Colonial coin, relics and cannonball

smokeythecat

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Nov 22, 2012
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I went with another Tnetter to a site not all that far away. We were hoping to get in on the very low water in the bay. All went as planned, the water was out a good 50 feet. The water's edge and mudpan didn't have a lot of items on it, including trash. I did pick up a very old blackened large piece of lead melt, my friend found a big .69 musket ball a few feet away. I also retrieved an old silver plated lighter (1950-60's) and an Indian flake from nearby. View attachment IMG_0780.jpg The oyster is old and huge. Back in colonial days they were a lot larger than we get them today. This is about 7" long. View attachment IMG_0781.jpg View attachment IMG_0779.jpg

We then moved to a field where a colonial house once stood. There were bits of brick and smaller oyster shell everywhere. The one area was loaded with iron, which is not surprising. I eyeballed a nice piece of flinty chalcedony/agate. It would look good cut, if I ever had the time to do it. View attachment IMG_0782.jpg

Moving to the rear of the house, I started picking up the non ferrous metals! The first picture shows the flattened lead from the house. View attachment IMG_0786.jpg Second picture is a decorative brass and iron tube with a diamond design on it and a piece of brass with horizontal lines on it. View attachment IMG_0785.jpg I only worked a small area, and also found a fired musket ball and some hand made colonial buck shot. View attachment IMG_0787.jpg The large iron ring was directly from the house site. View attachment IMG_0778.jpg Only one piece of pottery was found, it has a tan body and incised lines, and pictured is the flake from the bay. View attachment IMG_0788.jpg Of course, where there are colonial houses, there are button and buckles. This is a plowed field, so the buckle pieces are broken, and I did get four colonial buttons, the one on the far right is the 1750-60's "blowhole" type. None of the buttons date after 1780 which is when the settlement was abandoned. View attachment IMG_0789.jpg The buckle pieces are as found and the long item on the right is made of silver. View attachment IMG_0790.jpg

I got a mid tone on the Deus, it rang in at "29" which is an iffy signal for me. Since I dig iffy targets, I was still surprised to see a grapeshot pop out of the ground! View attachment IMG_0783.jpg About 30' from the grapeshot heading in a straight line toward the water I got another solid tone that just sounded odd. Out pops out a small cannonball. Now I'm really shocked. But it makes sense, sort of. While the town was gone by 1780, the British were all over the Bay during the War of 1812. I'll do some more research to try to pin down the dates if possible. View attachment IMG_0784.jpg Last but certainly not least, I finally found a coin. I didn't realize it was a coin until early today. We were wondering why no coins were being found. This is a worn out copper about 22 mm in diameter. It is not well struck, my best guess is a British farthing, pre 1780. Thanks for looking. Happiness is an undug colonial site! View attachment IMG_0791.jpg Somebody now needs to clean some cannonballs.
 

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VTColonialDigger

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Those are some really great finds. Someone must have been casting a lot of round balls in that area with all the melted lead and musket balls. I really like the color and the design on that piece of pottery. It is also cool to see cannon balls being found, they are not common finds. I bet there is even more stuff at that site! Undug sites are fun!
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Nov 22, 2012
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VTcolonialdigger, it is untouched and we found a 2nd house. With NOTHING from the houses dating after 1780 or so, the War of 1812 guess is just that, a guess. I ordered a book today about the ghost towns of that county which may shed some light on the subject. Going to go digging in the wind soon.....locally.
 

Oct 5, 2014
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Congratualtions on the very nice relic hunt! :occasion14:

GL & HH
 

Phishfarmer

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Great finds. In the 1960's my dad and uncle took me to a spot on the Potomac river I guess (I was very young) we put in near Occoquon. We went to a spot that that had lots of shot from the War of 1812. I can't remember if my dad was using a mine detector or if he had the Metrotech yet but I remember he dug a lot of grape.. most of it 1 1/2" - 2" diameter. I asked him recently where it was but he couldn't remember.

Colonial finds are awesome.

Thanks for posting your finds.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Nov 22, 2012
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Thanks Professor of Engineering and Phisfarmer. It was non stop digging there until I dropped from exhaustion. One cute and funny thing happened. I keep telling people it's not so much the detector as the operator. The caretaker for the property came over with his two young daughters. The oldest maybe three and a half. She had her metal detector with her. We put the grape back in the hole, threw a little dirt on it, now it's about 5" from the loop and that little toy machine went blam! blam! blam! It had no trouble finding it. I saw the unit on Ebay for $29.99. It's the operator. Was soooo cute.
 

BLK HOLE

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Incredible! Your finds never fail to amaze! Congratulations :hello2:
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Nov 22, 2012
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I just go all the time. At least on weekends and vacation days.
 

pepperj

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Great hunt, you'll have to post up the balls once they're cleaned up.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Nov 22, 2012
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I'm still tired and have to go to (gasp) work tomorrow. They are not too bad. I will let them sit for awhile in fresh water as they were less than 100 yards from the salt water bay. Might have some salt in them. I noticed the smaller one has a casting seam around it. Interesting. People tend to think with a mold mark they are French and Indian war to Revolution, not later. Interesting. I mean if the site was abandoned, why would the British have shelled it? Could have been for a defensive cannon. Note to self: find the cannon!
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Nov 22, 2012
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Thank you. The three iron pieces are in the near to last stages of conservation. They have been whacked repeatedly with a 4 ounce tack hammer to get the big blobs or rust off, then stuck in "Iron Out" for a couple days, then whacked some more and wire brushed and now are in fresh water for about 4 days, I'll then test the water for salt, as this is a field right next to the Chesapeake Bay, rinse and repeat till my hydrometer to test salt content of the water reads zero. Then I'll decided what to put on them. Oil might be ok. Everything else except the oyster shell and big lead has been properly cleaned, labeled and put in a case.
 

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smokeythecat

smokeythecat

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Thanks Scrappy. Last night's now is almost gone, so will probably get out this weekend.
 

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