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Yesterday it rained something fierce, remnants of the storm that trashed Colorado and some of the southern states. The Blue Ridge mountains are a saving grace, storm lines coming due East get ripped up, so we get a break. A low formed off the coast to meet that other low, and snow is coming along with the first day below 36 we've had all winter. We usually get something by now. I'm retired, the backyard is soupy, it was a warm but cloudy day, so what better to do than return to my new fields that are producing! There is a distinct difference between fields that are turbo tilled as opposed to fields that are deep tilled. Today 2 inches of rain kept me out of the deep field again, it was muddy the last time but not as bad as today. I stuck to the larger bean field where Chase and I found some great stuff, but went to places I hadn't been. It's sandy clay, and drains pretty fast. Today's haul wasn't spectacular, but I still got some decent stuff: First off, I stepped out of the truck, unloaded my gear, fired up my headphones and Equinox, and in two swings I got a 15/16, what usually means a button here. Imagine my surprise when I dug an 1883 IHP. 🤔 Maybe the wet ground or ground balance had something to do with it, but most of the buttons I found later were the same as the second IHP, I think it's an 1864. It was fat but put the red in red cent. 😁 1884 or 1864? I think the big round buckle is some sort of sash buckle, but please any input is welcomed. Got one big convex Tombac, here is the back: And one of the oddest things, the little ball of unknown metal that sparkles, has apparent facets, and appears to be sintered. Might be a buckshot ball, I found two of them, both 10/11. I got one stud that spears to be either pewter or silver, I'll have to test it. The other is brass. I hit a spot where either someone had difficulty with a horse, or where they rested after racing. I'll have to ask the landowner. The other stuff looks like parts of tack. Not bad for a short random hunt! I probably won't get back out there for about a week.

It's going to rain here all weekend, it went up in the 60s today so I hit the new permission. There is a road that separates two fields, one side has 18/1900s relics and coins, the other is mostly 16/1700s. It really is that different! I did dig a Brown Bess buttplate on the newer side, and gave it to the landowner when he dropped by. Not sure what the notch was for. I had a guest digging with me, and we went to the older side, even tried the "green" area but it was so muddy we went back to the bean field. You can see the difference in this photo: Here's what I dug today, hopefully my guest will post his finds at some point, we both found a few buttons each. I dug 5 today, one that was backmarked "GILT" with a wreath, the top part of a two piece, another flat one with "TREBLE GILT STD COLOUR", and a small round button with a shank. The 5th is on the right, I found it in the newer field. It's a small military service button. For coins there was a 1910 and 1944 wheat, and an 1899 IHP. Next row is a very old hinge that puts the early in early American, a D buckle and the other half of the locket I found the last time. The last piece appears to be part of a pewter horse, it was tough to figure out. Bottom is a thin gear, smallest rivet that ever gave me a 26 ID, and a buckle fragment. Trash wasn't too bad, in the older field when you get a good ID it's more likely to be something good. Can't wait for 2022! 😀 Happy new year!

I was invited on a short prospecting trip by one of our "Elite" members recently...The weather was great.... the company was amazing and the late night camp fire discussions were intellectually entertaining...if that makes sense. I was basically spoon fed these relics during my short stay... Most interesting for me is the butterfly buckle...and the badge...neither of which I was able to find on the internet. I mean who wears a butterfly buckle? Thanks for looking and all comments are greatly appreciated regardless of who's making them. strick

Virginia was blessed with a beautiful day after Christmas, it got up to 62 today, no wind, and sunny. So far I'm loving this winter, we seem to be getting a lot of great days to go metal detecting. Today I slapped the 11" coil on the Equinox, I knew I was gonna have a lot of ground to cover. This spot is huge, about 300 acres. The above shot is about halfway up the field, there is much more behind me. It's all a part of this old farm dating back to the late 1600s or so. There's a cell tower way back there that was tossing EMI out into the field but noise cancel, reduced sensitivity and ground balance saved the day. I hunted this field for about 2 hours, dug a ton of buck balls and shotgun shells and old cans, there really isn't much way out back. All the way back I finally got a good signal and popped a 1920 wheat penny. I headed back, trying all the tricks of reading the land, checking rises and areas where there would be shade in the hotter parts of the day. I started heading back to my truck for some coffee, and looked under a "signal tree" where I've found great coins in other fields. I wasn't disappointed: I got a nice 26-28 and dug this beauty, a first for me! 1876 seated liberty dime. It was kinda mangled from the get go, but still looks ok, it was about 4" down. I never expected to find silver here as I have heard this place was hit by others. Apparently not in this area. Found some old roads and followed them a bit, on the second one I dug the dog tag and the token: The dog tag has a member of the landowners' family name on it, so he may be glad when I make up a gift case for him after I've cleaned out the place 😀 The token is cool, 1890s to about 1930s ad for a laxative! I also dug the undated clad dime and the 1976 memorial on that road. It went to a really nice pond. got the old button and the ox knob on the way out, so scouting showed me where the colonial stuff will be. The button has backmarks of the typical "gilt" variety. What a day.

