HomeGuardDan
Bronze Member
What a 3 days of relic hunting. This past weekend I planned to have a good friend of mine come down from the frozen tundra of Maryland and hunt for a few days at some of Virginia’s colonial sites. For 3 days we hunted and made some nice finds. On Friday Beau rolled into town and I quickly left the office to meet Bill D at one of our latest sites. We hunted for a few hours and the finds simply were not there. Surprisingly, this site did not produce – we had hunted it only once before and were pleased with what we had found. My best find from the site was a nice early sportsman button depicting a crouching rabbit. We quickly moved on to one of our latest “tried and true” colonial sites. This one had been hit hard, but we knew a few good finds were still hiding in there. With the daylight dwindling and each of us having a handful of colonial items, including buttons and buckle pieces, I struck first for the weekend with a nice cut pistareen. It felt good to get that find out of the way for the weekend.
On day two, we woke up bright and early to meet Bill D. and Joey at one of our more historic sites for a full day of hunting. We spent the first half of the day exploring some sites on the property that we hoped would produce – though after 5 hours we decided to head back to the previous productive locations. Right off the start Joey landed a nice capped bust half dime. Then Bill and Beau landed some colonial era Chinese dynasty coins – shortly afterwards I landed one of my own. I had previously dug a Jen Tsung coin (1796-1820) at this site in the same area. This time I dug a Ch’ien Lung (1736-1795) coin. I am uncertain which ones Bill and Beau recovered, but assume that they are about the same era. These are unique finds, especially from such a colonial rich site – interesting on how they arrived there. A little while longer I managed to dig a nice 1773 VA Half Penny and complete shoe buckle with iron workings attached. I managed to stumble into a small trash pit that yielded a few buttons and then finished the day surface hunting for the day locating a few more handfuls of colonial goodies (buttons, round balls, etc.) Beau dug a nice three cent piece and Bill another silver gem! We all ended the day with some keeper coins!
Beau and I finished off the night with an oyster bake out on the grill – great end to a fun day.
Days one and two pale in comparison to day three! On day three Beau, Bill and I set out to check some new property that we secured. On the way we noticed that a previously productive farm had recently been tilled and felt that we should at least check it and boy am I glad that we did. Initially we located a few finds here and there until I wandered to another one of the many house sites that we located at this site. I immediately recovered a button and thimble and called for Beau and Bill. As we spread out, each digging a handful of buttons and bill digging a nice coin (will let him share) I located another pit – this one would be well worth the work. As a disclaimer I must admit that I first dug the pit and filled it back in. We only had a few more hours left and I did not want to mess with a pit in such a short amount of time knowing that I could go back to this site anytime. My conscious got the better of me and boy I am glad I went back and dug it out. First just a button or two rolled out, then a nice 1787 Connecticut Copper!!! surfaced in the spoil pile – then I saw something truly unique. Bill was just but a few feet away when I called him over to look at what I thought was perhaps a silver coin that fell out of the sidewall.
I figured surely that it would just be a silvered button when to my astonishment it was a 1787 half reale. I had just eyeballed a half reale! Amazing! Well I was not done – a few minutes later, after a few more buttons and other odds and ends I eyeballed another coin – this time a beaut of a VA half penny rolled out of the sidewall. BUT I WAS NOT DONE!!! Can you believe it that only a short time later a crisp 1797 1 Reale rolled out of another sidewall! I had just recovered four colonial coins from one pit and I eyeballed three of them. With other relics coming out consistently, I finally forced Bill (who was reluctant to jump in) to help me with the pit. Would you believe it, but Bill eyeballed a beaut of a VA Half Penny as well! Five coins from one pit! Just towards the end of the day we began to get into more china and other additional finds when our time came to an end. We filled the pit in and will look VERY forward to getting back to finishing it out.
