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  1. Today I wanted to get out for a whole day hunt at my oldest permission, it dates to ~1640. They cleared the half that hasn't been hunted since I got it. Unfortunately they planted winter wheat on the other half 😀 It wasn't a bad day at all, started out about 43 and went up to around 50. I invited Chase down to hunt it with me, he got there later and did well himself. Today I walked nearly 8 miles, it was pretty rough on me, and in the afternoon the wind came up. It got colder pretty fast. Here are my relic funds for the day: Got a nice newer brass buckle, a couple of horse tack decorations, some other interesting bits, and 10 buttons or pieces. The most interesting relic was the odd shaped brass object next to last on the top row, it had decoration on it. Not sure what it's from but it is curved. Got a pretty big pile of trash today, lots of lead, a few pieces of iron, and some other junk. But the day was made by the coins! We hunted a road that went about a mile or so back behind the farm and I got this: A beautiful 1916 Mercury dime. Haven't got much silver lately so it was a relief! Sadly it's not a D 🤔 This is how it came out of the ground, I didn't need to clean it at all! But the real thrill of the day was getting a 96 and digging this coin, it's my first one of these. I had to sidelight it to get the date to stand out, it's a 1798 Draped Bust Large cent. The reverse is pretty good too, enough details to show. I dare not clean it any more than I have. I also got what I think was a wheat penny but it's horribly toasted. I hope Chase had as much fun as I did today. 🙂
  2. Finally got back out with version 2.0 and scored a few finds. The colt bullet is a first and overall I'm happy 😊. Happy Thanksgiving and hope yall find happiness in the dirt.
  3. Went to an Orthopedic surgeon today to get a prognosis on using my dislocated shoulder for metal detecting. 😬 First I thank you all that wished me well (or at least had thoughts) in my recovery. 👍 Doc poked, prodded and tested my arm functions, and told me something very interesting - that older people (I'm 63) that dislocate their shoulder have a much lower chance of dislocating it again than younger people do. 😝 You're "broken in", so to speak. I told him of my obsession, he was impressed and he told me that it was ok to go out and dig. It boils down to the old Hee Haw sketch: "Doc, it hurts when I do this." "Well, don't do that!!". 🤣 So, I got out in the field out front for about 2 hours, and the only thing that hurt was holding the shovel over my shoulder. Still got a couple of muscles in my arm that aren't quite healed. It wasn't a bad day at all. Got an IHP that I think is 1902, a silver plated spoon bowl served up as a taco, and an extremely old (17th-18th century) drawer escutcheon in 3 pieces. I'll take an IHP any day, even if it's toasted. 🙂 Game on! Not much trash either, the nail was in the same hole as the IHP, and the steel can bits just had to go with that brassy 82 and 89. The small lead pistol ball was a really weird tone because it was mixed in with the aluminum. 😀
  4. Got out for a few hours on Saturday, just hunting the field in front of my house. Can't get to all of it easily, the neighbors all have big dogs that they let run free. I try to stay in the low spots so they can't see me. An additional benefit was being upwind 😀 That's my house in the background. 😎 The field is about 70 acres, turbo tilled corn stalks. It's bad because it's like walking on a dump, but good because all the trash keeps the soil moisture in so digging isn't all that bad. I didn't expect to find much, and was right. 😏 But what I found was worth every minute! While in this spot which is on the hill side, I got a nice 87/88, usually aluminum but this one sounded sharp and different. No brassy tone. I was really shocked to get this beautiful old button! It's domed and has a solid shank in back, all cast and hand engraved. I'm estimating its age as early as 1650, because I found one like it on the Internet that claimed the same age: Different pattern but exactly the same construction. How they got that one to stand on its side is a mystery 🤔 Here's the back of mine fresh out of the ground. Total haul below, got a small Tombac too which is probably more like 1720 up, but still very old. Not much but all quite aged. 😎 Earlier today I was going to post this, but my upstairs air handler quit on me, I had to climb a rickety aluminum ladder to get in the attic, and coming down I fell about 8 feet when the ladder slipped and I landed on it. I am very fortunate to only have sustained a dislocated left shoulder and one small cut on my right arm. It could have been a lot worse... 😬 Went to the hospital and the doc showed me a DIY trick to put it back in place, after many extremely painful attempts I went for broke and pulled really hard. It popped back in, I kissed the Docs' hand and asked her to marry me. 🤣 I'm home, whacked up on morphine, waiting for it to fade and the pain to start but I thought it would be good to get a last post up here for a bit, my arm is in a sling and I hope I recover quickly.🙂 Here's the trash, not bad. Also got an old pocket knife but can't identify the maker.
