Ridirtdigger
Greenie
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2014
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 97
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- South County, RI
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett Ace 350
Garrett AT Pro
Garrett AT Gold
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
1600's maravedis copper (my oldest coin), two other coppers + relics
I was in California for the past week (fun time) so I was not able to do any detecting. I got back Thursday evening and knew the first thing I was gonna do on Friday was head out into the woods and hit a few cellar holes. I headed off into CT into an area that has been hammered over the years but I knew there had to be a few less obvious sites that have been hit much less over the years. My first site was pretty hammered and also trashed, managed one button there. My 2nd site looked very promising, until I saw an active path right near it. No targets around the cellar hole but I found a few relics away from the hole. Weird site was built right at the edge of a steep hill. On to site number three... This site involved some serious bushwacking, I started out on an old abandoned road but soon cut into the woods following a very overgrown path. That path soon disappeared and the rest of the y was bushwacking through some thick mountain laurel. I crossed a river near the remains of an old dam, hiked up a hill and then I saw her, a nice big cellar hole with a massive chimney that was still pretty much intact at the base. I started swinging right away, first target was a lead bullet but after around 10 minutes I get a classic high tone on the AT Pro right on the cellar hole lip. I said "Yup that's a copper" and indeed it was. 1797 Draped bust large cent, my oldest US large cent. Reverse of the coin is in very good shape. I left soon after that as I was low on fluids and beginning to feel dehydrated. I told my buddy Jarrod that I have a site for us to hit for the next day. Saturday morning we headed back to the site. We start digging buttons right away before I get one of my favorite relics, a ramrod guide to a Brown Bess! Thank you Isaac P for identifying this piece for me. About a minute later I get a high tone and call Jarrod over to listen to me. He said "coin" and of course it was, 1818 matron head. I've found more 1818 matron heads than any other date. Weird. Not too long after that I get a 70's signal, and pull out a very thin copper disc but with no shank. We then notice it has roman numerals all over it. On one side are the numbers "16" and "XI (with a small 8 below XI)" and on the other side are "VIII" and "VII". Jarrod tells me he thinks its one of the Spanish copper piece of 8 coins and that's what it is. A Spanish maravedis, the roman numerals being countermarks for revaluations that had occurred over the years. I do not know the exact age of this coin but I am assuming it is on the earlier side of the 17th century rather than the later side. Any additional info would be appreciated. Any ways after tha
t Jarrod calls me over and tells me he has a buckle with nice silver gilt. Little did he know he had a complete silver applied knee buckle! The pins do not move but it is still one of the nicest looking knee buckles I have seen. Big congrats to him on that awesome find. Eventually the finds started to slow down and we made the decision to hike deeper into the woods in search of another site I knew was out there. Well, we found the site but we will have to wait until winter on this one. Its an oldie for sure but so overgrown there's probably no more than 10 feet of open swinging room. It also had some turn of the century farm junk dumped in it being that it is in the woods behind a massive farm (farm is private property) and would likely have been still open back in the day. Oh well. But another great hunt and great site. Hoping for many more weekends like this. Happy hunting all!
I was in California for the past week (fun time) so I was not able to do any detecting. I got back Thursday evening and knew the first thing I was gonna do on Friday was head out into the woods and hit a few cellar holes. I headed off into CT into an area that has been hammered over the years but I knew there had to be a few less obvious sites that have been hit much less over the years. My first site was pretty hammered and also trashed, managed one button there. My 2nd site looked very promising, until I saw an active path right near it. No targets around the cellar hole but I found a few relics away from the hole. Weird site was built right at the edge of a steep hill. On to site number three... This site involved some serious bushwacking, I started out on an old abandoned road but soon cut into the woods following a very overgrown path. That path soon disappeared and the rest of the y was bushwacking through some thick mountain laurel. I crossed a river near the remains of an old dam, hiked up a hill and then I saw her, a nice big cellar hole with a massive chimney that was still pretty much intact at the base. I started swinging right away, first target was a lead bullet but after around 10 minutes I get a classic high tone on the AT Pro right on the cellar hole lip. I said "Yup that's a copper" and indeed it was. 1797 Draped bust large cent, my oldest US large cent. Reverse of the coin is in very good shape. I left soon after that as I was low on fluids and beginning to feel dehydrated. I told my buddy Jarrod that I have a site for us to hit for the next day. Saturday morning we headed back to the site. We start digging buttons right away before I get one of my favorite relics, a ramrod guide to a Brown Bess! Thank you Isaac P for identifying this piece for me. About a minute later I get a high tone and call Jarrod over to listen to me. He said "coin" and of course it was, 1818 matron head. I've found more 1818 matron heads than any other date. Weird. Not too long after that I get a 70's signal, and pull out a very thin copper disc but with no shank. We then notice it has roman numerals all over it. On one side are the numbers "16" and "XI (with a small 8 below XI)" and on the other side are "VIII" and "VII". Jarrod tells me he thinks its one of the Spanish copper piece of 8 coins and that's what it is. A Spanish maravedis, the roman numerals being countermarks for revaluations that had occurred over the years. I do not know the exact age of this coin but I am assuming it is on the earlier side of the 17th century rather than the later side. Any additional info would be appreciated. Any ways after tha
t Jarrod calls me over and tells me he has a buckle with nice silver gilt. Little did he know he had a complete silver applied knee buckle! The pins do not move but it is still one of the nicest looking knee buckles I have seen. Big congrats to him on that awesome find. Eventually the finds started to slow down and we made the decision to hike deeper into the woods in search of another site I knew was out there. Well, we found the site but we will have to wait until winter on this one. Its an oldie for sure but so overgrown there's probably no more than 10 feet of open swinging room. It also had some turn of the century farm junk dumped in it being that it is in the woods behind a massive farm (farm is private property) and would likely have been still open back in the day. Oh well. But another great hunt and great site. Hoping for many more weekends like this. Happy hunting all!Amazon Forum Fav 👍
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