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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". 🤣

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.

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.

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. 🙂

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. 😀

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... 🤣

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Not a great day today, never got much over 45 degrees but the wind was light enough to go hunting. Went to the big farm again. I was headed to the distant tree line, I found a hotspot there where a house stood long before recent memory. On the way I did a little random hunting where the barns and paddocks were behind the house, silver was found there last couple of trips. All I got there today was a button and some kind of gold plated broach. The button surprised me, haven't found too many here but that was going to change. It's kind of large, either held a big glass stone or maybe a timepiece. Went over next to the house, and dug a ~1930s lipstick case and a 1937 Canada penny. The penny wasn't in great shape, but again an odd find. I headed along what I thought was the "road" in to where the house was, and got some early stuff, a Tombac in pretty bad shape and a shankless gold plated button with backmarks: Also a tiny ladle shaped bit. The other side is a bowl, no idea what it might be used for but it's very old. Finally got to the spot I wanted to concentrate on, and the finds kept coming! Got 3 IHP's, 1881, 1887, and 1895. At last some old coins! These pretty much give the era of this house, the new one was built in 1903. Here's the total haul today, a mixed bag of stuff, mostly Victorian: I even got a ~.50 caliber 3 ring bullet. Great double D buckle with a brass pin, first time I've found one with an intact pin. An old spoon with no monogram or makers mark, a couple overall buttons and a four hole. Probably the most interesting bits I dug today were these two filigree objects: neither appear to be buttons, just stamped decorations. Pretty good day! I was hoping for a Barber or seated coin, the era is right, but nothing stood out. Maybe the residents at the time were very careful of their silver. 😀

Got out for a bit yesterday to see what I could find on some places I've hit hard locally. Started out fairly warm, but late the wind came up and that was the end of T-shirt hunting this week! 😵 The first place I went was this spot on the big plantation where a house once stood, it's grassy and full of trash. It rained the day before so I really didn't want to get all muddy, walking in grass is damp but better. 😀 I used the WS6 Master rig with both my relic program and a version of Silver Slayer that only finds objects ID'ing from 87-99, as you only get one notch. I hunted around here for an hour or so, got lots of high tones but they were mostly aluminum bottle caps and whole beer cans. Ended up with 5 coins, all modern. No Zincolns though! Next I've been meaning to hunt this field right near the old house that was built around 1740. I had been told that it was heavily hunted before, so I didn't expect much. Only spent about 45 minutes here, nothing but can slaw and deep cans. This time I used the 13", but the grass was kinda high for swinging the big coil. Finally went out to the big field and hacked around randomly. Here's the take: There I got the big D buckle, 4 buttons, some kind of knob, a buckle fragment and a very old syringe top, by far one of the odd finds so far. The buttons were one ball button, one two flat, medium and small, and the top part of a two piece that looks like a rose: The knob was a 93, and one of the stranger objects I've found: it has a square hole on the small end and a set screw hole. Very heavy brass. Last is the syringe top, kinda weird to find one this old! I had to be really careful cleaning it up. Trash was less than a handful in this field. Old pocket knife end and the usual metal junk, pistol and buck balls. Not even a handful. The relic program I'm using is pretty successful, if a few of you more experienced people are bored enough to want to try it, let me know. I doubt it will be great for mineralized areas, but in fairly clean farm hunting it is a killer. I'd like to get some impressions! Notice I dig almost no iron, the discrimination makes it stay where it should be for the most part. It is an "all metal" program using full tones, it will really sound off when you hit shallow targets, and reactivity is so low that you will have to investigate every medium to high "blip" you hear. 🙂

Days like today are rare in the winter, but I'm thrilled I get to take advantage of them. It was already t-shirt weather by the time I got out, it got into the 60s today, sunny and no wind. Perfect! I hit this field late last spring, got a lot of great buttons and a small brass cannon. There was a house here long ago, just a small two room shack probably inhabited by plantation "staff". I finally found the cellar hole for it. Searched around it a bit, but found nothing. On a hill nearby is a big iron patch, I think a barn burned there or the house was pushed there and burned. Today I wanted to see how the 13" did finding stuff in it. It did ok, but even Silver Slayer didn't produce anything, so I just hunted in my custom relic program that has been doing well for me. For a place I hit hard, I did ok. I had to park my truck at the entrance to this field, about 2 acres I don't have permission to but no one minded me parking there. They tell me the owner isn't worried about it, and the farmers are done for the year. Only got a handful of trash today, molten metal from the fire, copper nails, bullets, buck balls and the like. It really only is a handful 😏 Here's the take: A bit boss, 3 buttons - one overall, one silverwash and one small. 4 coins, 2 IHPs, 1888 and 1889, a 1963 memorial, and a silver 1950 Roosevelt dime! Got the dime heading back to my truck for a Coke. 😀 Got 3 pieces of what I think is an ancient fancy buckle, a parasol slide (thanks, JCR!) A large piece of cast brass that was attached to something and broke, a buckle fragment and an odd two headed bent copper nail. If anyone knows what that is I'd appreciate it! 😀 It's a curiosity for sure. I was glad to find anything at all here, and thrilled to yet again get a silver coin. Maybe this year I'll be luckier with that. Also found some old bottles, but left them there. There is a dump site on the edge of the ravine, the clear one says "Old Witch", apparently an ammonia brand. I don't think they are very valuable, and the ravine is dangerous, drops off almost 100 feet in some spots.