  5. Had some truck maintenance to do today, afterward I took a ride past one of my permissions. Noticed it had been tilled. Went back to the house and grabbed my D2 with 13" coil, gear and shovel. It was a great day today, got into the low 70s with a good breeze. We've hit this field pretty hard the last couple of years, I figured I'd have to work for my finds. But 10 minutes in I got a 93. I was shocked to get a large copper coin, either a large cent or a King George. Great start anyway, not many large coppers have come from this place. I checked earlier tracks to see if this was missed, but found I was in a spot largely unexplored. Threw it in my bag and moved on happy. 5 hours and over 4 miles later, I was tired and done. Here's the trash, I'm using my program I used at the campground, and also tried Deep HC like we saw Gary Blackwell use in his latest video, with some minor tweaks. For about an hour or so at the end I switched between the two, and think my program was better. 😀 I managed to collect 4 colors of shotgun shells, some big iron to verify that my programing was ok, and some buck and primers. Even a pull tab! Here's the stuff too big to put in a display case: Old spoon handle with a monogram, huge bronze bushing, a small broken off handle and a tire air cap. And now the haul, it was a lucky day but there was bad luck afoot as you'll see. The top 3 coins all do not have enough details to identify them! 😵 the large copper is 28.3mmx2.1mm, possibly a large cent. Second is a wheat with no discernable date, and last but not least, an IHP with nothing other than its thickness to identify it. On the bright side, got the two piece gold plated button, a nice oval piece of horse tack that probably had something fancier on it, and some buckle bits. Not bad for getting out in the fields for the first time since May. 🤔 Shoulda brought a knee pad and a bigger pouch. 😀
  6. It's always a good idea no matter the weather to hit the beach the day after the 4th of July. Brutal day today, 92 and about 60% humidity, no wind to speak of. It wasn't too bad in the morning, and I outlasted all the other detectorists, but by noon it was just plain nasty. The first beach was the large one using the D2. Ran into José operating the beach groomer, I've talked to him before, he has a keen interest in metal detecting and US history. We talked for a bit, he explained how the groomer worked, and said about the only thing it catches is chains, and it mangles them. 🫤 He tried to let me hunt as much of the beach as possible, and worked around me. I was very happy. Despite the groomer being run over the entire beach, the finds just kept coming. Maybe it's the reason I found so much. Second beach was the small one, only a few kids. Over the 4th these beaches got really trashed, but were cleaned up by county employees or locals. Fireworks and trash everywhere. 😵 Here I used my Equinox 600 with a 15" coil that Chase lent me. Didn't take long to find out how much I prefer the Deus 2 with the 13" 😀, it's way lighter and easier to use, also gives a lot more audio information than the Equinox. All I found at this beach was $1.26 in clad, the targets jump out because the beach is clean. I also much prefer the 10x5 Coiltek for hunting here if I'm going to use the Equinox. Trash was very very minimal today. I've got the D2 tweaked so that it really doesn't find much junk: Bottle caps were courtesy picks. Yes that is a live firework. So here's what I got 73 coins, about $8.50, a toy car, an old button and an earring that is just bling. The earring was over a large iron pipe and the Deus picked it out easily. José explained that the replenishment sand comes from a very old county here, so that explains the 1916 wheat I found nearby where I dug a 1916 Mercury dime a month or 2 ago. The button is very old. The little oval was from some sort of brass bracelet. Fun but very difficult day, about as bad weather as I would want to be out in.
  7. Just got done laying out all the finds from my week long trip to a campground, it was an old hunting lodge and camp before it changed hands twice to become a full fledged campground. I was going to tumble the coins first but decided to do them and all the others I've found together. I've been here 3 times now, thought I hunted the heck out of the place but find I was wrong. I'm getting better as a detectorist, and now have a better detector, the Deus 2. 🙂 Probably a combination of both. Over the course of a week hunting anywhere from 3 to 6 hours a day, I got all the stuff below: 262 coins, oldest was a 1926 buffalo nickel. 3 rings, one is either gold plated or filled, estimated at 1950-1965. Got it pretty well cleaned up, it looks cast and has some gold solder where it broke once. Old script "V". The pictures don't do it justice, it's really shiny. Got a working hand torch, a cheap but working flashlight, an old duck call, keys, and some stuff used to make a bracelet. One 1930 wheat and a 1978 penny with what I think may be a laser hole in it, it's just too perfect. The only silver I got was the tiny iron cross on the earring. 3 very old buttons were the relics, one from the late 1800s and two much older. Quite a week.
  8. Y'all must be pretty sick of all this, 😀 but today was another good day. Kinda went everywhere today, started near the boat launch. Lots of vehicles park here so it's a good place to look for coins, but i didn't think I'd get this very old duck call: The horn is some kind of old translucent plastic, it has two reeds that appear to be made of nylon, and the wood looks like ebony. Would not have found it if it didn't have the huge brass collar. This is a throwback to the old hunting camp. I also found an old bent copper ring there. After this area I hunted some of the tent sites I missed, and found more coins. Got 29 coins this morning, and the bent ring. Here's the junk: Got a few pull tabs because I was really hoping to find nickels today. Took a break for lunch, and went back to the place I got a bunch of coins yesterday, managed to get quite a few more, and even one nickel! 31 more. This spot is really small, pictures don't do it justice but something was going on here in the 80s. It's the area ringed by trees with my detector there for scale. Last place I visited caught my eye this morning: "Kids Corner". If you want to find coins, where kids are, you'll find a lot. I only searched for a short time, but got quite a few quarters. 60 coins today! Well that's it, it's going to rain tomorrow, and we're going home Tuesday. 🤗 I'll do a recap later to show the sheer magnitude of stuff I found here. Wish I had a working chance to hunt the water. I am very grateful to this campground for the opportunities to hunt it over the past 3 years.
