F350Platinum

For those of you who have read me whining about trash here, this is a good bit of what I hear on every swing. There are thousands of these "Iron Babies" (think "Sugar Babies") at this site. Any of you old enough to remember that candy 😀

Second day in this site. It never got over 42 today, the wind was around 20-30 mph all day. I went out dressed like I was yesterday and had to go back for a heavy hoodie and heated socks. Got Reynauds in my hands and feet, unbelievable pain if they get too cold. The reason I went right back is because the first coin I found is either an early American penny or a King George, or not... 🤔 It's 1 1/8 inches in diameter and weighs 9.7 grams. No really identifiable lettering, just the bust facing right. Big coin. The only way to "read" it is the good old flashlight trick. Left to right: small crude button signaled a whopping 22. Might be silver. I didn't know it was a button until I cleaned it a bit. Small Great Seal button, backmark "New York Button", might be WW1. Second Marine button, this one in much better shape. 1860s. 1800s button marked Treble Gilt. Two wheat pennies, a 1919 and a 1937. Heart shaped locket, brass that may have been gold plated. I'm afraid to try and open it! Two aluminum geegaws marked HOLLY US PAT'S. At first I thought they were pull tabs. 😀 Next is a heavy silverplated handle, possibly razor or magnifying glass. Honestly the bust on the coin looks like Lincoln, but they never made a penny or half penny that big with him on it! 🙂

Good lord, man! Hope I have a day like that when I go to the beach. Unlikely because of my experience, but WOW. Great haul! That's a haul right there. 😀

Thanks! Yeah sorry I was brought up on "The King's English". 😀 I'm very lucky to have moved here, I'm smack in the middle of a rural area that is largely un-hunted. I know all the landowners and they have been very gracious. One spot I thought would be a treasure trove, however, turned out to have been heavily hunted by a notorious local. Luckily the rest of the farm was planted, so it couldn't be hunted when the person was there. Yesterday I got another permission to hunt around a late 17s to mid 1800s farmhouse. Last occupancy was in the 60s. Got two more old house sites plus that one now. It's alllll the way down the road, about a mile. 😀 Illegal to drive my golf cart there. I've been using Google Historic maps to find where the houses were and setting plots in Tect-O-Trak, then grid searching and recording finds and coverage. These finds represent an 8-hour day, it's not like I'm not working for it😉

I'm thinking the resident was in the service, and I found the items about where the clothesline was or the "burn barrel" 😀 maybe a shed. Wish I could get a fix on the left button, image search didn't find anything. 😵 The Marine uniform button is kinda rare, wish it was in better shape. Most of the backmark is gone, but It is a Scovill button from Waterbury CT. The other had no discernible backmark, waiting on some Andres' pencils to mess with it. It appears to have been plated silver.

Stainless bolt. Goes through the PVC and the bamboo dowel inside. I walked around Lowe's for quite a while until I found something that fit the pipe perfectly. I did have to sand the PVC a bit to get it to fit. Used a belt sander upside down in a vise. Sealed everything with marine sealant. I've used it a few times with no issues, going to take it to the beach in a few weeks.

Gotta say I stole the idea from some famous "Boys who vacuum" 😀 it's about 5' tall. Reason is that if you're in deep water you not only want leverage, you don't want to have to bend over and get your upper torso wet, or fill your waders. You pick it up and dump it in a floating sieve. 🤗 I watch their videos because most of what they find is relevant to me, they're not too far away. Wanted to use schedule 80 PVC but they didn't have any at the time. Thicker walls. The shovel part is a CooB Shark V10. 2mm stainless.

I built mine with Schedule 40 PVC, it has a solid Bamboo core and a Raptor handle. It floats, and digs heavy river muck like a champ. Weighs about 4 pounds. 😁

Yes. I'm probably going to go with the Coiltek soon! The ground in this spot is crazy, you go from literally nothing to having the Equinox sound off like an old Star Wars video game. Nails and spikes everywhere. It's not as bad as the other, but between that, the wind, and a Blackhawk helo training session I got pretty tired.

Great day but windy, 20 with gusts to 30. I could hardly hear my headphones sometimes and the wind kept blowing my spade around. Went to the site of an old farmhouse in my permission, at first I just scouted about but then switched to grid search using my flag sticks. It's not a huge area but will take a few days to search completely. Gotta say I was surprised to find any military objects at all. If you read my other posts your know this area never really saw war except for 1812, and that was only a very short skirmish that occurred nearly in my backyard. But find militaria I did! The site is as trashy as the other one I went to yesterday but just in the small area where the house stood. Found a decorated cutlery handle, looks like it might be a small teaspoon. There are marks and decorations, but nothing legible. The oval plate has a coin like border around it but also has nothing stamped or engraved other than the border. Next is some sort of part maybe to a machine or gun. The broken circular object seems to be tin. Large buckle is probably silverplated, it may be military. Two knurled knobs I found far apart that may be for holding a military device but I haven't found it yet! Some weird geegaw and a 1918 wheat penny. It was the last thing I found, It dates the finds somewhat. Saved the best for last, a colonial era button, and two military buttons. The left one I cannot identify but the right one is possibly 1864 to 1866 Marines. I did reverse image search on Goog. Anyone with an id for the other? Last is a shotgun shell , the UMC Union star primer is 1901-1912.

As is mine, but I heard today that another local detectorist spent 3 weeks up in that area. Don't know if she knew about the baptism place but that explains why I haven't found much around the cemetery. Gotta keep expectations low! 😀

I'm not gridding it yet, just random searching. I know I'll find something. Saving that for later because they won't plant some of that area, and I plan to hack my way to the river to an old baptism site. Problem is the road down there has eroded, I can see the road but there is a big drop to it. Some of the ravines here are a sudden 60-80 foot drop. It's dangerous to walk to the edge.

