2015 Was an Incredible Year

OutdoorAdv

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Apr 16, 2013
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Two Thousand and Fifteen was a killer year for me! The majority of this post will be 90% of my finds which came from a single site. The other 10% came from various "normal" types of sites and I will put some of those pictures at the bottom.

I have been doing this for about 6 years, broken up into 3 years in the mid 90's and then the last 3 years. Of those 6 years, this year blew them all out of the water. My typical year would be a few Large Cents, a hand full of barber and later silver, a pile of IH's and wheat cents, CW bullets and various other relics. Last year I got more serious about doing some research to put myself on sites older than my typical Victorian Era house site.

I got my oldest copper this year which was a 1719 KGI and my oldest silver this year which was a 1722 cut Pistareen. But my favorite finds from this year are the relics.

My favorite coins for this year are:
  • 1722 Cut Pistareen
  • 1824 Bust Half
  • 1784 2 reale
  • 1816 2 reale
  • 1776 1 reale
  • 1787 1 reale
  • 1773 Virginia Half Penny (times two)
  • 1787 Connecticut Copper
  • 11+ KG's
  • 12 LCs
  • 1857 Flying Eagle Cent

IMG_20151230_115118246.jpg IMG_20151230_115129497.jpg

My favorite relics this year are:
  • Springfield Pattern 1810 Bayonet
  • Brown Bess Bayonet
  • Revolutionary War Cartridge Box Buckle
  • Complete Colonial Shoe Buckle
  • Engraved Colonial Musket Patch Box Plate Cover
  • Colonial Bone Violin Bow Frog
  • Colonial era Stirrups (times two)
  • Davenport pearlware bowl c.1805-1830 (reconstructed)
  • US Cartridge Box Plate
  • US Bit Boss (times two)
  • US Shoulder Scales
  • Rare "Pilgrim Hat" Telegraph Insulator

I met some really great people on t-net this year who I owe a lot of my success to. One person, who I really look up to, nudged me to try sifting a possible trash pit. Sifting was something I would have never tried and I honestly thought it would be a waste of time. Within the first hour of sifting I was covered in sweat and dirt and having the most fun I've ever had hunting. 50% or more of my finds this year have come from that trash pit. It turns out that when a pit is producing, it is (no joke) 10 times more fun than metal detecting. Opening my mind to the possibility of sifting has completely expanded this hobby for me.

Once I realized that my primary site was something a bit extraordinary (for me at least), I decided that all of the stuff I found there had to be isolated and displayed separately as a display of the history of one site. Best I can tell, this site existed from the early 18th century, through the Civil War, with the majority of activity from 1790-1840. After searching for some display case options, I decided to just build my own (another hobby of mine).

So, here is my custom case that houses 90% of what I found from April 2015 - Dec 2015.

IMG_20151230_114252959.jpg IMG_20151230_111355159.jpg

It got to this point in two stages.

Stage 1 - the bottom.
IMG_20150622_185045580_HDR.jpg IMG_20150719_101820711.jpg

Stage 2 - a month later, oh crap, I ran out of room = the top.

IMG_20150926_112413348_HDR.jpg

The main part of my top shelf has mostly Colonial Era relics. My favorites are the War of 1812 Bayonet, the Rev War Brown Bess Bayonet, Colonial Stirrups, (a lot of my favorites are iron) then my Complete Shoe Buckle (lots of complete frames, partial frames, chapes\tongues) the hand engraved colonial patch box plate, the 1600's bone\ivory violin bow frog, reconstructed 1820's Davenport bowl.... and a ton more. Just stare at the pictures... its what I do!

IMG_20151230_111422643.jpg

IMG_20151230_111503126.jpg IMG_20151230_114229136_HDR.jpg

Left to right close up:
IMG_20151230_111527794.jpg IMG_20151230_111521203.jpg IMG_20151230_111512532.jpg

The very top has a bunch of slate pencils and various pottery and glass, including the Cannon Flask side

IMG_20151230_111536646.jpg IMG_20151230_111551090.jpg IMG_20151230_111556632.jpg

The lower case:
Left side - Right side
IMG_20151230_111446692.jpg IMG_20151230_111438773.jpg

Lower case, top shelf: Left - Right: Mostly buttons and coins. Partial plate reconstructions in the background. A nice sickle is back there too.

IMG_20151230_111611571.jpg IMG_20151230_111623329.jpg

A Closeup of how I have the coins displayed. They are propped up against a huge iron spike that I dug a couple of.

IMG_20151230_114529474.jpg

Lower case, middle shelf: Left - Right: My Civil War section, which is my second favorite to the Colonial Section. More plate reconstructions and some nice iron back there as well.

IMG_20151230_111635017.jpg IMG_20151230_111641304.jpg

Lower case, bottom shelf: Left - Right: Mostly Iron since its the heaviest. I have 5 or 6 Colonial - 1800's Hoe Blades, a really nice Adze Head, some ax heads and a ton more. There's so much its just piled on top of itself.

IMG_20151230_111651106.jpg IMG_20151230_111701455.jpg

And some choice finds of the rest of my 10% from other sites. This isn't everything, just the things I like. There's a handful of silver and IH's and lots of other relics that I don't have in here. I especially like the Rev War Sling Buckle, musket balls and lead flint holder dug next to the buckle, my nicest 1857 FE, and my nicest KG2 - 1734.