I've been pretty busy since I did my last post, "Sometimes you have to mow". Been getting the house ready for Christmas, but I did go metal detecting a few times. I mowed another permission, an old farmhouse site that looks promising: I believe these are cannon carriages, but I'm not sure. there are 3 old buildings here, and a fourth with two silos behind it. Hunting this place before I mowed it was rather difficult, Chase was with me the first time and we really didn't find much in the tall grass. It was kinda interesting though, I dug what I think might be an old Chinese coin, but it has no identifying marks other than the square hole. a couple of buckles, remains of a small pocketknife, one no date wheat, a memorial and a clad quarter. Dug a small pistol ball, brass finial, a small nozzle and another one of those grommets that look like a ring. 😵 Chase had a similar experience. Went back and mowed the place and only searched the area in front of the truck barn and the silos, not much there but it was interesting as well: 3 clad dimes, one 1971 memorial, 4 Zincolns. Nice all brass buckle and a chrome plated peace sign. 😀 Which all brings me to today, I thought I was gonna write "Sometimes you need to mow 2", but nope. Today, Chase came and brought his mentor, I'll call her "Deb". She is a long time detectorist who had helped him along over the years with places to hunt, and a wealth of historical knowledge. We all met at the farm, but we quickly found that she was having a time with digging there because the ground is dry now. We decided to visit a farm we only scouted a while ago, it's pretty big but we didn't find much there the last time except for this little guy: "Deb" read the field, found some musket balls and then moved on to a bit of higher ground, and got us both going finding buttons and all sorts of interesting stuff. Chase knocked out the first coin of the day, a nice green IHP, and one of the most interesting Dandy buttons I have ever seen with a sunburst pattern on it. He generously gave it to "Deb" as a memento of the trip. I wasn't finding much myself: A couple of overall buttons, an interesting front of a two-piece with circles in a triangle, some buckle fragments and a copper nail washer. "Deb" left as she had a long ride home, and Chase and I continued to search the high ground. Finally we headed out across the farm to check out another spot which didn't have much of anything, so we headed back toward our vehicles to call it a day. I veered off to explore another bit of high ground, and I'm glad I did, as the find of the day hit me as a 25/26 on the Equinox, I thought I'd finally found an IHP: I realize this is a long story but the end was worth it if I didn't bore you to death above. 1690 Bolivia or Peruvian mint silver Spanish 1 Real Cob. It's a "pillars and waves" type only minted in one of those countries, the mint mark is not there. 331 years old! Officially the oldest thing I have found. I dragged Chase over to that spot but we didn't get to hunt it long, the farmer came out and told us the area we were standing in was a trading post. 😀 It's literally his front yard. We talked for a long time about the history of the place and ended up with 3 new permissions, but I'm pretty sure we will be back here soon!

Local parks with the Equinox 15" coil running in Park 1. The Panama coin was on the surface right below the grass. The car was in the outfield of a ballfield, and the Firestone nozzle was in an area of a park that is now used for equine related endeavors. Any ideas about the other item that has rusting iron with the center piece that is decorative? Love being in FL this time of year vs. being in a colder climate and knowing there is a coin under the frozen layer of soil that will have to wait for the spring to extract!