Over the weekend I took another look at some old topographic maps of the old farm I've been hunting. I found I had mis-marked the position of a house that was on the old maps up to 1944, but is now gone. It's kind of a good thing I did because I wouldn't have found all that 1600s stuff I've posted lately. 😏 In addition, I wanted to try Silver Slayer behind the existing house, the house, barns and paddocks completely bisect the farm in one straight line. Everything is gone behind the house now, it's all open field but there is a ton of junk left behind. I invited Chase to come down and check the new spot out. I got there early, it was cold this morning but warmed to to 50, albeit windy most of the day. This farm is about 100 acres, and we can only park on one side. While I was waiting for Chase I searched this area, we already hit it pretty hard. All I got was a musket ball and this tiny button. too bad the glass insert is long gone. I have found one with the glass intact. This is the first button we've found in this farm! After a while Chase arrived, and we headed across this field, just for the heck of it when we crossed the building line I changed over to Silver Slayer, swung a few times and got a 96. Dug this pretty beat up 1947 D quarter! My first silver of the year. 🥳 We finally got to where I had marked the new house position, and sure enough the relics and coins started popping up. The first one I got was this silver plated spoon handle with a "T" on it, I'll have to find out if anyone knows the name of who lived here in the 1800s. It's possible no one does. It ended up being late 1800s Gorham silver plate, I later found the bowl with the marks on it. The anchor indicates the era, according to this chart, but it's a bit confusing. Here's the haul for the day, we went back to the house but didn't find anything great using silver Slayer, last time we were here Chase got a silver dime, but that was it. Got 3 pennies, two IHPs, a 1900 and an 1890, both in pretty good shape. Got a 1910 wheat too. Dug an interesting two piece button: A heart locket that had been separated but I found both halves, a lock slide and some patented item that looks like some kind of lantern mantle: The thing on the right was connected to the thing on the left, you're looking at the back of it with the stamped stuff in reverse. It was the only way I could read anything, so I flipped a photo of it: 1890s patent dates. Got a big buckle and a lock slide, and while walking near the trees I got a very loud 95, and dug this matron large cent. All I can make out is the bust, I don't know the year or type. The reverse has nothing. The trash was pretty heavy today, most of the big stuff dug using Silver Slayer, I want y'all to know it's great for finding coins, but not a "magic" program, you're going to dig junk. 😀 It was a lot of fun, and I had great company. While we were talking to the farmers I got another 550 acres of permission! What a day.

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. 😀 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 😀) 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. 🤔 I wonder what it was used for? Hope on a return visit I find the other one 🤣 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.

