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  1. Today I began my adventure searching for a very old house in the woods, a part of an older permission that I didn't have time for. I did a lot of aerial and topographic map study, found where I thought the house was, and pretty much nailed it. Started out cold and foggy, in the 30s. It warmed up nicely tho, why I love living here. Winter is tolerable. I followed this road until I found my pin in OnX Hunt, and had to look around a bit. Deeper in the woods I found it, the farmer told me it had a standing chimney, but all I saw was foundation bricks. The hole was about 4 feet deep 10x12, and lined with brick, I brought the WS6 Master with the 9" coil in there knowing there would be a lot of undergrowth. Thorns and Holly everywhere. šŸ˜µ It looked like there was additional foundation next to it. I searched around for an hour or so and only found a can lid and a crushed funnel, there were hidden animal burrows everywhere. Not too long into searching I heard dogs, and then blam blam blam. I thought I should go and come back another day. It was odd because deer hunting season ended last Saturday šŸ¤” Got back to my truck, and decided to go to the trashy farmhouse site I visited last week. Got some pretty good stuff there but knew I would have to do something different than use my current relic program. I decided to use @Rattlehead's Silver Slayer program with the 13" coil and CF shaft, and I'm glad I did, this was the "good" junk I found: A large spoon, some sort of brass fitting, a toy truck part, a brass padlock, two heavy brass pieces and a large chunk of lead with a hole drilled in it. I'm not gonna lie and say that's all the trash I found, as a matter of fact there was a lot of steel, aluminum, and copper trash that I just threw out. A lot. šŸ˜µ No matter what you do, you're going to be in a range where you get fooled by stuff especially if every type of metal you can think of is there. šŸ˜€ However, I have to thank Rattlehead for a seriously good coin shooting program, if you have to dig a lot of junk you might as well get some good stuff too! šŸ‘ This is not the perfect place for Silver Slayer, but it did slay one piece of silver, and then some! I got 4 buttons that I didn't expect to find. One large general service coat button, an 1840s Marines button, a small general service cuff button, and a fancy aluminum 2 hole button. An aluminum thimble, and an aluminum kennel tag. 3 memorials, 1 1959, the other two early 60s. This house was gone before 1967 as the earliest aerial shows. I dug 6 wheats, earliest 1920, latest 1949. Two "V" nickels, an 1898 and a 1901. The 2/3ds coin is silver, a reeded edge dime, but I can't identify it. It's melted, bubbled, and crushed: Got really tired after all that digging, picked up Chinese food for me and my wife on the way back because I got silver. šŸ˜€ I don't know if anyone has ever mentioned it, but Silver Slayer is extremely resistant to EMI, I literally stood under these power lines that trashed every other program on the D2, and hardly heard a chirp. šŸ‘ That's huge...
  2. Spent the day at the farm where I found the Scottish sixpence today, big farm with small hotspots. One of the most unusual things about this place is that despite finding a lot of really old relics in two places, not a single button has been found. This probably means it was detected by others. But, they did leave some interesting stuff behind! Got there early, it was about 30 degrees and there was a frost, but it was easy to dig, and by the end of the day it got up to around 50. I invited Chase down to see the place and give him a shot at what could be there, I only scouted it so it wasn't hammered by me. I did find some great stuff before but there was more. Used the RC and 13" for a while waiting for Chase, when he arrived I switched to the WS6 Master with the 9". What a difference. šŸ˜€ Just swinging the 13" for 2-1/2 hours got kinda tiring today, and I didn't find anything at all but buck balls. I also tested ground stabilizer a bit but quickly changed back to my original settings. Not here! We walked toward the hilltop where I found the sixpence and found some stuff on the side of the hill, here's my haul for the day: 2 spectacle halves that don't seem to fit together, a single buckle identical to my first find in this field. A pewter spoon handle end, some more buckle bits and a bag seal of some sort. The most interesting thing I dug today (not that 1600s buckles are uninteresting šŸ˜€) was the knob on the left, it's knurled and has a pin on the back. Exactly half the alphabet on the front from n-z. šŸ¤” I wonder what it was used for? Hope on a return visit I find the other one šŸ¤£ probably won't. Gotta say it was a pretty trashy day too, buck balls and bullets mostly. A couple of square nails got me too. It was fun hunting with Chase, and he did pretty well. There really isn't much in these 100 acres.