Returned to the new permission today, it got up in the 50s so it was pretty pleasant. I went to a spot further away from the farm where I had marked some house sites. I found two of them anyway. First I hunted this field, found nothing but buck balls and some mason jar scraps. I did two diagonals across it, walked the far end, and did find a patch iron but after a bit of walking around found nothing of interest. You can see the farm off in the distance on the other side of the highway. Heading back I spotted this old house way back in the woods, I hunted around it for a while and only found a couple of aluminum buttons. I'll probably return to this place but hunting is difficult again due to the overgrowth. There is a deer stand right next to it, and a camera. I let it photograph me 😀 Got tired of tripping on stuff at that house, so I went across the highway to this one, visible from the road. When I moved here 20 years ago I remember a light on it, I passed it every day going to work just past the farm. I searched around the house, it was tough to swing in the brush but I managed to get my best find of the day near the front door on the right, for some reason this tiny house has 2 entrances. 1925 Mercury dime in pretty good shape. It was a solid 28 and only about 4" down. There are a lot of roots so it was hard to get to but my Barracuda shovel cut them nicely. I was hoping I'd find more but only got the antique clothespin in the finds photo: I went back to the place I was yesterday and dug the rest of the coins, most of them came from under the tree swing. 2 Zincolns, 10 pre-1982 memorial pennies, the oldest being a 1959 D. 5 dimes, oldest was 1971. A 1981 quarter. Some of these were multiple coin spills. The lipstick tube top has a woman standing with two children, I'm putting it in the 40s or 50s. At least I can say for sure if there is any silver under my coil I will probably find it. The Merc was pretty heavily masked.

Warm week, I went to the farm I was at before, but there was activity there so I went to another. That one was loaded up with vehicles from the harvest, so I went a little further up the road to the place where I've been finding really old relics. My little buddy was waiting for me, I played with him a bit and gave him some water. Next time I go I'll bring a bag of cat food, looked like he was out except for what was in his bowl. Went around the field again to check whether I have isolated the hot spot, it looked good. The farmer came out and we talked a bit, he really wants me to check out this farm he owns with an old house where only the chimney is left. That should be interesting. I showed him photos of what I've been finding. I have only covered less than a third of this field so far, but this is what I dug today. No coins, but all relics are really old. It reminds me of the stuff I found in the farm in front of my house last year, but that was all 1700s and up, this place dips into the 1600s. Mangled thimble, some kind of part, today's whatzit. 😀 Nice but broken Tombac, part of a very old buckle. A rolled up button with a circle around it but no backmarks, a small quarter of a circle piece of lead. Really cool stud or button with iron on the back, it has a nick, and a flower pattern on front. Ancient Tombac stud with the tri-lobe pattern, it has two hooks on the reverse. Last is either a small drawer pull or a strap guide, it appears to have had two iron bolts or screws in the back. It's cast with a leaf pattern. Here's the closeup of the whatzit: Anyone recognize this thing? It's brass, it was in the 20s. Countersunk for a screw. Here's some other metal "trash" I dug, just keeping it around because of its age. This field is the cleanest one I go to, if you get a good signal you've got something worth digging. I'm thinking bit boss, a round flat piece of lead, a rolled up piece, and the rest of the parts may be a Tombac Crotal Bell. The real trash was nails, lead, aluminum from the fringes of the field, and bits of copper. The large iron triangle could be something from a kettle that was going to be repurposed.

It's been a few days since I got out but I intend to remedy that this week. Today started out at 32 degrees but made it up to the mid 50s quickly. I went to a permission that I have been waiting a while for, the farmers cleared it of soybeans last week, and left it nice and flat for the winter. 95 acres, almost 200 if you count the farm next door but I only have permission to hunt one side, the farmers plant it all but only own one side. There is a long gone farmhouse on the other side, I'll try to get it. Over by the concrete silos the grass is over a foot high, and there are power lines running through that emit a ton of EMI. It's almost impossible to hunt over there, and further up the road the lines go underground on the left side taking out the first 30 feet or so. The road is almost a mile long. There was a house near the silos on the other side of the road, the largest one is about 60 feet. Supposedly the family that farmed this place was very poor, and the log cabin style house (now gone) had about 12 occupants. That is where I searched today, and it was unusual. All I found for coins today were nickels! This means in my opinion the place got cherry picked for pennies, dimes, and quarters, by the dates of the coins I dug there should have been silver. I'm not completely done here but there really isn't much. It's really odd that the only Jeffersons I dug were both 35% silver 1943 P nickels, a first for me. I can't get a date off any of the buffalos. The Jeffs were in the low 20s, and all the Buffalos were around 12/13. Dug a ton of trash here, but the other keepers from it are below: Old Slaymaker padlock, rein guide, small crudely cast pistol ball, a piece of a "Red Cross" padlock, and a highly figured piece of white metal I found out by a signal tree with the old button. The old buckle, probably late 1800s or early 1900s was found at the house site. At the end of the day I tried to hunt a small field by the silos, a couple of large dogs herded me back to the truck. I petted them and left. Luckily they weren't mean.

