Its ok, I give

[ironhorse]

It's ok, I give

well after spending the morning out in the yard puttering around, I'm convinced 99.9% that detecting is done for me this season.
it was a cool -14C, with no end in sight
2014 was good year for me detecting, I made some decent finds, had a ton of fun detecting and discovering new sites and revisiting some old, and made some great memories while remembering why I like detecting so much.

Quantity wasn't a word thrown around by me too many times out in the field, the pile was scant. Quality slipped in and out, mostly out, but when it counted, I was left asking for a little more. Let's just all agree we've seen better. One exception may well be my token find which made the banner, the rest we're many of the reasons why we listen to the ground.

Thises and thats dominated the spotlight broken up by the usual coins, buttons, broken bits of things, and various other pieces of everyday life left behind. Main stand outs included my MacCausland token, Spanish cob, Irish bank token, worn French silver , Condor token, and store token. So it was a token kind of year really, just fantastic from my side! My relics we're just that way too, the Victorian vinaigrette was a surprise for sure and the Mason fob also made the day for me. A few Revolutionary buttons made it under the coil, but the military bug didn't bite too deep this year. Coin numbers were ok, considering I only detected maybe twenty times. About sixty coppers and thirtyfive silver coins I guess, sadly only a few were older than the 40s, 50s and 60s stuff from my neighbours lawns.

and yes as always, I still say every year how amazing it is and things we find! with hopes of finding more next year

happy new year everyone!

if anyone wants to see closeups of ask about anything I'll try to keep up

 

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[Iron Patch]

I've heard the stories of guys filling their pockets with silver coins. I'm sure there's some that cleaned up but the technology wasn't quite up to today's. It certainly isn't easy to get on a super productive early site. But I'm not afraid of a challenge

Yes, the most famous local story is a race track that gave up over 300 silver coins. But as I said, 1800s and 1900s stuff.

 

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[Ahab8]

Here, the late 1800s/1900s stuff from the Church yards, parks, schools, and beaches. That's why we did so well, it was basically just our group and one other hunting fields when we started, and even the obvious old sites had not been hit, so it was easy pickens. It's great to be the guys that the people who are new to the hobby will always look at as having been first, and found the most and the best. It's such a crazy thought for me to consider, but even in say 1990 if just one person would have got into detecting the best old places here he would have had everything to himself for near a decade, and have a collection of finds I can not even begin to imagine. But lucky for me no one had that idea.

Yeah I certainly have to think outside the box and put on some miles to get on productive sites. My best have come after a long hike or canoe to a remote place

 

[Iron Patch]

Yeah I certainly have to think outside the box and put on some miles to get on productive sites. My best have come after a long hike or canoe to a remote place

We'd be doing the same here if that's the way it was, but there's not really any out of the way hidden places to go find some great old stuff. There's still lots to it, just not quite the same.

 

[ironhorse]

I've heard the stories of guys filling their pockets with silver coins. I'm sure there's some that cleaned up but the technology wasn't quite up to today's. It certainly isn't easy to get on a super productive early site. But I'm not afraid of a challenge

I guess I heard a bunch of those old stories too, some guys leaving the field so weighted down their pouch left a furrow in the field lol
Those stories never scare me off, nor do the ones about sites being detected in the past ; the ones from the earlier days of detecting are interesting, I know we've detected a few sites that we felt we weren't the first to discover, it's my thinking that the high easy tones( coins) were cherry picked off the surface and the deep and low tones were over looked or passed on, just fine with me! and previously detected sites, no one gets it all, I could follow other detectorists around all day long and twice on Sunday to pick out what they miss

 

[Ahab8]

I guess I heard a bunch of those old stories too, some guys leaving the field so weighted down their pouch left a furrow in the field lol
Those stories never scare me off, nor do the ones about sites being detected in the past ; the ones from the earlier days of detecting are interesting, I know we've detected a few sites that we felt we weren't the first to discover, it's my thinking that the high easy tones( coins) were cherry picked off the surface and the deep and low tones were over looked or passed on, just fine with me! and previously detected sites, no one gets it all, I could follow other detectorists around all day long and twice on Sunday to pick out what they miss

I agree 100% bud. I actually take pride in the fact that I believe I can find a keeper at any pounded site. I still firmly believe that there's incredible items at lots of sites .... Hunted or not. And I know that most give up on sites too quickly. I've worked right through colonial hot spots before. Then gone back and dug em out. It can happen easily. I'm so excited about this 2nd year. The ultimate goal is to find at least one incredible mind blowing find every year. I would love to finish this detecting adventure with multiple Mass silvers or GW buttons. The rest of this story is yet to be written

 

[ironhorse]

It's ok, I give

I agree 100% bud. I actually take pride in the fact that I believe I can find a keeper at any pounded site. I still firmly believe that there's incredible items at lots of sites .... Hunted or not. And I know that most give up on sites too quickly. I've worked right through colonial hot spots before. Then gone back and dug em out. It can happen easily. I'm so excited about this 2nd year. The ultimate goal is to find at least one incredible mind blowing find every year. I would love to finish this detecting adventure with multiple Mass silvers or GW buttons. The rest of this story is yet to be written

Nope, never give up on a good site; if the finds warrant another hunt, the site stays on a long list of backup places to hunt, of which we have a lot!
Sadly some places are never to be hunted again, I'm not sure about some of your places but we did have some that after a year or two we've gone back to see a brand new house or cottage covering old site or so close that well never dig there again Best case scenario for us is that some older places disappear opening the door for new spots to try

 

[Iron Patch]

Nope, never give up on a good site; if the finds warrant another hunt, the site stays on a long list of backup places to hunt, of which we have a lot!
Sadly some places are never to be hunted again, I'm not sure about some of your places but we did have some that after a year or two we've gone back to see a brand new house or cottage covering old site or so close that well never dig there again Best case scenario for us is that some older places disappear opening the door for new spots to try

Like this. (S. Harbour) I guess it's not the time to start thinking we never hunted that place hard enough!