  3. Here is a new video from Garrett showing the Axiom relic hunting. Looks pretty good for the job.
  4. Living in Virginia can be interesting in the winter, one day it's below 30, and the next you're in a t-shirt. šŸ˜€ I feel for the original settlers, they must have had a rough time. It hit 65 today. Odd for January 2, but I'll take it. šŸ˜€ Today I met Chase at this field, he was pretty sure we would find something here despite being disappointed before, but it wasn't disappointing today. We both had Deus 2s, me with my 13" and him with the 11". He made a pretty impressive find or two, but I'll just post mine and as usual invite him to jump in if he feels like it. It was kinda a celebration of his retirement this past week. šŸ† Time for the gratuitous detector pic, that's Chase way out there, this field is pretty big and has high potential for colonial relics due to its location. I did pretty well, even got some silver. (Sort of): 1943 P war nickel. I was quite surprised to find it here, the Deus reported a 74 I think. The rest of the story is the usual suspects, got 3 coins and a few buttons: Top left is an oval stud of some sort, top right another collar stud. I didn't know these weren't rivets until recently šŸ˜€ A couple wheats, old button with some gold still on it, two ball buttons, and a broken two piece that says Holmes Pritchard Co. on the back. Can't make out the top pattern. šŸ˜µ At first I thought the bottom coin looking thing was a half reale, it had a waxy feel and looked like it was originally round. šŸ¤” I have found one in this condition: Ended up only weighing .3g, and it's the size of a seated half dime which weighs 1g. I think it's a hammered Roman pull tab. šŸ¤£ Great fun with a great guest. Trash was about average, don't want people thinking we don't dig a lot of crap! šŸ˜€ I don't dig much iron, the D2 rarely falses on it. šŸ‘
  5. Looks like I'm following a bunch of better acts today but hey. Got out for another day with the Deus 2 and the 13x11". It started out at about 44 degrees and just got colder, 10-15 mph wind and cloudy. šŸ˜µ Not a fan of this weather but I was at least prepared for it. I have some insulated digging gloves that I switch out for electric heated gloves when my hands go numb. At least the D2 can tune out the EMI from the gloves. My Equinox cannot. This is a different field than the one I've been hunting, I came here to try and test separation with the big coil. I went to a spot that's very trashy, and really didn't find anything worth digging! That means there was nothing worth digging for the most part. šŸ˜€ Using this coil in another spot showed me that using it feels kind of like using the 10x5 on my Equinox, despite the large size. Separation is quite good. This field was planted with corn, and they knocked down most of the stalks, but the big coil did manage to get caught now and again šŸ˜€ Got nothing but trash for the first 3 hours, so I went to a spot I knew would have something. Finally got some finds in the bag, not much for 7 hours but I'll take it: 2 D buckles, a "Merry Widow" prophylactic tin top. I've read people find these all the time, I found it just off the old road near a church, ironically. šŸ¤£ Here's a link if you're interested šŸ™„ they're from the early 1900s: https://www.mnhs.org/blog/collectionsupclose/3-merry-widows-tin The next item to the left of the broken key I'm not sure of but it is pretty ornate: Could be part of a shoe buckle but it's really heavy. Bottom row is a cufflink, two buttons and an odd buckle fragment. The cufflink broke easily, the concave bottom was attached. It's not a rivet. Buttons were cool, one London warranted treble, and a fancy Scovill with some gold still on it. I've found these English buttons here before. I want to mention something I've noticed with this coil. I'm running reactivity at 0 for maximum depth, you would think I'd have to slow down. Gotta say you don't have to if the field isn't all that trashy. I'm using Full tones so every time I hear a high tone I investigate it, if it dives to low once centered for sure it's iron, if it still insists on remaining high with a low blip, I'll dig it. It seems quite accurate and I don't dig much iron at all. One particular scenario is an 81 around a low tone, every time it's falsing iron. Changing sweep angle gives it up immediately. You can "grab" signals with this coil. Most of my large pieces of trash today were sight picked, the rest were the usual suspects. Hope I get a few points for presentation anyway. šŸ˜
  6. Looks like I'm following a bunch of better acts today but hey. Got out for another day with the Deus 2 and the 13x11". It started out at about 44 degrees and just got colder, 10-15 mph wind and cloudy. šŸ˜µ Not a fan of this weather but I was at least prepared for it. I have some insulated digging gloves that I switch out for electric heated gloves when my hands go numb. At least the D2 can tune out the EMI from the gloves. My Equinox cannot. This is a different field than the one I've been hunting, I came here to try and test separation with the big coil. I went to a spot that's very trashy, and really didn't find anything worth digging! That means there was nothing worth digging for the most part. šŸ˜€ Using this coil in another spot showed me that using it feels kind of like using the 10x5 on my Equinox, despite the large size. Separation is quite good. This field was planted with corn, and they knocked down most of the stalks, but the big coil did manage to get caught now and again šŸ˜€ Got nothing but trash for the first 3 hours, so I went to a spot I knew would have something. Finally got some finds in the bag, not much for 7 hours but I'll take it: 2 D buckles, a "Merry Widow" prophylactic tin top. I've read people find these all the time, I found it just off the old road near a church, ironically. šŸ¤£ Here's a link if you're interested šŸ™„ they're from the early 1900s: https://www.mnhs.org/blog/collectionsupclose/3-merry-widows-tin The next item to the left of the broken key I'm not sure of but it is pretty ornate: Could be part of a shoe buckle but it's really heavy. Bottom row is a cufflink, two buttons and an odd buckle fragment. The cufflink broke easily, the concave bottom was attached. It's not a rivet. Buttons were cool, one London warranted treble, and a fancy Scovill with some gold still on it. I've found these English buttons here before. I want to mention something I've noticed with this coil. I'm running reactivity at 0 for maximum depth, you would think I'd have to slow down. Gotta say you don't have to if the field isn't all that trashy. I'm using Full tones so every time I hear a high tone I investigate it, if it dives to low once centered for sure it's iron, if it still insists on remaining high with a low blip, I'll dig it. It seems quite accurate and I don't dig much iron at all. One particular scenario is an 81 around a low tone, every time it's falsing iron. Changing sweep angle gives it up immediately. You can "grab" signals with this coil. Most of my large pieces of trash today were sight picked, the rest were the usual suspects. Hope I get a few points for presentation anyway. šŸ˜
