New Big Hotspot At The Farm

[F350Platinum]

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.

[CPT_GhostLight]

Well congrats, again, F350! Cool relics and coppers and silver to boot! Another great run. 😎

I ran the SS at a relic site a couple of days ago and ended up switching to Full Tones. More on that later. 

[Valens Legacy]

Very nice hunt and glad you had some fun out there.

Good luck on your next outing and stay safe.

[F350Platinum]

8 hours ago, CPT_GhostLight said:

I ran the SS at a relic site a couple of days ago and ended up switching to Full Tones. More on that later. 

Looking forward to that Cap'n. 👍

The house showed up on the 1918 topo, and was gone by 1961, but the old road to it remains in OnX Hunt. Only half the road shows here due to map inconsistency. OnX has a tendency to be "off" a bit as well.

I walked right past this spot, I was too close to the trees. Not sure why I did that:

One thing I've learned hunting in farms is to look in the "turn zone", about 30-50 feet in from the edge of the field. Most farms are plowed or disced in the longest direction. Modern machinery turns easily, but back in the day it was sometimes difficult to turn the farm animals and plow, buttons pop off and holes in pockets do their thing.

Happens on hills too. I found the large cent in this "zone". Also farmers would take a cloth out of their pocket to wipe the sweat, flinging stuff.

Where there is afternoon shade along the edge you will often find coins, but the trees have to have been there at the time. There are some pin oaks in this farm that are about 3 feet in diameter but they don't provide shade. I've found old coins in the shady spots when they do!

Another consideration is that hunters stand looking for rabbits and fowl in this area, so you find coins right up to the current era. You also find lots of shells of all calibers. 😀

It ends up being the most desirable place to look or avoid. 🤣

[Rick N. MI]

A nice hunt. Good job finding the spot. I like the heart locket.

[F350Platinum]

11 minutes ago, Rick N. MI said:

A nice hunt. Good job finding the spot. I like the heart locket.

Thanks Rick!

I'm thinking of doing a new post about using Historic Aerials, the new liDar maps, and OnX Hunt together to get more out of a permission. Here there is a lot of history to be uncovered! You see the obvious but there are a lot of potential hidden spots. I think I did one a long time ago, but it bears refreshing. 😀

What we found was a very large debris field ranging from the 1600s to about 1920. When I traced it out in OnX Hunt, it turned out to be ~7 acres:

Red pin is the original location I marked, the green pins are some of the finds, I didn't record them all. The blue pin marks the topographic location of the house after looking into it.

The trapezoid is a function of OnX, they have a tool that measures area. It's really becoming the most valuable app I have when combined with the other Internet resources.

[JCR]

The debris field appears to be down slope from the house which is typical. Learning to read the land(and waterways) is key to finding those hidden spots of activity.  You sure have a good range of Topo maps for your area due to it's settlement age. Mine don't go nearly that far back. Thanks for the Silverware Hallmark chart too.

[CPT_GhostLight]

2 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

I'm thinking of doing a new post about using Historic Aerials, the new liDar maps, and OnX Hunt together to get more out of a permission. Here there is a lot of history to be uncovered! You see the obvious but there are a lot of potential hidden spots. I think I did one a long time ago, but it bears refreshing. 😀

I for one would very much like to see that! 

[GB_Amateur]

19 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

Dug this pretty beat up 1947 D quarter!

Wasn't that long ago you could never find silver coins....  😉

19 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

While we were talking to the farmers I got another 550 acres of permission!

That ought to fill up your year, and then some!  Nice report and some keeper finds.

[F350Platinum]

Just now, GB_Amateur said:

Wasn't that long ago you could never find silver coins....  😉

😀 That's been the case for the most part. Chase got one in this farm last time, I didn't. The going there is very tough, machine gun iron and junk in the line behind the farmhouse.

Silver Slayer works as a great coin shooter, others have posted proof of that. It made it easier to get coins in another one of my sites, even a melted unrecognizable 2/3ds of a silver dime. 🤣 It also hits on many of the usual suspects, beer can tops and steel tubing. Most of the big trash in the photo came from using it. If the detector hits in the 86-90 range it's a dig.

These farmers have been very generous to me, I intend to reward them somehow. 🙂 This last one is a major coup, some very old stuff happened in that area. I now have permission to everything surrounding the center of activity!