Digging The Old Stuff And Some Deus 2s

[F350Platinum]

We had a "fake spring" last week with day temperatures in the mid 60s. No better weather to get out in. I arranged a Saturday hunt with Chase and his friend, and got out there to scout the place on Thursday so we wouldn't have or create any issues as a group. The owner was generous as usual.

Went over to the old home place I mowed last fall, unfortunately they moved all their equipment over the spot the house once stood, so I decided to walk way out back to a remote field. It was planted with wheat so no digging, but on the road back I got a 1912 wheat at least. I came back to hunt around the equipment and got some clad and a nice old "Terror" padlock ca. 1908.

Also got a really old brass lamp switch or skeleton key head and a corroded aluminum key fob that says "Hirshberg Hollander Co's Stag Brand Semi Paste Paint is the best"

They used to use this sort of paint on boats. Lots of boats in this peninsula, I used to have one.

Friday I had home stuff to do, but Saturday it started out warm, and ended up at about 68. Could not have been better! Chase and his friend came down and we went to the oldest field I have, where I dug that Spanish cob. I brought some golf balls with me I found out hunting this field to give back to the landowner, and let the cat have one of them to play with for a bit. I'm glad he is still there and healthy.

We got out hunting, both Chase and his friend had Deus 2's! I am impressed by the weight and ergonomics of that thing, it looks really cool. Maybe someday when I grow up I'll get one 🙄, but I did just fine with the Equinox:

Got an old coat hook, a pretzeled Victorian sash buckle, 4 Tombacs, a piece of silver ribbon, an overall button, small buckle fragment and then the smallest, thinnest buckle I have ever found, that's a 1977 Jefferson nickel I dug below it for size comparison.

This field is huge, easy to dig, and wide open. That's Chase and his friend off in the distance 🤣. His friend got some Tombacs and a Virginia military CW button, and Chase may post his finds here or later. Great day out with friends.

[GB_Amateur]

Here you go again, teasing us with what Chase might have found....  😁

That padlock looks to be in excellent condition.  What is its composition?  I have a large skeleton key I found in a schoolyard that looks something like that.  I'll round it up to see how close.  (I don't think mine is older than the 1950's, possibly for a cabinet....)

[F350Platinum]

33 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

Here you go again, teasing us with what Chase might have found....  😁

That padlock looks to be in excellent condition.  What is its composition?  I have a large skeleton key I found in a schoolyard that looks something like that.  I'll round it up to see how close.  (I don't think mine is older than the 1950's, possibly for a cabinet....)

Yeah, with all the Deus theoretical/operational stuff every day, it's probably a break to post some finds and a little mystery... 😁 I did get to hold and look at a Deus 2 anyway.

The padlock is probably stamped brass, here's a video of a locksmith messing with it, apparently they were tough to pick:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-bSsbf71C5s

It looks to be in good shape except that the steel internal spring is long rusted away, the shackle pulls out with ease.

[F350Platinum]

Forgot to post the trash from the group hunt, the other farm is just ridiculously trashy.

One of the best attributes of this field is that if you're in about 30 feet from any road, when you get a good signal it's most likely something good. The razor arrowhead was a bit scary but I wear gloves. The chunk of big iron came when running the detector for a little while at F2=0, I switched back to 3 and dug it anyway to be sure. That's 8 hours of trash!

[schoolofhardNox]

48 minutes ago, F350Platinum said:

Forgot to post the trash from the group hunt, the other farm is just ridiculously trashy.

One of the best attributes of this field is that if you're in about 30 feet from any road, when you get a good signal it's most likely something good. The razor arrowhead was a bit scary but I wear gloves. The chunk of big iron came when running the detector for a little while at F2=0, I switched back to 3 and dug it anyway to be sure. That's 8 hours of trash!

You call that trash? 😄 Come up north and I'll show you trash.  Those fields sound like heaven. The potential targets you could find go way back in time. Anytime you are digging Tombac you are getting into GW button territory.

[F350Platinum]

9 minutes ago, schoolofhardNox said:

You call that trash? 😄 Come up north and I'll show you trash.  Those fields sound like heaven. The potential targets you could find go way back in time. Anytime you are digging Tombac you are getting into GW button territory.

That's what Chase calls this place - heaven. 😀 The finds are spread out everywhere, with some small concentrated areas. Three of the Tombacs came from about a 20' square spot. We're hoping to find some "personalized" items at some point. 😁 I dug that 1690 Spanish Cob here. I have another private permission where Chase got his first Spanish silver coin ~ 1650 Cob. Hoping to get just one Escudo... 🤣 

[GB_Amateur]

9 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Also got a really old brass lamp switch or skeleton key head....

Here's my large skeleton key from a school yard (probably not old).  I should have put in something for scale.  The key is about 4 1/2 inches long (my photo expertise cut off a bit) and the handle end is about 1 5/8 inches across.  Does sort of look like what you found.

On yours, does it look like the attach point hinges?  Is it threaded there?  If so, possibly a drawer pull. 

[F350Platinum]

22 hours ago, GB_Amateur said:

Here's my large skeleton key from a school yard (probably not old).  I should have put in something for scale.  The key is about 4 1/2 inches long (my photo expertise cut off a bit) and the handle end is about 1 5/8 inches across.  Does sort of look like what you found.

Just measured the one I dug, it's 1 3/8. Looks like it was snapped off something, and the end where it broke is hollow. 👍 Probably isn't too old. Should have weighed it, it's quite heavy.

No threads no hinge, just hollow.

[opalboy]

I’m jealous, I’ve got feet of snow, and 10 below at night, I’m gonna have to drive hours to go digging!

and I’m gonna.

[F350Platinum]

5 minutes ago, opalboy said:

I’m jealous, I’ve got feet of snow, and 10 below at night, I’m gonna have to drive hours to go digging!

and I’m gonna.

Hey OB,

Welcome to the forum. 🙂 Here's a shot out my back door 24 hours later...

Hope you can find a place to go! 😀 My first year I could walk out my front door and detect, this year the fields in front of my house are planted so I have to drive about 40 minutes away to this place, got another about 5 minutes up the road. Mid Atlantic weather changes a lot.