1722 Colonial Silver, Flintlock brass, one piece Infantry, and more..

[OutdoorAdv]

I got out to do some swinging and sifting for a few hours Thursday evening, Saturday morning and Yesterday morning for a total of about 12 hours in the field. I've been processing the iron for a post and finally had a chance to catch up and get everything together for photos. I dug HUNDREDS of nails and pieces of iron trying to unmask targets, and on each day, I was able to unmask keepers. Its a TON of work, but boy does it feel good to clear out nails and find a hidden signal.

Forget Thursday and Saturday for a minute... I'm starting with yesterdays sifting trip. I have found that if I think of a strategy on my drive to hunt, then I am more successful. So this time my strategy was to dig a long trench off of a previous section and try to follow the pottery. After about 20 minutes and hand fulls of nails, I flipped over a bunch of dirt and get a really nice tone and pop out another early one piece Infantry button. I'm grinning like a fool at this point and my day was made regardless if anything else turned up. This button is the exact same as the one I got about a month ago and it was only about 15 feet from where I dug the other one. So this gave me a new strategy... thinking there might be a whole jacket of buttons, I decided to expand the pit right towards the location of the first button. So the pit changed directions and I kept excavating and removing nails. There are so many nails that I detect the soil a half dozen or more times before it goes back into the hole... the first time is after I break it up, then after I remove it, then a few times as I'm putting it back in. Its not uncommon to find stuff throughout as I remove the iron and shift the dirt around. I had a fresh pile of dirt that I had only detected once, so I stop to grab a drink and decide to swing over it again... get a slamming 87 on the Deus in the top of the loose dirt pile... I locate the target and go !

I was holding half of a 2 reales Pistareen from Spain I immediately noticed it had a glancing blow by the digger as I scrapped the dirt out of the pit. But when everything is masked with so much iron, this sort of thing happens.



I could see the last digit of the date, which is a 2, so I knew it was 17?2. I fired off some texts to a few buddies to share my excitement. My good friend BillD (VA) got back to me with some awesome information. This Pistareen has an Aqueduct mint mark denoting it was minted in Segovia Spain. That mint downsized and stopped minting Pistareens in 1729 and of the years it did make pistareens, 1722 was the only year that ended in a 2. In addition, Bill pointed out other features on the coin that were only on the 1721-1724 coins. Bill, thank you so much for your time, help and expertise Once home, I rinsed it under water and realized the scrape was not as noticeable.





Better yet, the mint is still standing! It appears to have been renovated not too long ago and is now a museum and resturant: https://goo.gl/maps/LQ2rhvN6nm12 It blows my mind to look at the building this coin was made in 294 years ago and see the river that powered the presses that made this coin. In addition, the Aqueduct mint mark for Segovia is due to the "Aqueduct of Segovia" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqueduct_of_Segovia) which was built by Romans and was functioning to provide water to Segovia until the mid 19th century.



This coin took a long journey by ship before finally resting in American soil.



This is my second cut silver, and it just so happens both are 1722. I found the last one at the same site more than a year ago. I couldn't be happier with this historic coin!

Now that is out of the way, I can show you guys the rest of the stuff






I recently added a pulse machine to my arsenal. With a ton of amazing help and guidance from Keith at Fort Bedford Detectors, I purchased a GPX4500. Thursday was my first time out with it. It's going to be a bit of a learning curve and I wont really be able to put it to the test until this winter when some underbrush dies down, but I did however turn up a nice piece of engraved brass with it.



I thoroughly enjoy the preservation aspect of this hobby, so I decided to anneal and straighten it because as it was twisted, it was not enjoyable to look at. After some heating and cooling, I was able to get it straight and still retain most of the patina. It still broke, but some careful gluing and a few tricks to dirty up the annealed part, I had it looking pretty good.



I realized the etching pattern was very similar to the flintlock patchbox plate I found last year. I opened my book "Collectors Illustrated Encyclopedia of the American Revolution and found a very similar trim piece on the top of a patch box plate. Its strictly ornamental and serves no purpose in the functioning of the patch box.



I pulled my patchbox plate out of the display and it lined up perfectly with the top of the plate. I was thrilled! Its evident that the same person etched both pieces of brass and I have renewed hope that the bottom piece and the hinge are somewhere at this site.



