rhedden
Sr. Member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2003
- Messages
- 393
- Reaction score
- 845
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Eastern NY
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Manticore & Nokta Makro Simplex
Today, I visited a farmhouse cellar site that is nearby, but difficult to access. I have detected there about five times, but I've actually never managed to lay eyes on the cellar hole. It exists, because I can see it on Lidar, but there is an 8 ft. tall wall of multiflora rose around it (the really nasty briars) that I cannot penetrate from any angle, not even visually. What I can detect around is the barn foundation and the spring house cellar that is about 100 yards uphill from the barn. This site is a good Sherlock Holmes mystery, because it wasn't present on the 1850s county map, but it's there in 1861 and 1876, implying that I should be finding Indian cents and other late 1800s stuff. The first coin I found there in 2023 was a large cent 7 inches deep by the barn foundation, which was so toasted that I could not see any details whatsoever. I haven't found any late 1800s coins like Indians, and the relics seem to be older than expected.
Today's finds included a flat button dug right out of the wall of the spring house foundation, which the Manticore was able to separate from two large square nails that were underneath it and off to the side. I was impressed with the machine, even though it was a rusty brass button, not the Capped Bust quarter eagle I was expecting.
The nicest find by the spring house was a suspender clasp (or is it a lady's shoe buckle?) that I dug back in January, which was so caked with mud that I just left it on a rock to weather for a few months. I came back today to find it's gold plated and has a floral design on it! Nice. 1830s-40s? I think it fits in there due to similarity with floral buttons from that era. Walking down the hill toward the barn, a 69 to 70 signal turned out to be a second flat button at 5 inches deep, which rang up rather high for a button. A 22 signal was a possible bridle rosette made out of some sort of metal that looks like Tombac, but corroded much more than Tombac would.
As I was getting ready to leave, I decided to detect my way out of there (after 5 hours of hiking and swinging), rather than packing up first. It was a good decision. At the last possible second before I was ready to pack the detector, an 82 signal on the Manticore was an 1801 Draped Bust cent at only 3.5" deep. It was part way between the barn and the spring house. I'm very excited to find a Draped Bust cent with a readable date that isn't toasted.
If this site truly popped up around 1860, how am I only finding buttons, buckles, and coins that seem to be from a much earlier era? My current thinking is that the house was built in the late 1700s or early 1800s, but it was abandoned or burned down at some point prior to 1850. The land was reclaimed by someone else later on, probably for hay fields, grazing land, and apple trees, and their names appear on the later maps. It's just a theory at this point, but I like finding large cents instead of Indians, regardless! Will it be Spanish silver or a Seated coin next time perhaps?
Today's finds included a flat button dug right out of the wall of the spring house foundation, which the Manticore was able to separate from two large square nails that were underneath it and off to the side. I was impressed with the machine, even though it was a rusty brass button, not the Capped Bust quarter eagle I was expecting.
The nicest find by the spring house was a suspender clasp (or is it a lady's shoe buckle?) that I dug back in January, which was so caked with mud that I just left it on a rock to weather for a few months. I came back today to find it's gold plated and has a floral design on it! Nice. 1830s-40s? I think it fits in there due to similarity with floral buttons from that era. Walking down the hill toward the barn, a 69 to 70 signal turned out to be a second flat button at 5 inches deep, which rang up rather high for a button. A 22 signal was a possible bridle rosette made out of some sort of metal that looks like Tombac, but corroded much more than Tombac would.As I was getting ready to leave, I decided to detect my way out of there (after 5 hours of hiking and swinging), rather than packing up first. It was a good decision. At the last possible second before I was ready to pack the detector, an 82 signal on the Manticore was an 1801 Draped Bust cent at only 3.5" deep. It was part way between the barn and the spring house. I'm very excited to find a Draped Bust cent with a readable date that isn't toasted.
If this site truly popped up around 1860, how am I only finding buttons, buckles, and coins that seem to be from a much earlier era? My current thinking is that the house was built in the late 1700s or early 1800s, but it was abandoned or burned down at some point prior to 1850. The land was reclaimed by someone else later on, probably for hay fields, grazing land, and apple trees, and their names appear on the later maps. It's just a theory at this point, but I like finding large cents instead of Indians, regardless! Will it be Spanish silver or a Seated coin next time perhaps?
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