 

[ironhorse]

Like this. (S. Harbour) I guess it's not the time to start thinking we never hunted that place hard enough!

That's right. The one field I remember hunting( Ive only been there twice) was a great age, but there was a lot more room to look around; unfortunately the site we were hunting is now a new cottage subdivision

 

[Iron Patch]

That's right. The one field I remember hunting( Ive only been there twice) was a great age, but there was a lot more room to look around; unfortunately the site we were hunting is now a new cottage subdivision

I remember you even hit a button on the way out the last hunt... either a little Navy or a San Joseph. And I doubt that was the last there.

 

[ironhorse]

I remember you even hit a button on the way out the last hunt... either a little Navy or a San Joseph. And I doubt that was the last there.

That's right, a navy cuff
It was the last time I hunted there

 

[Iron Patch]

That's right, a navy cuff
It was the last time I hunted there

Scary how long ago that was because my first time there I believe was 2004... so likely 2005, or 06 at the latest.

 

[ironhorse]

Scary how long ago that was because my first time there I believe was 2004... so likely 2005, or 06 at the latest.

Yep it was that long ago!!!!
After Romeo got the belt plate out that way I don't think we've ever been down that road since, at least I haven't

 

[Ahab8]

Ya know when I started detecting I kept thinking that I wished I had started 10 or 15 years earlier. But now I know I'm glad I waited. I just would never have committed the huge amout of time researching that I have. Digging through libraries and old maps. My moms geneology stuff, old deeds. I never would have done all that. I prob would have done it for a season and not had much success and given it up. So now I'm happy that it all worked out the way it did. I very much enjoy all the research now. I especially like going to a spot with no record of settlement and finding a hot spot. I'm starting to learn the areas that just would've made sense back then.

 

[ironhorse]

Ya know when I started detecting I kept thinking that I wished I had started 10 or 15 years earlier. But now I know I'm glad I waited. I just would never have committed the huge amout of time researching that I have. Digging through libraries and old maps. My moms geneology stuff, old deeds. I never would have done all that. I prob would have done it for a season and not had much success and given it up. So now I'm happy that it all worked out the way it did. I very much enjoy all the research now. I especially like going to a spot with no record of settlement and finding a hot spot. I'm starting to learn the areas that just would've made sense back then.

One thing I've learned on relation to detecting is the tools for detecting, shovels are shovels and detectors are detectors, either way they are basically on the front line of the process , but for me personally the greatest detecting tool that we all use and get the best bang for the buck is believe it or not...the Internet !

When I began detecting twenty years ago, it was a lot of work, mostly trial and error really, to find the best places to hunt , nowadays I find sites on the screen before anything happens , in the old days the finds were good, with a computer I now have more great finds!

 

[Iron Patch]

Yep it was that long ago!!!!
After Romeo got the belt plate out that way I don't think we've ever been down that road since, at least I haven't

Romeo's plate was well after our last trip there, but it is true, that was the last time we were around there at all. I have looked, just nothing that jumped out at me.

 

[Iron Patch]

Ya know when I started detecting I kept thinking that I wished I had started 10 or 15 years earlier. But now I know I'm glad I waited. I just would never have committed the huge amout of time researching that I have. Digging through libraries and old maps. My moms geneology stuff, old deeds. I never would have done all that. I prob would have done it for a season and not had much success and given it up. So now I'm happy that it all worked out the way it did. I very much enjoy all the research now. I especially like going to a spot with no record of settlement and finding a hot spot. I'm starting to learn the areas that just would've made sense back then.

You can still quit now.

 

[Ahab8]

You can still quit now.

You'd have to kill me! I am into it bro. I am infatuated with trying to dig the greatest colonial finds possible. I have a goals list and it's probably a fantasy to fulfill but I'm gonna do whatever is in my power to accomplish my goals! Quit....come on bro! Nobody likes a quitter. That's what I used to say when I had a serious drinking problem lol

 

[Iron Patch]

You'd have to kill me! I am into it bro. I am infatuated with trying to dig the greatest colonial finds possible. I have a goals list and it's probably a fantasy to fulfill but I'm gonna do whatever is in my power to accomplish my goals! Quit....come on bro! Nobody likes a quitter. That's what I used to say when I had a serious drinking problem lol

Yeah I thought that would be the answer. You definitely check all the boxes to be a lifer in this, and I really do believe you'll be doing this 10,20,30 years down the road. I think one of the biggest factors is you've had a touch of success early and that has kept you fired up, and that's sort of what happened to me also when I got in at 28. It's like there's several addictions all tied into one for this hobby..... The finds, the adventure, the research.... etc..