Today promised 68 degrees and sunny, unusual for an early December day, but I've seen it hit 70 here at Christmas. Then it snows. 😀 I decided to go to the new "trading post" site where I dug the 1690 Cob, just to try and find the edges of the sweet spot. My little buddy was there waiting for me, he came out meowing and purring. He's being fed, I gave him some fresh water and played with him a bit. First off I went to the long road to the farmer's house, like me his driveway is about a half a mile long. There is underground power here, I can hear it. This field is an easy one, sand mixed with clay, and open until spring because it was a bean field. There isn't much trash in it either, not like many of my other spots. It was cut pretty close. My first find was unexpected, a small silver pin that may be sterling but has no hallmarks. It's definitely not aluminum but it appears to be stamped. here is the rest: All pretty much what I expected to find here, very much like the fields in front of my house. Old Spectacle type buckle, lead bag seal with an "R" on it and "Trade 323" on the back. Clad quarter 1977 found near the driveway. Copper spoon handle piece. Small buckle fragment that is near ferrous. An extremely old button (maybe pewter) with a large shank, it might be an octagon but time took its toll. Copper pin, small Tombac stud. Bottom row is what appears to be a bent trigger guard, it's brass and flattened. Old drawer pull and another Tombac piece. Trash wasn't bad, somebody is practicing their swing 😀

No brass just glass today...

Haven't post much lately, haven't done a lot of detecting and haven't found anything worth posting unless you count clad but thought this might be interesting. I have been doing some cleanup hunting with my Tejon, slow methodic sweeps in areas that are pretty cleaned out. I basically run my primary disc to break on a cut nail and 2nd disc I will run it lower than a tab. Any crackle hits I swipe in a couple of directions to see if it comes in clean or if I still get a hit with the alt disc (mixed targets). All faint fringe targets I will dig and generally ignore loud flat shallow targets. Last year on a hill side about 10" down I found this civ war naval button. Was just the front. This year at the bottom of the hill where I found a gold ring and yellow diamond I got another hit but not as deep. Remembering where I found the button and location of this back I believe they are the same button. Back is badly degraded but seems to be the right back for that button and there are not a lot of them in the area.

Got out Sat for a relic hunt. The bottom two relics came from a different location we stopped at on the way home.

https://www.livescience.com/metal-detectorist-finds-dagger-ancient-roman-battle shame theres no id on the coil size if its oval

Show us your iron...don't be shy...here are a couple fresh out of the vinegar bath.

Love the tarsacci in the sandy soil of this part of VA. The tarsacci is a beast with deep brass, it heard some deep targets loud and clear. The thimble was at least 13 inches down. The spoon was about the same. Still have not found a silver coin with the tarsacci but I know I will. I look forward to the DIV in a few weeks and I will be using the tarsacci.

I decided to get the old map out and find some farm houses that have long since disappeared. Took a little while at each one to locate where the house was but I got a couple good finds. My first artillery eagle button and a sterling US Navy ring.

I was trying to find my doctor Scholl's foot insert for a for f350's thred and had to empty my box of junk to find it..only one silver out of all these...couple are engraved. One with the USS Maine. Was fun going through them.

