Hey Diggers,
What a great trip this turned out to be! As you know, 5 of us Illinois Boys made the long drive to Connecticut to look for colonial treasure--the likes of which we cannot find back home. My goal was to find colonial coins, buttons & relics, make new friends, and have a good time. I am happy to report I have achieved that goal!
Our first day we met a great bloke named Lee. He has a British accent and knows more of beers than he does his own monarchy! I want to go to a world cup soccer game with this guy! He showed himself to be a gentlemen of the highest caliber during our visit. He took us to one of his best spots where he has found Spanish silver more than once! The detecting gods rewarded him for his generosity and bestowed upon him a 1600's Spanish cob.
2 days of rain followed...
Our next great outing was up to Massachusetts to meet Al (Aloldstuff). He took us to a cornfield that has been in use since the 1790s! He has found so many coins in this field over the years he can't even remember most of them. But then, I heard someone say he forgets most stuff anyway! LOL. It was in this field, after nearly 2 hours of listening to the gentle hum of my detector that I got an ear-splitting signal. This turned out be an 1808 large cent! Not only the first year of issue for this type but my oldest American coin! I also found a beautiful dandy button, barber dime, and a toasted draped bust LC 14 inches deep.
Thursday was the day we were to meet Dan (Del) and have our first crack at cellar hole hunting. For those who have not met Dan I would describe him as a mix between Daniel Boone and a lumberjack. He strode through the dense forest with the confidence of a mountain man! Mountain Man Dan. He took the time to educate us on all the various rock structures created by the pioneers and how to spot a cleared field that would have been used for crops or animals. We hiked 9.7 miles in total and visited 6 different cellar holes. I found a copper and a toasty draped bust LC. Tom gave me some good pointers on hunting in the dense iron field and I was able to hear that LC 10 inches deep! One of my favorite finds is a colonial copper cow bell with an iron clapper. As soon as I knocked the dirt out it started ringing! I plan to set up an electrolysis tank to get the rust off the copper (200 years of contact corrosion spread rust over the entire copper surface).
I was so impressed with the friendliness and generosity of the Connecticut boys. They could have easily taken us to so-so sites but instead took us to the best sites. I am grateful for their kindness and look forward to future endeavours with them.
Here is some pics, thanks for looking and HH, Dave.
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delay, you managed to find some excellent coins and relics. I can still hear your woo hoo when you dug that 1808. And I was on the extreme other side of the field. LOL
on a great trip.
Congrats on a nice vacation!
) our relics and coins. It was great to finally meet you although from your posts and youtube vids I felt like I already knew you. All you boys are more than welcome to return to the land of relics. Hopefully I can locate some other old fields to take you guys to. I can't remember a copper cow bell being posted before....huge congrats.
