Hello All,
I teamed up with HB and Rodeo Recon for an interesting housesite hunt in the woods a few days ago. While we were waiting for HB to arrive, we took the 4-wheeler through the woods and across a creek to try and track down one other site for future hunts (we were on the edge of it when he arrived, but elected to hunt the wooded site and save the other one). Here's a photo of the fallow field near where we started out:
So after collecting HB, we tightened up our boots and slogged through the mud and into the tick and poison ivy infested woods.
After a little diversion at a newer house site (I dug a toy car and a memorial penny ![:-\](https://www.treasurenet.com/smilies/undecided.gif "Undecided :-\")
), we found the old spot. 
Well let me tell you, in these woods it looked like someone had come along and sowed poison ivy seeds! The plants were about calf-high, and there were spots where there were 30 x 30 foot patches of it.
(And of course those Nasty roots below ground) We waisted no time in bashing through the stuff with our detectors, shovels, and gloves. I was a little careful since I had a short-sleeved shirt on, but none of us ended up with any of it on us--except that Rodeo had a tiny patch today right above where his glove line was. 
The woods were sloppy, wet, ticky, and ivy-filled...but they were beautiful.
Here's a shot of Rodeo and HB getting the job done in True Iron Brigade Style:
Well, we found that the artifact dispersal at this housesite was HUGE--more than three times the norm for this area. Well over two square acres had targets everywhere, and when we finally left hours later we were still getting hits all over the place. So we'll be busy with this one for a while.
The finds... Well of course we got the usual housesite culprits: Suspender Clips, Harmonica Reeds, a Toe Tap, and Spoons. Rodeo got an excellent brass wedding band (this is becoming a regular housesite item too). HB got a large copper plate (no maker's mark on it), a brass escutcheon with keyhole, oil lantern tops, a clay marble, and some odd pieces of (chewed?) lead. I'm a big fan of the copper plate and the marble.
I got nothing spectacular--just the usual culprits (I'm probably still doing MD penance for the CW buckles last month) but I did get a nice suspender clip of a new type (every one is a new type though LOL) which I was pretty pleased with. It has a horseshoe hanging by a ribbon on it. (I guess the old adage about the good luck falling out of the horseshoe if you turned it upside down is a more recent invention...) Here's a photo of my finds:
I don't have photos of all of Rodeo's finds, but he certainly did a number on us with some unusual finds. He got a large brass saddle pommel, a hand-crank siren with a spiral shaped brass bell, some ornate decorative brass, and a button that is actually quite remarkable...
The style of the button is the "muffin style" of Civil War Staff Officers' buttons and State Seal buttons...and the backmark is "Scovill Mfg Co. Waterbury," which dates the button to somewhere between 1879 and 1890. Plus the fact that it is a BEAUTIFUL button--with more than 80% of the gilding remaining. I have never seen a button like this... I'm guessing that it could be Civilian, but if it is a State Seal it's not a Seal that I'm all that familiar with. Perhaps someone on the forum can give me more information about this Beauty.
A BIG BRAVO to Rodeo for his Expert cleaning of this find:
Now stop reading my post and get diggin'!
Best Wishes from the Iron Brigade,
Buckleboy
I teamed up with HB and Rodeo Recon for an interesting housesite hunt in the woods a few days ago. While we were waiting for HB to arrive, we took the 4-wheeler through the woods and across a creek to try and track down one other site for future hunts (we were on the edge of it when he arrived, but elected to hunt the wooded site and save the other one). Here's a photo of the fallow field near where we started out:
So after collecting HB, we tightened up our boots and slogged through the mud and into the tick and poison ivy infested woods.
After a little diversion at a newer house site (I dug a toy car and a memorial penny ), we found the old spot. Well let me tell you, in these woods it looked like someone had come along and sowed poison ivy seeds! The plants were about calf-high, and there were spots where there were 30 x 30 foot patches of it.
(And of course those Nasty roots below ground) We waisted no time in bashing through the stuff with our detectors, shovels, and gloves. I was a little careful since I had a short-sleeved shirt on, but none of us ended up with any of it on us--except that Rodeo had a tiny patch today right above where his glove line was. The woods were sloppy, wet, ticky, and ivy-filled...but they were beautiful.
Here's a shot of Rodeo and HB getting the job done in True Iron Brigade Style:
Well, we found that the artifact dispersal at this housesite was HUGE--more than three times the norm for this area. Well over two square acres had targets everywhere, and when we finally left hours later we were still getting hits all over the place. So we'll be busy with this one for a while.
The finds... Well of course we got the usual housesite culprits: Suspender Clips, Harmonica Reeds, a Toe Tap, and Spoons. Rodeo got an excellent brass wedding band (this is becoming a regular housesite item too). HB got a large copper plate (no maker's mark on it), a brass escutcheon with keyhole, oil lantern tops, a clay marble, and some odd pieces of (chewed?) lead. I'm a big fan of the copper plate and the marble.
I got nothing spectacular--just the usual culprits (I'm probably still doing MD penance for the CW buckles last month) but I did get a nice suspender clip of a new type (every one is a new type though LOL) which I was pretty pleased with. It has a horseshoe hanging by a ribbon on it. (I guess the old adage about the good luck falling out of the horseshoe if you turned it upside down is a more recent invention...) Here's a photo of my finds:
I don't have photos of all of Rodeo's finds, but he certainly did a number on us with some unusual finds. He got a large brass saddle pommel, a hand-crank siren with a spiral shaped brass bell, some ornate decorative brass, and a button that is actually quite remarkable...
The style of the button is the "muffin style" of Civil War Staff Officers' buttons and State Seal buttons...and the backmark is "Scovill Mfg Co. Waterbury," which dates the button to somewhere between 1879 and 1890. Plus the fact that it is a BEAUTIFUL button--with more than 80% of the gilding remaining. I have never seen a button like this... I'm guessing that it could be Civilian, but if it is a State Seal it's not a Seal that I'm all that familiar with. Perhaps someone on the forum can give me more information about this Beauty.
A BIG BRAVO to Rodeo for his Expert cleaning of this find:
Now stop reading my post and get diggin'!
Best Wishes from the Iron Brigade,
Buckleboy
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Somehow, I didn't pick up any ticks or poison ivy but did manage 2 LC's and a couple of nice flat buttons.
