Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
Dan and I finally had an opportunity over the weekend to get out for the first time this year. We hit a new site in an area where I had researched a few 1600s land patents hoping to stumble across an early homesite. We did our usual "divide and conquer" in an attempt to find a nice hotspot, but it seemed all we could dig was aluminum can slaw. While we were returning to the truck along the far side of the field we started noticing a little brick and iron. Soon after Dan dug a little chunk of pewter, and I soon followed with part of an early pewter button. We decided to slow down and when a few buttons and buckle pieces started showing up we decided to grid the area. It wasn't long before I surprised myself with a nice colonial silver coin - half of a 1737 one reale pistareen. Dan wasn't having any of that, and only about 10 min later he called me over to witness him recover a possible piece of silver after hearing that nice high-pitched squeal on his AT Pro. I watched as a silver coin fell out of the plug, and it looked identical to the one I just dug. We put them side-by-side, and it appeared they came from the same coin. How cool would that be!! I took some pics in the field, but later we both noticed a few subtle differences that proved they came from separate coins. Too bad as that would have been a very rare occurrence. I also recovered a couple of coppers including a Va halfpenny and a slick colonial, a few buttons, several buckle pieces and musketballs, plus an interesting lead seal with the letters "B?". I was also pleased with the end of a trifid spoon handle which dates to 1650-1700. We also got into a small fire pit but it proved to be mostly unproductive. Dan made a bunch of nice finds as well which I'm sure he'll post later. Even though we did not duplicate our banner day from the first hunt of last year, it was still a great way to start the new year and will hopefully be an omen for the remainder of the season.
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