  7. Managed to get out there today, only for about 6 hours but it was worth it as usual. This field is still producing, just not coins or jewelry very often. For a relic fan like me however, it has been a blast. It's so nice to have a place to go that stuff turns up every time you go there, but relic fields are finite. Each visit requires more finesse. Another great fall day, no wind and ended up about 56 degrees. I really only hunted a small portion here, and turned up quite a pile of finds: Got a couple of spur pieces, a few buckle fragments, one of which is Tombac. 6 buttons, two are Tombacs and again one was larger than a quarter: The bottom two button looking things are studs. I don't know what the flange was used for, it appears to be square threaded inside. I wonder if anyone can tell me what this thing is or is a part of? It's brass. Next, 3 of the buttons have backmarks, love that. This one is in the museum of American History: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1452437 One other curiosity, the octagon thing with the "K" on it, I'm not able to find, it's an aluminum cap for a tube, I usually call it "butt cream" šŸ¤£ The spurs are old but as yet I can't identify them specifically. This hunt was not as spectacular as other days, but the mystery items caused me to post. I'm thrilled with the D2 program I'm using here, it's really accurate and keeps me from digging too much trash. No more than a handful again.
  8. Haven't posted in a bit! Hope everyone has been well,lucky and or productive in life/detecting! I've been out less then I'd like over the last 3,4 months! I have been out just short hunts here and there with 1,2 decent finds per 7/10 outings! Example like 1 bullet,1 button,1 100yr old coin nothing amazing but those kinda outings which are great if it's all ya got! Huh Today,same ol'union outpost I've hit many times and swung hundreds of hours no bull but facts! D2 setup with pitch,notch like a tnsquirellslayerwould! He's spot on as I've ran it getting the 07,08,09 and did great but today with squirrel slayers notch I liked what I saw! Last few trips maybe 5hrs seemed like I was starting to struggle whether from 07,pitch hitting thousands of swarps or just digging moronic idk but for sure struggled at this site! As you can see it has the carpet o nail,metal bits. Of course I was fooled on a few bigs,the big ass bolt and the bent 90Ā° nails as I run it open with notch no silencer. When she locks on and I don't anxiously dig shitty signals on anticipation the D2 is king dingaling for sure! I saw some of those one fellers banging up they're tehons brand in iron and another talking of a explorer and boy if they have good sights I'd sure go out of my way to follow em around with this dues! Since getting this unit I've hunted same ol places I've hit from atpro,multikruzer and pounded with my eq800 and I've absolutely killed it this year since getting the D2! Luck,difference of 9" to 11" idk the correlation as absolute but I'm gonna land on D2 is a bad ass machine if one knows how to caress her properly! Yall take care and enjoy life,family and the upcoming holidays!
  9. I was invited to go back to the coal mining ghost town last week with the DTC (Deus Two Crew). @Glenn in CO made a post yesterday showing the hot streak he was on and he was on fire! We were having our own mini hurricane in Colorado that day while Nicole was ravaging the treasure coast of Florida. Our winds hit gusts of 65 MPH and it was a challenge just to stay upright at times. For a while I played bowling for tumbleweeds as eveytime I swung the coil I'd tap one and it would snap off and go racing a mile down the track. I started off running the Relic program but soon switch to my modified Fast program which is based on the Silver Slayer program, but with the lower notch topping out at 35 and no second higher notch. That's when I got a sweet sounding 83 popping out of the iron carpet and it turned out to be an oval shaped brooch with the pin still on it. Unfortunately the stones that once encircled the brooch were long gone. I kept working my way from one old house foundation to the next. Most of them were not giving up anything but trash when I found one that turned up a few buttons, so I slowed down to a crawl and gridded that one by inches. Everyone else was getting some coins and I was getting skunked in that department, but when I reached a break in the remains of a wall, I hit a strong 86 just on the edge of the broken stone. "This is it!", I thought, "Maybe a Wheat or Indian Head!" Well it was neither. As I dug down next to the stones I noticed a rounded edge poking through that was much larger than a penny and thought it must just be a lid to something. When I saw a small hole and design I thought this might be something good and whipped out my phone to document the extraction. As I pulled it out, I could see writing on it and thought I might know what it is. I ran over to show one of the other detectorists and he said, "Oh you found a miner's penny". I said, "What the heck is a miner's penny? Is it a token or something?" Then he said, "Wait a minute, this is a miner's identification tag and it has the name of the mine on it. You might have the find of the day!" So I asked what was the difference was. He explained that a "miner's penny" was a tag with a number on it that the miners would use to check in and out of a mine. Several miners would use the same tags as shifts changed. The ID tag was issued to each miner when they signed on to the mine and they had to keep it on them at all times while they lived and worked there. So apparently those are fairly rare. He said he's never found one from this site, and he thinks Glenn is the only one who has that he knows of. I had to obscure the town name on the ID tag because this permission is private property now and the land owner requested we don't post the name of the location. So at the end of the day I found some pretty cool things including some buttons, suspender parts, a flattened tea strainer and salt shaker top, a flattened bottom to a miner's oil lamp, some clock parts and the back and bezel to a Waterbury Clock Co clock with patent dates of 1890-1892, other odds and ends. Even though I didn't find any coins this trip, all in all it was a great time and I really appreciate the people that have taken me under their wing to help teach me the ropes! The second button is dome shaped and was the top of a two piece button. There's something on the button face but too corroded to tell what it is. The real mystery item this hunt was this. When I first saw it I thought it could be a cut Reale and almost peed my pants! But it appears to be a folded over stamp or seal or something? Any ideas? And the junk...