  9. What a day! Started out all smoggy and still, so I thought I'd try a water hunt today. It was just after low tide, I got in the sound at the end of one of the piers, the water wasn't too cold and there is a nice sandy bottom. Well that didn't last long. 🤣 I heard some good signals but the water was almost neck deep all the way to the seawall. I couldn't dig anything! Switched gears to relic and coin hunting, I went back to the place I was yesterday. It's about 2 acres of tent camping sites. Did pretty good there yesterday with 37 coins, today was even better. It got clear, warm and a bit breezy so it was really pleasant. Got a small flashlight that still works, and a lot of coins. Got near a very old cedar tree and saw this: It was just the top of the iceberg. Spent the next 15 minutes there with my pinpointer finding penny after penny, and 8 keys. Also found a wampum bracelet probably made by a Boy Scout with two pieces of turquoise on it. It was all attached with fishing line. I found a brass General star with the clasp, and an earring with a silver iron cross. Silver! 😀 Had to buy lunch. Here's the take for the morning, ended up with 38 Zincolns and a bit of clad. Also got some memorials. But the best is below, I did not expect to find any old coins here! A very nice 1926 Buffalo Nickel, and a 1930 wheat. Took my wife to lunch, came back and set out again to finish this area up. Got a lot more clad and 10 more Zincolns, but in the middle of it a storm came out of nowhere and it got extremely windy and cold. Also blew the smoke out, we went from 156 air quality to 56 in an hour. I got in a sheltered spot and waited it out My last find of the day was a 1965 quarter in the last corner of this area. 🤣 I knew it was time to go. But that's not all, I dug 3 old buttons today. The first I thought was an old overall button, but it turned out to be an odd duck with a patent date of Feb 7, 1888: And last but not least, an ancient cufflink button and a lead one. Really old stuff. Trash from the morning: And this afternoon: Banner day, 74 coins total and some relics. I was even treated to a rainbow.
  10. I don't usually go relic hunting in the late spring to fall, but an opportunity presented itself right outside my house. 12 acres of the farm is up for sale, it hasn't sold in 15 years but the owner decided to get a new agent, clear some of the woods to show the potential water view, and lower the price a bit. He gave me permission to hunt all his land so I have access to everything around me that the farmers don't own, and all that too. The field is the first field outside my house I ever hunted, got a lot of buttons and old relics, some cut pistareens and a half cent. In the back of this field they cut a path through the jungle to the river, there is a marsh at the end. The hill doesn't look steep but the angle is around 70 degrees or more. The realtor put a guide rope on the trees. Yesterday I updated all my Deus 2 gear to V1, what a coincidence 😏 I decided to pack up my WS6 Master rig with the 9" coil and went over there on my golf cart to take advantage of hunting it before the jungle takes it back. It will be impassable by fall. It was only a 3 hour hunt, that ravine is a killer 😅 hunting on what is the equivalent angle of a 12-12 pitch roof is difficult, the ground is full of roots, and it's deer fly season so they are everywhere. 🤬 Here's the trash, I didn't get much, dug the nails to prove to myself iron was iron, and some were in the same hole as my finds. I was using Relic Reaper and messing with some of the new features. One thing I noticed was no "Profile" option, it may have never existed but I am not a fan of the large number screen. I also want to put Silver Slayer on this machine now that there are a couple notches available, and a beach program from a forum user I want to try. First good find was a button, a 75 that ended up being under a root. Very crisp signal, gotta say V1 is an improvement. It had no backmarks and part of the shank crumbled away. I got to about 10 feet from the top and got a solid 58. Most of the buck balls were 57-63 depending on size, but this just sounded different. Out popped the surprise of the day: A gold watch fob, i believe it's Victorian era from my search, 1837-1901. It could even be from the 20s. The initials of the owner are in the bottom plate: The cleaner it gets the "golderer" it gets, nothing flaking off. It doesn't weigh a lot and appears to be hollow. My guess is 10k Gold Filled, like the one I found doing research below: It's pretty similar. Gold is gold tho... 🥳 Cannot believe the Deus 2 hit gold already! The initials are those of the owner of the whole farm a long time ago, I may give it to the family. 🙂
  11. Hey fellas, It's been a bit since my last post! Still here lurking in the shadows though! I've had pretty crap luck on good finds but detecting is still my therapy and I've bopper around steadily. Combined with point lookin! Yesterday evening got off work in (al) was close to the field of dreams so I headed for her! Got out,shot the crap with owner and set up 2 d2s or one remote and 9" unit and the ws6,wsa and 11×13 strapped my pads on and took off! About 10 steps in 93,94,96 93 signal was sounding much like some frustration materials but that's high numbers so I dug. Probably 13" down this baby popped out and I was a happy son of a buck! Wild this spot is as bullets and many things are 3" deep so this find tells me I need a damn earth moving company to stack the relics! Lol Made my day,week and broke my whiny butt no good finds mentality! Be safe fellas and enjoy
  12. Had to pick my dog up from the vet at 4:00pm today, So I thought detecting was down the tubes. Thats when my wife called and said we had to pick up Bleu at 7:00. Poor pup, But that gave me about 45 minutes to hit a colonial house I detected a 1000 times. This place is the gift that keeps on giving. I decided to dig all strange tones and Id's. I'll make this as short as my hunt. First target was a flat button, Second was a shotshell base, Third was a 45 wheatie, fourth was a 22mag case, Fifth was a flashlight bulb and Last but not least was a fabulous sleeve button. This button is pretty rare and I doubt I will find another. It is a Tallio and dates back to around the 1770's. PS this was a 10 - 11 on the 800.
