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