  10. Well the weather sure changed! Two days ago it was almost 80 here, this morning started out at 40 and only made it to 50. Looks like Fall has finally settled in. Went to the big field today, had to wear heavier gloves for a while due to Reynaud's and a pretty stiff wind. Today I used the Deus 2 with a centering device on the 11" coil, it made it much more comfortable to use. In the first 30 minutes I got a faint 81/82, as I dug deeper it got better and better and settled in at 91 at about 10" down, and out came this Civil War Cavalry Bridle rosette, a total shocker for this field which dates back to the 1700s. It had a back plate or tabs, but all that is gone now. Probably popped off. Didn't get anything else but buckshot and bits of metal for quite a while so I changed spots, and stuff started coming up. Got quite a few buttons, the most interesting being the small jeweled button with a green stone: The stone is faceted but is probably glass or paste, it is heavily scratched. The lobed one may not be a button. Two of the above buttons have a basket weave pattern, are thin two piece, and say something about "superfine", but neither has any gilt left. I've found one or two of these here before. The next two were a surprise, although I'm on a streak of finding gold plated buttons with a lot of plating still there. One has a shank, the other does not. They both say "Scovill Superfine" on the back, and have an identical pattern on them. They are cast. And finally, my possibly second best find of the day due to the rosette: An 1857 Seated half dime, the second one I have found here. It was way out in the back. All this pretty much validates my thought that horse racing or some kind of exhibitions took place here. There is a spot in the front field where we have found many old buttons, and a place in the back where spectators or groups of people attended. Trash was pretty heavy today, a lot of lead šŸ˜€ I will have to speak to the owner, what I thought was just random grass may be winter wheat. šŸ˜µ Might not be able to come back for a while.
  11. At a recent club meeting a couple of friends and I discussed hunting an old coal mining camp again that we had hunted a couple weeks prior. We had some success on the first visit to this site, but I wanted to see if some adjustments to some programs that I made on my XP Deus II would yield some better results. All of us are using the XP Deus II since this spring and have used them on club outings and on our own outings to sites that are loaded with cans, nails and ferrous Items that make detecting these sites tough and frustrating. I and many other people have detected this site many times before more than a decade ago, so it became one those so called ā€œpounded sitesā€ as finds had greatly diminished over time. The day started with breakfast at a local cafĆ© that resulted in talking with some old timers that lived and knew about some of the coal mining camps in the area that resulted in some information on potential hunt sites in the future. We then headed off to the site and then split up with me starting on the far end of the site and the other two on the other end. This site has an abundance of cholla cactus, so it makes detecting interesting at times, but the wind was blowing steady that day at 30 mph with gusts of 60+ mph that made even more of a challenge. This coal mining camp was in existence from 1898 to 1935, so there is a wide range of ferrous and non-ferrous finds from that period to be found. I came away with a 1912 D Barber Dime, 1890 Indian cent, religious medallion, thimble, some buttons, minerā€™s ID tag, two 5 cent and one 10 cent tokens, a cuff link. Also found was what I thought was a coin because of the reeded edge, was a wheel that turns the wick for an oil lamp (stamped Kosmos-Brenner) and a small brass case for matches or toothpicks? The tokens are not from this coal mining camp. Wonder what the letters mean on the reverse side of the religious medallion? Some of the junk found.