Saturday morning all I got were a few buttons, but one was a sliver of an etched tombac. I knew right away this piece completed a button I had dug about 10 feet away, over a year ago.... a year and 5 months to be exact (http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/t...nbelievable-site-now-more-believable-now.html) So this was my puzzle piece that completed a relic. Its back together again with a little glue and much nicer now that its complete.



Last year I sifted out a matching complete button and a sliver of a third one... so the rest of the other broken one must be there somewhere. Here they are all together again, most likely from the same coat.



Here is the one piece Infantry from yesterday, that led my pit in the direction of the Pistareen!



It has the same backmark as the other one from a month ago (http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/today-s-finds/511544-incredible-one-piece-infantry-button.html)



The one on the left is the newly found one.



Here is some of the pottery from the last few days.



... and the iron! Every one of these signals was totally masked. Its a big gamble opening a section to sift, only to remove the nails and hope they are masking something. I have had many sections that were a bust, but every now and then they are great. I literally move TONS of dirt multiple times, in and out, of a section, while clearing out all the nails. The only plus is that I find many nice rose heads that I tumble and have in a large pile in my display. Its not uncommon for my magnet to attach itself to a dozen or so nails while clearing them out of the dirt.



Here is about 75% of the iron from the last few days after being tumbled and boiled in hot wax. I didnt count them, but I would guess its upwards of 200 pieces of iron in all shapes and sizes.



If you made it this far, thanks for reading all that Hopefully the pictures broke up my long winded story... but I was pretty excited about the last few days.

 

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[Tnmountains]

As always an enjoyable post and lots of good finds and information. Thank you. Am I am seeing a sawed ham bone and what looks like an antler billet?

 

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[metalev4]

As a sifting fanatic I fully appreciate your dedication and perseverance. Nothing like moving yards of dirt and hundreds of nails to unearth something awesome no one else would have ever found. Killer hunt with some really nice display worthy finds. I am partial to the 1 piece eagle buttons, very nice patina on that one. Overall a great post. Looking forward to your next recovery.
Evan

 

[OutdoorAdv]

I've been on a "Pistareen high" all week thinking about what might be in the adjacent section. I got to find out tonight and its back to reality Wanted to share here since its not enough to start a new thread. This evening I moved an equal amount of dirt that I did on Monday, extracted an equal amount of nails and turned up a marble, piece of a thimble, a few tombac buttons and whats left of a pewter button. Not a bad day, but not much for the work put in. However, its always a ton of fun You can also see what the rose heads look like before I tumble and wax them. It typically takes me a day or two to get them looking like the ones in the original post.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

As always an enjoyable post and lots of good finds and information. Thank you. Am I am seeing a sawed ham bone and what looks like an antler billet?

Thank you Tnmountains! I'm really glad you noticed that bone... I don't keep many bones, but I kept that one just because of the saw marks. I meant to write about the saw marks in my original post, but I had typed so much and spent so much time, that I just wanted to hit "post". It is either ham or beef, but most likely you are correct in it being ham. No antler in this trip, but I do have a few teeth in those pictures and one is tusk shaped so perhaps that's what you see there. It might be morbid to some, but I do save a lot of teeth and there is a large pile in the display for this site. Those teeth and bones show what sort of animals they were eating, and play a part in telling the story of this site. Thanks for bringing up that sawed bone

 

[OutdoorAdv]

As a sifting fanatic I fully appreciate your dedication and perseverance. Nothing like moving yards of dirt and hundreds of nails to unearth something awesome no one else would have ever found. Killer hunt with some really nice display worthy finds. I am partial to the 1 piece eagle buttons, very nice patina on that one. Overall a great post. Looking forward to your next recovery.
Evan

Thanks a ton man! I've learned a lot from you veteran sifters. Since you told me to clear ever last bit of iron out of the bottom clay layer, I am unmasking stuff even at the very bottom. Its tedious, but when you're moving tons of dirt, you might as well put in the effort to do it right. One of the best tools I added to the arsenal was an insanely strong magnet that I bolted to the end of a thick dowel. It sucks the nails right out of the dirt so I don't have to chase them with my pinpointer. I am now sterilizing the soil from every last bit of iron and finding even more tiny buttons and fragments as I go. There really is nothing like moving all that dirt, to clear out the nails and find something that would have otherwise been outside the physical limits of a metal detector

 

[OutdoorAdv]

What a spectacular post--thanks! Excellent dig. Love how you are finding duplicate buttons! ~Lisa & John

Thanks Lisa and John! I've been enjoying your posts from that incredible property you have been detecting. Keep it up and I really look forward to what you guys find next.

