All I can Say is "What a Day!!!"

[Devonrex]

Yesterday was one of those days where you sometimes wonder if you are dreaming. I thought the spot I ws hunting was about played out. The pit I had dug wasn't producing anything so I once again, through the advice of Bill D. started to dig in aother area laden with iron signals. The digging is almost impossible with many roots that are 3 inches or more in diameter crisscrossing like fingers and I had to actual bring a hatchet to cut many of these. It started slow but after I don't know how many iron targets I finally got my first good sounding target just a little under 10 inches. And man what a target it was. My first reale from the site that has been cut in half dated 1736! I was even fortunate to get the half thats dated! Next came a few musket balls and then 2 more bayonet clips and some colonial brass small buckles. It was about this time I started to think "ok, there's brass so maybe there will be another button." Not more than 5 minutes later at a depth of about a foot out pops a beautiful coat French button with the turrent shank just staring at me. Turning it over I saw the unmistakenly number 41 staring up at me! My second coat 41 from the site! After that came a small French 85 button, and then another small 41!! Just when I didn't think it could get any better with one shovelful out pops 2 more silver cut quarter reales (one dated 1721) and a small coin that looks like my first cobb! I was in shock!!! I had never found this many 1700 coins in my 25 yrs of detecting! These coins were just under a foot surrounded by nails. I almost left but decided to stay for a little longer. And the finds just kept coming! A large sun rosette or button, more musket balls, a brass tack, and lots of melted lead! Just as I was about to leave in the pile of dirt I had thrown up I got a tiny reading I had missed. Just as it was getting dark I pulled ANOTHER French button.... this one the smallest I have ever found. I had never seen a French button this small. And what a button it was......a 23 - the third of these I have pulled from this site. Once home and after cleaning my finds I started looking at the small coin shaped like a cobb. It has all the markings a cobb should have, the spanish cross on one side and the design on the back, but the color and shape seems odd. It almost looks burnt. Then I started looking at some of the lead splatters I had recovered from the pit. A huge hunk of lead was also burnt as well as many of the others. Now I am beginning to wonder if this might be an area where uniforms were burnt or a medical site. It was an unbelievable day that I won't ever forget! HH Devonrex

[Devonrex]

Yesterday was one of those days where you sometimes wonder if you are dreaming. I thought the spot I ws hunting was about played out. The pit I had dug wasn't producing anything so I once again, through the advice of Bill D. started to dig in aother area laden with iron signals. The digging is almost impossible with many roots that are 3 inches or more in diameter crisscrossing like fingers and I had to actual bring a hatchet to cut many of these. It started slow but after I don't know how many iron targets I finally got my first good sounding target just a little under 10 inches. And man what a target it was. My first reale from the site that has been cut in half dated 1736! I was even fortunate to get the half thats dated! Next came a few musket balls and then 2 more bayonet clips and some colonial brass small buckles. It was about this time I started to think "ok, there's brass so maybe there will be another button." Not more than 5 minutes later at a depth of about a foot out pops a beautiful coat French button with the turrent shank just staring at me. Turning it over I saw the unmistakenly number 41 staring up at me! My second coat 41 from the site! After that came a small French 85 button, and then another small 41!! Just when I didn't think it could get any better with one shovelful out pops 2 more silver cut quarter reales (one dated 1721) and a small coin that looks like my first cobb! I was in shock!!! I had never found this many 1700 coins in my 25 yrs of detecting! These coins were just under a foot surrounded by nails. I almost left but decided to stay for a little longer. And the finds just kept coming! A large sun rosette or button, more musket balls, a brass tack, and lots of melted lead! Just as I was about to leave in the pile of dirt I had thrown up I got a tiny reading I had missed. Just as it was getting dark I pulled ANOTHER French button.... this one the smallest I have ever found. I had never seen a French button this small. And what a button it was......a 23 - the third of these I have pulled from this site. Once home and after cleaning my finds I started looking at the small coin shaped like a cobb. It has all the markings a cobb should have, the spanish cross on one side and the design on the back, but the color and shape seems odd. It almost looks burnt. Then I started looking at some of the lead splatters I had recovered from the pit. A huge hunk of lead was also burnt as well as many of the others. Now I am beginning to wonder if this might be an area where uniforms were burnt or a medical site. It was an unbelievable day that I won't ever forget! HH Devonrex

Oops the pictures!!!

[kilmer]

Wow, not much of a believer in pit or trench digging but these results are impressive. Congrats. Amazing results.

Don
HH

[dwayne sueno]

wow!
that is a banner day a few times over.
one of the best days i've seen posted here.
congrats!

[OldSowBreath]

Great finds! Shoot a front and back of that cob and post it over in the Spanish Cobs section. It's amazing what those guys can decipher!

[Coinstriking Michigan]

Excellent, very happy for you.

[Bubba65]

The is one GREAT DAY of digging, Congrats and may many more follow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bubba65

[romeo-1]

't take long to get on the banner with these finds! Congrats!!

[Ironman!]

Awesome finds once again Devonrex! I have always enjoyed seeing your amazing finds over the years that you posted on ARH. Keep it up and congrats on the banner!! This post reminds me of a trench I dug many years ago which contained mostly broken 4" x 4" tiles but also gave up a nice 3rd foot guard pewter button!

IM

[CRUSADER]

I wish I could say I had a day like that, with so many Spanish Silver!!! - CONGRATS

[Briz06]

Wow What a Hunt!!! Awesome!

[kuger]

I still think all of your totals from that site should be on the banner(a long time ago)and is one of the top all time finds ever posted on here if not the TOP!!

[flakefinder]

It was a awesome day for you, Congrats and good hunting.

[Steve in PA]

Un-freaking-believable!!! You could start a small museum with all you have dug from that site!

[Bill D. (VA)]

John - that absolutely has to be a hospital site where the uniforms were being discarded into a pit for medical reasons. Can't think of any other reason for finding that many buttons in one spot. But not sure why all the musketballs and coins unless they were in the uniforms when they were thrown out. Also, in comparison to the "41" coat button I'd have to say that your 3 cut coins are all from 2 reale pistareens, and not from a 1 reale. If you can get a diameter in mm for the big piece that can easily be verified. And don't give up on the site once you've finished digging the latest pit. There could easily be several more in the area and you should be able to find them without much problem now that you have some great experience under your belt. You never mentioned if you've been sifting, or are you still just detecting and eyeballing? Somewhere on the site there should also be a pit(s) with loads of ceramics and glass which would be another incredible find if you can locate that spot. So keep hitting that place hard. Good luck and keep me posted ..... Bill