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Thread: Independence weekend hunts: First shoe buckle and canteen

  1. #1

    Independence weekend hunts: First shoe buckle and canteen

    Wednesday night I got out with Kevin to a park. Not much came up but I did pull up what I think is a pin/button. Unfortunately it was in my pocket when I was going into work the following day as I was going to take a pic with the USB camera and it fell out while taking my celly out to check the time, so no pic exists. When I went back out 20 min later when I realized I dropped it, it was gone. Someone snagged it. It was like a sunburst or flower about the size of a half dollar and appeared to be gold plated. Below the slot in the center it said GERMANY.

    Since Friday was a negotiated holiday and the majority of people were going to leave early on Thursday, I jumped on the bandwagon and took a half day. After heading home I went to the cellar hole where I got my large crotal bell (1840). It is a challenging site because it's filled with trash, even modern trash because there is timbers still piled near the cellar hole. Also, the barns are cut into the hill side making that area challenging.

    I started up the driveway. This was actually a house which the front door must have faced away from the road and the 'back yard' was toward the road. AND, the small depression which I assume is the privy was along the driveway up to the house. I found a propane torch tip opposite the privy and near the privy i found a copper pipe section. The hillside facing the street I pulled up some piece that looked odd to me. It made me think of an action figure robot head. I found a plated spoon, which on the back I was able to see a date after a quick cleaning. It was made by Rogers and is the A1 grape design from 1881. Across the driveway there was a cleared area and a ways back there was a hunting perch. Over in that area I found a butter knife edge, a disabled veteran association tag, a pocket knife, and a cut ignition switch. The crest on the knife looks like it was made by Utica Knives. I found a similar one but mine has both ends as metal. There seemed to be a trash pit behind a small hillside... which rivals Dave's trashy site truck. I believe there was a cab of an old pickup almost completely buried. Just a portion of it was visible. The disabled veteran tag turned out to be a dog tag. The back says who the dog belonged to. The guy's first name is Willard, which seems to be a name in the geriatric generation. The house number and road are not in the town listed on the tag, so I have to try and clean it and see if I can get accurate info and not "what it looks like".

    http://pocketknivesblog.com/vintage-...cutlery-knife/

    A ways away I did think a pile of rocks might have been a cabin site. I am not certain however on that, and down the hill a ways was a flat spot with a rock edging and iron. This showed there was someone here recent. I blame Dave for not filling in his hole. Pic is below. There was a '44 wheat in the driveway. On the front side of the hill where all the barns were I found some more trinkets. I pulled up my first shoe buckle just as Kevin was showing up after his work. It definitely was deeper than it read. In preempt, I DID try and check the hole for the 'tongue' portion and couldn't find it. I am uncertain if that part broke off which is why it was buried, or if it was deteriorated somewhere else.

    The final thing I dug was a nearly complete harmonica on that same side of the property. However, before that there was a flat area and I pulled up some weird piece of flat copper. I found a rock shaped like an egg and looks covered in something like concrete. It reminds me of those beer steins with the metal at the bottom of the glass. One relic I dug is kinda special. I believe it was a target I saw last time and gave up on. This time I followed through. Kevin even went over it and said it looked like a good signal. Buried under a root, dirt, and rocks I pulled up a large item. Kevin said it was a Civil War canteen!! To be 8 inches down underneath rocks it is definitely at least 150 years old. I took a pic of the trash just for Dave. The side view mirror I believe is GM and there seems to be a part number to try and figure out which car it came from. The thing above it is a percolator and I like to believe the crank is for a vehicle older than a Model T. Those who like pics, here ya go...

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    Today we tried to get out again. The first place was a permission. I had asked the daughter of the owner, whom I went to high school with and was friends with both daughters on FB, before about detecting. Then it was a yes. Today, however, the parents said they were not done with their own detecting of the property (1745). We went up to am 1840 house which is odd as the front door faces the side of the house, not toward the road. A middle school friend used to live there at one point which is how I knew of it. The driveway is still unpaved to this day. The new owner, I knew the children from high school. Unfortunately he said he wanted to discover things on his own. He doesn't own a detector so I am unsure how he will do that for things in the ground. We checked a town property which used to have a library from 1892. It was a small parcel so we were done quickly. There was fill making it hard to find anything. Kev managed a 1919 wheat. We then went to an old camp site. For coins, only clad came up. Kev got a quarter folded into quarters. The 'what is it' item seems like a button. I think I saw it on this site a ways back but I don't remember the thread to search for it. It's square and there's a hole in the middle with a...heck... you can see from the pic. Both sides have an 'E' stamped and it's at opposite corners. I did get my first cub scout slide. I didn't even get one on the treasure hunting club's planned hunt for the boy scout park. This place did have the road lined with stone walls even tho there was no house on the 1868 map. Maybe I can locate an older map to see if one did exist at one time. Anyway, the other pics. The most silver this weekend was silverplate, but there is still a hunt for Sunday...
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  2. #2
    Ohh. And it was determined today that the 'robot head' is actually one side of a set of goggles. Probably welding goggles. As I was taking the trash from the backpack I saw a clear thing of glass (the lens) and I didn't remember digging it. It just slid out from the goggle half.

