Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
Saturday's digs include a gorgeous VA button plus a very unusual first for me
After the rain finally abated around midday on Sat, Dan and I decided to take advantage and get in a half day hunt since the season is pretty much done around here due to fields being planted. We first went back to one of our diverse and very productive sites to see if any fields were still available. To our surprise, 2 small fields that were supposed to be planted were still huntable, so we spent some time roaming around trying to catch a few stray colonial relics. We managed a few buttons and other tidbits, with Dan recovering 2 nice military buttons that he recently posted. My best find here was a large piece from a decorative colonial shoe buckle. Things slowed down a bit so we decided to make the drive over to the new site I got into last week that produced some nice CW buttons, including a VA, and a half cent. I had marked a fairly large area that I had gridded last time so we wouldn't waste our time covering the same ground twice, and I started swinging just beyond that spot. My very first signal sounded both high and deep, and I called Dan over to check it with his machine. We both thought it had the potential to be a large button, and sure enough another VA coat in perfect condition came to light. That got us both fired up and we continued to hit that area hard for a while but, unfortunately, without too much success. We eventually moved on to the other part of the field that I had scouted last time, and that had a fair amount of iron, brick and pottery scattered about on the gentle, south-facing slope and near a creek. Not a whole lot was coming from this area either except for those great sounding modern bullets, although Dan got on the board with yet another VA coat button. Eventually I got a nice solid hit, and pulled out this unusual looking brass item. Initially when it was caked with dirt I thought it was a piece of junk. I threw it in my pouch and later decided to rub some of the dirt off. To my shock I could see a large, detailed eagle and a star, and I knew I had something of significance. But since I'm not super knowledgeable with CW finds I had no clue. When I finally showed it to Dan he was floored, and told me I was holding a shako hat plume in pretty much perfect condition. I've heard of those but had never seen one dug before. Dan was quite impressed, and said my find was in much better shape than most as they're usually all smashed up. He also thought it might be an early 1800s variety, but after doing some research later he discovered it was post-war. That was a bit disappointing but I was still happy about digging something I had never seen before. This had to be the site of a small homesite and camp, and according to the owner it's been hunted before. No telling what was found here by the first to hunt it. We might try to get back into this site on Sat, but the odds are the farmer will have the field planted before then. Oh well, just another site to add to next year's list.
** Sorry for the order of the pics, but the website has again sorted them as it sees fit and ignored my uploading sequence. I wish someone would fix this problem as it happens quite frequently and is very frustrating.
After the rain finally abated around midday on Sat, Dan and I decided to take advantage and get in a half day hunt since the season is pretty much done around here due to fields being planted. We first went back to one of our diverse and very productive sites to see if any fields were still available. To our surprise, 2 small fields that were supposed to be planted were still huntable, so we spent some time roaming around trying to catch a few stray colonial relics. We managed a few buttons and other tidbits, with Dan recovering 2 nice military buttons that he recently posted. My best find here was a large piece from a decorative colonial shoe buckle. Things slowed down a bit so we decided to make the drive over to the new site I got into last week that produced some nice CW buttons, including a VA, and a half cent. I had marked a fairly large area that I had gridded last time so we wouldn't waste our time covering the same ground twice, and I started swinging just beyond that spot. My very first signal sounded both high and deep, and I called Dan over to check it with his machine. We both thought it had the potential to be a large button, and sure enough another VA coat in perfect condition came to light. That got us both fired up and we continued to hit that area hard for a while but, unfortunately, without too much success. We eventually moved on to the other part of the field that I had scouted last time, and that had a fair amount of iron, brick and pottery scattered about on the gentle, south-facing slope and near a creek. Not a whole lot was coming from this area either except for those great sounding modern bullets, although Dan got on the board with yet another VA coat button. Eventually I got a nice solid hit, and pulled out this unusual looking brass item. Initially when it was caked with dirt I thought it was a piece of junk. I threw it in my pouch and later decided to rub some of the dirt off. To my shock I could see a large, detailed eagle and a star, and I knew I had something of significance. But since I'm not super knowledgeable with CW finds I had no clue. When I finally showed it to Dan he was floored, and told me I was holding a shako hat plume in pretty much perfect condition. I've heard of those but had never seen one dug before. Dan was quite impressed, and said my find was in much better shape than most as they're usually all smashed up. He also thought it might be an early 1800s variety, but after doing some research later he discovered it was post-war. That was a bit disappointing but I was still happy about digging something I had never seen before. This had to be the site of a small homesite and camp, and according to the owner it's been hunted before. No telling what was found here by the first to hunt it. We might try to get back into this site on Sat, but the odds are the farmer will have the field planted before then. Oh well, just another site to add to next year's list.
** Sorry for the order of the pics, but the website has again sorted them as it sees fit and ignored my uploading sequence. I wish someone would fix this problem as it happens quite frequently and is very frustrating.
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