Hello All,
This spring has been rough for digging due to work and uncooperative weather (rain!) when we were free. Well, we finally managed to get two days free for a couple of back-to-back hunts, and some fantastic finds were made. Now I can say for certain that we're back!
Those of you who like to look at the photos only, you'll see the finds below. But for those who want to see the SNAKE, hear about the Feast, or enjoy the humor of the hunt, please watch this video:
Day 1 started off with a bang. I got a call from Shanegalang as I was en route to the site and he as shouting that he'd just dug a cut spanish silver! He gets to mark that one off his bucket list. When I got there, I saw that he had a quarter-cut 8 Reales in his hand!
I got to digging, and he started finding CW-era bullets and a late date Indian Head. Then he got a decent 1888 Seated. Finally I answered with an 1876-S Seated Dime of my own. That's actually my first S-mint coin dug in the Deep South, so I was pleased to get it. I rounded out the day with an 1864 Indian.
Day 2 started off with a bang as well. I walked up on an on-edge silver sticking halfway out of the ground. When I knelt down I could see that it was a Cap and Rays 1 Real sticking out of the ground! Check these photos out!
Then Shanegalang dug beautiful condition 1840-O Seated Half Dime. Strangely enough, I dug another 1840-O Seated Half Dime about an hour later, also the "without drapery" variety, but mine was worn smooth!
Here they are side by side:
I also got a decent 1887 Seated Dime. Here are a couple photos:
Towards the end I got a nice convex pre-CW eagle button, which is the first military of the year for us.
Those of you who've been watching our signature line must think it's strange that we dug 27 Reales last year and this year our first two are in May. It's a combination of several things. We've only dug about 10 hunts this year so far, which averages to one hunt every other week, and many of those were scouting missions. (Last year we would've had over 30 hunts by Mid-May.) The second reason is that some key fields have crop. And finally, we got sucked into a site that had lots of new silver back in January because it was fun to dig quantity over quality just this once.
At any rate, it feels like we're on our normal course with Reales and Military again. Looking at the combined finds from the back-to-back hunts, I was very pleased:
Shanegalang got one more really cool find at the closing bell... (forgive the pun!)
It's a bell-shaped silver pendant made by E. Dusse which features the Spanish American War Cruiser the U.S.S. New Orleans! I'm assuming that this manufacturer was a silversmith/metallurgist. According to my research, Ernest Dusse had a shop at 218 Bourbon Street in New Orleans. He made some mardi gras favors out of silver, like this beautiful example from 1899:
Here's Shanegalang's Silver Bell. I'm not certain if this was a souvenir, or favor, or was presented to the Navy crew on the ship. Any info you can add to this story is much appreciated. In the meantime, here's a photo of Shanegalang's find, alongside a photo of the U.S.S. New Orleans taken around 1900.
Best Wishes,
The CaneField Bandits
This spring has been rough for digging due to work and uncooperative weather (rain!) when we were free. Well, we finally managed to get two days free for a couple of back-to-back hunts, and some fantastic finds were made. Now I can say for certain that we're back!
Those of you who like to look at the photos only, you'll see the finds below. But for those who want to see the SNAKE, hear about the Feast, or enjoy the humor of the hunt, please watch this video:
Day 1 started off with a bang. I got a call from Shanegalang as I was en route to the site and he as shouting that he'd just dug a cut spanish silver! He gets to mark that one off his bucket list. When I got there, I saw that he had a quarter-cut 8 Reales in his hand!
I got to digging, and he started finding CW-era bullets and a late date Indian Head. Then he got a decent 1888 Seated. Finally I answered with an 1876-S Seated Dime of my own. That's actually my first S-mint coin dug in the Deep South, so I was pleased to get it. I rounded out the day with an 1864 Indian.
Day 2 started off with a bang as well. I walked up on an on-edge silver sticking halfway out of the ground. When I knelt down I could see that it was a Cap and Rays 1 Real sticking out of the ground! Check these photos out!
Then Shanegalang dug beautiful condition 1840-O Seated Half Dime. Strangely enough, I dug another 1840-O Seated Half Dime about an hour later, also the "without drapery" variety, but mine was worn smooth!
Here they are side by side:
I also got a decent 1887 Seated Dime. Here are a couple photos:
Towards the end I got a nice convex pre-CW eagle button, which is the first military of the year for us.
Those of you who've been watching our signature line must think it's strange that we dug 27 Reales last year and this year our first two are in May. It's a combination of several things. We've only dug about 10 hunts this year so far, which averages to one hunt every other week, and many of those were scouting missions. (Last year we would've had over 30 hunts by Mid-May.) The second reason is that some key fields have crop. And finally, we got sucked into a site that had lots of new silver back in January because it was fun to dig quantity over quality just this once.
At any rate, it feels like we're on our normal course with Reales and Military again. Looking at the combined finds from the back-to-back hunts, I was very pleased:
Shanegalang got one more really cool find at the closing bell... (forgive the pun!)
It's a bell-shaped silver pendant made by E. Dusse which features the Spanish American War Cruiser the U.S.S. New Orleans! I'm assuming that this manufacturer was a silversmith/metallurgist. According to my research, Ernest Dusse had a shop at 218 Bourbon Street in New Orleans. He made some mardi gras favors out of silver, like this beautiful example from 1899:
Here's Shanegalang's Silver Bell. I'm not certain if this was a souvenir, or favor, or was presented to the Navy crew on the ship. Any info you can add to this story is much appreciated. In the meantime, here's a photo of Shanegalang's find, alongside a photo of the U.S.S. New Orleans taken around 1900.
Best Wishes,
The CaneField Bandits
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