17th Century Pit yields 1600s Jetons and Charles ii Farthing,Marked Pipes and Whizzer

[Ahab8]

I finally found a little time for treasure hunting. Decided to go for the old stuff this time. I whipped up a small sifter and decided to go to the site I found the Latten spoons at. I was hoping to sift the more concentrated areas to see what turned up. I used the GPX to see if I could find some deeper targets that I could sift. Second target was pretty deep and I was blessed to find some ash in the hole. With hopes that it may be a trash pit I started to dig down and see if I could isolate the perimeter of the ash layer. I found a deep musket ball and a nice marked pipe stem. Suddenly the stems started coming fast and furious. I was psyched to say the least. These 1600s finds are tough here in the US. Occasionally I would pull out my pinpointer to scan for metallic objects. At one point I found 4 round metallic objects and hoped that one may be a coin. One of the objects had 2 holes in it and looked to be a button. This hunt was the most fun I've ever had treasure hunting. I could become very addicted to pit and privy digging. It was an incredible day and produced some incredible early finds. I'm hoping to get a little assistance on the coin and jetons. The pipe stems are massive and date around 1670-1680 (Llewelyn Evans) British pipe maker. Among the finds were what I believe is a small jeton, a larger jeton that was turned into a button which I consider a killer personal find. The coin I believe is a Charles ii farthing which would date from 1672-1680 I believe. There was also a nice lead whizzed toy in the pit and a strange mystery item that I can't even tell you the composition of. More than 20 pipe pieces were in the pit. So much fun pulling them out of there. I consider any 17th Century finds in the states to be very special. These will go in the 1600s display.













The mystery piece



This pic shows how massive these early stems are. I put them next to one that came from an 1812 pit.

 

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[Ahab8]

17th Century Pit yields 1600s Jetons and Charles ii Farthing,Marked Pipes and...

Nice bunch of finds Ahab. This is the sort of stuff that I enjoy seeing on tnet. Too bad there is not more of the old stuff posted here.
That privy is holding a good amount of nice finds, good luck digging the rest of it out. Makes you wonder why they were throwing coins in it.
I think I read that jetons were also used as markers to mark certain places on maps, but I could be wrong.
I have dug one lead whizzer that at first I thought was a button. I always hear the word whizzer, but still unsure how they worked. anyone care to elaborate on this.
I think you tie a string to it and make it whiz . I want to hear mine whiz.. lol.
Congrats.
View attachment 1490308

Btw that's maybe the nicest whizzer I've ever seen! A string would have run through both holes and the whizzer would have been centered up between the two ends of said string. I believe you would hold the ends of the string and let the whizzer sag then quickly pull the string tight and continue this process. It would make a whizzing noise as you did so. At least that's what I believe lol

 

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[Ahab8]

Sounds like a lot of clearing is in your future Mister Ahab. 9/10 trash pits and scatter was right next to the dwelling. I'm super excited you're back on the "old" of that site, and can't wait to see what else you find.

Pretty psyched to get back into the real early stuff buddy. It's just a different feeling for me when I'm dipping into the 1600s. This stuff is on a different level for me. I believe you know exactly what I'm talking about

 

[Ahab8]

Wild to see so many 1600 relics.
Keep em coming

I truly hope I can get a few more out of the ground my friend.

 

[Ahab8]

Remarkable old finds Abe. Talk about exciting hunting. I can't imagine a better place for finding a major early colonial surprise. I dont have any of those old Jetons. That clear Chas II is quite a find.

I knew you'd like this post my man. Not sure why that jeton is so nice. Maybe being deep in the pit saved it. So fun to find 17th century stuff

 

[Ahab8]

DANG AHAB YOU DONE FINALLY FOUND THE RELICS FROM THE SHIP THAT THE WHITE WHALE TOOK TO ITS GRAVE. SEE THEY WASHED ASHORE , NICE FINDS..

Haha thanks Sut. I hope old Ahab had a few Mass silvers in his pocket

 

[Scrappy]

17th Century Pit yields 1600s Jetons and Charles ii Farthing,Marked Pipes and...

