Two Days, Two Hunts, One Short One Long

[F350Platinum]

Got some unexpected good weather this week, yesterday it was almost 50 and today it went over 60. Yesterday I just went out in front of my house for a short while, the ground was still kind of frozen, I only stayed out about 2 hours. Some places it was easy to dig, others the shovel just bounced. Got a few things and quit when the mail came, I received @steveg's new mount for his brilliant CF Deus 2 shaft.

Today I invited Chase down, I figured the ground would be mostly defrosted, overnight the temperature didn't go below 40 so it did not refreeze.

Today we went to the new field I scouted a while back, and took our time looking in the hotspots I found.

I had my Deus 2 with the new right-hand tilted RCDIGS mount, I wanted to see if there was anything different about it. It was much easier to see the screen, I didn't spend any time at all tilting the unit to see the IDs and the XY screen. That was very cool. 😎

Today's hunt was about 7 hours and almost 7 miles of walking, it's a big place that apparently hasn't been hunted by anyone else before but me. 😁 

Chase did much better than me, but I managed to find some cool stuff and keep my precious metal streak alive.

First the trash, quite a bit today. 😵 Lots of buck balls, lead, and some iron. I was switching back and forth between my relic program based on General and an only slightly modified Relic program. Every now and again I had to switch to Deus Mono at 17kHz because of the power lines, but never missed a beat.

Now for the good stuff, both days combined:

From the day before a whatzit, a 1929 wheat, and probably the coolest gold plated cufflink I've ever found:

Bizarre decoration but whatever. 😀 Got a weird "chicken leg" finial that I thought was a candle snuffer at first but it turns out the inside is threaded. A bunch of buckles, an odd ring that was a 92, a 1904 IHP, one Tombac and one brass button, a bit of brass horse tack that is heart-shaped, a Civil War minié ball, and a plated thingy that looks like it may have had a watch hanging from it. Most modern was a 1978 memorial penny. The oval with the holes might be a plate from an old rifle but the square holes are odd. 🤔

Pulled a Hail Mary in the 4th quarter with this silver find:

It's a spoon handle, solid "900 coin silver", made by this silversmith:

https://www.americansilversmiths.org/makers/silversmiths/117961.htm

Fun day out, seemed like Spring. Glad it's not. 🤔

[steveg]

Wow, F350, NICE hunt!  I love seeing the old stuff!

That cuff link IS unique; very cool.  And I've never heard of "900 coin silver," used in making silverware.  My experience thus far has been that .900 silver is used for coins, and of course .925, i.e. "sterling" is what silversmiths used for silverware and such.  So, this is a new one for me...

Cool!

Steve

[Valens Legacy]

One of these days your going to dig up something that earns you a spot in the history books.

Another great set of hunts with some nice items again.

Good luck on your next outing and stay safe out there.

[F350Platinum]

3 hours ago, steveg said:

Wow, F350, NICE hunt!  I love seeing the old stuff!

That cuff link IS unique; very cool.  And I've never heard of "900 coin silver," used in making silverware.  My experience thus far has been that .900 silver is use for coins, and of course .925, i.e. "sterling" is what silversmiths used for silverwar and such.  So, this is a new one for me...

Cool!

Steve

Thanks Steve,

I learned something new too. Apparently 900 silver was all the rage in the early 1800s for its greater strength (albeit no match for farm equipment 😅), and probably lower cost. Silver US coins are 900, not 925 or Sterling, making them a bit less prone to denting and wear.

[F350Platinum]

4 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

One of these days your going to dig up something that earns you a spot in the history books.

Another great set of hunts with some nice items again.

Good luck on your next outing and stay safe out there.

Thanks VL,

I think there's a fine line between history books and hot water. 😅 All my finds are from verifiable private permissions, so I'm reasonably confident I'll make the former with a return or donation, albeit posthumously for some.

I'm getting to the point as many do here that what I'm finding is the same old same old, so I'm pretty much only posting now when I find something somewhat spectacular or unusual. Currently for me that happens more often than not.

Like a few others my posts are mostly to inform, educate and inspire metal detectorists. I hope I'm doing that. 🙂 I also get a kick out of reviewing new stuff.

Just like my former music hobby I'm finding that I wish to find or do something legitimately with metal detecting that pays for my investment. Other than thrilling my wife with a nice bauble now and again, that hasn't happened but it's only been 3 years.

I wish that some sort of fair and lucrative relationship between those that find history and those that curate it could be brokered. 🤔 

[rvpopeye]

It looks like it was worth going out . Great you could ! 

Thx 350 , now I can go to bed and dream of thawed ground. It might even come true by the time the singles come back sunday night .  Ice storm here last night.  I did actually look at my shovel and detector earlier .🙄 42 predicted later today 32 now ...

[F350Platinum]

6 minutes ago, rvpopeye said:

It looks like it was worth going out . Great you could ! 

Thx 350 , now I can go to bed and dream of thawed ground. It might even come true by the time the singles come back sunday night .  Ice storm here last night.  I did actually look at my shovel and detector earlier .🙄 42 predicted later today 32 now ...

Thanks RVP,

I hope you are able to get out as well, I don't have a place to store videos and this site allows attachment via other storage for good reason, so I guess I'll have to keep the funny video of my shovel bouncing off the field out front to send to people privately. 🤣

We had a cold spell here with high winds for a few days, and the first 3" or so was like concrete. In retrospect I'm glad I didn't break my shovel. 😬

This part of Virginia is just enough South and just enough East to have a reasonable assurance of mild winters, now that I'm doing this for fun it makes the winters pass by faster. I prefer relic detecting to beach hunting, but I'm getting better at the latter.

Heck other people's stories and finds get me through days when I can't get out, no good deed goes unpunished... 😁

[ColonelDan]

Great hunt once again....good job soldier.  🫡

I'll be testing my rcdigs left swing mount today.  I have it mounted with antenna and can say, even at this early point, I'm very favorably impressed.  Full report to follow.

[F350Platinum]

5 minutes ago, ColonelDan said:

Great hunt once again....good job soldier.  🫡

I'll be testing my rcdigs left swing mount today.  I have it mounted with antenna and can say, even at this early point, I'm very favorably impressed.  Full report to follow.

🫡

Thanks Colonel,

I'm glad someone is going to work with the waveguide, I could have gone to a local beach yesterday, but the lure of relics was stronger. 😀

It doesn't add much weight, and even seems to help counterbalance the 13" coil a bit. I was able to swing it for 7 hours yesterday without regretting it too much today. 😅 The field has all sorts of patches of relics from colonial to modern, it's a really interesting place, and big. Both challenging and easy.

Looking forward to your review, good luck out there! 🍀

[JCR]

A very nice hunt. Being able to trace some background information on a find is always an interesting bonus. The life & work of Mr. Mitchell lives on. Will there be an earthly trace of us left 175+ years hence?

My understanding is that .900 fine "Coin Silver" in the form of actual coins was often provided to a Silversmith by wealth patrons in order to create unique tableware & other decorative items not only because the metal was readily available in that form, but because the transformation made the precious metal Identifiable in case of theft.  It probably pleased the Misses also.