The weather still seems to be surprising this year. The ground has been of and on frozen, but it has allowed for some detecting to still continue. I thought things were bleak with the last snow that dumped 6", but the blanket didn't last long.
The first hunt of the year I was met up with Kev at a house he found. It is estimated that it dates back to the 1880s as the assessor has inaccurate records of the build date. Most of the items I pulled look like they were from early 1900s. Cant believe 3 spoons came up from this one yard. The only coins I got were a 1940 wheat and a clad quarter. The make up compact was by a big tree out back of the house. It took me a min to realize the date on the registration tag. I have straightened it out. The key says P.F. Corbins, New Britain, Con. The button is just a 2 piece, but it shined up really well with some diluted CLR. There was plenty of activity there and more to be found, but the oddest thing was to find an old shotgun shell there. The owner was really nice. I also pulled a salt/pepper shaker that's pink depression glass. Seems like those are collectable.
I found a pic of a non dug item I found on Etsy.
This weekend was a lot of hiking. The finds were mediocre, but at least I wasn't skunked and I'm overwhelmed that I found my lost shovel. Grave digger has been out of stock for the xmas rush and I never heard back about using one style blade with the other style handle. I want a short shovel cuz no matter what you are going to be kneeling down to recover the item.
Saturday I got back to two cellars after checking a new spot. The new spot was kind of a dud. I thought the cellar sat farther back from the road and I thought people missed the barn site. Nope. I squeaked out a Paris buckle from this heavily grown area.
I used the small coil again on the cellar where I pulled that 1865 (pat) scale dial. I thought I would bring the rake along to move the leaves out of the way to help compensate with depth loss of the smaller coil. After realizing the last rain was now frozen to the leaves, it made it very difficult to move, so I abandoned that idea after a short area was cleared. Maybe I will do it in the spring. This time, I happened to move some of the overload iron targets and sure enough It cleared up some finds. After moving one of the big round iron discs (prob for a stove) I was able to pull up a spoon and a crushed thimble. ( I must have a nack for spoons lately. It's the flavor of the month). I think the thimble is aluminum. Between the house and barn (or more likely carriage house that was in front of the barn) I pulled up a coin purse clasp. Yet again, 3rd time with no coins. ugh. And a 1900s spigot got it's own pic, but only cuz I forgot to include it in the total finds pic.
At the other cellar I was able to nab a few more items. The floral button was near the cellar and I had been over the spot before with my other detector. Nice early button and I think I have seen a similar one somewhere along the line from another digger. The last item was a 1906 V nickel. It ain't much to look at now after letting it dry. It is in the pic above next to the Paris buckle. It rang like a 22 VDI in the ground. Out of the ground it was mostly reading iron. And now it looks like it has a green patina color to it. Idk... The only time I ever saw a greenish nickel was when two were touching in the ground for many years. The bottle came from inside a barn footprint and is a commemorative Paul Jones whiskey bottle with a patriot and ships on it. I couldn't nail down an exact date as supposedly the company ceased in 1922. But The bottle has the embossed phrase from after 1935 from prohibition time. At the bottom of the bottle, one of those numbers is a manufacture date '57 or '41.
Sunday I was ecstatic that I was able to finally locate my lost shovel. Esp after breaking the backup shovel on Saturday. Wooded handle does not work for woods. I looked at the root assassin (which is 48") and the ground shark and gravedigger and even another on FB J&S digging tools. None are exactly what I wanted. Sun morning I texted Dan asking him if the snow was gone. Last time I went, the snow was gone in the areas I drove by, except for the town I needed to be in. I still tried that time but using the detector. I knew Dan was out Sunday and expected him to be out East. He affirmed there was no snow. So off I went. I looked around for a bit in the same area but to no avail. At one point I decided to go near the end point of my travels before I lost it. I made it down the hillside, which is at least a 200 ft long hill with major growth. About 2/3 the way down I was trying to spot a definitive tree which I took a rest at last time. I realized I was def in the thickest area, prob close to where I came down. I moved a bit, and sure enough it was standing straight up with the brush holding it there. No what kind of recoverist would I be If I couldn't find it. Lol. I grabbed it and went back up the hill, took a pic and short vid. Then realized I should have taken a vid of when I found it, just 30 sec earlier.
So far I painted it so that I will not lose it again. And I have a gps tracker, that was cheap, that I will attach to it so I will never lose it again. The pinpointer I at least have a heavy duty tether so that wont get lost. I may take a pic of all the gear for wooded hunting. And I will get a pic of latest paint. I went with a simple design.
It felt so good to be able to dig again with the shovel. One hole had a spill with a toe plate, lantern piece (2x I have not pics of yet as they are in the bin still), and a suspender clip. I am not certain what the ornate gold gilt piece is, but It is obvi Victorian era design. No defining nubs to make it a pendant or a pin. No hole to make it an escutcheon for furniture. idk. Oh, and Deer pellets were marking a spot for a fired musket ball. Fourth musket ball recovered from this site, and it was maybe 4 inches away from a pile. lol. Hoping for more time to dig and a quick recovery from a cold. Oh, and the dog license was a let down I pulled it up thinking it said 1878 and was overwhelmed, but once I cleaned it and saw '19' It was a let down. And a 1910 wheat is being cleaned still. It rang high for a penny too. Like 110 VDI (when they are usually 88 on the BH.. which I decided to change up and use on this site).
Here's the gold gilt piece.
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Originally Posted by del
Good idea on the paint job. You won't leave it behind again. 
