KY State Seal Button CACHE, Scabbard Tip, Saddle Decoration--a FINE Hunt!

[BuckleBoy]

Hello All,

Rodeo Recon and I got a chance to hit several great spots, and we finally got all the finds cleaned, ID'ed, and ready to post. It has taken a while. We did two hunts on the same property, and so now I'm posting both the first hunt and the return trip. (Yes, there will be yet another return trip after this cold snap breaks... ) Sorry for the lack of "action" photos--we were too busy diggin!

So here's the story. We are hunting a very old parcel of land for our area, and the jury is still out on whether or not we've found our target--the Oldest Structure built on that land. (Although we have found Two other house sites and a Mill in the last two hunts, and had a Lot of fun finding those )

We first secured permission from the wonderful property owner (we've developed a great relationship with him and his sons--after hunting several other sites this summer and fall that he owned). Then we got out on the site. Looking at the deeds, census records, topo maps, plat maps, and other Top Secret Documents from the Buckleboy Files we got hunting. Here's a photo Rodeo snapped of me during his "briefing" before the hunt:



We walked out into the middle of the 170 acre plot of land and started up on a knoll at one of the "target areas" I wanted to hit. After seeing some brick, pottery, and other items, we knew we should turn the machines on and take the bean field by storm. Flat buttons immediately started coming up--a Good sign. Here's a photo of one in the clod:



We seemed to have walked ourselves into a little button patch. The buttons were everywhere. (It is unusual for us to dig more than a couple flat buttons per hunt, but this hunt we found 19 of them.) Pretty soon I dug a deep, iffy signal and out popped a "muffin-style" cuff button that I just *knew* would be a good one. Picking the button up, I could make out the motto from the Kentucky State Seal "United We Stand / Divided We Fall" shimmering in GOLD underneath the dirt.





After sharing the find with Rodeo, we kept at it--digging two IH's in the process. (These appear in the "uncleaned finds" photos--but they were given to the property owner, along with a Fine display case of items.) Here's one of those Fatties:



Pretty soon, I dug the back from a "muffin-style" coat button--then another, and I started to wonder if there were more intact State Seal buttons there waiting for us. Sure enough, I dug a Kentucky State Seal Coat button:



Then I got another back from one (front had disintegrated and was nowhere to be found). I'd now found a total of three partial KY Coat buttons, one complete coat button, and one cuff button. At this point I realized that the whole coat had been tossed out at some point, and had rotted, the buttons to be scattered around by the plow. The whole while, Rodeo was cleaning up on the flat buttons and other cool relics--including a nice intact Crotal Bell and a Colonial Era Barrel Tap.

About 15 minutes later, I dug a nice brass signal and saw this in the clod--yet another KY button. With this, my final KY button for the day, the total stood at Five Coat buttons and one Cuff button.





The finds in the button patch started to slack off a bit, so I circled around behind the site, following the ridge back toward the road, looking for the barn site. I've seen three late-date Indian Head Cents, a Two Cent Piece, and a CN Indian Head come from barn sites this year--and that's plenty reason for me to try and find the sites, dig through the iron and brass rivets, and find the relics and coins! Well, I got out there and found...no iron! So I circled back around the other way after taking this photo of Rodeo as a speck in the distance:



Although we couldn't manage to find the barn (too much area and not enough time!), we thinned the site out considerably before we had to walk the half a mile back through the field to get Rodeo to work on time. I fanned out and dragged my feet a bit on leaving the site because I wanted to run a quick pattern through a few more "target areas" on the way back to the car. The first area I hit was a strikeout. No iron anywhere. The second area I hit--I started seeing brick! I heard Rodeo say "I'm going to the car to drop off the gear--meanwhile see if you can dig up a find!" I lit into that iron patch with a vengeance, since there were so many tiny pieces of brick in the field there it was like walking on a Brick Carpet. Sure enough, flat buttons started turning up. Rodeo ran back from the car swinging like a Rabid Alpaca, hoping to snag just one more find before leaving the site. We got a few more buttons with our last minutes there, and then I had to "bend" the speed limit a hair to get him to work on time.

