last two hunts

[del]

Yesterday I got out with Coinnut for a full day of cellar hunting . My first decent sounding target was this very large shoe buckle .



cleaning it i was please to see the ornate design work that was tooled into it



Then a short distance from the buckle i got a very good but "one way" tone and wasn't quite sure it was a copper . happy it was



from the picture it looks as though lady libery's head has some damage or a counterstamp at the moment its soaking so the verdict is out at the moment.

later in the day i picked up my second crotal bell for the year this one is a "petal" type



with the initials
S N on the bottom . this is the information i got up on the maker .

"Seth North, born 1779, died 1851, was the younger brother of James North. Seth originally worked with his father as a blacksmith, but about 1801 he started to cast sleigh bells with his brother James after James and Joseph Shipman (below) ended their brief partnership. Seth took over full operation of the North foundry in 1803 after James moved to New York state. (18) Seth's early bells have a U-shaped cast shank. His later bells have the drilled shank that characterizes most New Britain sleigh bells.

Seth was active in a variety of business pursuits in New Britain throughout his lifetime. His bell foundry closed in 1840."

this example has the "U" shaped cast shank so its one of his earlier bells


heres the rest of my take ,


other notables were a suspender clip and a small sash or ribbon buckle . there was one small area where i almost thought i had multiple coin targets in a 2ft area in a field but turned out to be about a dozen copper rivets . from a horse reign




these finds are from today as I got with our very own MangoAve (Jim) for a few hours to hit a cellar hole . pickings were slim to say the least if your up for another try at it Jim let me know and we'll try to get something scheduled , maybe with a few members.thanks for the company today sir .



the button is one of them heavy silver plated type and the shoe buckle was a great sounding target but was just under a copper signal . At first i pulled just the chape and tongue up but quickly checked the hole to hear the frame , does it still count as a whole one Dave .


thanks for looking and thanks to Jim for putting up with me

[Thiltzy]

Everyone is posting today I just love it. Glad to see your posts Dan, looks alike some decent hunts. That crotal bell is a beauty and I love the Large Shoe Buckle..
Did you hit it with the renz wax? It cleaned up nice. Can I assume you used brass bush and then the wax???

[Timewarpdigger]

That is an awesome shoe buckle and in great condition. Congrats!!

[del]

Everyone is posting today I just love it. Glad to see your posts Dan, looks alike some decent hunts. That crotal bell is a beauty and I love the Large Shoe Buckle..
Did you hit it with the renz wax? It cleaned up nice. Can I assume you used brass bush and then the wax???

just brass brushed it under the faucet is all Todd haven't even waxed it yet but i will once i get the luster i want. its strange it has only one support crossbar one the one side though and there are 6 tiny holes undeneath the frame (3 on one side and 3 on the other .

That is an awesome shoe buckle and in great condition. Congrats!!

thanks Timewarpdigger , they are a favorite of mine to find .

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

some great buckles! yeah you can count it as a complete one never seen one with that crossbar type thing hmm..interesting

[del]

some great buckles! yeah you can count it as a complete one never seen one with that crossbar type thing hmm..interesting

thanks Dave , i've seen them with two crossbars on either end but not one . maybe it was a "special" right or left shoe buckle

[OxShoeDrew]

Sweet finds Dan! I like the crotal best. Ball still move inside?

[del]

Sweet finds Dan! I like the crotal best. Ball still move inside?

oh ya Drew , i'm two for two with them this year

[kray]

Nice, finds, Dan. Love the history on the crotal bell.

[CTTodd]

That's a great hunt and I really like that frame it's different.

[coinnut]

That buckle cleaned up nice Dan . you had a good day after your machine settled down. Was real nice to get out and be warm and see NO snow My day started out with a small button right away. I had high hopes for these sites, but soon after that first find my machine was falsing on iron like never before. I couldn't get it to quiet down, so for about 80% of the hunt I got a lot of junk and almost no keepers. I was trying everything and figured I was done for the day. Them little nails sounded like good targets. Then the machine settled down and it started hitting targets hard and not falsing on the iron. What a difference. So for the last hour or so I managed to save face with 3 coins and a bunch of buttons. The 1852 large cent was surrounded by iron and was about 4" deep. The 1864 2 cent piece had some iron near it and was 3-4" deep, and the colonial slug copper (possibly a Geo I) was in a bunch of iron at around 4-5" Not only did my machine settle down, but it did better than ever in iron. I just hope this weeks hunt I get the better of the two moods my machine has

