Mona Lisa Visits Montana...

[Montana Jim]

... and it's about time!

I was honored to have Mona Lisa visit for over a week with me here in Montana and share some detecting time with me at my secret-squirl Indian Wars Infantry site. We got out three different days and the weather was perfect! Even though I found two eagle buttons and she didn't - Mona Lisa out detected me on all accounts and grabbed a few great eyeball finds too.

I tried to identify everything so you know what you're looking at...

Mona Lisa & Montana Jim



Here is some miscellaneous goodies from the first day... .45-70 shells and lead bullets, some awesome square nails, a groovy bayonet scabbard tip (sans finial), a grommet, an eagle button, some unidentifiable twisted decorative brass and other crappola.





The next day was a little different and we got into some more trashy areas. We picked up a bunch of glass, a few more bullets and shells, another eagle button, and Lisa found a great variety of cool stuff including the Prince Albert tobacco tin lid, the Colgate tube, the flattened lead musket ball and some stuff to be shown in other pictures.





The third day was all about Lisa finding this awesome array of late 1800s stuff (except the button - I’ll claim that) and her bad-assed detecting skills. The round piece is a large locket or watch case cover.



Here is a picture of Mona Lisa enjoying the flawless Montana diggings…



The next few pictures detail some of the better finds...

1. “Pin Fire” 12 Gauge shotgun shell (Jim)
2. Indian Wars era “spike” for US Army “Pith Helmet” (Lisa)
3. Ponds Cold Cream tin… lipstick tube size (Lisa)
4. Shoulder Board piece – US Army Non-Commissioned Officer (Lisa)
5. Carbine Sling “bat wing” belt end tip (Jim)



1. Harmonica Read Boards – matching set! (Lisa)
2. Tin or pot-metal rosette (Lisa)
3. Colgate Co. Shaving Stick container (Lisa)
4. Parker Inkwell bottle (Lisa)
5. Intact and unfired .45-70 round (Lisa)



1. Misfired round (Ignited but never fired) (Lisa)
2. Brass longhorn steer unknown… possibly a bolo tie ornament (Jim)



And of course, just because I like to share the trash too, this is about half of what we also dug and walked out with.





Hope you enjoyed the pictures… thanks for looking.

 

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[allen]

looks like you all had a blast !!
good going on all of those finds !

 

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[River Rat]

Great pics and most excellent finds. Lisa, I hope you take all your found souvenirs back home and proudly display them in a case. Thanks for sharing the MDing trip with us!!

RR

 

[Hardy]

Looks like you and your hubby had a great time !! nice Finds and a nice post

 

[Tank69]

wtg looks like a great time

 

[Montana Jim]

Looks like you and your hubby had a great time !! nice Finds and a nice post

Lisa is from PA, she was just visiting... She flew home already.

 

[trikikiwi]

Thanks for the insight, MJ and ML; into your adventures.
A very impressive presentation Jim.
Mike

 

[hunterken]

Good post: I enjoyed seeing the pictures of all the treasures! I'm new to this hobby and would like to ask how well the big coil on Lisa's, dfx worked in the long Montana grass?

 

[bedpanmoneyman]

Very nicely done Jim. This was a great post and it looks like you guys had a great time detecting together. I'm a fan of Big Sky Country myself.....in the summer that is. If there was a vote, I'm sure Lisa would win "the most popular detectorist to hunt with" award. . So consider yourself one very fortunate individual.

 

[goldnow]

Great post filled with great pics filled with great finds...

A Happy day for sure..

 

[Montana Jim]

Those are great finds. I agree, Lisa is incredible with her DFX. I'm surprised she didn't pull any large cents, she is the Large Cent Queen back home. I've seen her make some great finds and miss hunting with her.

I'm not too sure there are any larges out here... but if there are she'd be the one to find it. Thanks for letting me borrow her for a while Schrecky!

First of all, it is an honor to know that Montana Jim is back to posting...his recoveries from the Montana soil like the old times. Secondly, it is finally good to see you and Mona detecting together on that very same Montana soil. It is always good to see Treasurenet friends getting together and making memories!

Great post like always, Jim! I hope you continue to get out and hunt like you used to! You must!!

Kyle

Thanks Kyle! I don’t see as much from you guys either… thanks a ton for responding and saying hello. 

Pics are perfect, Jim. What a tremendous amount of great finds. Both you and Lisa have been a little tardy on posting lately, it is great that you guys were able to get together and enjoy each other's company. She traveled a long way to get to Montana, so no excuses from either of you on the next 'Rowdy Bunch' tnet hunt we put together here. God Bless!