I have 4 more areas I'm looking at quickly to get an idea of what is there, one 35 acre field next to the last one I scouted, an old farmhouse field a few miles away, a cellar hole deep in the woods in another area, and a possible war of 1812 landing site. Managed to get to two of them today anyway. Got out pretty early. The first was the 35 acre field across the road from the last field I posted, I didn't expect much of anything because there is no evidence of any house on it. I walked a long time crossing the field and checking the most likely spots, pretty much all I got was lead. Buck balls, bag seals, and one mangled pistol ball. It wasn't until I crossed the center of the field one more time from another direction that I found anything, but I'll tell ya later. 😁 Next up was a small field a few miles away that I suspect was used for subsistence farming, there was a house there but it is long gone. The house was on a bluff overlooking the road where I parked, after dealing with the power line EMI near the road, I finally got up on the hill and things got quiet but not for long. 😵 All of a sudden a couple trucks came down the road carrying digging equipment, and one of the guys asked me to move my truck because they had to dig in a fiber conduit "right there" 😀 I moved it and they got all their equipment running, the ditch drill added more EMI. 😡 Off in the distance I saw another truck, it seemed like the driver was watching me. I was wrong. A while later I heard dogs, and then the shooting started in the woods behind the hill. A bunch of hunters showed up. Dogs and blam blam blam! 😀 Glad I decided to wear my blaze orange vest. At one point I had to duck behind the hill because they got pretty close. That hill was loaded with relics, coins, tokens, hardware. Not a heck of a lot of iron! The stuff ranged from the early 1800s to mid 1900s, I had to change my "Relic Reaper"™ program to reactivity 2 to get more separation. 🤣 Probably could go to 3 next time, but I got enough stuff... First the trash: Not too bad, a little more than a handful. Threw out a couple of steel cans. Next, the hardware and large relics: A few cheap spoon handles, a fork, hinges and sinkers and stuff. A little compact tin with no markings, and an unmarked lipstick tube cover. Now the fun stuff. Got.37 in modern coins, 3 wheats from 1941 to 1958, one 1886 IHP It appears to be a "Type 2", I'm waiting on some cleaning pencils. Got 5 buttons, 2 aluminum, one Tombac but it looks newer, one copper flat. A small pendant thing with one chain link on it, it's brass and heavy. 2 belt buckles, the cheesiest brass one I've ever seen, and a nice decorated one with a "P" on it. This turtle shell thing I dug I have no idea what it was used for or came off of, but it's decorated and heavy. I got a couple pieces of decorated metal that again I have no idea what they were from, and 3 tokens, one broken. The coolest one is this: What the heck is a "Capers Check" ? It was made for a long closed local manufacturing company in town. It's copper and has a big 1 on it. Another is for Snow King Baking Powder, a company that was absorbed by General Mills in 1937: The only way I was able to read any of these tokens was to buff the snot out of them with steel wool. 😀 The third broken one was for a free car wash. And now the pièce de résistance, the object I found smack in the middle of the first field: Civil War eagle "I" button. I have no idea what it was doing in the middle of that field, but I pictured the farmer plowing with the only warm jacket he had, his Civil War wool coat. it finally did quiet down, the hunters got their deer and the diggers left for the day. Glad I didn't get shot. 😎

My wife wasn't feeling all that great this morning, so she said "why don't you go detecting?" Heh, don't need to say it twice. It was going to be another warm day but a bit windy. It's a new permission, a 100 acre farm that one of the landowners told me I could hunt yesterday. Before I left, I was trying to decide which detector to bring, the D2 RC with the CF shaft and 13", or the WS6 Master. I decided to just bring the WS6 rig to see what it would do. 100 acres is a lot of land, to walk across this field and back is a mile. I was going to scout the place and see if there were any hotspots, mark them and move on. A light detector was the ticket, and nothing is lighter than this one. 😀 3 digs into the day turned up this buckle, I'm pretty sure it's 1650s to 1750s. Right then I knew it was going to be an interesting day. 😀 The farmhouse was built in 1903 according to the owner, he is renovating it for his family, and doing a really nice job. He mentioned I could hunt the yard too, he is going to replace it with sod when the house is done. Another time perhaps. There are 35 more acres across the road too! I walked almost all the way across this field, I had looked at topographic maps and they suggested there was another house here much earlier than the farmhouse. I marked it in OnX Hunt. Had to park my truck on one side, the spot I was looking for was on the other. I found the spot on a small bluff facing south to a creek and marsh. The creek is loaded with waterfowl and fish, it was an excellent source of food for the early settlers. I wasn't sure what I'd find here but the prospects were good after finding that buckle. Started hearing a bit of iron so I looked around a bit and ended up on the highest point. I wasn't disappointed. Got an old brass boss, later and closer to the farmhouse a 1963 nickel and a 1908 IHP. Sadly the back is so toasted I can't tell if it's an "S" or not. 😵 I had no idea what the leftmost coin was that I found on top of that bluff, I sent pics to a few friends to see if they could find it. Well one of them did. My good buddy @dogodog sent it to a friend of his and they got me on track to finding this unexpected and extraordinary coin: Turns out it's a 1694 Scottish William and Mary Twopence. https://coinscatalog.net/great-britain/coin-copper-2-pence-km-130-scotland Here are some pictures of what it would look like if it wasn't in a farm in Virginia: I knew the coin was ancient, but not that old! 🥳 The Latin on the front is 'NEMO ME IMPVNE LACESSET’. "No one shall hurt me with impunity". Well I'll be. 🤔 Lots of different currency were used in the Colonies, this was a new one on me! Here's the logo for a very famous Virginia college: Look familiar? Yep. That William and Mary. 🙂 Only got a handful of trash today!

