some historic aerials I found. Went there and saw brick and heard lots of iron so I knew I found the house. The well was filled in but not a great job. I have fallen in a well before, not something I would wish on anyone. Shown in the photo: The cutlery handle, a large adjusting wheel of some sort (at first I thought I found another KG Copper😵), another very heavy piece of cutlery with an odd tab. Belt buckle might be animal tack, it's heavy but still managed to get twisted. Four Wheat Pennies from 1913 to 1944. Two buttons, one seems to be aluminum, the other is the front of a two piece. I can't make out the design so below is a close up if anyone recognizes it. Toy wheel, and my most stunning find of the day, a .58 caliber Gardner ball, dropped not fired. I'm surprised to have found one in such great condition and even more surprised to find one at all. 🤔 Tomorrow I'm going back to grid search.

Great finds! A 2 Real on the left coast. Awesome. I've been finding a lot of those Reeds on a steamboat landing. Had no idea what they were. 👍

Fishing licenses are about $15, and depending on whether your water is brackish or not. There are places in the rivers where you have to have a fresh water license for one side of a bridge, and saltwater for the other, so $30. 🤪🙄 Not sure there is a shellfish license here, probably the watermen know. It's a big no-no to mess around in their pots or beds. To complicate things further, if you find oyster shell middens you may be trampling on an "antiquities" area. 😵

Gonna get my feet wet with waders first. Here you have to have a permit to search anything lower than low tide, or 10' out from a permission. They will issue them, costs $25. Of course If I was sitting in a kayak or Jon boat with my scoop... 🤔 I'm out here right now, just saw a Coyote bigger'n a German Shepherd. They're kinda new to this area.

I had a 30' motor yacht, caught huge Striped Bass, Spanish Mackerel, Atlantic Bass, Spot, Flounder and the occasional ray. Used to Kayak fish on the other river. Got a tributary right out back. My first boat was a 25 foot ProLine my wife and I restored from the ground up. Love clam chowder, but only know the East Coast kind. The Potomac is kinda unforgiving, and the Chesapeake Bay is downright nasty. Boats are expensive and tedious to maintain. I might get a small boat in the future for river hunting. I see what you mean about cutting into metal detecting! 😀

Certainly done somea that. Used to fish the Potomac a lot, now I just surf cast at the beach.

Yeah the river is about 1/2 - 1 mile from this spot. Just weird to find it in the middle of a farm.

Outstanding finds! It's always a vicarious kick to see what you turn up in your site. I bet it's a blast to do this with family, wish some of mine would get the "bug". Wow.

Finished up the farmhouse site today, made a few more passes and found nothing. I went to a new site that I previously plotted using old maps where a building was up to the 60s, and first known in 1917 on a USGS map. Hacked around a bit and found the objects in the photo. I'm not sure if I should grid this spot, I didn't hear a lot of iron. Great way to kill an afternoon. At least this field was out of the annoying March wind. The disc is lead, could be a bale seal, or possibly a weight or game piece. 1 1/4 inches in diameter. It was weird to find a sinker in a farm field about a mile from the river, but there it was. Some kind of point, it is brass or bronze. It is fashioned to be aerodynamic at any rate, but could be a finial. Large heavy buckle, most likely work animal tack. I think the wheat penny is a 1909, but not an S or VDB, it is so corroded it doesn't matter. 😀 Best find of the day, the brass plate. It's 2 1/2" by 2, has a naked woman on each side, and a man and an animal in the center embraced by the arms of the face on top. Better detail in the bottom photo. Image search returned nothing, but I may have this very object in one of my artifact books. Don't know whether it was a buckle, mounted on furniture (it has a flange on the back but no holes or guides), or some sort of breastplate. Not much time left before spring planting.

Found it. Took a chance on the letters, it reads "TA". It's made by the Fraim Lock company. Great website for locks, I guess we find a lot of them: http://antique-padlocks.com

I used this photo in a reverse image search on Google. It brought up some Yale locks but nothing matching. Don't remember where but I've seen this one before...

I'd have named this "Just the Artifacts #5", but again I found some coins (thanks GB 😁) Today was a decent day for March but the wind was unpredictable. At least it got warm enough that I didn't have to wear heavy or electric clothes. I think I found my first "Zincoln", it's the heavily corroded memorial to the right of the unidentifiable penny. Got another handle, again probably a razor. The large disc is gold plated, one side smooth and one has concentric circles. I'm thinking it was on a pocketbook or something. Small knurled ring that at first i thought was an Asian coin, but it is some sort of adjustment wheel. Much too small to be a coin. Odd lead "egg", a snap, another knurled knob. Big brass padlock I can't find the manufacturer of. The artful logo brings no result on image search. Heavy spoon handle, two buckles, one appears to be plated. Penny, probably a wheatie, and the corroded penny. This field isn't too good for copper or Zinc! Best for last again, a two piece button with the back missing says "Metropolitan Police DC". The small version of the Marine Corps buttons I've been finding, and the second four hole button I have ever found, "Lamm Baltimore". It's about ~1910, from a Baltimore company that made men's trousers and raincoats. Hope this crazy stuff is still interesting! Anyone identifying the anchor over rope button in my previous post is welcome to visit. 😀

Oops hit save too soon. Yes I have two more old house sites to search when I'm done with this one, I expect the farmers to be out here next week putting down lime, and I gotta get my RV ready for the road. Some things I should also mention are the amount of research I've done, looking up historical maps, scouting, talking to people who grew up here. Chase has pointed me in a great direction with the Equinox, recommending books such as Andy Sabisch's and Clive Clynick, who I think is a member of this forum. I'm one of "those people" who reads the manual before pressing the buttons. I've spent a lot of time watching countless videos and reading other members' posts here. I'm not on any other forum. I am grateful for the help you all contribute. I'm also grateful to my fabulous wife who is patient enough to withstand my obsession. And last, I'm pretty sure grid searching is the key to my successes, if I was just walking around I wouldn't find half the stuff I do. When time is essential, IMHO it's best to zero in on where to look.

Yeah, sorry. Probably should rename the whole thing "Noob in a field #1-n" 😀 I'm out here right now hating March for its deceptive weather.

Haha, I'm more inclined to think that because most of this area is un-hunted is the reason but thanks. I do credit my mentors, YouTube, @Chase Goldman, and the Academy 🏆😀

When you think about it (taking a break in the field right now), anytime you find a coin that has a hole in it doesn't speak well of the practice of putting them on a thread, ribbon or chain. But that's what they did! Of course keeping them in your pocket doesn't either 🤔

I appreciate both of your replies! Might as well try to clean it up. Got some Andres' pencils coming, should be delivered today. Any other suggestions? Been using only hand soap and a very light brush to clean stuff so far, and some Wright's cream on the silver.

Thanks! Wish it was in better shape, but I'll take what I can get. They're probably going to start the fields next week, planting corn this year. 😵 Big warm-up coming.