  13. Got back from a day hunt in Culpeper Virginia yesterday, usually I post immediately but struggled with a title 😀 This post is more an ode to the Deus 2 than anything spectacular, I'd be in a world of cramps and pain today without it. 🤔 This farm is in Rixeyville VA, it was a part of the Battle of Brandy Station in 1863. The owner hosts hunts there, it's a beautiful place with an incredible old house called Liberty Hall. The hunts are "limited" to 100 detectorists, and despite the absolutely miserable weather there were only 5 no-shows out of 82 signed up. I saw every kind of detector in use, from an Ace 400 too the WS6 Master, and PI's galore. I don't know how they do it. It doesn't get much more miserable than 42 degrees and heavy mist that turned to rain. Luckily it only rained for a couple hours. Add to that the heavy mineralized sticky Culpeper red clay, and you've got quite an adventure. 😀 I had to keep wiping my pinpointer off in the grass just so I could push the button! I'm not complaining, my time in the Army both in winter Basic Training and the muddy hills of Germany helped me mentally overcome adversity, Chase was there to get trigger time on the Axiom, but he hunted with the D2 as well. According to him the place has been hunted for quite some time now. He made quite a stir with the PI guys. Turns out that hunting the fringes and woods of this place was the way to go, they seeded some stuff but mostly prize tags, and on 220 acres that wasn't much. I think only 9 of them were found. Most successful finds were made in remote areas. Here you can see my track in OnX Hunt, many of the areas had horses or cattle in them and were off limits. I mostly tracked around the marks I made, pickets and cannon emplacments and such. Seemed like all the walking was uphill. 😀 I'm 63, and still have a bit of "go" in me so I was able to make it through 7.75 miles of up and downhill. Yikes. Sadly I didn't photograph my trash, it was meager but covered with red mud so I left most of it there. I got an iron "Chain Trace" that was identified by one of the participants. The rest was wire and nails. I did find a couple of .223 shells, but stopped digging them and left that area. Here's my ode to the D2, if I didn't have that light machine I would have cramped arms and a bit of a rough time today. Despite the heavily mineralized clay, every good signal was a good find, I just didn't get my coil over many good targets. Iffy signals were all iron or junk. I have complete confidence that I can hunt with the D2 and come home with a minimum of junk. I used my Reaper program almost exclusively, which while acting somewhat differently because of mineralization still gave me the returns I expected with a VLF. With SteveG's carbon fiber shaft and the 13x11 I was able to cover a lot of ground, my legs did the rest. All I got in 7.4 hours of hunting and walking was this Yankee General Service button, I'll post better photos after cleaning it up more. It has the shank and should have backmarks. I followed a hunch, went to the top of a hill on my last push to find something, and there it was. An "11th hour" find that made the day worthwhile. 🙂 It was by far the toughest hunt I've ever been on, my wife wasn't happy with all the red clay on my clothes but she managed to get them spotless. 😀 Some of my gear now has nifty "battle scars". 🤣
  14. Second day of spring was a winner! A bit chilly to start, but it warmed into the 60s. At no point was it really cold because there was no wind, or just enough. Last night I told Chase I was headed to the big old farm today, I've done well there recently and wanted to check out a few more areas as well as go over some of what I already hunted. I got there fairly early, Chase has a long drive so I decided to go to the top of the largest hill, I only did it once before. The photo doesn't do it justice but it's 141 feet high, yeah not that big by any standard, but a long walk here. It's almost terraced, but probably all natural. This was shot from the top, I only found a couple of buckles on the way up and behind it. Saw Chase walking into the field below, and we searched around the farm for quite a while, both of us had the D2 and the 13x11" coil. The bigger the better here. I used my Relic program, changing from 0 reactivity to as high as 1.5 when it got trashy. I tried to go higher but targets disappeared. The 13" has excellent separation for its size. I ended up walking over 6 miles today, and got only a handful of trash: All the usual stuff, shotgun shell ends, buck balls and metal bits, very little iron even though it is everywhere. Here's what I got, I thought it was interesting/amusing enough to post: An old stamped buckle with decoration, a chrome plated and painted rooster (same reverse), an extremely old spectacle buckle, and a piece of elongated oval lead with no marks. Next row is a strange copper coin with a center hole, it appears to be either cast or hammered with the sunburst design. Two IHP's, a 1902 and 1904. Here's the large coin, it's a bit bigger than a large cent: The side is wavy so I don't think someone used a real coin to make it. It was an 81 which is a standard cent ID. The stamped buckle is very decorated. I'm thinking it was part of the last of its era. My favorite find is the metal rooster, it is probably chrome plated and painted brass. It's not painted one the other side but had the same markings. Chase got some interesting stuff too, it wasn't a spectacular hunt but it was a really nice day for one.