One last day of 2022, so out I went to a local ballfield next to a rec. center. As soon as I stepped out of the vehicle, the drops began with distant rumblings. Sensing a deluge was not imminent, I started with the playground that is padded with wood chips. The swing set gave up some coins as did the rest of the structures. I was almost under the monkey bars when I got a softish solid 6-7 ID in 50 tones. After taking a bit of time to locate the item, even with the pinpointer, the silver, sliver moon showed its face. About 3 feet away, the same numbers displayed which turned out to be the back of the earring; the 10x5 is amazing at finding small stuff! After that, I detected a bit in the turf as the rain intensified. I hit a strange signal that was about a 17 ID. The lapel pin, along with the two backing pieces, was about 4 inches down. Happy hunting to you all in the new year!

Winter is slowly coming here, it's going to rain tomorrow after about 5 days of dry weather. This morning started out at 26 degrees. Doesn't look too bad for a cold morning? It wasn't. No wind, and enough sun to keep warm. I had to ditch a lot of cold weather gear. It's been about 5 days since it last rained so digging was easy. The ground was not frozen and I could get a plug with one shot. It doesn't get better than this. 🥳 Had a good day, within 15 minutes I had a button and a clad dime, and it didn't stop. Guess I was looking in the right places today. Here's 7 hours worth of digging: Ended up with a steel or very heavy aluminum monogrammed tray of some sort, at first I thought it was a hubcap. Can't find it anywhere. Got a piece of big D buckle, and a very "trigger" looking piece, but not sure what it is. 11 buttons today. One big fancy two piece: It has backmarks but I can't get a read. Not military but very cool. Got 2 Tombacs, one has some decoration. The other buttons have the usual backmarks like "Treble Gilt" "Orange Colour", that sort of thing. A couple still have shanks. Got two IHPs today, an 1880 and an 1883: got one wheat that I think is 1917 but am not sure. Going to be a few days before I can get out again, another big permission is opening up. Here's the trash for today Looks like I got a brass wagon hub of some sort. Dug too much aluminum probably because I wasn't lifting on it. It never got above 45 but it was comfortable and great to be out.

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. 😵 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. 😀 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 😀 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. 🤣 Here's a link if you're interested 🙄 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. 😁

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. 😵 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. 😀 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 😀 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. 🤣 Here's a link if you're interested 🙄 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. 😁

Cold Sunday. Got out early, it was 37 and windy. 😵 I had to dress warm, if my hands and feet get cold I'm done. Reynaud's Syndrome is a detectorist's nightmare. Went back to the farm I've found so much good stuff at this week, I usually don't hunt on the weekends but had a social cancellation and nothing to do. This area is fairly sheltered in some places, so I figured I could warm up there. Luckily there were no hunters. Turned out to be pretty good, my hands and feet didn't get too cold because it was sunny and I was moving around and digging. I don't think it ever got above 41, but I was ok. I wore electric heated socks and brought heated gloves, from experience the Equinox can't handle the EMI from the gloves' pulse heat. I hoped the Deus 2 would be better. It was. 🥳 The socks didn't bother it at all, and I was able to tune out the gloves with one press of the frequency button. Ended up not needing either but it was nice to know! I don't think winter is going to be too warm. I was out there for 7 hours today, scouted around a lot. Wasn't finding much, but at random I got all this: Another half spectacle buckle, some small button bits including a lead one and a broken Tombac, and some farm/animal brass. Even got .27 in modern coins. 😀 That big D buckle was a 95. 🤬 Not that I minded getting a big buckle but the silver alternative would have been a bonus. 🤔 The big half circle is some sort of old snap ring, and the curve with prongs I've never seen before. Extreme right is a fancy buckle fragment. I was detecting across the field to a different spot, and on the way got a solid 73, I thought "cool, another fancy button". Nope. Size 5.5 or 6 14K wedding band, a little over 6mm wide or 1/4 inch. It weighs 4.1g. I'm trying to find the maker's mark, could be a sideways W or M, or an "Epsilon". As usual it fits my wife's finger perfectly, she prefers white gold but never turns down a gift. This is the 4th gold ring I've found this year, two at a beach in one hole, one at a campground, and now this totally unexpected one in a farm. It might be old, it might be new. 🤪 Only a small handful of trash again: What a great week it's been! I might get out next week but the holidays are upon us.