NJKLAGT
Bronze Member
- Oct 18, 2014
- 1,118
- 1,913
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett Euro Ace 350
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Hey Gang,
I got some good digging done lately, in three different places. About a week ago I was in London again, helping shingle the roof of my friend's mom's gazebo. The spot I usually go to wasn't producing very much this time, I was getting a lot of modern jars and plastic and stuff, and just wasn't feeling it. I decided to try out another spot that I came across with my friend and his brother the last time that I was there, a long steep dump trickling down into a ravine - just the way I like 'em. There were a lot of nice looking shards of glass and pottery, so I just went ahead and took a stab right into the middle of everything (after tearing away a bunch of rusted wire and metal, of course). One of the first things I uncovered once I got under the metal was this Mason Fruit Jar. Awesome little pint with a light greenish grey colour, has some haze but I probably won't find one like this for a long time. Soon after I started to find more and more modern stuff, and so having only that one day to dig when we weren't nailing down shingles, instead of trying to get through the seemingly endless layer of modern junk, I decided to follow a trail of older shards up one side. Very soon I was raking out a lot of shallow blown chems and meds, all slicks, most ranging from dark to honey amber. The tall vial near the left is super clean, slightly amethyst, ended up finding three of those. Near the top there was a bunch of concrete rubble dumped some time since the last time I was there, but I was hot on the trail and kept following my nose, and ended up having to move some big heavy chunks of the stuff. Underneath I found two cracked up jugs which I didn't keep, one of which was absolutely massive, must have held at least five gallons, silly in size, I was actually laughing at the thing. I started to worry about how much the concrete chunks destroyed, but found enough to be happy with anyway. One of the surprising survivors was this half gallon Crown, my second fruit jar with a ground lip. There was also this applied lip English pickle jar, and a massive blown Irish whiskey flask. The flask is kind of chunky, not really my thing, but I'll admit it's actually quite pretty, super clean, rich colour, lots of embossing. I got two turn-moulded bottles, one of those common blob mineral waters and a clear perfume or something shaped like a raindrop. I got a pint milk too, from St. Thomas, a relatively small town. And on the left I got an older small square, probably 1890ish - I found some beautiful heartbreakers that were even older and I can't wait to return and find some whole ones. Anyway, so that was London. It's too bad that it's a two hour drive away, I'm really itching to get back there.
Dig number two was over the weekend, at a new spot here back home. I had been wanting to check out this downtown creek that has a lot of history, lots of activity and dumping over the years. An old-timer, Roy, once told me that 'after a heavy rain bottles just come out of the walls'. My brother, sister, brother-in-law, two nieces, and myself all went to do some mulberry picking near the creek, and so I brought a scratcher and some gloves just in case. I've heard some awful things about the quality of the water, and I only had sandals on, but I couldn't resist. I got in and started wading around the edges of the creek, the deepest spots were only up to my knees. Within about ten minutes I spotted a late cork top whiskey and shoe polish sticking out of the wall - thank you, Roy. I could see distinct layers of ash, rust, etc. My heart started pounding as I dug in and found out very quickly that the wall was essentially made of artifacts. Bottles, plates, pottery, all sorts of things of different ages all mixed in on top of each other. What a thrill! I ended up digging for about half an hour, maybe a little more, and got a few goodies to take home along with all our mulberries. The tall Dutch gin is my first stamped pottery piece, I found two of them side by side about half a foot below the waterline, and so I gave one to my sis and her family to take home. I also got a three piece mould liquor bottle, a nice plate (those strange lines aren't scratches, I'm not that careless), a tiny blown Holloway's Corn Remover, a Penslar hair treatment of some sort, and some older food jars and stuff. So that was that! I'm looking forward to going back there with a shovel. I bet there's a beauty or two drifting away as I type this!
The third dig was yesterday, metal detecting at my old burnt down house site. I'm getting better and better at locating targets in all the iron. Near the front step, where I had gone over so many times before, I pulled a 1920 large cent. Along the tree line that crosses the front of the house, I found a 1916 large cent, and two awesome buttons. One is an old two piece button, with what looks like some horses on it, and a nice wreathed edge. The other eagle flat button is probably one of my favourite finds ever! What can you guys tell me about this button? I'll make sure to ask in the other forums as well. But yeah, it's got an 'R' in the shield, and I think twenty-two stars on the back. It's gotta be American. I don't see how this could be anything other than American. Anyway, I absolutely love it. So that was dig number three. I've also included a picture of the old suspender buckle that I found near the well there not too long ago.