  15. Beautiful day here in sunny VA, I was excited to get out early this morning to go to a place I haven't been to. Today I used the Deus 2 and 13", but now I have lowers for all the coils so I brought the 9" with me. Little ol' 40 acre farm across from one I have hunted and didn't get much. Followed all the hunting tricks I could, this field must have been cleared and managed by mechanized farm equipment, there was absolutely no sign of anything colonial or even Victorian. Stayed there 3 hours and walked 3 miles, got nothing but some junk and a 22-250 bullet shell. I thanked the farmer for his generosity and left. 🙂 Next up the really big farm, I have to park about a half mile or more from where the farmhouse stood near an old barn and silos. These two fields are side by side, part of the same plantation, and I have permission to both. The big one isn't too far from here but the house and barns are. Well I never got there - again. 🤣 The minute I set foot in this field I got a great target, and I stayed in that area for the rest of the day. Got a lot of trash today from both places, even some iron, as the ground is drying out despite the rain, and iron tends to false more or so it seems. 🤔 Guess I made ya wait long enough for the haul, only got 3 things today, after walking 2.3 more miles over 3 hours. My first target was the Pistareen, a 1/4 cut silver 1720s-1740s 2 Reale: Here's the reverse: You can see the "II". It was an 85, thought it was a penny. This is what the whole coin looks like: Walked along the line between the fields, got a 95 which shocked me, and dig this 1852-ish 🤔 large cent. Here the reverse, certainly enough details on this one but it's not round: Here's this one: I wish it was that nice 🙄 Got a fat flat button last. Keeping the silver streak alive, and this is the first 2 Reale bit I've found.
  16. Wasn't planning on going detecting today, it was cold and windy yesterday, and today was colder. Not much wind. It was supposed to start raining in the afternoon and rain all the way through Monday, windy on Tuesday. The next good day will probably be next Thursday, so I figured I'd try to brave the cold. It was in the mid 30s when I got out here, a farm close to my house. It's 200+ acres. If you've been following me it was also a horse racing track that was pounded by other detectorists. I've only found two spots they didn't know about or find, I've done pretty well there, and there was sort of a third today. One was a house that was there a long time ago, another a barn. This spot may well have been where some betting occurred, you'll see why. I was only out for 6 hours today before it started raining, but all things considered it was a great day. At one point I had to go back to the house to get my heated socks and gloves, they really helped. Unfortunately one of my neighbors tests his hunting rifles here, so at a certain distance there are a lot of bullets, mostly deer slugs that hit the Deus 2 in the high 80's and even low 90's. Dug a fair amount of trash today, even a couple bits of large iron. The green shotgun shell is a live round. Digging a lot of bullets is never fun, but you hope they caused someone to miss something, and today they sure did. I had just got out there, searched about 20 feet from my cart, and got a really nice 84/85 that I thought was either a bullet or a penny. I was surprised when this popped out of the plug: A totally beat up Spanish half Reale, I think the date is 1775, but it's really hard to read. It's off center, kind of normal for these. This is what it looks like in good shape: And the reverse: I'll probably never find one that nice! My first Spanish silver of the year 🥳 At least the were enough marks to ID it. I searched around that area, Chase found another coin there recently. Got another 85 and thought it was a bullet. Again a surprise, and something very interesting: This appears to be a large cent that was used as a "cutting board" for cutting other coins into "change". It has no identifiable marks of its own, but the knife cuts tell a story. Here's the other side: It's 28mm so it's probably a large cent that broke on one of the knife cuts. Didn't find much else but bullets in this area, so I decided to walk along about 20 feet in from the road that bisects this field. Got a 93, and thought I'd found another silver, but got this instead: It's brass and does not appear to have been crushed or damaged. I have no idea what it is. Got another 85 and got this silver plated medium button: It was a bit taco'ed so I flattened it. A little further down the road, after digging a few bullets, all in the 80s and 90s, I got a 91 that turned into a 94, and dug this, my last find of the day: It's a little mangled but hey it's silver! I looked around a bit longer, and decided to call it a day, it started raining as I drove back to my house. For a hunt that I almost didn't go on, it was a good one. 🙂
  17. Beautiful day today, started out a bit chilly but warmed up to 62, little to no wind. Decided to go to my oldest farm permission, I wanted to finish up around a "staff" house, and maybe just poke around a bit to see what random stuff I could find. I never made it to the farmhouse in the distance. 