17th Century Pit yields 1600s Jetons and Charles ii Farthing,Marked Pipes and Whizzer

[Ahab8]

I finally found a little time for treasure hunting. Decided to go for the old stuff this time. I whipped up a small sifter and decided to go to the site I found the Latten spoons at. I was hoping to sift the more concentrated areas to see what turned up. I used the GPX to see if I could find some deeper targets that I could sift. Second target was pretty deep and I was blessed to find some ash in the hole. With hopes that it may be a trash pit I started to dig down and see if I could isolate the perimeter of the ash layer. I found a deep musket ball and a nice marked pipe stem. Suddenly the stems started coming fast and furious. I was psyched to say the least. These 1600s finds are tough here in the US. Occasionally I would pull out my pinpointer to scan for metallic objects. At one point I found 4 round metallic objects and hoped that one may be a coin. One of the objects had 2 holes in it and looked to be a button. This hunt was the most fun I've ever had treasure hunting. I could become very addicted to pit and privy digging. It was an incredible day and produced some incredible early finds. I'm hoping to get a little assistance on the coin and jetons. The pipe stems are massive and date around 1670-1680 (Llewelyn Evans) British pipe maker. Among the finds were what I believe is a small jeton, a larger jeton that was turned into a button which I consider a killer personal find. The coin I believe is a Charles ii farthing which would date from 1672-1680 I believe. There was also a nice lead whizzed toy in the pit and a strange mystery item that I can't even tell you the composition of. More than 20 pipe pieces were in the pit. So much fun pulling them out of there. I consider any 17th Century finds in the states to be very special. These will go in the 1600s display.













The mystery piece



This pic shows how massive these early stems are. I put them next to one that came from an 1812 pit.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[mangum]

Amazing Finds! Congrats man

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Upgraded Night Vision Monocular Digital Infrared Monocular Telescope for 100% Darkness with 8X Zoom - Grab it through Amazon!

[Kray Gelder]

Very cool recoveries. Sifting is a lot of fun. I believe your mystery item is half of a fossilized shark vertebra.

 

[Ahab8]

Wow Abe, you just entered the world of pit digging with a huge bang! Like you posted, any 1600s relics found in the US are special and you found quite a few. The jettons and pipe stem pieces definitely belong in the display. All found in your first sifting session at that site-you need to hit that pit hard until you can't find any more relics.

Let me know if you would like to build a rocker-type sifter. It's by far the best way to go ad will enable you to sift through a large amount of dirt with the least amount of effort. I'll be glad to step you through the construction of one.

Thanks buddy and any advice from a master like yourself is of course welcomed with open arms. I must tell you it was love at first sift. I could totally get addicted to pit digging. Curious if you've ever managed to find a privy? I'm thinking of buying a probe and seeing what I can find. Guessing it's like finding a needle in a haystack. But I've got some great early sites and can only imagine the potential. Looking forward to hopefully finding more killer early pits. Pulling clumps of pipe stems out from the 1600s was so much fun.

 

[Patriot Relics]

Late to the party Abe, but it's great to see the spoils of that 17th century pit laid out. That jeton is certainly not a copper were bound to see dug again any time soon. Can't wait to see what else you turn up.

 

[Ahab8]

GREAT finds! I adore privvy digging. That one was KILLER! Kudos to you.

It looks like I too will be in love with it

 

[Ahab8]

You uncovered some beauties!

Hoping there's a few more in there

 

[Ahab8]

Wow! That's awesome! Congrats on some amazing finds!

Thanks Cibolero

 

[Ahab8]

Awesome finds Ahab! Congrats! I could be wrong but the mystery piece seems to be pottery and might be a seal for a type of container.


Frank

Thanks Frank. I too think it's some sort of seal. Thanks for the thoughts

 

[Ahab8]

Abe - Awesome motivational post. Early marked pipe stems and 1600s jetons is an excellent day of digging my anyone's measure. I'm sure a lot of detectorists looking for the really early stuff have their sights set on finding an early jeton some day, but your day has come! I've had one site that produced some worthwhile results by sifting but little else. From what I see on your thread, I may need to push on just a bit more. Congrats.

With some of your killer early sites I would certainly my consider it my friend. If you hit one good pit or privy you will be a happy guy

 

[btjbtj]

Wowee, Abe! Loving all of it. Congrats! -Lisa & John

 

[Ahab8]

Ugh....5th time out detecting he finds a tree coin, first time out pit digging he hits a pit full of coins, jetons and awesome pipestems [emoji3]
I love it all Abe and I agree, we need more of these awesome posts with early finds. You've got my butt motivated to dig some pits! Speaking of butts, don't sell yourself short buddy, I'm sure the spoons would fit [emoji12]

So are you saying bowl first is not the way to go? Lol
Yeah man with some of your nice early sites you should be digging out some incredible pits. Can't wait to see what you pull out

 

[Ahab8]

Those stems cleaned up fantastic man I couldn't be happier for you getting into a pit... and a pit that old at that. I can't believe the condition of those coins too man. Awesome job and cant wait to see the return trip.

Thanks buddy. You told me how fun it was and you were not wrong my friend. So much fun. We gotta figure out this privy probing deal. Gotta be some great pits at these early sites

 

[Ahab8]

Excellent finds!

Thanks Soops

 

[Ahab8]

Amazing Finds! Congrats man

Thanks Mangum. Hope youve had a great summer

 

[Ahab8]

Very cool recoveries. Sifting is a lot of fun. I believe your mystery item is half of a fossilized shark vertebra.

Thanks Kray. Appreciate the thoughts on the mystery

 

[Ahab8]

Late to the party Abe, but it's great to see the spoils of that 17th century pit laid out. That jeton is certainly not a copper were bound to see dug again any time soon. Can't wait to see what else you turn up.

Thanks pal. Pretty psyched to add a couple more 17th Century finds to the collection. I love these big pipe stems with the markings on them. And yes a few round discs from the late 1600s is killer

 

[Mzjavert]

 

[EasternShoreMetal]

Fantastic finds! I really like the pipe stems too..
I do a little pottery, and would LOVE to find one of the old colonial pipe molds, looked online but nothing yet.
Congrats on a great dig, fun to see the history.
Looking forward to more! HH

 

[Carolina Tom]

Killer hunt Abe!