[del]

holy ferrous batman !! thats a lot of iron sure glad it kept you busy for the better part of the day , you might have embarrassed me good but i am glad you save the day with those respectable keepers is that an 1868 two center??and the large cent is sweet looking

[coinnut]

holy ferrous batman !! thats a lot of iron sure glad it kept you busy for the better part of the day , you might have embarrassed me good but i am glad you save the day with those respectable keepers is that an 1868 two center??and the large cent is sweet looking

it's an 1864 2 center. I just haven't had time to clean them up yet. You better glue that iron piece under my coil again for next hunt. We both had a great hunt even though it didn't start off so. But no one was out there and it was a gorgeous day. Even the rain waited for us to get to the truck.

[aloldstuff]

Nice hunting guys. George sorry about your machine being tempermental but you pulled it out in the end. Dan, nice shoe buckle and thanks for the info on the crotal bell.

[Bell-Two]

Wow what a nice assortment of finds, love the shoe buckle it cleaned up nice!

[Digger Don]

Great Finds, Congrats.
Got to love those old coppers

[fsa46]

WTG Dan. You must have been in your glory getting a couple days of hunting . Now that the weather has broke, things are going to come alive and all the sites with be busy.

[MangoAve]

these finds are from today as I got with our very own MangoAve (Jim) for a few hours to hit a cellar hole . pickings were slim to say the least if your up for another try at it Jim let me know and we'll try to get something scheduled , maybe with a few members.thanks for the company today sir .


the button is one of them heavy silver plated type and the shoe buckle was a great sounding target but was just under a copper signal . At first i pulled just the chape and tongue up but quickly checked the hole to hear the frame , does it still count as a whole one Dave .

thanks for looking and thanks to Jim for putting up with me

From George's take, It looks like he ended up digging more iron nails than I did. And my palm still hurts a little from the few areas of still frozen ground I decided to try and dig. Yes the pickings were slim but there were at least two buttons found and your shoe buckle and the iron tool tip I let you have. The other piece of iron I had was actually a folded strip maybe 6-8" long total.

There are so many celler holes there just waiting. I can hear them coins. You didn't tell that we did find a coin. I found the clad in the parking lot once we got back . A 2009 quarter. Must be worth 25.5 cents with inflation. But yes Dan, gotta refine my hunting so I am def down for another try.

Putting up with you? Haha I thought I was the bigger pain. Thanks for taking me along.

[BTV Digger]

Great finds, both of you and good to see you have clear ground now! Still slowly losing the snow up here, but hopefully gone over the next few weeks. Was this a new site(s) or an old familiar place?

BTV Digger

[del]

Dan, nice shoe buckle and thanks for the info on the crotal bell.

Thanks Al , i'm off to a great year with crotal bells and shoe buckles

Wow what a nice assortment of finds, love the shoe buckle it cleaned up nice!

Thank you Tony the brass brush does wonders to get the crusty dirt and give it that sheen and contrast

Great Finds, Congrats.
Got to love those old coppers

Don the copper cleaned up pretty well but does have some "pre-dug" damage

WTG Dan. You must have been in your glory getting a couple days of hunting . Now that the weather has broke, things are going to come alive and all the sites with be busy.

Frank the last couple of hunts the weather has been beautiful and I'm just enjoying the outdoors and fresh air , the finds are just a plus . thanks

From George's take, It looks like he ended up digging more iron nails than I did. And my palm still hurts a little from the few areas of still frozen ground I decided to try and dig. Yes the pickings were slim but there were at least two buttons found and your shoe buckle and the iron tool tip I let you have. The other piece of iron I had was actually a folded strip maybe 6-8" long total.

There are so many celler holes there just waiting. I can hear them coins. You didn't tell that we did find a coin. I found the clad in the parking lot once we got back . A 2009 quarter. Must be worth 25.5 cents with inflation. But yes Dan, gotta refine my hunting so I am def down for another try.

Putting up with you? Haha I thought I was the bigger pain. Thanks for taking me along.

Jim your enthusiasm was great if you can set that machine to ignore most of those iron targets you'd save a bunch of time for finding the good stuff. keep some of them iron nails and make a test garden in your yard , try different settings to see if you can get them to be more quiet. A sturdier digging shovel and you'll be all set for the next hunt. hey thanks for all that info you sent me by the way


i added the large cent before and after pictures too. this coin was a great candidate for the hot peroxide bath.