Last night It was warm so I took my off road mower out across the fields to the racetrack farmhouse. It's about a mile and a half from my house, and I don't have to drive on public roads to get there. Headed up there this morning, it was a beautiful day. Got up to 74 today, Indian summer in the mid Atlantic. This is the place that had the long grass from two posts ago. Because the grass was so high I knew that if I cut it down I would find more, and as usual I was not disappointed. I cut it to 4.75 in. because I feared there would be obstacles for the mower, luckily there weren't except for the well. It was easy to get the coil close to the ground. Today I went low and slow, only got through half of it. The finds were pretty interesting, I wonder how I missed them. Most were pretty deep, about 6". Dug a brass skeleton key stamped 48, a piece of shoe buckle, a lead ox knob, an interesting rein guide in great shape. 4 wheats, oldest 1932, newest 1950. A copper button with no shank, the back is pretty corroded but there is a maker mark, I'll have to clean it more. A really interesting button that was shot with a .22, the bullet is still in it. It is very ornate, appears to be two piece, and has an indistinguishable backmark. The last coin is an 1895 IHP. Here is a closer look at the button with the bullet in it: And the back: Pretty good shot. 😀 Shame though, it's one unique button. Anyone recognize it?

Went up to the racetrack again yesterday, thought these finds deserve a post of their own. There is a small plot of land next to where the house stood. It had a barn and the cemetery behind it. It's about a half acre. Lots of corn stalks 😵 At first the going was kinda risky, the wind was blowing about 20 mph, big low off the coast. I had to search under trees in the background and these were falling everywhere. If any of you have ever been hit in the head by one of these Black Walnuts, you know what the fun part is. They were coming down like rain. I suppose I could have waited a few more days but hunting season starts soon. The trees are about 50' or more, and they get a bit of velocity. 😀 I really didn't expect to find much at all, a scout search last spring gave no indication there was anything good here, but I was determined to grid something out of it after my finds from previous days. This is another example of "persistence pays off". All of these relics are very old. A pistol ball, an as yet unidentified fired ~45 cal bullet (the sharp end is throwing me off). The first button says "Gilt Colour" and something else on the back and still has some thread. Second has a triangle on the front and possibly some other marks, and says "Plated" on the back. The third is my favorite, an ancient convex Tombac with some off-center engraving. It has a square shank boss on the back. By afternoon someone was shooting a handgun in my direction, must have fired about 100 rounds. I didn't hear any "snaps" so I presumed the shooter was on a lower elevation and hoped there was a backstop. 🙄 Guess I'm gonna have to get a boat horn. 😵 Another bit of excitement was coming across two of these "little" guys building webs across the corn stalks in front of me. The Yellow Garden Spider can grow to 1 1/2 inches in body length. They rarely bite but if they do you know it, those fangs flip out. I'm glad that metal detectors are out in front. 😀 I let them both carry on... 😬

Went out yesterday and today grid searching the racetrack area and the old farmhouse. Yesterday I didn't find much, a couple of old wheats and a pistol ball, a pocket watch adjusting weight and a very small button, what may have been on a shirt or shoe. I let the person that was shooting know that I was going to leave a flag out when I am out on the field near the gate. This morning I went out again, another blustery fall day. Didn't think I'd find much more but boy was I wrong. Today I hunted an area behind where the farmhouse was, there were two sheds as well. All is gone but the well now, luckily they filled it in because it can't be seen. The area is only about an acre. About halfway through the day I noticed I was already down a third on the Equinox battery, so I flew back to the house and grabbed my PD battery pack because I started finding coins and wanted to finish the field. I bungeed it to the shaft. It doesn't weigh that much so while the detector is charging I can drive on. It will charge the machine fully at least twice. It was a great day. Got an 1897 IHP, a 1908 V Nickel, 3 old wheats (1917,1919,1920), another old button, an iron hunting overall button marked "SWEET ORR", a musket ball and an adjustment tool of some kind not shown. The tiny thing at the bottom was the big find of the day, 1/3-ish of an 1852 Trime. It's difficult enough to find a Trime, but at least I got the good part! It appears to have either been clipped or broken, I could not find any of the other pieces.