  12. One last hunt on this spot before it changes hands and I no longer have access. Its an old home site near an old townsite...people have been hunting the townsites for decades but they seemed to miss this old home site.... or not. I've been here twice before and not found any coins but there seemed to be lots of higher conductors. So I gave it one more shot today. I needed a break as I worked all day yesterday getting our garden beds ready to plant the winter garden. I'm calling it a successful hunt due to the Silver thimble and the butt end of the rifle. Those were my only good finds despite digging lots of targets and I got my exercise by walking a few miles as well. I'm thinking the rifle butt end is from a Musket? We have found a couple powder flasks at this site. strick
  13. TomCA and I decided to test out our new fat tire ebikes integrated into some detecting earlier this week. The bikes are awesome, I can see these really being useful in the future for some of our adventures where you simply cannot drive, and may have several miles of ground to traverse before getting to your detecting objectives. So we have a Fur Trading site and a Gold Rush era encampment that aren't too far apart from each other that we were able to get to. No doubt that TomCA made the find of the day, but I was (fairly) happy with my take as well. The Gold Rush era encampment we call the Buckle Village because we're found several Gold Rush era tongue and wreath style buckles that were prevalent to the Gold Rush 49'ers flooding into the west coast to make their fame and fortune. They simply don't seem to be found at sites from different eras (I'm sure there's exceptions as always). This encampment has produced several for us, as well as a beautifully decorated powder flask, buttons, TomCA got a nice reale, I got what's considered the first trade token minted in California from 1850, a stunning 1820 United States Militia one piece button, and plenty of other period relics. At this site, Tom bested me with his prize and I'll let him have the honors of sharing that when he shares his finds. My best find from this site was an 1840s and 1850s early United States Marines two piece button backmarked "SCOVILLS & CO / [dot] WATERBURY [dot]". A few buckles, and what appears to be a knife or dagger hilt. This site has really dried up since our first few visits, but there's still finds there if you work your a$$ off šŸ¤  The next site has been a fun one, early California fur trading post site that digs deep into early California history. At this site you just never know what you'll find. It was my day for green copper, I dug a butt load of it, possibly more then I've ever dug there before. The larger pieces sound so good, beautiful high tones with high 20's to low 30's TID's on the EQX800, so you dig each and everyone anticipating a reale or bust coin, only to be let down with a green copper whatsit. Still fun history BUT it's getting stingy with non green copper items. This trip I managed to get a small, thin copper coin of some sort. I'm sure it's not a button or whatnot, but it's so corroded it's unlikely to ever be ID'd. I also dug a period bronze wedding ring, which while not as showy as a gold or silver ring, is still fun to me as it was likely a very personal effect that someone wore from the old world to the new world in their great adventure only to leave it behind to be found centuries later. Also got the obligatory black powder round ball drops and a few fired ones (I actually like finding those) and some later period rim-fire shells. Dug a bunch of bronze nails/spikes. I don't mind digging these, their not like square nails that litter most of our relic sites out west, these are hand forged bronze nails/spikes with old world forged rose heads. Also a couple of interesting bits they made for some special purpose use. I'm sure Tom will proudly display his buffalo and war nickles šŸ¤£ so I'll show my wheat cents and fluke clad too šŸ˜
  14. Another beautiful day here, pre-Nicole. Went back to the field I've been hunting lately to finish it up, got a couple of cuff buttons, a couple of odd ball shaped objects, one of which may be a half of a bell. There really wasn't much left to cover here, just about 20 yard strip. The next field I went to is huge, and we've found everything from Spanish cobs to dandy buttons, it's a very old farm. The first field is part of it but it's almost 3/4 of a mile away. I believe there were events in this field in the fallow months, possibly horse racing. Buttons and coins at each end kind of bear that out. There is very little in the middle. Heading out to the far end along the high ridge, I dug this magnificent but sadly broken spectacle buckle: That's as old as it gets here. Coming back I got one of the biggest Tombac buttons I've ever seen, in great shape, it's bigger than a quarter, it was a 63: I love the waxy feel of these and was amazed to find one this big that wasn't broken. Today I had the Deus 2 with the 9" coil, this field is so clean again I could run General at reactivity = 0 for max depth. I also turned discrimination to 0, and turned up iron volume. I really didn't have to use my Relic program at all. The trick with reactivity so low is to "grab" a target, while swinging if you hear anything, you stop and analyze. That is how I found the tiniest button I've ever found. It's the one near the half circle. It was about 6" down, a weak 42. Also got an 1882 IHP, and an object that may be a button, an English Farthing, or a shield nickel. šŸ˜€ It weighs 4.5g, is 20mm wide, and 2.5mm thick. Usually buttons are thinner than that, but the circle around the inside makes me think it's a button: It appears to be a bit melted. The other side is smooth: Got some other bits but not sure what any of them are. Really like finding those spectacle buckles! The trash was about average, if you're not digging buck balls, you're not getting buttons.
  15. Today was supposed to be nice, started out at 53 and foggy. I went to a field not far from my house where I got a lot of nice relics and a half of a half reale back in the spring. This field was cleared and turbo tilled in two directions, wow! Really easy to detect. The other nice thing is it doesn't have a lot of modern trash, just iron bits. This is all the trash I got today, fits in my hand. Just some buck balls, percussion caps and odd junk. Hunted for 6 hours, ended up with 6 buttons and some other surprises. Two have visible gold plating, one is silverwash. 3 medium and 3 small. As I was detecting back to my truck, I got this nice 1903 IHP: One of the biggest surprises (well the biggest) was a large cent. Can't quite make out the date but it is there, and can't really determine which bust it is. I was once able to see the wreath on the back and "ONE". it's pretty worn. I also got a couple relics, a thimble and a whatzit. A couple days ago I did a scouting hunt and got these: My favorite is the small decorated concave button. Saved the best for last, got a solid 77 and dug this, I knew there was more Spanish silver here: 1/4 of a 1 or 2 Reale coin. Worn thin, but still heavy. Only got through half this field, I'm sure there is more.