So here are the Barrel Tap, a Cool Pewter button with an "X" on it, and the Crotal Bell. (The rest of the story, and more good photos are in the first reply below...)

 

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[Detectingfreak]

Buckleboy! You are the man!!! Congratulations on the awesome button finds! Some of those are probably worth some money!

 

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[BuckleBoy]

Great Hunt and pictures you sure dug a lot of iron is there a reason for this or are some of the more important items made from iron, if I dug all the iron over here I would never find enything that's why it's egnored unless it's really deep.

Big iron masks targets. Place a tiny hammered silver on top of a big iron axe head and see what your detector reads.

The Goldmaxx Power I use will still pick out the hammered no matter how much Iron was near it, all I would have to do is turn up the iron volume and the detector would pick up both targets , one would just give a buzz(iron) the hammered would come through a sweat two way tone, this is why the Goldmaxx is one of the most popular detectors in the UK for it's ability to pick out the good targets from heavily contaminated (iron) sites, hence it's knickname Hammered Hoover, the Goldmaxx has the fastest recovery of any detector on the market operating at 18khz, here's one for you BB line up six Silver coins all in a line close to each other and see how many your detector can pick up on one fast sweep the Goldmaxx can pick up all of them no matter how fast you make the sweep

I'm not trying to get the Great Detector Debate opened up on this thread....


But the ability for a detector to hear a small silver coin on Top of an axe head or Underneath it has little to do with recovery speed (i.e., a good target Beside an iron one).

I'm glad you have the Goldmaxx--and I know that with the iron here in this Young area of the world at sites only 160 years old, there must be tons of iron there. I have never detected in Europe--would love to, but haven't ever been able to (even though I go across the pond for work most summers...).

I am glad you are confident in your machine, because that is what it takes to make the good finds. I have not seen a video yet posted anywhere online where a small silver coin with a large chunk of iron right on Top of it can be heard by a detector of any type. If there is such a link, please direct me to it. If not, make and post the video yourself--and then I will have to buy a Goldmaxxx. It'll save me a LOT of work. 8)

I enjoy your posts greatly--and I am thrilled that we get so see such incredible finds coming from the fields there. Keep up the good work.


Best Wishes,



Buckleboy

 

[BuckleBoy]

I understand both points of view on this one. I have dug a complete horse shoe next to a gold sovereign (well Dad got the gold but I cleared the iron ). I totally understand TK's approach & he is a great detectorist, specially at sniffing out good areas & it would not be practical for him to clear all the iron with his attack plan. I have a more complex approach (I think), but its based on time & how much of a window I have to clear the iron. Generally I hit the same fields year after year & each time I get more carefull & more picky with the Disc getter lower each year until a site is nearly cleared of every iron nail & tiny piece of lead. That's when I know I have a good field, when finding a good field or area my approach changes again.

In theory clearing all the iron is the right way to go. However in the UK, the 'purist' iron clearing approach would mean that you would end up with less good finds than those that didn't, & there is plenty of competition to cherry pick before & after you. You would however end up with the most impressive iron collection in a short time & would need to hire a skip pretty quickly. So you could make a bit of money with a lot of effort. In summary, pocket full of treasure or skip load of iron. There is a balance, but its an individual preference.

After your well-reasoned and thoughtful reply, I understand both sides of this one too. In a younger site, like the ones I hunt, the iron is clear-able. So we clear it. I can understand the competition there now as well.

All I can say is that we do what we have to do to make the finds. You're right--our methods come from years of learning, and a detectorist must Adapt, or else keep looking for the finds that someone left with the day before. That's what separates the Men from the boys in our hobby. 8)


Best Wishes


-Buckles

 

[CRUSADER]

Great Hunt and pictures you sure dug a lot of iron is there a reason for this or are some of the more important items made from iron, if I dug all the iron over here I would never find enything that's why it's egnored unless it's really deep.

Big iron masks targets. Place a tiny hammered silver on top of a big iron axe head and see what your detector reads.

