The Seeker
Bronze Member
- Nov 21, 2005
- 2,492
- 79
- Detector(s) used
- MINELAB Explorer-II
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
When it comes to Detecting Colonial sites, our number one goal is finding those old US silver coins. Not only are they rare to find, if you find the right date that coin could be worth a good buck. My goal is to find that silver coin, and on this day my chances would increase with what I had stumbled across. While on my way back to that old colonial site in Livingston County my plan was to start searching in the same area I had left off while detecting this site months earlier.
Over time this site has given up coins like King George coppers, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont coppers, early flowing haired large pennies, Spanish reals and all kinds of other coppers and tokens ……The only silver I have found at this site is an 1805 Draped bust half Dime. The Buttons are great, some political, the standard flat and some with the gold gilt still intact. Now that you have an idea of what this site is like this is what happed when I started detecting………..
The temperature is warm and with record highs in the 60’s here in the northeast this day could not be better. I started walking along a small ridge to make my way to that area I mentioned earlier as I walked I noticed that the ground is very wet with all the rain and snow we have had but it all long gone it had just melted and now makes for some nice soft ground with easy digging. I started digging and in about 10 minutes I found my first flat button with markings on the back that is always good…….Maybe an Andrew Jackson!!! Lets hope… a short time later I pulled out my first large cent down only 5 inches. It was one of those questionable hits. One way as I swung the coil it sounded good, moving around the target it rang as if it was iron, with that low tone. Now feeling pretty good and a little pumped I continued on, a few minutes later another hit …Questionable once again but good. So I dug down about 6 inches and I noticed what looked to be ashes mixed with some nails and some black what ever…… so as I searched the hole with the probe..Beep Beep Beep another large cent this one was in the side of the hole, on edge.
The old pioneer cabins that once stood in this village are long gone, but the remnants of them are still visible. The slight depression where I am digging is what’s left of one of the cabins.
We all have a theory sometimes while detecting and I have one on this site ……This house burned and it makes sense, with the ash and the nails all at the same level that is why the first hole and now the second hole had that black ash and grit of some sort where the coins were located. The second coin was in excellent condition and it was dated 1817, now I had to clean of the first …….the date been 1826. Now working the area nice and slow, I turned the sensitivity way down now that I’m looking for coins only inches down clustered with nails. I found then another coin and this one hit great, I dug a plug flipped it over and there looking back at me was a nice 1831 large cent. But after cleaning it when I got home it looks to be an 1831 over 1830. I haven’t cleaned with anything other than water as I do with all my copper coins. So I just kept on going and after about 4 hours of detecting and digging plenty of holes all in that area I came up with 2 more large cents one a 1822 with what looks to be a die error or a miss strike of the 2, it is larger than the first 2. You can see in the picture, it is different. The other has no date but it’s attached to a piece of iron or what’s left of one of the nails from the fire. All of these coin, buttons and relics were found in the layer of ash and grit that was left in an area of about 12 x 8 are that I had be detecting.
The pottery and glass pieces were found while digging, then finally my theory may have been right. One of the pieces of glass was melted which would explain a fire with extreme heat. I plan on going back again because this area needs to be done with a smaller coil. Maybe somewhere in that mix of nails and ash is a US silver coin just waiting to be found!
A theory ……. Could say is a big part when it comes to metal detecting. Thinking when, where, how and why! All come into play when it comes to this great hobby. Were those large cents in a jar up on a shelf or on a table when the home caught fire? How did they come to lay all at the same level in the ground and only a few feet apart? As the shelf collapsed the coins hit the floor and rolled a short distance from each other and there they sat till the day they were found…. Why did it burn?… that we will never know but again all we can do is "Have a theory” ……… Keep on Digging!
John
Over time this site has given up coins like King George coppers, Connecticut, New Jersey, Vermont coppers, early flowing haired large pennies, Spanish reals and all kinds of other coppers and tokens ……The only silver I have found at this site is an 1805 Draped bust half Dime. The Buttons are great, some political, the standard flat and some with the gold gilt still intact. Now that you have an idea of what this site is like this is what happed when I started detecting………..
The temperature is warm and with record highs in the 60’s here in the northeast this day could not be better. I started walking along a small ridge to make my way to that area I mentioned earlier as I walked I noticed that the ground is very wet with all the rain and snow we have had but it all long gone it had just melted and now makes for some nice soft ground with easy digging. I started digging and in about 10 minutes I found my first flat button with markings on the back that is always good…….Maybe an Andrew Jackson!!! Lets hope… a short time later I pulled out my first large cent down only 5 inches. It was one of those questionable hits. One way as I swung the coil it sounded good, moving around the target it rang as if it was iron, with that low tone. Now feeling pretty good and a little pumped I continued on, a few minutes later another hit …Questionable once again but good. So I dug down about 6 inches and I noticed what looked to be ashes mixed with some nails and some black what ever…… so as I searched the hole with the probe..Beep Beep Beep another large cent this one was in the side of the hole, on edge.
The old pioneer cabins that once stood in this village are long gone, but the remnants of them are still visible. The slight depression where I am digging is what’s left of one of the cabins.
We all have a theory sometimes while detecting and I have one on this site ……This house burned and it makes sense, with the ash and the nails all at the same level that is why the first hole and now the second hole had that black ash and grit of some sort where the coins were located. The second coin was in excellent condition and it was dated 1817, now I had to clean of the first …….the date been 1826. Now working the area nice and slow, I turned the sensitivity way down now that I’m looking for coins only inches down clustered with nails. I found then another coin and this one hit great, I dug a plug flipped it over and there looking back at me was a nice 1831 large cent. But after cleaning it when I got home it looks to be an 1831 over 1830. I haven’t cleaned with anything other than water as I do with all my copper coins. So I just kept on going and after about 4 hours of detecting and digging plenty of holes all in that area I came up with 2 more large cents one a 1822 with what looks to be a die error or a miss strike of the 2, it is larger than the first 2. You can see in the picture, it is different. The other has no date but it’s attached to a piece of iron or what’s left of one of the nails from the fire. All of these coin, buttons and relics were found in the layer of ash and grit that was left in an area of about 12 x 8 are that I had be detecting.
The pottery and glass pieces were found while digging, then finally my theory may have been right. One of the pieces of glass was melted which would explain a fire with extreme heat. I plan on going back again because this area needs to be done with a smaller coil. Maybe somewhere in that mix of nails and ash is a US silver coin just waiting to be found!
A theory ……. Could say is a big part when it comes to metal detecting. Thinking when, where, how and why! All come into play when it comes to this great hobby. Were those large cents in a jar up on a shelf or on a table when the home caught fire? How did they come to lay all at the same level in the ground and only a few feet apart? As the shelf collapsed the coins hit the floor and rolled a short distance from each other and there they sat till the day they were found…. Why did it burn?… that we will never know but again all we can do is "Have a theory” ……… Keep on Digging!
John
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I'm sure you'll find some more great stuff there. Very good post!
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