Another silver day at the fort...

Possum

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Nov 22, 2017
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Well today Truth and I made another trip back to “Fort St.John” or the “Old Spanish Fort”. Truth just got his new 15” coil for his Equinox and he was out the gate running and nailing an IHP right off the bat.

Things were a bit slower for me, I was running my 14” Elliptical Coiltek on my CTX and besides some trash and clads the first thing I found worth mentioning was a flat round piece of lead with a hole through the middle. Neither of us have any idea what it was or used for, maybe someone here can ID it for me.

I dug a little more trash, you know the common stuff nails, bottle tops, can slaw and the likes until I detected by a huge live oak that I’ve been around more times than I can remember. I’m a sucker for those huge horizontal live oak limbs that I call “Kids Climbing and swinging limbs”, which are as big as a regular tree themselves. Anyhow, I was starting to sweep under one and got a solid 12 / 43 on the CTX, but it was only audible one way and when it did hit, it showed seven (7) inches in depth, so I decided this one I’ll dig even though it’s only hitting at only one angle.

Well of course it was right in the middle of a bifurcation of two (2) huge roots, but it was slow and I wasn’t giving up on it just yet. I dug between the roots and when I probed It with my pin pointer, I knocked some dirt loose along the left side bifurcated root where my pin pointer was going nuts and just under the root I could see about a ½ inch of the rim of a large silver coin!!! The remaining 7/8[SUP]th[/SUP] of it was still under the root. I began calling Truth on the two-way and when he got there, he couldn’t believe his eye’s. I tried taking pics of it while under the root, but I think my gloves messed me up and I missed the shot.

We gently recovered it, still not knowing exactly what it was and once out of the ground, Truth said “Congrats Possum, You’re the proud owner of a “Franklin Half Dollar”, being a relic hunter, I had no Idea what a “Franklin Half Dollar” was, but I do know!!!

After finding the “Franklin Half” my luck ran out and it was back to clad pennies, dimes and a Quarter… Oh, I did pull out a nice “square nail and a square spike”, which I included in the pics below, just for the heck of it.

The only thing pictured that I didn’t find today was the piece of black coal looking stuff with metal slivers inside that drove me, my CTX and my pin pointer crazy the other day trying to isolate it in that black clay around the parapet of the fort. I’m not sure what it is, maybe it’s what some call “Coke”, please correct me if I’m wrong, but it’s very light, about 1 1/2” x 3/8” x 1/4”.

Hope y’all enjoy the pics, thanks for looking, take care, HH and may God Bless!!! “D”




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Possum

Possum

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Nov 22, 2017
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Relic Hunting
First things first...congrats on the great half. There are rewards in life for persistence. You found one!

About your holed lead...Folks in Florida used to do that with scrap camp lead for weights for fishing as well as for nets and sashes. Homemade, and very functional.
Don't know if that is yours, but I have seen some similar in the area of FW/SW fishing holes.

Nicely done.

The fort is right on Bayou St, John and Lake Pontchartrain . I thought about it being a fishing weight, but a cast net or a seine weight makes more sense. In my line of work I should've thought of that...LOL, thanks for the great info Peruna!!! "D"
 

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Possum

Possum

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Nov 22, 2017
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Hi There Possum and congratulations on your finds including the Franklin Half! Good choice of the background for the Franklin Half, high contrast. I'm also glad that paruna added his comment about the lead object as I had been wondering about its use.

The size of the round holed lead object 'seems' too large to be a hem weight for either a dress or a window curtain. By calling it large I'm refering to the large hole size and how thick it is so it would have been used for a purpose that required a larger hole and a greater amount of weight. I was thinking it had a more work related use though what I had no idea but paruna has come up with some possibilities.

Thank you for sharing your adventure, don't ya just love large branches where folks could climb and swing on! For me, the old trees anywhere just shout at me "Look Here"...…………….63bkpkr

63,

You can ask Truth, I'm a sucker for large tree branches, I'll spend hours working them back and forth. I can just imagine some young buck hanging upside down trying to impress his young lady friend and spilling the contents of his pockets.

Your suggestions regarding the lead weight are also plausible and something to consider as well. I suppose we'll never actually know what it was used for but having ideas as y'all have suggested makes for an active imagination... thanks, take care and God bless...

"D'
 

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Possum

Possum

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Nov 22, 2017
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First Possum Im glad you joined this site you two have some of the bests posts on here I love reading themKids and stuff have kept me away from hunting for a little bit Thanks this helps. I love that Ben those for some reason are hard to find its a nice big silver kinda like finding ten mercs weight wise anyway. That fort sounds like a honey hole for you guys I hooe you get that gold coin. Keep rippin guys. Tommy

Tommy,

As always I look forward to your post and replies. I realize Truth and I get carried away with our post, but down here we're sort of long winded and like to explain things in great detail, especially me... Lol

You've always givin me good advise that I take to heart, your definitely one of my Bro's and I appreciate all the kind and joking remarks you make to our post, especially the part about me loosing my marbles, because when I found this Franklin, I darn near lost them for sure!!!


Once again, thanks for everything and that goes for the rest of y'all as well!!! being part of this forum makes me feel as though I have an extended family and I appreciate each and everyone of you!!!

Take care and God bless each and everyone of you!!!

"D"
 

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Possum

Possum

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Nov 22, 2017
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Relic Hunting
Maybe a spindle whorl?

You got me there Cuda, I know what a spindle is, or at least a modern spindle, but I have no Idea what a spindle whorl is. Sorry for showing my ignorance, but I have to be honest... "D"
 

cudamark

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You got me there Cuda, I know what a spindle is, or at least a modern spindle, but I have no Idea what a spindle whorl is. Sorry for showing my ignorance, but I have to be honest... "D"

Google it. You'll find all kinds of samples and an explanation of their uses.
 

RVRoamer73

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Congrats on that big Silver half. Great find.
 

EdHartzel

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That sounds like a great day! Congratulations on that Franklin! I found one all by itself in the middle of a PA cornfield last month so I recall fondly the feeling of plucking that from its hole!! Truth- what do you think of the 15?!? Mine is on its way and I can’t wait!!!!
 

Truth

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That sounds like a great day! Congratulations on that Franklin! I found one all by itself in the middle of a PA cornfield last month so I recall fondly the feeling of plucking that from its hole!! Truth- what do you think of the 15?!? Mine is on its way and I can’t wait!!!!

Ed I absolutely love it. Separation great, not heavy, hits small deep targets. But beware of what to go deep because yo have to dig those deep targets and bent square nail go pretty deep. Digging has me sore my the coil.
 

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Possum

Possum

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Nov 22, 2017
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You don’t think that it’s a lead nipple that wore through on the gun possum As A friend of mine pointed out?

Could be a lot of things as pointed out, not dismissing the nipple cover at all, just taking all suggestions into consideration that's all.... "D"
 

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