Absolutely stunning!

Thank you UnderMiner!

​interesting read and fantastic finds!

Thank you Scruggs!

 

[Diablo Arena]

Fantastico! Vivas los Segovia!

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Fantastico! Vivas los Segovia!

Thank you Diablo Arena and welcome to TreasureNet I like thinking about the journey a piece of Spanish Silver took to get here in Colonial America. Whether from Spain, Central or South America those coins no doubt had a cool journey and were passed through many hands.

 

[Dave N Japan]

Nice pic's Congrats

 

[Fullstock]

My collecting specialty is antique Longrifles. You've found the lid and upper side plate from a fine, early Kentucky Rifle. The upper finial and lower side plate must be close by, I wouldn't be surprised if you even found the butt plate as well. Super find, that patchbox came from one heck of a gun!

 

[OutdoorAdv]

My collecting specialty is antique Longrifles. You've found the lid and upper side plate from a fine, early Kentucky Rifle. The upper finial and lower side plate must be close by, I wouldn't be surprised if you even found the butt plate as well. Super find, that patchbox came from one heck of a gun!

Thanks a ton for this info Fullstock! I had no idea it was from a Kentucky Rifle, I was thinking it was a Pennsylvania Rifle, but then again, when it comes to Longrifles, I do not really know the difference between those two.

Do you think this trigger guard is from the same rifle? It has a small flower etched on the bottom that you can sort of see in these pictures if you zoom in. However the etching on the patchbox and side plate seem more crude than this flower. The front acorn piece goes to it and I have leaning up against it. Its a perfect match on the break, however I found the acorn and trigger guard about 30 yards or so apart. I'm hoping I can find the tail end to the trigger guard too.





I'm sure there is the rest of the patchbox hardware in the dirt there, however its either going to be extremely deep, or completely masked by iron.

Thanks again for all that info
-Brad

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Nice pic's Congrats

Thank you Dave N Japan!

 

[steelheadwill]

Enjoyed reading your post and viewing photos very much. your Technique is similar to what I use with the major exception that I have not constructed my sifter yet, do I have obtained the materials. I am simply breaking up the dirt and using 250 pound lift magnets to remove iron.
Even more troubling than large iron, Nails Etc are tiny iron flakes which these larger magnets remove efficiently, surely they create a shield against penetration by your coil, amazing to recover those two halves of the coin, 1 piece brass military buttons are some of my favorite recoveries, big congratulations and thanks for the interesting and informative post.
Did you construct your magnet tool? The magnets which I'm using were purchased from Harbor Freight Tools, $20 I believe,
Rectangular and around 3 by 5 inches with an included eye bolt which I attach a length of paracord and bounce over the broken up dirt. The masses of iron flakes that are removed is amazing when you first see them as they aren't recognized as targets by my detector surely they limit penetration to very little.
Unless you're lucky enough 2 stumble on an unsearched site, iron pits are where the goodies lie.
Continued success to you, and looking forward to seeing more posts, Herbie.
Here's one photo I could find that show the Flakes I'm talking about although this is a scant amount clinging to the magnet considering other times the entire surface will be covered with a large clump of flakeshttps://goo.gl/photos/57ep8kzUqh25jLcr6

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Enjoyed reading your post and viewing photos very much. your Technique is similar to what I use with the major exception that I have not constructed my sifter yet, do I have obtained the materials. I am simply breaking up the dirt and using 250 pound lift magnets to remove iron.
Even more troubling than large iron, Nails Etc are tiny iron flakes which these larger magnets remove efficiently, surely they create a shield against penetration by your coil, amazing to recover those two halves of the coin, 1 piece brass military buttons are some of my favorite recoveries, big congratulations and thanks for the interesting and informative post.
Did you construct your magnet tool? The magnets which I'm using were purchased from Harbor Freight Tools, $20 I believe,
Rectangular and around 3 by 5 inches with an included eye bolt which I attach a length of paracord and bounce over the broken up dirt. The masses of iron flakes that are removed is amazing when you first see them as they aren't recognized as targets by my detector surely they limit penetration to very little.
Unless you're lucky enough 2 stumble on an unsearched site, iron pits are where the goodies lie.
Continued success to you, and looking forward to seeing more posts, Herbie.
Here's one photo I could find that show the Flakes I'm talking about although this is a scant amount clinging to the magnet considering other times the entire surface will be covered with a large clump of flakes https://goo.gl/photos/57ep8kzUqh25jLcr6