IMG_20151230_113848896.jpg IMG_20151230_113904200.jpg

No clue how I can come close to having another year like this one, but I will certainly try... and it'll be a ton of fun regardless.

Thanks for looking and Happy New Year everyone. :occasion18:
 

NC Digger

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Thanks for sharing, that is incredible! Nice job on your cases!

GL & HH

And Happy New Year!
 

DigIron2

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Jan 22, 2014
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nice display.you killed on the old money,wish my coppers would come up like that.The bust half is killer.
 

DownNDirty

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Jun 1, 2015
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Holy moly man you killed it! Did you find very many metal relics while sifting?
 

Bquamb

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Dec 29, 2014
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What a FANTASTIC display case 2.0 ! I Love it, I love the way you laid everything out - I love the coins and the custom looking holders (Even if are purchased)
Huge congratz on a treasure filled year and keep it up in 2016!
 

Ia.FurTrade

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Now, that is impressive!! Nice job on presentation, too!
What a year you had!

Iowa Dale
 

Steve in PA

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Fantastic assortment of relics and coins from that site you've been working Brad. It's really impressive when you see them all together instead of bits at a time. Great job preserving them and great job displaying them. Best of luck in 2016!
 

Vino

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What a year Brad!!
And your display is why I started to do mine..
Glad I've been on the ride with you half the year.
Your appreciation and care you do with the smallest of relics is second to none..
Keep up the great work. And pull that treasure map out and do some research for next year!!!
Ps, I see at least 3 banners in your display. .
 

OP
OP
OutdoorAdv

OutdoorAdv

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Holy moly man you killed it! Did you find very many metal relics while sifting?

LOTS of metal under there. We've all experienced masking, but sift a trash pit and you'll be astonished at the level of masking that takes place. I got 3 masked LC's, and those 2 Virginia Half Pennies all masked in the pit. Lots of other coins were in the pit, just not masked. A couple dozen tombac and flat buttons also masked. These were both iron masked and silent masked (from small iron that wouldn't register, but would mask the target). I've dug nearly ever nail signal, but as soon as you toss some dirt around, it lights up with signals. The coppers are cool, but the 2 dozen Mother of Pearl shell buttons, dozen or more bone buttons, and 50+ or so glass and porcelain buttons were the coolest. Not to mention the complete bone toothbrush.
 

Gridwalker306

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Holy hell what a year!! I don't even know where to start with the finds, that's a lot of quality! I also really like your display case, it's designed really well. I might have to steal your design and build one this winter. Good luck in 2016
 

Isaac

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INSANITY! Huge congrats! :notworthy: Seriously, not worthy! That is REALLY impressive for one site.
 

OP
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OutdoorAdv

OutdoorAdv

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Holy hell what a year!! I don't even know where to start with the finds, that's a lot of quality! I also really like your display case, it's designed really well. I might have to steal your design and build one this winter. Good luck in 2016

By all means, please do. Its pine 1" x 6" x 8' primed trim board that I just ripped down to strips I needed. 1/2" MDF shelves that I wrapped in pine to keep them from sagging. Used my Kreg Jig for butt joints and lots of router work. The glass was all cut at Lowes (not sure the Canadian equivalent, but its just a big box hardware store). The backing is flashing that I hit with my orbital with 80 grit, which casts nice light from the LED strip lights that are lining the bottoms of all the shelves. For the top piece I made sure to make the ends exact 45 degrees.... I gave the guy\kid cutting the glass the measurements for the piece square and then said "alright, put it back in the cutter corner-to-corner and cut it in half" and said "I dont think that will work, but I'll give it a shot"... perfect cut! ha He was really good.
 

Gaspipe

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Beautiful displays. Nice to see you mention you have one display limited to a single site. I feel that is the best way to display finds as it keeps them in historical context and often allows the history of a particular site and often particular family to be preserved. So many times people put all their coins together , then all buckles,etc,etc. In the process you loose where and when you found them and what goes with what(unless you categorize them). It sounds preachy but I think it makes us detectorists of historic sites more than the hackers the archaeologist types think we are.
 

OP
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OutdoorAdv

OutdoorAdv

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What a year Brad!!
And your display is why I started to do mine..
Glad I've been on the ride with you half the year.
Your appreciation and care you do with the smallest of relics is second to none..
Keep up the great work. And pull that treasure map out and do some research for next year!!!
Ps, I see at least 3 banners in your display. .

I've learned a ton from you this year and much of my success came from the Deus and you knocking the learning curve down. Thanks a ton man. I would also see what sick think you dug each week and that made me want to get back out there. ha They might not be "t-net banners", but they're still banners to me... don't see perfect Springfield War of 1812 (verified) bayonets surface too often... or hand engraved colonial patch box plates... etc! When that patch box plate turned up I texted you "looks Native American" :laughing7: Was a really nice surprise. Loved every minute of the ride this year.
 

Nepa-Will

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What an incredible year. Awesome job on the displays. Just amazing!
 

OBN

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Banner Year!! Very nice work on the Treasures and the Displays. And I guess the Best Treasure is what you have learned!!
 

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