xcopperstax
Silver Member
- Sep 3, 2018
- 2,508
- 4,870
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett AT Max
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Back to my colonial spot in the woods. I had just gotten out of work
and had a couple of hrs to hunt at my favorite place to go lately. Anxiety was running high because darkness was on its way. One of my first targets that sounded pretty good turned out to
be a horseshoe that was locked in a combination of roots rock and dirt. I spent quite a while trying to recover it. In the end it came out of the ground in two pieces as I impatiently pulled it out. Oh well let that be a lesson to slow it down and be a little more careful. As Poor Richard said: "haste makes waste." 5 minutes later...The next target was a jumpy signal that could have been anything so I gambled and jammed my shovel into the earth. Roots.... again. The frustration was back... better slow it down buddy... out popped a perfect large dandy! It was an exact match to the one I had found about a month earlier. Shank intact and it had evaded my wild digging . It's not me it's the shovel! My day was absolutely made! I kept swinging and after another 5 minutes on the side of the hill I got a decent higher tone signal. Let's dig! Carefully of course. Out popped a perfect buckle with a small root going through the middle. I reached in and broke the root. This wasn't just any buckle it was a colonial tongue and chape shoe buckle! It was completely intact! The theory is that it was worn by a member of the upper class and was probably thrown out when the style changed. A person of more meager means probably would have worn it until it broke. Like Poor Richard also said "waste not want not." These things were important and sometimes when people died they left shoe buckled to people. To me it was a small miracle to find this artifact complete as it escaped the ravages of daily use, time, plows, roots, and my shovel. 5 minutes later a ways down the hill I found a toasted us large cent. I believe it's a draped bust but who knows the soil at this spot is super harsh on coppers. What could be better? Sharing my finds with my hunt buddies who were off in another area of the woods. A member of my club who I consider to be an authority on this stuff dated the buckle to around 1770! This is the only shoe accessory I have ever been excited about! Nothing is free though: while chipping the dirt (it flaked off like paint) off the buckle with a toothpick I got a nice piece of corrosion flicked right into my eye. That night I felt the telltale itch of poison ivy. A couple days later while eating breakfast I had it on the table to admire it. Not realizing it was there my fiancé dropped a full bag of granola cereal right on it. I almost died. Thankfully it was still all together! I said some bad words but I forgave her! Who knows maybe the owner of this shoe spent some time kicking it with Ben Franklin himself!
and had a couple of hrs to hunt at my favorite place to go lately. Anxiety was running high because darkness was on its way. One of my first targets that sounded pretty good turned out to
be a horseshoe that was locked in a combination of roots rock and dirt. I spent quite a while trying to recover it. In the end it came out of the ground in two pieces as I impatiently pulled it out. Oh well let that be a lesson to slow it down and be a little more careful. As Poor Richard said: "haste makes waste." 5 minutes later...The next target was a jumpy signal that could have been anything so I gambled and jammed my shovel into the earth. Roots.... again. The frustration was back... better slow it down buddy... out popped a perfect large dandy! It was an exact match to the one I had found about a month earlier. Shank intact and it had evaded my wild digging . It's not me it's the shovel! My day was absolutely made! I kept swinging and after another 5 minutes on the side of the hill I got a decent higher tone signal. Let's dig! Carefully of course. Out popped a perfect buckle with a small root going through the middle. I reached in and broke the root. This wasn't just any buckle it was a colonial tongue and chape shoe buckle! It was completely intact! The theory is that it was worn by a member of the upper class and was probably thrown out when the style changed. A person of more meager means probably would have worn it until it broke. Like Poor Richard also said "waste not want not." These things were important and sometimes when people died they left shoe buckled to people. To me it was a small miracle to find this artifact complete as it escaped the ravages of daily use, time, plows, roots, and my shovel. 5 minutes later a ways down the hill I found a toasted us large cent. I believe it's a draped bust but who knows the soil at this spot is super harsh on coppers. What could be better? Sharing my finds with my hunt buddies who were off in another area of the woods. A member of my club who I consider to be an authority on this stuff dated the buckle to around 1770! This is the only shoe accessory I have ever been excited about! Nothing is free though: while chipping the dirt (it flaked off like paint) off the buckle with a toothpick I got a nice piece of corrosion flicked right into my eye. That night I felt the telltale itch of poison ivy. A couple days later while eating breakfast I had it on the table to admire it. Not realizing it was there my fiancé dropped a full bag of granola cereal right on it. I almost died. Thankfully it was still all together! I said some bad words but I forgave her! Who knows maybe the owner of this shoe spent some time kicking it with Ben Franklin himself!
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