Thanks a ton Herbie! You are spot on man... As you know, you might hear some nails with a VLF machine, but those flakes will totally silent mask a non-ferrous target.... you don't hear iron or the target. This is a great article on masking that made me realize just how much we are missing. He talks about "silent masking" in there and explains what a staple did to a coin. Behind The Mask experiment In that experiment he estimates we are only getting around 20% of the targets in the ground. Insane! That article and his experiment is what really opened my eyes to the extent of masking, and in the last year and a half of HARD WORK manually moving dirt... I would say his experiment "nailed it". ha It doesn't matter how fast or powerful a machine is, there is no machine that can bend waves around iron and only find non-ferrous... good old manual labor is the only option!

That picture you posted it pretty awesome. I get a lot of those flakes as well. My magnet is small but insanely powerful. I got this one and bolted\epoxied it to the end of a 1 1/2" x 48" Oak dowel rod https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008DVURH4 When I move the dirt into piles, I pass the coil over it and where I hear iron, I just stick the magnet and it sucks the nail or flakes up... don't even have to bend down! Even after doing that multiple times as the dirt gets moved around, I will still miss non-ferrous targets and find them as I'm sifting back in. So stuff is still being masked even then! I'm going to check out the Harbor Freight one you use since a bigger one would probably speed my process up a bit.

Its actually only half of the coin! I took the picture of each side and cropped them together into one photo.

Thanks again Herbie and best of luck to you too.
-Brad

 

[Fullstock]

OutdoorAdv, your trigger guard is off of an early fowler, not the rifle unfortunately, but hopefully you'll find the one from the rifle as well.

I'm a past president of the Kentucky Rifle Association and I have a good bit of knowledge about them. The name Kentucky Rifle and the term Longrifle, both refer to the same thing, as does the term Pennsylvania Rifle, Virginia Rifle, Ohio Rifle and so on. The Longrifle was made in all those states. The Longrifle is thought to have been born in Pennsylvania, but here is how the name Kentucky Rifle is thought to have come into existence.

After the War of 1812, Andrew Jackson's defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans inspired a song about the victory. A verse in the song goes "and General Jackson wasn't scared of triffles, because he had his Kentucky Riflemen and their Kentucky Rifles". There were units of Riflemen from Tennessee and Kentucky on the front line during the battle who were armed with Longrifles made in various states, but the Name Kentucky Rifle became well known because of the song and stuck. For better or worse, that's the generic name for all of them, no matter where they were made.

I hope this explains it for you, and I hope you find the other parts, I would really like to see them!

 

[OutdoorAdv]

OutdoorAdv, your trigger guard is off of an early fowler, not the rifle unfortunately, but hopefully you'll find the one from the rifle as well.

I'm a past president of the Kentucky Rifle Association and I have a good bit of knowledge about them. The name Kentucky Rifle and the term Longrifle, both refer to the same thing, as does the term Pennsylvania Rifle, Virginia Rifle, Ohio Rifle and so on. The Longrifle was made in all those states. The Longrifle is thought to have been born in Pennsylvania, but here is how the name Kentucky Rifle is thought to have come into existence.

After the War of 1812, Andrew Jackson's defeat of the British at the Battle of New Orleans inspired a song about the victory. A verse in the song goes "and General Jackson wasn't scared of triffles, because he had his Kentucky Riflemen and their Kentucky Rifles". There were units of Riflemen from Tennessee and Kentucky on the front line during the battle who were armed with Longrifles made in various states, but the Name Kentucky Rifle became well known because of the song and stuck. For better or worse, that's the generic name for all of them, no matter where they were made.

I hope this explains it for you, and I hope you find the other parts, I would really like to see them!

Excellent information Fullstock, I can't thank you enough man. I'm an avid shooter, but don't know nearly as much about black powder rifles and especially early American flintlocks. Thanks for letting me know about that trigger guard too. I have a general idea where more of this brass might be, but it'll require removing a lot of iron. I'll be sure to keep you posted if anymore of it turns up.

-Brad

 

[Chestdiesel]

So sick!! My 1721 pistareen is the pride of my collection, but it was minted at the royal mint in Madrid. Amazing the story behind yours and the mint it was made at! Congrats, and thanks for sharing.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Thanks Chestdiesel! I remember commenting on yours and just went back to take another look... yours is awesome man. I have two slices of pistareens, but never a full one.