😀 As soon as I got in the field I turned and walked along a hedgerow and a bit into the field, and pretty much got everything I dug today in that area. Guess it was a little hotspot, there was a road running through the farm that was on the 1910 Topographic map, I think the "staff" waited in this area to be picked up for the day, and perhaps a vendor came through. There are bits of iron and stuff everywhere in about a half acre, any good signal is a good find. First thing I hit was this large heavy brass Star, it appears to have been attached to something by 4 clips on the back which are broken, but the star is complete. To show how big it is, here it is next to one of the two 1902 IHPs I dug today: I might try to shine it up using Tarn-X or Brasso or something, it's pretty awesome. Got some buckle parts and a 1900 V nickel in pretty good shape: I don't usually get one that I can read the date on. Went up to where the house was and searched around, didn't find anything but the foundation that had been pushed into the woods. A pile of cinder blocks and concrete, none of these houses are very big. There is another in the property but is owned by someone else, so it's off limits. This was a very large plantation, probably one of the oldest in the region. Decided to go somewhere else, went along the woodline until I got to this little clearing where I got my "thank you for coming" gift from the field. Got a solid 91, and unearthed this pretty minty 1934 Mercury dime. My silver count is off the charts (for me) this year. I was very careful to spray it with distilled water instead of brushing it or rubbing it off. Here's the total haul, lots of brass bits and a couple of small buttons including a Tombac and a small two piece. I'm pretty sure the spoon bowl is aluminum, but would be thrilled if it isn't. Only a handful of trash, I did get a large block of lead, but I didn't photograph it. I have no idea why a pink capacitor was in this ancient field, but there are always surprises. 😀
  18. Heh, snazzy title huh? Let's find out... 🤔 Yesterday I got a new permission, an enviable one for sure, but to quote the owner, "it's been detected about 150 times" 😪 I've heard that before from other landowners and still came away with something. I also mentioned the beach I was hunting, and he told me he and his son own some property near there, but I would have to ask him if I could go there. I called him this morning, and he was very nice and told me to go ahead. He said turkey season is about to start so I'd better get in there ASAP. He didn't have to tell me twice. 😀 The farm is about 50 acres, half of it wooded at least. There was a house there, a small one with a cinder block foundation. Very overgrown and difficult to hunt because there is junk everywhere. There must be a dump behind the house, these were right on top of the leaves: Mostly newer bottles, didn't spend a lot of time there. The fields are divided by ditches, so I searched each one, hunting the "Turn Zone" at each end and zig zagging the field to see if I could find a hotspot. It started out nice this morning but went downhill in the afternoon. 63 became 54. 😵 The first field by the road was unproductive but it got better and better. First thing I found was this nice rein guide, at that moment I knew at least I'd find some 19th century stuff: It was as expected in the part of the field where they turn the animals. Next was this D buckle: Not impressive but in keeping with my observations. As I got away from the first 30-50 feet I got a solid 58 on the edge of the field and this came up: 1898 "V" nickel in pretty good shape for this area, they're always trashed but sometimes you get a date. 👍 That was it for that division, next field was much larger. Went to the far turn zone and got another 58, and this came up: 1936(8) Buffalo nickel with a readable date! Yay. Must have been in pretty good shape when it was lost. Began my zigzag of the last field, hoping there might be a silver coin, but I wasn't prepared for this at all. I found this 3 feet away from it, and knew the game had changed. I've found a few of these lately, and before I get to the main event... I have a detecting buddy who makes all kinds of innovative and cool stuff, he's a real genius and I respect him a lot more than he knows. At Christmas last year he sent me and a couple of other guys one of these: A cast 4 leaf clover that we all put on our gear. I'm not a superstitious person, but since I put that thing on my finds bag, my silver count has gone up, I dug a 1694 Scottish Twopence, and I'm not even digging much junk 🤣 It was said the Twopence was the find of a lifetime, but it just got beat today. Got a sweet sounding 75 while at the edge of this last field, and dug this, I got it identified by my other good pal @dogodogwho I really miss on this forum, he's a hell of a person and a great detectorist: Half of a 1607 Hammered King James 1 silver Sixpence. At first I thought it was Spanish, but my buddy jumped on it and got the correct ID: Good Lord, never in my life did I think I'd find something like this! 😅 Well there ya have it, Lady Liberty, a Buffalo, and King James, all in a field. Trash was nothing. I think one of the pull tabs is very old, maybe Mary Queen of Scots... 🤣
  19. Gotta say after finding that 1607 sixpence half, today was very relaxing. February 28th started out cloudy, but ended up sunny and warm. I invited Chase to pick a place and he chose a farm near me, we've found lots of great stuff here. The farmhouse was built in the 1740s and is still in use, the family that owns it has been there for a very long time. I got there early, poor Chase has a 2 hour drive to get here. Today I decided to hunt the "Turn Zone" of this field, we've hunted this farm many times but never by the road where they turned the animals plowing. As usual it provided me with many finds. We hunted mostly in this area and some other places, but I got nearly everything here. First the trash, no more than a handful, my program works very well and I don't dig much junk. Next, the stuff that doesn't fit in a display case: The stirrup was the only iron thing I dug today, it insisted it was a 78 until I finally excavated it almost 2' down. Even fooled my discriminating pinpointer! Got a small 3-ringer, ~52 caliber. Another ox knob that either has a stick in it or horn material. A heavy brass door knob escutcheon, what I think might be a heavy brass heel protector and a split ring half. Now for the finds destined for display: Some buckle bits, a stud, and some odd rounded thing that may be a squashed bullet. 10 buttons, the largest only slightly larger than a penny. One broken Tombac with a shank, one small fancy decorated one, and a couple silverwash and one silver plated. For coins I got a 1945 wheat, and a 1906 IHP. Only walked 3.5 miles today, it all came from about a 4 acre spot in this huge field. Chase got some interesting stuff too.