Thanks for looking, everyone! Good luck and happy hunting,
NJ
I got some good digging done lately, in three different places. About a week ago I was in London again, helping shingle the roof of my friend's mom's gazebo. The spot I usually go to wasn't producing very much this time, I was getting a lot of modern jars and plastic and stuff, and just wasn't feeling it. I decided to try out another spot that I came across with my friend and his brother the last time that I was there, a long steep dump trickling down into a ravine - just the way I like 'em. There were a lot of nice looking shards of glass and pottery, so I just went ahead and took a stab right into the middle of everything (after tearing away a bunch of rusted wire and metal, of course). One of the first things I uncovered once I got under the metal was this Mason Fruit Jar. Awesome little pint with a light greenish grey colour, has some haze but I probably won't find one like this for a long time. Soon after I started to find more and more modern stuff, and so having only that one day to dig when we weren't nailing down shingles, instead of trying to get through the seemingly endless layer of modern junk, I decided to follow a trail of older shards up one side. Very soon I was raking out a lot of shallow blown chems and meds, all slicks, most ranging from dark to honey amber. The tall vial near the left is super clean, slightly amethyst, ended up finding three of those. Near the top there was a bunch of concrete rubble dumped some time since the last time I was there, but I was hot on the trail and kept following my nose, and ended up having to move some big heavy chunks of the stuff. Underneath I found two cracked up jugs which I didn't keep, one of which was absolutely massive, must have held at least five gallons, silly in size, I was actually laughing at the thing. I started to worry about how much the concrete chunks destroyed, but found enough to be happy with anyway. One of the surprising survivors was this half gallon Crown, my second fruit jar with a ground lip. There was also this applied lip English pickle jar, and a massive blown Irish whiskey flask. The flask is kind of chunky, not really my thing, but I'll admit it's actually quite pretty, super clean, rich colour, lots of embossing. I got two turn-moulded bottles, one of those common blob mineral waters and a clear perfume or something shaped like a raindrop. I got a pint milk too, from St. Thomas, a relatively small town. And on the left I got an older small square, probably 1890ish - I found some beautiful heartbreakers that were even older and I can't wait to return and find some whole ones. Anyway, so that was London. It's too bad that it's a two hour drive away, I'm really itching to get back there.
Dig number two was over the weekend, at a new spot here back home. I had been wanting to check out this downtown creek that has a lot of history, lots of activity and dumping over the years. An old-timer, Roy, once told me that 'after a heavy rain bottles just come out of the walls'. My brother, sister, brother-in-law, two nieces, and myself all went to do some mulberry picking near the creek, and so I brought a scratcher and some gloves just in case. I've heard some awful things about the quality of the water, and I only had sandals on, but I couldn't resist. I got in and started wading around the edges of the creek, the deepest spots were only up to my knees. Within about ten minutes I spotted a late cork top whiskey and shoe polish sticking out of the wall - thank you, Roy. I could see distinct layers of ash, rust, etc. My heart started pounding as I dug in and found out very quickly that the wall was essentially made of artifacts. Bottles, plates, pottery, all sorts of things of different ages all mixed in on top of each other. What a thrill! I ended up digging for about half an hour, maybe a little more, and got a few goodies to take home along with all our mulberries. The tall Dutch gin is my first stamped pottery piece, I found two of them side by side about half a foot below the waterline, and so I gave one to my sis and her family to take home. I also got a three piece mould liquor bottle, a nice plate (those strange lines aren't scratches, I'm not that careless), a tiny blown Holloway's Corn Remover, a Penslar hair treatment of some sort, and some older food jars and stuff. So that was that! I'm looking forward to going back there with a shovel. I bet there's a beauty or two drifting away as I type this!
The third dig was yesterday, metal detecting at my old burnt down house site. I'm getting better and better at locating targets in all the iron. Near the front step, where I had gone over so many times before, I pulled a 1920 large cent. Along the tree line that crosses the front of the house, I found a 1916 large cent, and two awesome buttons. One is an old two piece button, with what looks like some horses on it, and a nice wreathed edge. The other eagle flat button is probably one of my favourite finds ever! What can you guys tell me about this button? I'll make sure to ask in the other forums as well. But yeah, it's got an 'R' in the shield, and I think twenty-two stars on the back. It's gotta be American. I don't see how this could be anything other than American. Anyway, I absolutely love it. So that was dig number three. I've also included a picture of the old suspender buckle that I found near the well there not too long ago.
Thanks for looking, everyone! Good luck and happy hunting,
NJ
