DownNDirty
Bronze Member
Well now that deer season is over it's game on for some sites I have been waiting to explore. Over the long weekend I took advantage of my newly found freedom to cover some ground on a 950-acre permission that I secured last spring.
To start out I revisited an 18th century home site where I found a lot of quality relics including three silver cuff links and three British coppers. I hit it pretty hard last year but I thought I might be able to squeeze a little more from the site. It's a small plowed field in the middle of the woods, and the home site location straddles the edge of the field. A gridding of half of the field produced a tombac button, followed by a brass flat button a few feet into the woods.
After that I spent a lot of unproductive time in the woods and it looked like the day was going to be a bust, until I got a strong, loud 80 signal (which on the AT Pro is usually either silver or a large copper). I was hoping for a halfpenny but was not disappointed when I dug an intact knee buckle frame.
I was so sure it was silver that I later tried the baking soda, hot water and aluminum foil trick with no results. Then I tried polishing it with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish (which I use to clean silver) and it ended up with a black, smooth finish. I am stumped-any ideas as to what type of metal it is made of?
Late in the day I dug a very early, one-piece Scovill (actually "Scovills") civilian button with a lot of gilt still on it. I was pretty happy with this one; it's my best civilian button to date. Based on my research it was made in the 1820s or 1830s. Aluminum jelly did a good job of cleaning the gilt.
Just dug
Then after cleaning
The day closed out with a partial snaffle bit that was actually on the surface under some leaves (thanks to Brad for the id)
The rest of the weekend was spent scouting in three other fields on the property with limited results. A couple of buttons, a pocket knife plus the usual suspects.
Time to find some new sites-that signature has got to go! lol
To start out I revisited an 18th century home site where I found a lot of quality relics including three silver cuff links and three British coppers. I hit it pretty hard last year but I thought I might be able to squeeze a little more from the site. It's a small plowed field in the middle of the woods, and the home site location straddles the edge of the field. A gridding of half of the field produced a tombac button, followed by a brass flat button a few feet into the woods.
After that I spent a lot of unproductive time in the woods and it looked like the day was going to be a bust, until I got a strong, loud 80 signal (which on the AT Pro is usually either silver or a large copper). I was hoping for a halfpenny but was not disappointed when I dug an intact knee buckle frame.
I was so sure it was silver that I later tried the baking soda, hot water and aluminum foil trick with no results. Then I tried polishing it with Mothers Mag and Aluminum Polish (which I use to clean silver) and it ended up with a black, smooth finish. I am stumped-any ideas as to what type of metal it is made of?
Late in the day I dug a very early, one-piece Scovill (actually "Scovills") civilian button with a lot of gilt still on it. I was pretty happy with this one; it's my best civilian button to date. Based on my research it was made in the 1820s or 1830s. Aluminum jelly did a good job of cleaning the gilt.
Just dug
Then after cleaning
The day closed out with a partial snaffle bit that was actually on the surface under some leaves (thanks to Brad for the id)
The rest of the weekend was spent scouting in three other fields on the property with limited results. A couple of buttons, a pocket knife plus the usual suspects.
Time to find some new sites-that signature has got to go! lol
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