When I was a kid my mother used to take us out bottle digging, not sure she ever got permission to dig where we did but we found a really old site. 🤔 She was quite an adventurer. Dug hundreds of them, sold them at yard sales. Good times. There is an old dump behind my house and I'm working on permission for that. Gotta say I look forward to your exploits, you've been finding great stuff!

Thanks for the tip! I'm probably going to get the 6" coil at some point. Thought of notching today, but left it wide open to get what I could get. Most of the stuff I found would fall into any notches I set. Field 2 cuts out iron up to "9" which is immaterial to anyone who doesn't have an Equinox. Means that most iron is rejected. However, without switching to "all metal", the higher (better) tones become clipped and it scares a noob like me. It seemed like I was missing targets, so I ran in all metal most of the time unless it got really bad. Best part is that you can assign volume to iron tones making them quieter so your head doesn't get ripped off. Field 2 makes iron almost inaudible compared to non ferrous targets. And then there's falsing... 🙄 Still sounds like an 8-bit video game in that area. 😵 Other areas here are so quiet I turn up sensitivity just so I can hear ground contours... 🤣 All in all it's a great exercise for someone like me that is new to the hobby, and I'm impressed by how powerful the Equinox can be.

Yeah, apparently it was 6% alcohol, and had a special ingredient - Senna - it was intended as a laxative. It also helps date this site as the bottle is from the 1890s. "Kick" is almost an understatement. 😀 My bad day was yesterday, found nothing else in my oldest field. Went up the road and found an unidentifiable date wheat penny, a toothpaste tube top and a grommet. At least I got a coin. 🤪

After Part 1 I didn't find anything in that field anymore. I decided to go to a place that @Chase Goldman and I went when he was here, a small area where a house was with a small cemetery. He will attest that this site is so trashy it's hard to take - even in Field 2 with all metal off. We both got tired of hunting it fast! I toughed it out and got the Equinox as quiet as possible. I was determined to find something in all that scrap. Roof steel, can slaw, nails, you name it - and most odd there must be a hundred cat food cans buried there! You get a nice 32 and say "$#&+" when you dig it up. Didn't do too bad, but I'm sad I didn't find a single coin today, I wanted to get an idea of what period I'm dealing with up there. I did dig one old shotgun shell which helped - it is a UMC New Club 12 gauge, circa 1892. Got a couple of colonial buttons, both with shanks. Always like buttons. The most interesting things are the brass flower that I found in parts, and the large whatzit on the bottom. It appears to have a threaded point and is highly decorated, it was a solid 22. The suspender slide might be silverplated. I found both pieces in the same hole. Took a look in the woods where the buildings were pushed, and found the bottle in the next photos. It's old, blown glass into a mold. Sad it's broken somewhat. I thought it was kinda funny that "California Fig Syrup" came from Louisville Kentucky. 😀

I certainly get what you wrote! Apples and oranges... SMH on the stainless. It's very high quality stuff, it was on a John Deere combine. Going to return all the parts to the farmer 😎 Thanks as always, GB.

Exactly my thought. I have a bunch of them in my shed for shovels and stuff. 🙂 Nice storage and display! You could cut a brass kickplate for backplates to make it sharp.

I was fiddling around with this today out in the field. Found this loud 16/17 target at 2", it was a huge iron ring about 5" diameter. I was in F2/0 at the time, switched to F2/2, and got a small iron grunt. Later I dug a 3/4" stainless steel nut at about 4". F2/2 and F2/0 did nothing. Solid 16! 😵 Maybe I just don't get it...🤔

Pure contextual reply. 🙂 I'm completely aware we have it great here in the USA. Take for example the people that found all that gold in Israel, they got a "just be glad we didn't put you in jail". Some countries are really tough, I've been to a few of them. I've also been on eBay since 1997.

Hey Stu, Thanks much again! I may have found a complete hanger, photo attached. It's in the bottom right. That book looks great, if it wasn't US $50+ It would be on order this very minute along with the equally expensive buckle book. The early settlers here would indeed have had many weapons, not only for obtaining sustenance, but to defend themselves against invaders and unfortunately the indigenous population. My back yard hosted such an invasion in 1812, it was a very small skirmish. 😀 There isn't much from the Civil War or the Revolution other than civilian artifacts. This area was left alone for the most part due to the huge farms and possibly sympathy to the UK. It hasn't changed much. I have found a lot of early swirly bits here! Going out today, I've been stuck inside for 3 due to rain. It's 35F outside and windy, but there isn't much time left to hunt before they plant the fields.

Looks like you're creating quite a case of treasure there. Congratulations! Note the tooth marks, some of mine have them too. Primitive "assay".

Very interesting story. At least in the UK you have a chance of getting a finder's fee. At first I thought it was New Jersey... 😀

Hi Stu, Thank you! I have a couple of other studs like that, smaller and with two hooks. Really good info! This place was settled in the mid 1600s so anything is possible. Below are the photos you requested, front and back of the item. Really appreciate your input.

Welcome! I'm rather new to metal detecting but started with a bang I guess. 😀 I have nearly the same stuff you do, a 600, Garrett Carrot and a CooB water/sand scoop. You might want to look into a Predator Tools shovel for land, the Barracuda or Ranger. Looks like the Sito will work well, 2mm stainless is very strong. Lots of great material available for you to read while the snow melts. Andy Sabisch's Equinox book and anything from Clive Clynick. Of course you can ask questions here and post photos of your finds. Lots of serious experience here.