  16. Looks like everybody had a good weekend! I really appreciate the folks who post finds from this fascinating hobby. Being one of the more prolific, it's nice to see others. šŸ™‚ Some of you are tough acts to follow. šŸ˜€ Detected Friday and today, two different places. Friday I went to my oldest permission, only got to spend about 4 hours there. Didn't get much but got another huge Dandy button, always a thrill for me. Couple of wheats, drawer pulls, a thimble and a very tiny two hole button. The Dandy has a sun pattern, didn't notice it until I cleaned it up. Today, I invited a friend along, he wasn't feeling well but managed to get a few cool things. I, on the other hand, was on fire. Yikes! All small stuff but couldn't be more thrilled with the day. Got there early, it was kinda cold and cloudy. Part of my "luck" if you will is learned land reading, having detected in this area for a couple of years. Today I decided to start at the very edge of this field, and walk along it moving inward, the theory being that in early times when plowing, the farmer would turn at the edges, popping buttons and dropping stuff. It paid off. Got about 3 buttons, a Buffalo nickel (no date), and a small pierced medal exactly the size of a nickel that has a scene on it: Not sure what it is, nothing on the back. Could have some religious significance, but it's very old. One of the buttons looks like Tombac and has "Standard" on the back. Got a very tiny cuff button with a pattern: And a mangled flat button. Next we went to a previously searched area that turned up some cool really old stuff, last week I found a Civil War era button and a small Masonic medal. Thought we'd find a few more items. There is a lot of iron, so I switched to Silver Slayer for a bit, and got an 1875 IHP. Here I also dug this button: It says "Wellington London Made". Nothing on the front. Using Silver Slayer I got the strange object that I think is a rein guide, it seems to allow a rein to be drawn through but cinches it should it be pulled back or the reverse. The "Flapper" in the center appears to have been plated, either silver or nickel: I'm only assuming the use of this device. Any other ideas? We took a lunch break, and then headed over to the other side of the farm where the finds are more mid to late 1800s, buttons and such. I got a Cavalry "C" button and a Trime there not too long ago. Got a lock slide, a concave button, and an 1879 IHP: The concave button is odd, never seen one like this before. Right after I dug the lock slide I was going up the side of the hill to where the barn was, and got a solid 85, my best find of the day: Hollow back shankless Virginia button, probably pre-Civil War. I found two of these last spring, one was Civil War, the other like this one but badly corroded. This one is incredible. Edit: forgot to post the trash. Stuff like this doesn't come easy.
  17. Got out for the weekend in search of more Military Camp sites off the main site we located a while back. Meet with the property owners and presented them with a display case that included the $1 gold coin I found. They were very surprised and happy to have it to display in their home located on the property. They had a 10 year old grand daughter visiting and wanted to know if it was all right if she tagged along for a few hours while we metal detected and of course we agreed. They got out a Ricomax metal detector for her to use and after finding some batteries for it we headed out. It didn't take long for us and her to realize that the Ricomax wasn't going to cut it. So she followed us around and took turns swinging one of our metal detectors from time to time and found a few relics of her own. Needless to say she was hooked and after she went back to the house for quick sandwich, begged grandma to come back out and metal detect some more. She was a joy to have around and it was good to see a young girl so interested in the hobby. After a hard day of hunting the property owners surprised us with a BBQ dinner and we sat and talked about life and politics for the remainder of the night. We arrived back the next day and of course the little girl was ready to go back out with us until she had to leave for a cousin's birthday party. Needless to say the weekend was a success. Below are my finds, you can times that by 3 and see we had a great hunt. Some of the highlights of the hunt were Eagle A, Eagle I and Eagle R buttons, j hooks, multiple cal bullets including .52 Sharps, .69, .58 and .54 minie balls, a 1857 dime and 1851 3 cent piece. We won't be getting back to that location until next Spring. In the mean time we'll be doing more research in hopes of locating more camp sites.
  18. anyone not hunting Atlanta now, or did hunt in the past that is willing to share with my come Civil War relic hunting site in north Metro Atlanta? In spite of extensive research, hard to find good CW relic sites any more. please respond with private message.
  19. A club member at last night's meeting showed me this relic and asked what it could possible be or used for. Any suggestions?
