Hello All,
Shanegalang and I got out for a hunt, and we started out by investing a little time trying to find a site I have been after for a year now. We did some big grids on some new property trying to narrow down the search area from a mile square to something more manageable. As many of you know, it is very flat down here, and no geography to rule out a patch of ground. Every acre of ground looks like every single other acre.
Well, we were unsuccessful at that, but it's just a matter of time 'till we find what we're looking for.
Then we went to a new spot and located a small antebellum site. Finds were thin, but Shane soon yelled that he had a shield nickel (1868), so things were looking up. I dug some trache, then some crappe with my new Fisher F75. Finally got a candlestick thumb-ring, piece of a heel plate, and a keyhole cover from an old smokehouse lock that was stamped with "U.S." I have not seen this before (most have either VR, GR, or "PATENT" on them). If anyone has more information about this, please share. Well, I was rolling the camera from time to time, hoping for something good. I got several nice dime signals that didn't pan out. Here's one example:
At any rate, I got down a row, wondering if I'd manage to dig something nice at all, and got a nice little high brass signal. Unfortunately I don't film the brass signals, because they are usually nothing to great. But when I popped open a plug, I saw a silver disc in the dirt! At this point I started the camera rolling!
After that discovery, I was stoked!
Here is a photo of the half real in my hand. I knew it'd likely be dateless, but any day a 1700s spanish silver comes up is a great day!
Well, we dug and dug and Dug, and not much else noteworthy came to light so we called it a day. Now, I know that the harvest is over already in the north, but we are still waiting for the sugar cane to be cut on some of our best sites.
When I cleaned up the finds, tossed out the crap aluminum and junk, and disposed of 100lbs of scrap iron, this is what I was left with:
Here is a close-up of the worn-down half real:
I'm still thrilled to dig another spanish. This year will be practically impossible to top in terms of quantity, but it has been one hell of a fun ride.
When I got home, we had a celebration, complete with a stuffed chicken, a persimmon pie, and "adult beverages."
Best Wishes,
The CaneField Bandits
Shanegalang and I got out for a hunt, and we started out by investing a little time trying to find a site I have been after for a year now. We did some big grids on some new property trying to narrow down the search area from a mile square to something more manageable. As many of you know, it is very flat down here, and no geography to rule out a patch of ground. Every acre of ground looks like every single other acre.
Well, we were unsuccessful at that, but it's just a matter of time 'till we find what we're looking for.
Then we went to a new spot and located a small antebellum site. Finds were thin, but Shane soon yelled that he had a shield nickel (1868), so things were looking up. I dug some trache, then some crappe with my new Fisher F75. Finally got a candlestick thumb-ring, piece of a heel plate, and a keyhole cover from an old smokehouse lock that was stamped with "U.S." I have not seen this before (most have either VR, GR, or "PATENT" on them). If anyone has more information about this, please share. Well, I was rolling the camera from time to time, hoping for something good. I got several nice dime signals that didn't pan out. Here's one example:
At any rate, I got down a row, wondering if I'd manage to dig something nice at all, and got a nice little high brass signal. Unfortunately I don't film the brass signals, because they are usually nothing to great. But when I popped open a plug, I saw a silver disc in the dirt! At this point I started the camera rolling!
After that discovery, I was stoked!
Here is a photo of the half real in my hand. I knew it'd likely be dateless, but any day a 1700s spanish silver comes up is a great day!
Well, we dug and dug and Dug, and not much else noteworthy came to light so we called it a day. Now, I know that the harvest is over already in the north, but we are still waiting for the sugar cane to be cut on some of our best sites.
When I cleaned up the finds, tossed out the crap aluminum and junk, and disposed of 100lbs of scrap iron, this is what I was left with:
Here is a close-up of the worn-down half real:
I'm still thrilled to dig another spanish. This year will be practically impossible to top in terms of quantity, but it has been one hell of a fun ride.
When I got home, we had a celebration, complete with a stuffed chicken, a persimmon pie, and "adult beverages."
Best Wishes,
The CaneField Bandits
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