Brisk hunt in February

[del]

I finally got out this past weekend with Ron Yingling and we were lucky the area we went only had about an inch at most of snow on the ground . 69978 we hiked a good ways over half frozen streams and through mountain laurel thickets to reach a remote area with a old cellar and barn . these two areas were practically devoid of any real targets except some very good sounding iron .

Ron started off with a buffalo nickel and then the "find of the day" far from the cellar , 69979the silver Luckenbooth brooch was near a low rock that looked perfect for sitting . These are known as good luck or sweetheart brooches and his coin silver example is in amazing shape and easily dates mid to late 1700's .

we hunted this homesite area until noonish and this was his only good find there while mine was just one small tombac , amazing the lack of non ferrous targets here! we decided to move on to some fields and stonework about a quarter mile eastward . anticipating we would find a collapsed cellar or cabin and we got lucky and did , it was small and didn't look like much but almost immediately Ron pulled a very old buckle (small shoe or knee) then he got an even older one 69980 this is a tine one with what looks like a "stud type" chape pre 1690 era !! I finally got on board with what i thought was a button with a hole but turned out to be a nickel sized French liard coin (mid to late 1600's era ) , unfortunately its in rough shape and after tumbling it i could just make out a bust outline to confirm it . Next about a foot or two away i get a nice sounding target and pull up a lock plate to an early musket. the day for me finished up with a nice complete knee buckle and a 1906 Barber half .

69981 Barber and Liard 69982 lockplate blasted and painted with barber 69983 and finally the knee buckle after a tumble 69984 get out there if you can !

Dan

[The Rebel]

Very nice Dan! Love all of the finds. How frozen down was the ground?

[del]

Very nice Dan! Love all of the finds. How frozen down was the ground?

Roger , it was anywhere from an inch of solid permafrost to soft like butter . Thanks

[fyrffytr1]

Nice finds and you can have the cold weather. It was in the low 40s this morning so I stayed in and wrapped up!

[Iceman-ny]

WOW some sweet finds :groovy:That gets me a bit fired up to do some dirt fishing this spring, but right now we have over 2' of snow on the ground, the warm up is coming, sugaring season first, then dirt fishing.

[OxShoeDrew]

That's some day when a Barber half is a post script :cheesysmile:
That brooch is sooo cool, would there be something in the center of it? Did you head down south? We still have a lot of snow. Congrats!
edit- oh wait, that last storm was a nor'easter and us easterners got slammed.

[Bucknut]

That is a great hunt! Old relics and a big silver!

Ground is still frozen for me but it should be soon.

[Digger_O'Dell]

Those are some amazing finds and certainly quality over quantity. Snow keeps coming and going in my area and the ground is rock solid under a thin layer of mud during the warmest parts of the day, so still probably a month or more until I see any penetrable ground. Finds like this really make me jealous of your East coast history, but counting down the days until I can hit my early/mid 1800s brewery permission.

[del]

Nice finds and you can have the cold weather. It was in the low 40s this morning so I stayed in and wrapped up!

I've been hibernating too long , it was good to get out and stretch the legs . Thanks




WOW some sweet finds :groovy:That gets me a bit fired up to do some dirt fishing this spring, but right now we have over 2' of snow on the ground, the warm up is coming, sugaring season first, then dirt fishing.


Yes , a few of us are going down south (SC) for some confederate finds this weekend , hopefully I'll have a few more goodies to show ya. Thanks Iceman




That's some day when a Barber half is a post script :cheesysmile:
That brooch is sooo cool, would there be something in the center of it? Did you head down south? We still have a lot of snow. Congrats!

Thanks Drew , there was a bar or wide pin that fastened the brooch to the clothing . we were in the southern half of the state .




That is a great hunt! Old relics and a big silver
Ground is still frozen for me but it should be soon.

Thanks Bucknut , hope you can dig soon !




Those are some amazing finds and certainly quality over quantity. Snow keeps coming and going in my area and the ground is rock solid under a thin layer of mud during the warmest parts of the day, so still probably a month or more until I see any penetrable ground. Finds like this really make me jealous of your East coast history, but counting down the days until I can hit my early/mid 1800s brewery permission.

i'll take quality over quantity any day , Thanks DOD

[Full Metal Digger]

Great finds Del and awesome restorations! You are obviously a master at conserving and restoring relics and coins. Happy digging, Dave.

[Lodge Scent]

Very nice! Love that little buckle Dan.

[Digger Don]

Great finds Dan. That lock plate turned out beautiful.
And Of coarse, You know I love those Barbers:congrats:

[BTV Digger]

Very solid finds Dan! I found a few Liards over in France in 2020, but to find one here is really uncommon. Love the knee buckle too!

John

[badgers325]

Congrats on the finds Dan!

[Tony Two-Cent]

A Barber Half would be a super thrilling find for most of us, but I can uderstand your disappoinment when hunting 1700s cellar holes and you see that huge silver coin in the dirt and it turns out to be a "modern" coin.

It's unbelievable how well that musket lock plate cleaned up! :shocked04: What a great relic! The buckle looks great too! Good job, Dan! :clapping:

:congrats:

[Donnie B]

Great hunt. Good spotting on the cabin too. I've got tons of respect for your instincts.

[wisconsin digger]

Nice finds. We are pretty well thawed out in Wisconsin, though you can easily find some stiff ground yet. Congrats on all the recoveries. thx for posting. WD