  20. Are any European relic hunters on this forum making the most of the low rivers and lakes? Some are completely dry exposing all sorts of ancient things.. Or haven't we heard anything because you're all out there and don't have time to post about your huge hauls.. Or maybe it's just too hot to go outside? It's a bit like gold prospecting in areas which have been burned down.. Another great example of the advantages of climate change.. šŸ˜¬ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62619397
  21. Had a business trip to a cyber security conference in Las Vegas and wove in a side trip to my Spanish outpost site. It's been hammered pretty hard for the past ten years or so, but I still managed to make some finds. It was hot as he!! and the ground was parched bone dry. In my experience at this particular site, the Equinox tends to do better when the ground's damp versus bone dry, so I have hope that there could still be some future finds to be made during the winter or spring time, but it's definitely time to find a new site šŸ¤  Does anyone have any idea what the button is I found at 1:05? It's a two piece, probably Civil War era more or less, and looks to represent some European Monarchy given the crown. I ruled out Spain and Mexico already, but couldn't find something similar.
  22. I got the chance to detect a small 1800s settlement that survived until the early 1900s along the Southern mountains of Colorado. This area has seen various activities over the years from native americans, Spanish explorers, fur trappers, outlaws, miners, farmers, ranchers, and even some Civil War activity, so you never know what will be found. This particular site saw the most activity from the 1880s to about the 1920s. The day started with meeting a 97 year old gentleman who had grown up at the settlement and he pointed out where all the buildings were which are all gone now except for the original barn that has been restored. He was more than happy to share many stories of the history of the property and the people who lived there, as well as other activities that had happened on site. He mentioned that most of the building had either burned down fallen apart over the years except for the barn and his family's house which survived over 100 years and was purchased and moved to a nearby town in the 1990s. I could have listened to him talk all day but we had some detecting to do. We split up and started detecting to see what we could find. I fired up the Deus II in Relic mode and started working my way from the barn, which is now used as a community center, towards the area where the old post office once stood. Of course the area was carpeted with nails and other iron trash just below the surface. It seems I had only moved a few feet when I got a really nice sounding signal. I gently pried up an inch or two of the dried earth and discovered my first coin of the day... a nice sun-baked zinc penney! I continued on a short way and got an identical signal poking through the iron noise. Of course it's another zincoln, I thought, but as I opened another shallow hole the penney inside looked strange yet familiar at the same time. I had seen this same kind of coin not too long ago at another old site. To my delight it turned out to be an 1895 Indian Head Penney. This is only the second IHP I have found metal detecting and pretty exciting for me. We continued the hunt until the heat became unbearable in the afternoon. I believe the only other coin found was a Wheat Penney, but many interesting artifacts were found and one detectorist found a 10K gold ring. We left some of the artifacts with the property owner and headed home feeling enriched by the experience. I gave the zinc penney to my young grandson and told him it was a treasure coin. He was pretty excited by that, but by the time he gets to detecting age, those may be all dissoved into the earth and gone, so maybe it is a treasure coin. šŸ˜
  23. Been home a month already, and as you all know things don't stop happening just because you're away. Besides catching up from falling behind domestic tasks, it also takes a while to get back in the habit of reading and posting. But I need to write my experiences down before I forget even more of what happened. I'll break it into a few posts to hopefully minimize the yawns (yours and mine). In summary I spent 27 days (26 nights) away from home, leaving on the 31st of May. Here's the Outline of the trip (not including days spent merely driving): 0) 3 days in Colorado at my sister's home, with one day spent hunting an early 20th Century homestead permission of hers (unfortunately my nemesis -- regraded/backfilled property -- led to zero finds), and one morning with Denver's Eureka Treasure Hunting Club in a city park (that was already reported by Jeff McClendon and me here). 1) 4.5 days in NW Nevada, first 3 with Steve (the one person here I don't need to specify last name nor site username šŸ˜„) and Steve (Condor). For those familiar with that area we were near the Stone House and Sawtooth. After they left I spent one night alone and then was surprised when another DP member poster drove up in his VW Beetle(!) -- Andy (Abenson) for the last day or so. 2) 7 days in NE Nevada at Monte Berry's "Welcome to the Hunt Outing" (WTHO) #14 ghost town detecting get-together with 12-14 like-minded people. 3) 3.5 days at 10.5 kft (3.2 km) altitude in the Colorado Rockies at an 1860's ghost town site with my sister and her partner. I don't know which is more satisfying -- actual detecting or spending the evenings around the fire discussing our pasttime with such great people whose company I was fortunate enough to share. No less than four of my comrades has 45 or more years of detecting experience (and accompanying stories) and you can count on me to ask questions on that until the fire was low and we needed to get some shuteye for the next day's efforts. Several more had their silver anniversary (25 year) pins as well. A few stats for those who may be curious: 4325 miles (29.9 mpg and $658 of petrol), 13 nights sleeping in my vehicle and 7 nights in motels (other 6 at my sister's house), ~$1600 for the entire trip, including food and lodging (but not counting cost of batteries šŸ˜). Only needed to put the Jeep Compass Trailhawk into 4WD twice and one of those was following Condor's pickup through a deep gully/wash. (Was he trying to lose me? ) I should say how many hours I spent actually swinging a detector but I haven't added it up. Mostly because of my age but also dependent upon the heat, 8 hours is a long day and sometimes (when I'm arriving or packing up to leave) it's less than half that. BTW, on the way home I stopped at a couple roadside rest areas (the old kind on 2 lane roads, not the modern Interstate kind) to finish of the detecting time fix for the trip. I'm really bad at remembering to take photos, but here are a couple. The first is in NW Nevada which was meant as a joke to a friend who predicted I would be abducted by aliens (you know, Skinwalker Ranch, Blind Flog Ranch,... although those are in NE Utah). Second one some of you will recognize because of the aspen trees, tree line,... from high in the Rockies. You may notice I try not to show enough detail that you'll figure out our secret locations. I'll stop for now and go into more detail on the detecting sites (and finds) in the next installment.
