Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
Found a beautiful powder flask during yesterday's 2nd hunt
After Dan and I finished up at our colonial site in the early afternoon I decided to make a stop at the c1700 site where a couple of weeks ago I dug some silver coins and the 1786 German pfennig. This is the place where it's nearly impossible to use a detector. The ground is loaded with small iron and surface trash, and electrical lines and a transformer are right next to the yard where I was hunting. Throw in some thick, pesky weeds and a heavy layer of oyster shells at about 6" down across the entire yard and you have about as difficult a site as you can get. I was again forced to try and cherry pick the high tone targets with my F75, and even that was not easy. But I did manage to dig a couple of clad quarters and finally a silver rosie and a merc in about 90 min. Near the end of a totally frustrating hunt I got a very high tone that I thought was a relatively shallow piece of trash. But I ended up going down almost a foot and eventually pulled out a huge piece of brass that I again thought was going to be junk. But I was shocked to see this beautiful bird motif powder flask once I cleaned the dirt off. This is the first whole one I've dug although it's missing the top. I was afraid of ruining the great looking patina so I just dried cleaned it although I'm not sure how I'm going to get all the dirt out of it. I'm also not sure how old this might be. I figure it dates to somewhere in the mid-1800s, but that's nothing but a wild guess. Appreciate any info on ID'ing or cleaning this cool relic.
After Dan and I finished up at our colonial site in the early afternoon I decided to make a stop at the c1700 site where a couple of weeks ago I dug some silver coins and the 1786 German pfennig. This is the place where it's nearly impossible to use a detector. The ground is loaded with small iron and surface trash, and electrical lines and a transformer are right next to the yard where I was hunting. Throw in some thick, pesky weeds and a heavy layer of oyster shells at about 6" down across the entire yard and you have about as difficult a site as you can get. I was again forced to try and cherry pick the high tone targets with my F75, and even that was not easy. But I did manage to dig a couple of clad quarters and finally a silver rosie and a merc in about 90 min. Near the end of a totally frustrating hunt I got a very high tone that I thought was a relatively shallow piece of trash. But I ended up going down almost a foot and eventually pulled out a huge piece of brass that I again thought was going to be junk. But I was shocked to see this beautiful bird motif powder flask once I cleaned the dirt off. This is the first whole one I've dug although it's missing the top. I was afraid of ruining the great looking patina so I just dried cleaned it although I'm not sure how I'm going to get all the dirt out of it. I'm also not sure how old this might be. I figure it dates to somewhere in the mid-1800s, but that's nothing but a wild guess. Appreciate any info on ID'ing or cleaning this cool relic.
Attachments
Upvote
16
