Iron Brigade up and Running: Our 2 Cents' Worth--UPDATED
Hello All,
I decided to beat the Tax-Day Blues today by hopping in the car with Rodeo Recon and his girl and getting some Serious housesite hunting done. We pinpointed a spot on the old maps that we wanted to check out--drove to the owner's door, got permission, and got to hunting. The property owner had said "You won't find much there, but knock yourself out. We plowed it for years, and we've plowed up lots of old junk." TRANSLATION: "You probably won't find much Big Iron there, but you might find small goodies like COPPERS since we've plowed it for so long that we've plowed up and tossed out all that INFURIATING Big Iron."
So with a smile on our faces, we got to work.
We knew the house was somewhere in a GIANT fallow field covered in tiny purple flowers, and we wanted the opportunity to track it down before the plow. So we started towards the back end of the field and spread out, working our way up toward a small rise.
Seeing detectors swinging in such a picturesque spot was a beautiful sight. Here are Rodeo and his Lady again--hard at work:
Expecting the site to be on top of the rise, we were a little surprised when we started getting some iron signals a little early. But either way let me tell you that those iron signals are music to the ears! Pretty soon, old cooking pot fragments started to come up... Followed by those hallmark items of old house sites: harmonica reeds, suspender clips, and horse-related buckles. After a bit of exploring to determine the perimeters of the artifact dispersal, we set to work right in the thick of things. We started getting a few flat buttons--always a good sign
I dug a nice suspender clip that I thought I'd share. I still get excited about these when they are complete and in working order.
I kept thinking the whole time "There's a coin in here. Somewhere there is a Really Cool find." Then I noticed Rodeo's Girl crouched over, spending a LOT of time looking at something. I said "So I guess you found a Large Cent, right?" and she said "How did you know?" with a smile from ear to ear. Now let me tell you that this girl is a Digging Machine! She got her first detector a month or so ago and with a some rough and tumble training from the Iron Brigade she's turning into a real PRO. 8)
Here's the coin in the dirt:
When I got there and looked at the coin, I didn't see much detail. I didn't want to suggest that it was "certainly" a large cent after my last experience with that damned French Franc coin...so I said "It sure as hell *looks* like one!" Rodeo and I were busting with excitement over her first Large Copper recovery.
So the hunt went on. Rodeo got yet another brass wedding ring. I'm guessing these are pretty common finds for our area, as they have been turning up everywhere. So in the middle of this metal detecting frenzy, I noticed that the batteries in my Fisher were dying fast.
(For those who don't own a Fisher, the battery life is SO long that changing batteries is almost like saying goodbye to a whole chapter in your life. :P ) I walked back to the car for the rechargeables while the other two started POUNDING the area. Back at the car while I swigged some Diet Dew and changed out the batteries I nabbed a nice photo of the two of them off in the distance. I like this shot. 
When I got back up towards the ridge I took a few swings and locked on a great sounding target. I had gotten a few good hits before, but they had turned out to be shallow brass rivets that sounded pretty danged close to coin signals. So I wasn't entirely convinced that this would be anything better, but I certainly didn't waste any time digging. When I flipped out a shovel-full of dirt, I saw a crusty copper staring me in the face! In my mind (and due to its smaller size) this coin could only be one thing...
Fortunately my intuition was right this time.
An 1864 2-Cent Piece.
More congratulations and handshakes followed. And we continued to clean the place out. The digging only stops for darkness when we hunt. Luckily we had the site pretty well worked out by then. Here's a few of my finds. The flat button I got bore only a quality mark ("Double Gilt No. 2") and it was absent from this photo for cleaning. Two cent piece is still a little crusty even after peroxide.
And here's the front and back of the mystery copper that was found today. If you have any ideas about what it is, please post them. I'm totally stumped. It isn't a LC. Not a Rosa Americana or other Colonial. Don in SJ has suggested perhaps a Hard Times Token... I think I can see the word "Culture" on it--or at least the letters "LTURE" It's not a large cent, but it is old. Not much left on the design, but it does have writing on both front and back:
UPDATE: The words on one side are most certainly "AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE" and there is a floral motif on that side. The reverse we can't tell much about even after cleaning--and may never be able to.![:-\](https://www.treasurenet.com/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
I can see some letters here and there--and it'd be enough to check any further ideas about the token's ID.
It's been a good spring for the Iron Brigade--despite our ups and downs. I'll certainly miss the "crunch" of last years cornstalks under my feet in the winter fields. During the long summers, those are the kinds of things I dream about.
