Some recent finds from an unmapped colonial homesite

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11-12-2021, 03:43 PM
BTV Digger

4 Attachment(s)

Some recent finds from an unmapped colonial homesite

Hi all,

Hope this note finds you well. I see many of you are finding interesting things this year and am looking forward to seeing more! It's been awhile since I've posted, but I've not forgotten, so here's a few shots of an unmapped colonial homesite I found this past September in the northern CT River Valley of Vermont after doing some heavy research through mainly old texts. Ended up with 6 old coppers, a fish scale Half Dime and a Shield Nickel for coins, including a worn '96 Liberty Cap (no date, but a thin variety which isolated the date down for me). The counterstamped "2" on one of the coppers still has me puzzled as I thought initially it could've been some sort of old military button, but it rings up high like a copper, is blank on the back with no shank and feels like one so I'll leave it at that. I'm also curious what any of you think about the long and narrow piece at the bottom of the first shot. It's thin and decorative as you can see on the front, and blank with 2 small attachment pieces on the back. At first I thought it may be a woman's/girl's barrette, but I think it's a bit too big for that. Thanks for looking and I'll be sure to post more from some other sites I found this summer/fall in the weeks ahead. As always, you can find me on IG under the same BTV Digger handle.

John

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11-12-2021, 03:48 PM
del

great coins and relics as usual John , love the floral designed tombac and the long item is very interesting , it may help to see the attachment points of the reverse if possible .

Dan
11-12-2021, 04:04 PM
Donnie B

Love the Liberty Cap!
11-12-2021, 04:38 PM
DavidGC

John - you are the master of research!
Congrats on the new site and on such great finds.
11-12-2021, 04:48 PM
OxShoeDrew

Do you have a second post coming, John? I know you have some other gems of late. Keep up the good work!!
11-12-2021, 04:56 PM
Tony Two-Cent

So many great finds! If I ever found a Liberty Cap I would be doing backflips! (Wouldn't be pretty, but still...) SIX coppers?!!!

To detect a site like that would be a dream come true!

:congrats:
11-12-2021, 05:15 PM
badgers325

Nice work John. Do you have a video coming out on You Tube as well? I haven't seen you in awhile. I am with Tony on the backflip on all your finds. I guess if he did 1/2 and I did 1/2, we could collectively do a full backflip. I love watching your show and others from that area. It always makes me think what it was like to live back then and how upset they likely were losing their coin.
11-12-2021, 07:34 PM
The Rebel

Beautiful finds John!
11-13-2021, 10:26 AM
BTV Digger

1 Attachment(s)

Quote:

Originally Posted by del

great coins and relics as usual John , love the floral designed tombac and the long item is very interesting , it may help to see the attachment points of the reverse if possible .

Dan

Thank you Dan. Here's a shot of the back if that helps. The item is exactly 4 inches long. Maybe a decorative adornment to a handbag or other leather item maybe. Give me your best guess!
Attachment 69758

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donnie B

Love the Liberty Cap!

Thanks Donnie!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidGC

John - you are the master of research!
Congrats on the new site and on such great finds.

Good to hear from you David! Hope all is well with you and your family. Ha ha, "master of research" - I wouldn't go that far, but it does take some work reading through the town histories and geo-referencing maps that are available.

Quote:

Originally Posted by OxShoeDrew

Do you have a second post coming, John? I know you have some other gems of late. Keep up the good work!!

Thanks Drew - yeah, I know you saw some of my other stuff on IG. :) I think I"ll do a couple more posts over the next month or so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tony Two-Cent

So many great finds! If I ever found a Liberty Cap I would be doing backflips! (Wouldn't be pretty, but still...) SIX coppers?!!!

To detect a site like that would be a dream come true!

:congrats:

Thanks Tony! Usually on these older undetected sites (a lot are already detected btw) there are a few coppers lying around. Six is a bit above average though, unless it's a tavern site.

Quote:

Originally Posted by badgers325

Nice work John. Do you have a video coming out on You Tube as well? I haven't seen you in awhile. I am with Tony on the backflip on all your finds. I guess if he did 1/2 and I did 1/2, we could collectively do a full backflip. I love watching your show and others from that area. It always makes me think what it was like to live back then and how upset they likely were losing their coin.

Thank you! Good question on the YT videos. I've got enough footage for three or maybe 4 more videos, including some of the finds from this hunt, so look for those in the coming months. As you know, it takes quite a bit of time to produce those videos (3-4 hours on average) so it's tough to do with work and family time/commitments regularly. I don't know how Green Mountain Metal Detecting and the Hoover Boys do it. My wife would probably put me in the dog house if I went detecting all day, then the next day or two try and put out a video. I think I'm gonna move more toward a timeline of putting out more video content in the winter up here when you can't detect anyway. Mud Dog Mandy does that and it makes sense to me.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Rebel

Beautiful finds John!

Thanks Roger!
11-13-2021, 09:49 PM
fyrffytr1

Real nice finds. Were all half dimes referred to as "fish scales"?
11-15-2021, 04:23 PM
BTV Digger

Quote:

Originally Posted by fyrffytr1

Real nice finds. Were all half dimes referred to as "fish scales"?

Good question. I know that Canadian half dimes/5 cent silver pieces pre-1920 or so are referred to as fish scales, and I think Trimes, but not positive on other coin types. Here's one reference (http://www.coinsandcanada.com/forum/...pic.php?t=6836).

John
11-16-2021, 05:27 PM
Digger_O'Dell

Well done and great finds! Would die if I found even one of those old coppers! As for the unidentified decorative piece, due to the size I would think it's probably a decorative brow band plate from a bridle.
11-18-2021, 06:42 AM
wisconsin digger

Nice rec WDoveries. I've found 4 coppers in my life - so you found my life of detecting coppers in one hunt. Yowzaa!
11-18-2021, 03:28 PM
Bucknut

Awesome site and finds! I like that Liberty Cap too!!