Bill D. (VA)
Silver Member
Finally on the board in 2015 with a cut pistareen, more coins, buttons & other stuff
It's been a long and very slow winter for me, and a lot of it can be blamed on the lousy weather. Seems like I've only been able to get out about 1/3 as much as usual this year, and my recoveries are hurting as a result. I was finally able to fit in a short 2 hour hunt on a decent day (last Thurs), right before my wife and I had to go out of town to attend her 98 year old grandmother's funeral. I'd been studying additional homesites that were showing up on a great 1802 chancery court plat map I uncovered during research. I had already discovered one of these sites last year, and it was extremely productive. This new site I had my eyes on was only a few hundred yards away from the first, but it appeared to be right on the very edge of the field or possibly in the owner's yard when I overlayed it on top of a modern aerial. I was forewarned that it might be difficult to get permission there, but I got along great with the elderly owner after I started showing her my research materials. She invited me in for a long chat, but when I finally popped the question I was told I'd need to speak with her husband who was not home at the time. It was about 10 days before I could make that happened, and fortunately we hit it off great. With permission secured I decided to start out by zigzagging in an organized pattern to cover most of the 50 acre field just to give it an initial check. But other then one plow point and a couple pieces of aluminum can, the field was absolutely devoid of signals. I saved the area on the edge of the field for last, and as I was walking back to my truck I got a nice 80s signal that turned out to be a toasty 1850 LC. And it was only about 20 ft from the dirt lane that separated the cut soybean field from some neighboring yards. After that I slowed down a bit and noticed a very small piece of brick which always gets my attention. I slowly started pulling out a few flat buttons (one an early Navy) when some more coins started to appear. First a '46 rosie which was a major disappointment, but soon afterward I was rewarded with a nice 1858 holed half dime. And almost immediately what I thought might be a small button turned out to be an unexpected surprise - an early 1700s cut pistareen! So I was finally able to put Spanish silver in my pouch after not finding any since Dec 30. That makes 7 for the season and 176 overall. But the signals were confined to a very narrow area - within 30 ft of the lane and maybe 100-150 ft wide - and not a thing outside that rectangle. But it appears the site very likely extends into the adjacent yards. That might be a tough sell, but hopefully if I wave my early maps in front of the other homeowners I might get lucky. I may give that a try on the first mild day, but with the way the forecast is shaping up that might be quite a while.
It's been a long and very slow winter for me, and a lot of it can be blamed on the lousy weather. Seems like I've only been able to get out about 1/3 as much as usual this year, and my recoveries are hurting as a result. I was finally able to fit in a short 2 hour hunt on a decent day (last Thurs), right before my wife and I had to go out of town to attend her 98 year old grandmother's funeral. I'd been studying additional homesites that were showing up on a great 1802 chancery court plat map I uncovered during research. I had already discovered one of these sites last year, and it was extremely productive. This new site I had my eyes on was only a few hundred yards away from the first, but it appeared to be right on the very edge of the field or possibly in the owner's yard when I overlayed it on top of a modern aerial. I was forewarned that it might be difficult to get permission there, but I got along great with the elderly owner after I started showing her my research materials. She invited me in for a long chat, but when I finally popped the question I was told I'd need to speak with her husband who was not home at the time. It was about 10 days before I could make that happened, and fortunately we hit it off great. With permission secured I decided to start out by zigzagging in an organized pattern to cover most of the 50 acre field just to give it an initial check. But other then one plow point and a couple pieces of aluminum can, the field was absolutely devoid of signals. I saved the area on the edge of the field for last, and as I was walking back to my truck I got a nice 80s signal that turned out to be a toasty 1850 LC. And it was only about 20 ft from the dirt lane that separated the cut soybean field from some neighboring yards. After that I slowed down a bit and noticed a very small piece of brick which always gets my attention. I slowly started pulling out a few flat buttons (one an early Navy) when some more coins started to appear. First a '46 rosie which was a major disappointment, but soon afterward I was rewarded with a nice 1858 holed half dime. And almost immediately what I thought might be a small button turned out to be an unexpected surprise - an early 1700s cut pistareen! So I was finally able to put Spanish silver in my pouch after not finding any since Dec 30. That makes 7 for the season and 176 overall. But the signals were confined to a very narrow area - within 30 ft of the lane and maybe 100-150 ft wide - and not a thing outside that rectangle. But it appears the site very likely extends into the adjacent yards. That might be a tough sell, but hopefully if I wave my early maps in front of the other homeowners I might get lucky. I may give that a try on the first mild day, but with the way the forecast is shaping up that might be quite a while.
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