This pit was full of iron, and we did not sift anything yet. I fully expect to make some nice finds from our back fill and plenty more from the expansion of the pit. While we were working on this, Beau got into a pit as well that produced a broken bottle and a handful of colonial goodies. My take for the three days of colonial hunting were 47 buttons, 7 colonial coins (including 3 silvers), plenty of shot and buckle pieces, two complete shoe buckles with iron workings, and a pile of china to put back together. It was fun and as always, I enjoy spending time with my two pals Beau and Bill. It was great to meet Joey on Saturday and I look VERY forward to a return visit to what I will from now on call the Coin Pit!
HH
Dan
On day two, we woke up bright and early to meet Bill D. and Joey at one of our more historic sites for a full day of hunting. We spent the first half of the day exploring some sites on the property that we hoped would produce – though after 5 hours we decided to head back to the previous productive locations. Right off the start Joey landed a nice capped bust half dime. Then Bill and Beau landed some colonial era Chinese dynasty coins – shortly afterwards I landed one of my own. I had previously dug a Jen Tsung coin (1796-1820) at this site in the same area. This time I dug a Ch’ien Lung (1736-1795) coin. I am uncertain which ones Bill and Beau recovered, but assume that they are about the same era. These are unique finds, especially from such a colonial rich site – interesting on how they arrived there. A little while longer I managed to dig a nice 1773 VA Half Penny and complete shoe buckle with iron workings attached. I managed to stumble into a small trash pit that yielded a few buttons and then finished the day surface hunting for the day locating a few more handfuls of colonial goodies (buttons, round balls, etc.) Beau dug a nice three cent piece and Bill another silver gem! We all ended the day with some keeper coins!
Beau and I finished off the night with an oyster bake out on the grill – great end to a fun day.
Days one and two pale in comparison to day three! On day three Beau, Bill and I set out to check some new property that we secured. On the way we noticed that a previously productive farm had recently been tilled and felt that we should at least check it and boy am I glad that we did. Initially we located a few finds here and there until I wandered to another one of the many house sites that we located at this site. I immediately recovered a button and thimble and called for Beau and Bill. As we spread out, each digging a handful of buttons and bill digging a nice coin (will let him share) I located another pit – this one would be well worth the work. As a disclaimer I must admit that I first dug the pit and filled it back in. We only had a few more hours left and I did not want to mess with a pit in such a short amount of time knowing that I could go back to this site anytime. My conscious got the better of me and boy I am glad I went back and dug it out. First just a button or two rolled out, then a nice 1787 Connecticut Copper!!! surfaced in the spoil pile – then I saw something truly unique. Bill was just but a few feet away when I called him over to look at what I thought was perhaps a silver coin that fell out of the sidewall.
I figured surely that it would just be a silvered button when to my astonishment it was a 1787 half reale. I had just eyeballed a half reale! Amazing! Well I was not done – a few minutes later, after a few more buttons and other odds and ends I eyeballed another coin – this time a beaut of a VA half penny rolled out of the sidewall. BUT I WAS NOT DONE!!! Can you believe it that only a short time later a crisp 1797 1 Reale rolled out of another sidewall! I had just recovered four colonial coins from one pit and I eyeballed three of them. With other relics coming out consistently, I finally forced Bill (who was reluctant to jump in) to help me with the pit. Would you believe it, but Bill eyeballed a beaut of a VA Half Penny as well! Five coins from one pit! Just towards the end of the day we began to get into more china and other additional finds when our time came to an end. We filled the pit in and will look VERY forward to getting back to finishing it out.
This pit was full of iron, and we did not sift anything yet. I fully expect to make some nice finds from our back fill and plenty more from the expansion of the pit. While we were working on this, Beau got into a pit as well that produced a broken bottle and a handful of colonial goodies. My take for the three days of colonial hunting were 47 buttons, 7 colonial coins (including 3 silvers), plenty of shot and buckle pieces, two complete shoe buckles with iron workings, and a pile of china to put back together. It was fun and as always, I enjoy spending time with my two pals Beau and Bill. It was great to meet Joey on Saturday and I look VERY forward to a return visit to what I will from now on call the Coin Pit!
HH
Dan
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