There's something fishy about this site...

DownNDirty

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Jun 1, 2015
2,178
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South Carolina
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Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
(Not Treasurenet lol)

Last Saturday I headed back to my go-to colonial site for more digging and sifting. I didn't exactly knock it out of the park but I did find a few interesting relics from the 18th century.

The process that I learned from Brad (Outdooradv) for sifting is basically 1)dig; 2)sift; 3)pull nails from the sift pile and hole with a magnet; 4) run the coil over the sift pile, hole and hole wall; and 5) repeat-many times. While detecting the wall during one of countless rounds of the process I picked up a mid-50s signal in the wall. A little digging and out popped this pewter civilian coat button with a flower pattern

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On the pottery side I found more shards of Staffordshire combed slipware. Two decent-sized shards fit together and one has an embossed letter "P" on it. Hopefully I will find more of this piece; the initials are probably that of the potter or the person the piece was made for.

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When I was cleaning my finds the next day I realized that the magnet had picked up a fish hook-a first for me.

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My first thought was that it was a modern hook. However, it was several inches deep in the middle of finds that were all from the 18th century-no modern stuff. Also, the hook has no eye. I did some research and found that hooks made in the 18th century did not have eyes and were all snelled to the line.

TIEINGHOOKS.jpg

So this is a fish hook from the 1700s; a pretty cool find to me.

In the sift file the AT Pro found this tiny button that once held a stone (probably cut glass)

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Two other finds were a bell "clapper" and an unidentified relic that was originally shaped like a miniature stirrup. Any ideas about the second one?

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Here are my finds for the day

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That site is addictive-I'm sure I will be back before long.
 

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OutdoorAdv

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Apr 16, 2013
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Another awesome job sifting Glenn! I know you'll get into a section soon that'll blow you away... that's when its the most fun. Keep at it though and get those bits of iron out and all the small things will appear. I cant wait to see what turns up next there.
 

smokeythecat

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Nov 22, 2012
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That yellow material, is combware. Very hard to find whole items of it, and if you can find a piece with the antique dealer, it's very expensive. That is indeed an 18th century fish hook. HARD to get.
 

OP
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DownNDirty

DownNDirty

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Jun 1, 2015
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Minelab Equinox 800
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All Treasure Hunting
Another awesome job sifting Glenn! I know you'll get into a section soon that'll blow you away... that's when its the most fun. Keep at it though and get those bits of iron out and all the small things will appear. I cant wait to see what turns up next there.

Thanks Brad-that's why I keep going back. I need to learn to get all of the iron out of the dirt so that I can find more of the small stuff.
 

OutdoorAdv

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Thanks Brad-that's why I keep going back. I need to learn to get all of the iron out of the dirt so that I can find more of the small stuff.

Do you have a small coil on your machine too? I was using the tiny 5" puck on my T2 for sifting, but now that I use the Deus, the 9" in the stock Deus Fast program is all I use. I'm still surprised at what I unmask when I stop hearing the grunts and all the iron is stuck to the magnet.

Picked up the magnet you suggested for my next sifting adventure today, congrats on the pewter and fish hook Glenn

Awesome! Did you get the one Glenn has? I have that same 250lb magnet, but I just ordered the 400lb one today. :laughing7: The 250lb one works great, but come on... more power is always better. I'll probably be stuck to my truck bed when I arrive on site and I wont be able to take it with me.
 

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DownNDirty

DownNDirty

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Jun 1, 2015
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Do you have a small coil on your machine too? I was using the tiny 5" puck on my T2 for sifting, but now that I use the Deus, the 9" in the stock Deus Fast program is all I use. I'm still surprised at what I unmask when I stop hearing the grunts and all the iron is stuck to the magnet.



Awesome! Did you get the one Glenn has? I have that same 250lb magnet, but I just ordered the 400lb one today. :laughing7: The 250lb one works great, but come on... more power is always better. I'll probably be stuck to my truck bed when I arrive on site and I wont be able to take it with me.

I use the 5X8 Garrett coil on my AT Pro. Very satisfied with it, especially in heavy iron.
 

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DownNDirty

DownNDirty

Bronze Member
Jun 1, 2015
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That yellow material, is combware. Very hard to find whole items of it, and if you can find a piece with the antique dealer, it's very expensive. That is indeed an 18th century fish hook. HARD to get.

Thanks Smokey. I have found quite a few smaller shards of combware at the site but none of any real size; it must have been fairly brittle.
 

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DownNDirty

DownNDirty

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South Carolina
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Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Picked up the magnet you suggested for my next sifting adventure today, congrats on the pewter and fish hook Glenn

Thanks Jon-once you have converted your sifter to a rocker type and tried it out I bet you'll be addicted to sifting too :icon_biggrin:
 

Oct 5, 2014
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Nice finds, congratulations!

I love the button and fish hook! :icon_thumright:
 

Msbeepbeep

Gold Member
Jun 24, 2012
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Nice bunch of finds! Congrats!
The fish hook is a neat find, just given the fact it is tiny and lasted this long in the ground.
 

Ahab8

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Oct 15, 2013
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My goodness you find some amazing early artifacts. I freak out when I find a single stem or bowl. You have trash bags full of them. Your tenacity is pretty damn impressive
 

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