  20. Yet another beautiful day here in sunny VA, it got up to about 67 again. I had been talking to Chase about some new mapping Intel I got on the farm we've been hunting, located some roads and a large field way out back that was used for something and seemed to have a cellar hole and some foundations. I got there first and found some newer relics at a site where a "staff" house was. Interesting point, this farm is the oldest of my permissions, found out that it dates back to the mid 1600s. The possibilities here are as enormous as the farm. There were indentured "staff" here until Emancipation. Here's the gratuitous big picture, the farm is huge, and today I had my trusty Equinox 600 with the Coiltek 10x5. Chase thought we should hit this place with the Equinox to see if we were missing stuff with our Deus 2s. I haven't used mine in months so I was up for that! He brought his new Equinox 900. (We both had Deus 2s with us in our backpack vests, can't get too far away from totally wireless 😏) Absolutely monster hunt today, we walked almost 6 miles over nearly 8 hours. This is a 400 acre farm so it's huge! We went to the farmhouse location, checked over where we detected, and found literally nothing. Tells us both the Equinox isn't going to do any better than the Deus 2 here. After that rather disappointing event we decided to cross the winter wheat to where the entrance to the field was, the last time it was visible was in the 60s, it has overgrown completely. It's also 80 feet lower than this field, so the paths to it are steep. We decided to save it for another time. There's Chase digging something or other. 😀 I had 3 stages of finds today, the trash was horrendous, but even with the Equinox I don't get much iron. All the usual suspects. Next the larger finds that won't fit in a display case: Some pretty cool brass, rein guides and other stuff, including an octagonal shaker top that you have to twist to open by lining up the holes. Finally the finds : A 51 caliber 3 ring bullet, dog tag, a stamped piece of something, a small button that says "PREMIER", a plain 2 piece button, two really old buttons with no backmarks, and two 4 hole overall buttons I found at the "staff" site. Not over yet though. I mentioned that at the end of a hunt you sometimes get a "Thank You for saving history" find, and today was the coolest one ever: A solid silver button. Drop it on a table and it rings like a quarter and it's just about as big. At first I thought it was engraved, but I think it's just really scratched from hundreds of years in the field. From what I hear these are pretty rare finds, so it made my day, and I bought dinner for my wife. 😀 Chase also treated me to a demo of the Axiom, that detector is incredible. I can't thank him enough for sharing his knowledge with me personally. When I got home I was treated to this rare sight, the crescent moon, Venus, and Jupiter in a row in front of my house. They aren't very clear but it was cool.
  21. I have been over this area many times with the Equinox 800 and Deus 2. It is in one of Denver's oldest public parks that is named after P.T. Barnum who owned much of the original park land and had a mistress living nearby that he would visit when he was in town. The World War 1 era military coat button and 1918 thoroughly beat up Mercury silver dime were found about 8" from each other down about 6" deep. I also found a couple of Wheat pennies and a dozen or so copper Memorial pennies from the early 1960s nearby scattered in a continuous carpet of aluminum and rusted iron trash. Yes, the Equinox 900 was falsing on the many rusty bent nails that are 6"+ deep in this park. I dug a few just to learn what they sound like. I didn't detect a large area but wow did I hear hundreds and hundreds of trash targets. These finds are old for the Denver area and I am very lucky and happy to find them with the Equinox 900.
  22. I've been meaning to get up to the foot hills for months now.. It's only an hour and a half away but it might as well be 3000 miles when you let distractions get in the way. My main reason for wanting to get in that ground was two fold. I needed to try out my GPX 6000 in some historic gold bearing ground since I had it modified due to the factory recall. Second and less important was to see how the Manticore reacted to some hot dirt away from where I normally detect. . I've been to this place many times. It's a hard hunt every time. Two gold coins and multiple seated we've pulled out of here over the years. One can only dream about what what it was like 40 yers ago. I started out with the GPX 6000 detecting where I have found some gold in the past. I hunted for about an hour and a half with the stock 11" coil and the GPX purred like a kitten the whole time. A big difference from my last outing at this spot. I did not find any gold but dug lots of lead pellets that sounded good. Happy with the repair so far. Went back to the truck and grabbed the Manticore for a walk about. i've hunted the heck out of this spot with the nox 800 and what I discovered was that the Manticore for the most part works the same as the 800 but...with the advanced screen. Pulled a few big 50 cal musket balls and a few other non ferrous junk on an extensive walk about without any drama. Went back to the truck for beer and grabbed the Deus 2 to finish off the day digging in some iron infested areas near where the old camp sites are. Any solid non ferrous targets here are so sparse that any time you get a solid beep its like a revelation of sorts. So when I got a solid 63 on the deus 2 I expected another musket ball but to my surprise a solid round gold colored disk makes it to the light of day. My first thought was I got a 1$ gold coin...but after my eyes focused I could see some engravings on it so then i was just as happy to see that I had dug Love token made from a gold coin! And that is what I thought until this morning when I finally had a chance to clean it enough (one hour tumble with CLR) to look at it with a loop to see that it had a heavy gold plate on it. So this is what 150 year old bling looks like...it even has serrated edges like a coin would have. In the end it was a beautiful day and I got to hook up with my old friend (the property owner) and chat for a couple hours in a wonderful place. Also a pic of the Deus 2 for you wireless lovers 🙂 strick