We had a monster storm yesterday that dumped almost 3" of rain on us, but Thursday I got out for a little while, and went back to the same place today. I'm gridding a really hard hit area at the old horse race track. Where the grass is an old house and a couple of barns stood. It's at the end of the track, a half mile straight. There was another big barn here too that I posted finds from previously. I didn't find much but what I did find was good. Thursday in 3 hours I got these: 3 wheats, 1918, 1919, and a 1957. A small Baptist Sunday School attendance pin, silver plated and enameled. A nickel plated D buckle, and a couple of whatzits. I think the object on the right is just a splattered bullet. Today I got out there again, it was a pretty dangerous day. While I was hunting I kept hearing black powder gunshots, almost all in my direction. I did range work in the Army, and sure know when I'm being fired at. Have to say it made me a little nervous. 😬 Luckily I didn't hear any 'snaps', nor the sound of anything passing. Did pretty good, got an old fancy pocket knife, a re-purposed old sinker, and another whatzit. If you look close at the knife it's decorated 1800s style, lots of figuring around the brass scales. Today's finds were scant but better, a 1917 wheat, a 1905 IHP, an 1800s round ball two piece button, and a flattened thimble marked "Singer Sewing Machines". Not a great couple of hunts but good enough for me. The IHP was an interesting find, I dug because I got iron tones and ID's with a 21/24 mixed in. Upon pulling the plug the high tones disappeared, and all I heard was iron. I put the plug back and went on, but something told me to go back. I pulled the plug out again, checked it with my pinpointer, plucked some nails, and when I broke the plug open, the penny dropped out. 😀 Drove back up the road on my golf cart, and when I got to the end there was a guy zeroing the scope on a Black Powder rifle, pointed right at me behind his target. He apologized for not knowing I was there. Good thing he didn't pull the trigger.

Went back to the farmhouse today, Chase wanted some detector time so I invited him down. It was a cold morning, 50s and windy but good for the hard work ahead. Chase got there shortly after I did, my first find was a 1990 nickel, and it really didn't get much better. I had to dump my trash bag 4 times, lots of plumbing parts, matchbox car parts again, molten metal and just about everything that gives a false good VDI and tone. Bullet shells, you name it. 😀 The place is getting sort of lean. Here's what I got, some of it is interesting: The usual clad and memorials, nothing older than 1972. Remains of some kind of brooch with rhinestones, it was pretty mangled but still had 3 stones. A 3 ring bullet flattened, some sort of knob that has a coin edge. The most interesting finds aside from the bullet were the aluminum penny token which is about the size of a quarter, and the small brass "E. Faber" fountain pen tip case which contains a small pencil. The token is corroded and broken so that the date doesn't show, just the bottom of the memorial and "One Cent" on the back. It was a fun day, always good to have Chase along. He found some stuff too.

Kinda an iffy day today, I was worried it would rain this morning but I drove just outside it to the farmhouse I've been hunting (and mowing). They tilled the field so all the cornstalks were knocked down! This made hunting outside the circle easy. Here are the finds, I dug so much trash, most of it was broken Matchbox cars, even a small helicopter. I have dug at least 10 or so cars in parts. Shame, I would much rather dig a coin collection than a matchbox collection. Even dug a Wonder Bread truck! They are everywhere. Got the usual clad, all 70's to 2012. 6 wheats from 1911 to 1947. 4 dimes, 3 memorials and 3 Zincolns. I was thrilled to find a piece of Civil War Calvary spur to put in my display box, dug a whole one just like it last time. The brass ring thing is some sort of tack as well. The 1911 wheat fooled me, at first I thought I had an IHP, it was so green. Best find of the day albeit in parts about 4" apart was the sterling leaf earring. It could be soldered back together, and the screw still works.

Finally got around to getting permission to mow a circle in a farm where an old house stood. The grass was at least 12" tall making it tough to search it. Beautiful day, started in the 50s, went up to 75, nice breeze, not a cloud in the sky. Loaded up my off road mower and drove down to the farm. Only took about an hour to mow the place, I blew all the grass out of the circle. Cut it down to around 4", and also mowed the sides and center of the road. The circle is about an acre. The house stood off to the left. I didn't really start finding a lot until the afternoon, mostly digging molten metal, bits of junk, pull tabs and beer cans. Here are the finds, all clad/memorials but for one 1930 wheat penny, and 6 Zincolns. I think I found where the front door was, I dug the keys and then started finding spills of coins, one had at least 6: My favorite find of the day was this tag, at first I thought it was a holed large cent but it turned out to be this: 1930s "Tail Waggers Club" ID tag. TWC started in England in 1929, quickly spread to the US. Apparently from looking at pictures of other tags this is a very low number so it's one of the originals. TWC was a charity for animal rescue and was very successful. It still exists in some form today. It says "I Help My Pals". Bonus: they came to till the place in the afternoon, so now I don't have to worry about corn stalks and can find the other 5 buildings.