F350Platinum

19 hours ago, kac said:

Your full tones probably help a lot by blending the smaller targets that may normally bridge a couple of tones and sound like trash.

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.

9 hours ago, CVISChris said:

The camp I’m at pre dates maps here. Mapping didn’t start till the 1880’s as far as I can tell.  I really enjoy your finds.  Keep it going.  

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.

1 minute ago, kac said:

Trimes are fun, so thin and so easy to miss. Shows that you take your time and pay attention to the small stuff where most people will hear a chirp and keep on swinging.

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.

3 minutes ago, kac said:

Trime has nice detail, sharper than the ones i found. Congrats!

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

3 minutes ago, CVISChris said:

The Trime is a bucket lister for sure.  You are killing it.   Great finds 

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.

6 minutes ago, Tiftaaft said:

Whoa! That Trime is Killer!  Nice find F350P!!!

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.

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. 👍

1 hour ago, kac said:

Is it cheaper to get a shellfish license and just sneak the detector along? 🙂

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. 😵

11 minutes ago, kac said:

I have a pack canoe, 35 lbs, my sea hunter weighs 14% of that hahah. Nice little boat and plan to use it to access areas between priv properties along the puddles here. Just need the motivation...

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.

16 minutes ago, Tiftaaft said:

Had to give up fishing except for special occasions... it was cutting into my detecting time.  haha.   But when I lived in the Pacific NW, I wouldn't miss razor clam season on the Oregon Coast... Limit out... then go detecting.  Big pot of razor clam chowder for dinner 🙂

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! 😀

2 hours ago, Tiftaaft said:

All my childhood neighbors would find lead weights in their yards if they detected..... casting practice.. haha.  

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

Just now, kac said:

Common fishing weight. There any ponds or lakes nearby?

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

7 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Another great hunt, and some nice finds.

The letters on the lock will get you the manufactures name. I just can't make it out for some reason so I can't help you much. I had seen one of those before in some of my grandfathers antiques, but it is gone now so I can't tell you who made it.

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. 😀

53 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

I guess you gotta strike when the iron's hot (i.e. field hasn't been planted).

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. 

47 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

You gotta change the thread title when you find coins.  😁

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.

6 minutes ago, kac said:

Incredible how well your doing, funny that most people take years to find what your picking in just a matter of days. You got a good knack for this.

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.

9 hours ago, kac said:

Looks like a kg. You seem to be weeding out the trash nicely when you inviting the rest of us down?

Might be this one:

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.