Pretty psyched to get back into the real early stuff buddy. It's just a different feeling for me when I'm dipping into the 1600s. This stuff is on a different level for me. I believe you know exactly what I'm talking about

Yes I do know, but I've never been into a pit by the likes of what you're digging. I've dug several 17th century sites, but have yet to find any pits (and I've been looking). You're very gifted in finding amazing sites and the goodies within those sites. Quite amazing really. I've seen you go, and I'm sure you're poised for another hammered Euro or early US silver

 

[Ahab8]

great digging, glad to see you out hitting it. The mystery piece looks a lot like fish vertebrae I find in my sifter at trash pits.

Thanks buddy. I'm pretty sure the mystery piece is like some sort of pottery or something

 

[Ahab8]

Looks like you had your lucky "spoon" up your butt that day man! Who goes out and finds a 17th century pit on the 2nd target?? And loaded with all kinds of goodies? I can tell you from experience that finding coins and tokens in an early pit is extremely unusual, but you certainly defied the odds. I love those huge, marked stems, and those maker's marks helped to precisely date the site. Wish I could have been there to see that big grin on your face as you were pulling out find after find. And I really appreciated the live update as you were in the midst of recovering those items. There should be more pits at that site, and it might take some painstaking grid probing to find them. Or you might get lucky and find another one on your first target next time. Great hunt and post, and good luck Abe ....

Bill my good man....unfortunately those latten spoons are too big to put in my butt but it certainly was an awesome day. I'm pretty psyched to dig out a killer pit finally. I've heard a lot about it but until you experience it you have no clue how fun it is. I hope I can find another soon. You'll be the first to know buddy.

 

[Ahab8]

FANTASTIC DIGS AHAB! Congratulations on some wonderful items.

Thanks Silvermonkey

 

[Ahab8]

Awesome finds Abe.I can imagine the excitement of finding those pipe pieces as they usually indicate that some interesting relics aren't far. Great to see you posting old stuff again. Keep them coming!

Thanks buddy. Hopefully this fall is a good one filled with early finds

 

[Ahab8]

Wow man... that is a nice spread. Love those pipe stems. The Jetons are very interesting as well and in pretty good shape for over 300 years in the ground! Thanks for sharing!

Yes sir this was a super fun dig. I love pipe stems so I was smiling the entire time. The jetons and the farthing were very unexpected. 1600s coins are a damn special find to me

 

[joeyfresh]

17th Century Pit yields 1600s Jetons and Charles ii Farthing,Marked Pipes and...

Ugh....5th time out detecting he finds a tree coin, first time out pit digging he hits a pit full of coins, jetons and awesome pipestems [emoji3]
I love it all Abe and I agree, we need more of these awesome posts with early finds. You've got my butt motivated to dig some pits! Speaking of butts, don't sell yourself short buddy, I'm sure the spoons would fit [emoji12]

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Those stems cleaned up fantastic man I couldn't be happier for you getting into a pit... and a pit that old at that. I can't believe the condition of those coins too man. Awesome job and cant wait to see the return trip.

 

[Ahab8]

Those are some really awesome finds!! I love the marked pipe stems, Jetton coin finds awesome! Congrats and HH

Super psyched with the stems. I only had a couple of very sad pieces prior to this day.

 

[Ahab8]

Great day sifting/digging!

Thanks buddy. Super fun indeed

 

[Ahab8]

Incredible work! You've got an awesome site. Keep it coming!

Hoping to get back this weekend if the weather and my schedule allows

 

[Ahab8]

Absolutely a fantastic hunt!

Thanks Professor. Awesome day I won't forget

 

[TheGreatNorth]

Yes sir this was a super fun dig. I love pipe stems so I was smiling the entire time. The jetons and the farthing were very unexpected. 1600s coins are a damn special find to me

The crazy thing.. I've never found a pipe stem.. my friend found an intact one by accident... I need to start sifting out some of my older sites. Good luck this fall! Can't wait to see what you post!

 

[Steve in PA]

Ton of fun Steve. Something I'd like to really get into at early sites. You ever done any pit digging?

Can't say that I have. Not that I wouldn't mind digging a hole for myself - I'm pretty good at that
Seriously, there has to be some pits on some of the sites I've hunted.

 

[Sooper Dave]

Excellent finds!