  24. Last fall, I sold my E-trac to a gentleman who comes down to FL for 6 months and returns north for the next 6. He had never done any detecting and was interested to see what he could find on his land in NY. I asked if he wanted to buy a pinpointer as well. He agreed, and I threw in a Lesche digger as well. He mentioned that he owns some property in upstate NY and that I should come and stay in one of his cabins in spring or summer and detect in the area which is rich in history from the French and Indian War. I didn't think much of it, but this year my wife and I were going to celebrate our 25th. The dates happened to work for all of us, so off we went to NY in June for a week. We detected his property, but found only modern coins and lots of bottle caps. He took us to a number of places around the area at which we found just a wheat penny and a silver Roosevelt dime. I was really hoping for some colonial coins, but that was not to be. He had work to do while we were on vacation enjoying the surrounding Adirondack Mountains. When he was able to get away, we went to another property that he knows well. He detected with my wife and me for a while, but he had to get back to work. We didn't find anything of immense value, but the Deus II was great picking through the iron-littered soil. We found some interesting items, but there was one that made the entire trip worth it. The signal was strong and the TID was 85. I dug down for a while on the hillside close to a river, and about 12-15" down was a heavy object that last saw daylight over 250 years ago. The best part about pulling the cannonball from the ground was that my wife was right by side when it came out of the ground, one day before our anniversary. It was a special time that we will remember for many years to come. Upon getting back to our cabin, I arranged the finds on a table and called the other gentleman to come and take a look at what we had found. He was excited for us, but when he saw the cannonball, he had a smile from ear to ear. He knew that find had made the trip worth it. The following day (our anniversary) was rainy, so when we went back to the same spot with him, I offered that he use my Equinox as his E-trac was not waterproof. He hunted with the 10x5 in all metal and dug some amazingly deep iron nails. He had probably detected a total of 2 hours in his lifetime at this point. He dug a hole and was working it for about 20 minutes when we came over by him because we needed to leave so we could go out to eat on our anniversary. I told him that it might be okay to just fill the hole back up at this point. He said there was still something down there. As we were just about ready to leave, he pulled up something that put an instant smile on his face...a cannonball! We had each found one of the same size on the same property a day apart and about 20 feet away from the other. I believe he is now hooked on detecting for life. After researching if a cannonball could be taken on a plane, we decided it was best if we didn't find out that it wasn't. A Google search result mentioned a diver in FL attempting to take one on as a carry-on after he had found it while diving. I think his was 12 pounds and still live, however. That didn't end well for him. I believe the one we found, with 99.9% certainty, is a solid iron cannonball The gentleman agreed to bring the 3-pounder down when he drives to FL in the fall. The picks show the relics that were worth showing. Two of the pics show a lead bar that was folded and an ingot that looks like it was melted in a shovel. Not sure if those may have been used for making musket balls.
  25. Keeping with the theme of having a looksee at spots that I never seem to get around to hunting, I thought Iā€™d hit my own backyard.. Iā€™ve always had a feeling that it would be a good spot as Iā€™ve found a few pennies and old bottles in the little creek which runs through it.. My backyard has an old house slab which is made of beer bottles with concrete over the top.. The house that stood there was built at the end of the 1940s and blew down during cyclone Althea in 1971.. Needless to say thereā€™s a whole load of junk everywhere and I ended up with a small coil on the Equinox to cherry pick amongst it all.. Because Iā€™d found some pennies here before I ignored the more obvious junk on the first sweep around and just honed in on old copper and silver coins.. This strategy worked and within an hour Iā€™d picked up 2 pennies (one is dated 1912), 3 silver three-pence (all before 1946), 3 two cents, 4 one cents and some modern coins.. The picture below shows the best of the old junk.. Iā€™d normally toss this stuff aside but since it was a relic hunt I thought I'd better keep it.. Maybe diehard relic hunters can pick a keeper.. For me the find of the day was a tiny little pendant.. Itā€™s a touristy trinket which has ā€˜Magnetic Islandā€™ written on one side and ā€˜Made in Czechoslovakiaā€™ on the other.. I had a good chuckle when I figured out what it said.. Although I didnā€™t find a hoard of gold sovereigns, this hunt was another great reminder of this islandā€™s diverse history.. I really wouldā€™ve liked to use the Deus II for this hunt but unfortunately the manual tells me not to use the detector in my own backyard.. This is a bit of a shame because its Relic Program wouldā€™ve excelled in this spot.. But since Iā€™m a ā€˜manual manā€™ Iā€™m gonna stick by the book and heed its wise advice.. šŸ˜
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