The Goldmaxx Power I use will still pick out the hammered no matter how much Iron was near it, all I would have to do is turn up the iron volume and the detector would pick up both targets , one would just give a buzz(iron) the hammered would come through a sweat two way tone, this is why the Goldmaxx is one of the most popular detectors in the UK for it's ability to pick out the good targets from heavily contaminated (iron) sites, hence it's knickname Hammered Hoover, the Goldmaxx has the fastest recovery of any detector on the market operating at 18khz, here's one for you BB line up six Silver coins all in a line close to each other and see how many your detector can pick up on one fast sweep the Goldmaxx can pick up all of them no matter how fast you make the sweep

mine only got between 1 and 2 and they were 3 inches appart! what a piece of crap!!!

and that's just given my misses the ump now

Shaun, the goldmaxx power is a great machine & TK is right on its good separation of silver from nail ridden fields. (big advantage is its belt mountable) The Cortes is not so good at this & you may want to consider it when buying your next machine. The Pro we detected with had a Goldmaxx but you still beat him on the day He would have done far better in that area of nails where we got the constant clicking. At the end of the day, its about picking a good machine & learning it. I may one day try a goldmaxx but it would mean re-learning a machine, not such a big issue for yourself.

BB, sorry to go off subject, just want to help Shaun make the right decision on his next major purchase.

 

[Silver Searcher]

I understand both points of view on this one. I have dug a complete horse shoe next to a gold sovereign (well Dad got the gold but I cleared the iron ). I totally understand TK's approach & he is a great detectorist, specially at sniffing out good areas & it would not be practical for him to clear all the iron with his attack plan. I have a more complex approach (I think), but its based on time & how much of a window I have to clear the iron. Generally I hit the same fields year after year & each time I get more carefull & more picky with the Disc getter lower each year until a site is nearly cleared of every iron nail & tiny piece of lead. That's when I know I have a good field, when finding a good field or area my approach changes again.

In theory clearing all the iron is the right way to go. However in the UK, the 'purist' iron clearing approach would mean that you would end up with less good finds than those that didn't, & there is plenty of competition to cherry pick before & after you. You would however end up with the most impressive iron collection in a short time & would need to hire a skip pretty quickly. So you could make a bit of money with a lot of effort. In summary, pocket full of treasure or skip load of iron. There is a balance, but its an individual preference.

After your well-reasoned and thoughtful reply, I understand both sides of this one too. In a younger site, like the ones I hunt, the iron is clear-able. So we clear it. I can understand the competition there now as well.

All I can say is that we do what we have to do to make the finds. You're right--our methods come from years of learning, and a detectorist must Adapt, or else keep looking for the finds that someone left with the day before. That's what separates the Men from the boys in our hobby. 8)


Best Wishes


-Buckles

BB....I was not trying to be funny or clever in any way, neither was I trying to hyjack your brilliant post, I was mearly trying to point out the difference in detecting here, and in the states, I respect you highly as a detectorist and always look forward to your posts. I will indeed try putting a hammered right on top of a large peice of Iron and tell you of my findings

 

[BuckleBoy]

BB....I was not trying to be funny or clever in any way, neither was I trying to hyjack your brilliant post, I was mearly trying to point out the difference in detecting here, and in the states, I respect you highly as a detectorist and always look forward to your posts. I will indeed try putting a hammered right on top of a large peice of Iron and tell you of my findings

No problem.

I was just curious to know the results. I couldn't imagine dealing with 2000 years of Iron. 200 years is plenty. :P By the way, I went back to the site in this post with my buddy again today and pulled two more cuff buttons and another coat button. So now we have 7 of the 8 coat buttons and 3 of the 6 (?) cuffs. I also found one button that is cuff sized and may have been a replacement for a lost button.

I just think it's cool to find all of the brass off a single uniform in a plowed field.


Best Wishes,



Buckles

 

[CRUSADER]

BB....I was not trying to be funny or clever in any way, neither was I trying to hyjack your brilliant post, I was mearly trying to point out the difference in detecting here, and in the states, I respect you highly as a detectorist and always look forward to your posts. I will indeed try putting a hammered right on top of a large peice of Iron and tell you of my findings

I just think it's cool to find all of the brass off a single uniform in a plowed field.

cool & rare (never happened to me) 8)

 

[99Brown]

3 stars for you!! Awesome buttons! Sorry it took me so long to post.

99Brown