WD! I showed her the case you sent me… I have it full of buttons. I think we are considering joining in on a trip but she will soon be a full time student and I keep using my vacation time to visit with her… it’s in the cards eventually to make a hunt trip with everyone.

Great post Montana Jim. Good to see you digging again. Awesome finds and great pics.

By the way, that first pic of you and Mona is "BANNER".
Randy

Thanks Randy!

WTG on those great relics. Loved the way you shot the pictures and captions, right down to that belt tip. Looks like you two cleaned up; literally

Thanks Spartacus… creating the posts is half the fun. 

I sure hope the ground was a bit easier to dig than when I was pingin in the Cascade area back in the mid 90s, gads, it was like cement in mid July. All I got to show for my efforts were 30.06 casings and some nails and one wheatie. But, did find a lot of Buffalo bones and Indian scrappers below the Buffalo Jump site on my buddies ranch.

Hi Don! Yes – it was great weather with rain the few days before we hunted… this year has been significantly better than past years with more moisture – everything is still green! It snowed on us in Glacier for a minute, but the flats are easy diggings this year.

Nice finds Mona Lisa and Montana Jim,
I enjoyed reading your post and seeing the pictures
of all the treasures. I miss the country in Montana
(Flathead Lake country) but not the winters. At least
here in Oregon, you don't have to shovel the rain. LOL
Gold Nuggets

Thanks Nuggets – all I know is the winters here are milder than where I am from – upstate NY.

That looks like an awesome hunt! Nice job on the photo editing skills! You made your presentation of your finds really nice! Hope you guys had fun!

I sure appreciate the nice comments… 

have a good un..................

I am - we did - you too.

Nice to see you Sherm.

This was a Beautiful post. It really took me back to remembering so many great posts of yours in the past--and I enjoyed reading it so much. You two really got 'er dug!

Fantastic company and great finds. That's digging at its finest.

Your post really made my week.

We also danced to Ella Fitzgerald & Louie Armstrong, just sayin’. Thanks for the note Will. We had a great time during her visit.

zesty

LOL – yes it was.

By your count Jim... Mona 9, you 3!

It’s an accurate count – but I still feel like “I” was the winner for getting to hunt with her.

Good post: I enjoyed seeing the pictures of all the treasures! I'm new to this hobby and would like to ask how well the big coil on Lisa's, dfx worked in the long Montana grass?

In case she doesn’t respond I will - she's using her stock 9" coil - maybe it's 10". The whole time she was wishing for a smaller coil to get around the trash - but as you can see, it mattered little.

Very nicely done Jim. This was a great post and it looks like you guys had a great time detecting together. I'm a fan of Big Sky Country myself.....in the summer that is. If there was a vote, I'm sure Lisa would win "the most popular detectorist to hunt with" award. . So consider yourself one very fortunate individual.

Thanks Bedpans! I do consider myself lucky... she's a great partner.

******************************

Everyone else… Thanks for your comments and for looking!

 

[Mona Lisa]

Wow....great post, Jimtana! You put a lot of work into it....and gave me way more credit than I deserve.

My coil was too big for the areas we were detecting. Now I know why you love your baby coil.

I'm looking forward to coming back to see and to dance to Piano Pat....and to detect, of course.

 

[Baldingboy]

Looks like you both kicked a$$. Just two great T-Netters doing what they do best.

Baldingboy

 

[Monty]

Ha ha! That's not Mona lisa, tee hee! She's in.....well wait, maybe it is her. Dang , it is her! Great to see you both posting. You're a mighty handsome couple. Well,....half of you are anyway I don't get to use the icons very often as you can parobably tell. Excellent! Monty

Or spellcheck!

 

[Felinepeachy]

Congratulations to both of you. It looks like you both had a blast.

 

[leslie(nova scotia)]

yo MJ

Fro the land of the Bluenose....great selection of finds...congrats sir!

 

[RON (PA)]

MJ,

Great post...No, it is an awesome post. The picture presentation was awesome. You could not have asked for a better partner. She is a great lady and a great detectorist too. Way to go. Awesome job on uncovering some great history.

 

[texan connection]

Great posts, Great pics, and some Great finds.

 

[civilman1]

Very cool post MJ....Good to see Mona out and about.Those find's are awesome,especially the Pike.Thank's for sharing

 

[Montana Jim]

Thanks everyone... it was a great time!

 

[SilverFinger]

Awesome finds! But the most awesome find is a gal cool enough to go TH'ing with you! What great companionship!