Regards,
Buckleboy
Hello All,
I decided to beat the Tax-Day Blues today by hopping in the car with Rodeo Recon and his girl and getting some Serious housesite hunting done. We pinpointed a spot on the old maps that we wanted to check out--drove to the owner's door, got permission, and got to hunting. The property owner had said "You won't find much there, but knock yourself out. We plowed it for years, and we've plowed up lots of old junk." TRANSLATION: "You probably won't find much Big Iron there, but you might find small goodies like COPPERS since we've plowed it for so long that we've plowed up and tossed out all that INFURIATING Big Iron."
So with a smile on our faces, we got to work.We knew the house was somewhere in a GIANT fallow field covered in tiny purple flowers, and we wanted the opportunity to track it down before the plow. So we started towards the back end of the field and spread out, working our way up toward a small rise.
Seeing detectors swinging in such a picturesque spot was a beautiful sight. Here are Rodeo and his Lady again--hard at work:
Expecting the site to be on top of the rise, we were a little surprised when we started getting some iron signals a little early. But either way let me tell you that those iron signals are music to the ears! Pretty soon, old cooking pot fragments started to come up... Followed by those hallmark items of old house sites: harmonica reeds, suspender clips, and horse-related buckles. After a bit of exploring to determine the perimeters of the artifact dispersal, we set to work right in the thick of things. We started getting a few flat buttons--always a good sign
I dug a nice suspender clip that I thought I'd share. I still get excited about these when they are complete and in working order.
I kept thinking the whole time "There's a coin in here. Somewhere there is a Really Cool find." Then I noticed Rodeo's Girl crouched over, spending a LOT of time looking at something. I said "So I guess you found a Large Cent, right?" and she said "How did you know?" with a smile from ear to ear. Now let me tell you that this girl is a Digging Machine! She got her first detector a month or so ago and with a some rough and tumble training from the Iron Brigade she's turning into a real PRO. 8)
Here's the coin in the dirt:
When I got there and looked at the coin, I didn't see much detail. I didn't want to suggest that it was "certainly" a large cent after my last experience with that damned French Franc coin...so I said "It sure as hell *looks* like one!" Rodeo and I were busting with excitement over her first Large Copper recovery.
So the hunt went on. Rodeo got yet another brass wedding ring. I'm guessing these are pretty common finds for our area, as they have been turning up everywhere. So in the middle of this metal detecting frenzy, I noticed that the batteries in my Fisher were dying fast.
(For those who don't own a Fisher, the battery life is SO long that changing batteries is almost like saying goodbye to a whole chapter in your life. :P ) I walked back to the car for the rechargeables while the other two started POUNDING the area. Back at the car while I swigged some Diet Dew and changed out the batteries I nabbed a nice photo of the two of them off in the distance. I like this shot.
When I got back up towards the ridge I took a few swings and locked on a great sounding target. I had gotten a few good hits before, but they had turned out to be shallow brass rivets that sounded pretty danged close to coin signals. So I wasn't entirely convinced that this would be anything better, but I certainly didn't waste any time digging. When I flipped out a shovel-full of dirt, I saw a crusty copper staring me in the face! In my mind (and due to its smaller size) this coin could only be one thing...
Fortunately my intuition was right this time.
An 1864 2-Cent Piece.
More congratulations and handshakes followed. And we continued to clean the place out. The digging only stops for darkness when we hunt. Luckily we had the site pretty well worked out by then. Here's a few of my finds. The flat button I got bore only a quality mark ("Double Gilt No. 2") and it was absent from this photo for cleaning. Two cent piece is still a little crusty even after peroxide.
And here's the front and back of the mystery copper that was found today. If you have any ideas about what it is, please post them. I'm totally stumped. It isn't a LC. Not a Rosa Americana or other Colonial. Don in SJ has suggested perhaps a Hard Times Token... I think I can see the word "Culture" on it--or at least the letters "LTURE" It's not a large cent, but it is old. Not much left on the design, but it does have writing on both front and back:
UPDATE: The words on one side are most certainly "AGRICULTURE AND COMMERCE" and there is a floral motif on that side. The reverse we can't tell much about even after cleaning--and may never be able to.
I can see some letters here and there--and it'd be enough to check any further ideas about the token's ID.
It's been a good spring for the Iron Brigade--despite our ups and downs. I'll certainly miss the "crunch" of last years cornstalks under my feet in the winter fields. During the long summers, those are the kinds of things I dream about.
Regards,
Buckleboy
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Arrrrrr!