  3. #3
    Jim, sweet shoe buckle frame!
    That thing with the E stamped on it looks like a drapery weight. Hem weights were made the same way only round so they didn't fray the fabric with all the movement and washing...at least this is what I've been told.
    So you're losing stuff too?
    On Instagram- oxshoedrew

  4. #4
    Senior Member RIdirtdigger's Avatar
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    Congrats on your first shoe buckle frame! It won't be your last one, I can tell you that with almost certainty. Nice finds all around. Keep up the good work
    Oldest coin(s): 1600's Spanish copper maravedis Oldest American Coin: 1797 Large Cent. Oldest silver: 178? Spanish 1/2 Reale
    Best Relic(s): Pre Civil War US Revenue Service Button, GW Button, Best Find(s): 1790 King George III Gold Guinea/ "Long Live the King" Button

  5. #5
    Full Member GA1dad's Avatar
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    Great fist shoe buckle frame!! Judging by the trash pile,, you earned every find!!
    Primary machine= Teknetics T2

    2016 Totals
    Oldest Coin= 1920 Wheat Cent
    Silver Coins= 0
    Rings= 1

  6. #6
    Veteran Member BTV Digger's Avatar
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    Congrats on your first shoe buckle. Knees must've been a bit sore after digging that amt of trash.

    John
    Vermont relic hunting, one swing at a time.
    https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG2...OLib30A/videos

  7. #7
    Drew, you are right on the weight. Not sure what it was doing in the middle of a baseball field at a camp. There's no shortage of strange things that are around me. Lol. Maybe it's an effect of the universe to have strange near normal to balance or yield equilibrium. Yup. Lost a few things so far. Just the above mentioned piece plus a Ford ignition key I found in Mansfield. It wasn't the model t key so I don't care to find it. Guessing it was lost at the rents house and I know where.

    Thanks Jim. I'm hoping so. Idk how many other buckles I pulled up just to get one shoe buckle. Maybe there's a correlation to what I heard lee say. Something like for every 1000 pull tabs you dig you get 1 ring...the ratio of luck. I think I'm at 24 or 25 cellars hit for this year so far....

    GA and John, that's not all the trash. I'll have to admit the large sheet metal I couldn't take with me constitutes more trash. Kev felt how heavy the backpack was..and those sheets wouldn't fit. Surprisingly my knees weren't that bad. Altho the Duluth were a little wet on knees from the low lying area...when I think those were supposed to be water resistant. Thanks tho. Wish it had all the parts and was ornate. Oh, and silver, and jewel encrusted. Does this return to: beggars can't be choosers?

  8. #8
    That 1858 smooth side canteen is STELLAR! What a find! Love that show buckle frame too!
    Detectors: dual wield at-pros, t2
    oldest copper- 1717 KG I
    oldest US silver- 1832 capped bust dime
    "Swords into plowshares"

  9. #9
    Administrator del's Avatar
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    Hey guess who joined the shoe buckle crowd !!! welcome Brother Jim very nice frame but to be honest it does pale in comparison as the smooth side canteen that Luke pointed out , its in remarkable condition
    "Honesty is an expensive gift ,
    so don't expect it from cheap people"

    XP Deus II , DFX ,TDI sl -

    Click here to view my finds album


  10. #10
    congrats on the shoe buckle! very cool canteen and i'd wear that welders mask on halloween.
    2008-14 coppers
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    2011- 80 & 3/4 coppers 1-GW button
    2012- 92 coppers/large cents 1-GW button
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  11. #11
    Luke and Dan, I was surprised a bit the previous people didn't notice the canteen. It is a bit "odd" as very few of these get dug. And it's legit, not those replicas they make for reenactments. The shoe buckle club is hard to get into.

    Dave, I could wear it. Even tho it's only half there I can do like a mad scientists costume.

  12. #12
    Full Member kpmoose's Avatar
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    Congrats on the canteen & shoe buckle frame Jim. Well done.

  13. #13
    Great hunt! Can't say I've seen a canteen come out of the ground before. Nice buckle.
    Oldest find: 5,000 year old copper spearhead
    Oldest coin: 1699 William III halfpenny
    Purdiest coin: 1832 Capped Bust quarter
    Coolest find: USA button with blue threads still on shank

    "He who would search for pearls must dive below."

  14. #14
    Veteran Member Bell-Two's Avatar
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    Wow a ,shoe buckle I am still hoping for one of those someday.
    Psalms 24:1 ¶ The earth is the LORD'S, and all it contains...But God shares with us who search!
    Member Dayton Diggers CTX 3030- Minelab E-Trac


    click here to view my finds album

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by MangoAve View Post
    Luke and Dan, I was surprised a bit the previous people didn't notice the canteen.
    Oh... our ignorance is boundless!!
    On Instagram- oxshoedrew

  16. #16
    Senior Member Isaac's Avatar
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    JUST noticed the canteen! Usually they are in awful shape but to find one that beautiful is just amazing!!! Well done and big congrats on an awesome hunt!!!!!
    I <3 colonial relics!

  17. #17
    Thanks Kev and Rog. Just one of those few times digging a signal that is deep actually 'paid off'.

    Tony, is there any area old enough by you for a shoe buckle? You might be only able to find Victorian era ones, but they do exist. However, I said it here that it was not easy to find them and from a previous thread, I think I have visited 24 cellar holes this year so far...and only one buckle came up. From the junk you see, I'm not missing targets. Just giving my arms a work out with all the digging. lol.

    Drew, I think I have seen that from you once or twice. Maybe it's age related .


    Thanks Isaac. Been finally having a little bit of luck lately. You are done with school so u should be tearing it up out there in VA. Literally...tearing up people's lawns.

  18. #18
    Senior Member MIKE54's Avatar
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    I don't know how I missed this post, but I saw that the canteen made the banner list of finds so I have to say nice work Jim!

  19. #19
    Thanks, Mike. Yeah I was happy I finally made it to the banner. Took 1.5 hunting seasons to do so.

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