  23. Today had a cold start but we're going into La Niña warm again this week, started out at 34 and got up to 57. It was also windy. I used the Deus 2 and 13" coil with my relic program. Today I hunted a very large field near my house, going to places I haven't hunted because there didn't seem to be anything there. 😀 I've been getting a lot better than I used to be with scouting, today ended up being pretty good! About a year ago the farmer of this 200 acre farm told me there was another barn here but I never found it. First I hunted the extended field and only got a spoon and some bullets. The next section I went to seemed to have nothing, but I was walking around the edges in the "turn zone" looking to find coins. This field has been hit hard in all the known places, but I now know of two that haven't been discovered. The first one gave me a lot of old relics, coins and buttons, even a KG3 cent last year and a standing liberty quarter last Sunday. It was a house no one knew about. I got back out to the big field, and turned back into the field I had circled to check the center, often people gathered in the center of these fields, and this happens to be where horse racing and training occurred. Started hearing iron, a lot of it, and found my first button. None of the buttons I found today were even the size of a penny, they came up in the 50s and 60s on the D2. Most were co-located with iron so in some places I had to turn reactivity up to 2, but mostly ran it at 0. Digging was easy, it's been a while since it rained, and there was only a light ice crust on the field which melted quickly as it warmed up. So here's what I got: The largest and most undamaged thimble I've ever found, an old thin spoon marked "Alaska", the only word I can read on it where makers marks are. 7 small buttons, none even as large as a dime. One huge Dandy button with edge decoration, a very cool extremely old brass buckle I found all 3 pieces of, part of a big frame buckle, a couple small bits and some unusual whatzit. A couple of the small buttons are decorated too, this place has very old stuff so they're also more toasted than other places, the first has a circle and square: This one has a star in the center and a circle, possibly a wreath and it looks like it has reeding around the edges: I've never found a full shoe or knee buckle, but this one I got all of. I wish I found more of this one! And here's the whatzit, no idea. It's copper, it was an 81. Here's the big thimble: It's brass and appears to have markings on top. Trash today wasn't even a handful.
  24. Looked at the weather this morning, it looked like the rain would hold off until afternoon. I grabbed my WS6 Master and gear and loaded the golf cart up, I thought I'd go hit a local spot I got some great finds in over a year ago. I know this field looks like all the others, 😀 but it's less than a mile from my house. It's a 200 acre farm that has given up some good stuff but should have been better had it not been bushwhacked by another detectorist who really didn't have permission. They didn't know there was anything in this field, there was a house here up to the 60s, and it's long gone. It's just a small hotspot that I dug a lot of great military buttons and other relics, mostly Victorian. I hunted around this spot for a while, got a 1918 wheat and a pretty cool Blue Bell jacket button, a really old one. Blue Bell ended up being a part of Wrangler, but I don't know when. Got to looking way back in the field, I really hadn't searched much there. There was next to nothing until I got in a wash, a dip in the field that runs into a ravine. I had a feeling something would turn up. I suddenly got a 90, dug my plug, and then it shot up to 95. I thought "oh great, a deep aluminum or steel can". 😵 However, this field doesn't have much trash at all... Well my feeling became reality. 🥳 My first Standing Liberty quarter! I know some of you probably find these a lot, but here it's a shocker 🤯 I've finally done it tho, Seated, Standing, Walking, and a Barber. Yay. Only took almost 3 years. Went back to the hotspot, dug a few more things, and it started raining. I was happy so I jumped in the cart, went back to the house, and took my wife out to lunch. 😀 Got a small spoon, a button back of some sort, very thin and broken, and a razor handle. Got silver! 🙂 Not much trash today.
  25. Not too long ago I added a 550 acre permission to my "portfolio", one of the people I meet knew the owner and asked him if I could hunt his huge old farm, he doesn't visit it often. The person told me that the owner said it was fine, that the place had been detected but we were welcome to go there. Yeah, that's it in the distance, about a half mile away from where I had to park. Walking across bean stubble swinging a detector isn't the easiest thing to do, those stalks can actually hold your weight sometimes! There was a lot of walking to do. I invited Chase to hit this place for the first time with me, I wanted him to get a chance to hunt a permission I hadn't been to 😀 I got there early, he was running pretty late so I checked out one portion of this place that was off to the right, supposedly there was a house there long ago. I found some evidence of it but nothing of real interest was there. Ended up going to the top of this hill, and found a few things going up and coming back. Even though this farm has been hunted, the mass expanse of field leaves plenty of promise for cool random finds. By the time I got back to the other end of this field, Chase arrived and immediately got something great. We went for the prize, when we got to where the farmhouse and barns are, I called the owner directly and asked him if there was anything off limits. He said no, and we could keep everything we find! Man, the people here are so generous. 👍 Hunting around the farm was a chore, there was stuff everywhere. The fact that others had been there (the owner said about 25 years ago) didn't much deter us. The coolest place was around this cellar hole and foundation. This was just the Kitchen, the main house stood next to it but is long gone. We hunted all around it, and it into the field around it. Chase did quite a bit better than me, but I had a great time. Here's my stuff: A bit boss, a small piece of flatware handle stamped "ENT.", probably patent. An interesting button that says "Towers Wire Fastened" on it. A completely unmarked aluminum token about the size of a quarter, 3 wheats, 1909, 1912, and 1941, an IHP from 1890. I have no idea that the brass cap with the holes is, next to it is a stamped metal flower that decorated something with a clip on the back. Part of it is missing. Last but certainly not least is a huge dandy button! No fancy decoration. I hope Chase will drop in with his finds at some point, they were pretty awesome. Heck he can do a thread of his own with those! 👍 we didn't even explore half of this place. More like a fifth.
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