paleomaxx
Hero Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2016
- Messages
- 841
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- 6,888
- Golden Thread
- 6
- Location
- Upstate, NY
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 6
- Detector(s) used
- Deus XP
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
This past weekend I was visiting family in New Hampshire so I wasn't expecting much detecting time. However a few of the relatives had seen what I'd found here in New York, heard the stories, and wanted to see me in action. Works for me! I found a couple spots on the old maps that were back in the woods nearby and truthfully I wasn't expecting much since for all I knew they'd be hammered by the local detectorists for years, but if I found a few buttons that'd be enough to prove I wasn't full of it. 
We got to the site (two cellar holes about 500 feet apart) and to my shock I didn't see any sign of detecting. No iron on rocks or disturbed ground. I thought maybe they just packed everything out, but almost immediately I started getting obvious shallow signals and was pulling out big iron left and right. This was fantastic for my "entourage" since I was digging out a target every few steps (although usually sheet iron.) Finally I got a non-ferrous tone and pulled out an ox knob, and then soon after an absolutely beautiful bridle rosette with a pewter back:
After explaining what they were I worked my way to the front of the house and got a nice low 90's tone and an accompanying green disc:
A Connecticut copper! The soil there was very sandy so there wasn't much ground damage, but it was worn almost smooth by the time it was lost so not a lot of detail to work with. It wasn't until I got back home that I started looking up what die variety. There's almost nothing left of the obverse, but fortunately on the reverse the sprig in Liberty's hand is pretty well preserved and as it turns out quite distinct.
I'm still not 100% on this, but after exhaustively comparing all of the 1786 die varieties the closest I've seen is the Miller 5.2-H.1:
If I'm right (and I know it's a longshot,) this is an R-6+ that has 10-12 known to exist! I really wish it were in better shape to get more details. My biggest issue is that the patina is unstable. Right now I have it in soil from where it was dug, but eventually I'm going to have to figure out how to permanently keep the patina intact or it'll all flake off. Does renaissance wax help with that, or am I better off with a coating of glue?
While the CT copper wasn't much to look at in the field, the next coin was much more impressive. Right along the side of the cellar I got a shallow 80's tone and out popped this beauty:
1808 Spanish 1/2 real. Been awhile since I've had one of those in the hole and talk about a good conversation piece. Over the course 2 hours I had quite the pile of relics:
Surprisingly few buttons, but a bunch of nice iron including an absolutely huge piece of a cast iron pot. I only had a short time before we had to be back so we stopped by the smaller cellar hole just to do a quick sweep. Well that was the idea anyways. After I found the best relic of the day, there was no way we could just walk out of there.
An 18th century brass pistol trigger guard! Right out of the ground I knew what it was and they got to see one of my best relics for the year right as it was pulled out of the plug. Talk about perfect! It even has a hand engraved design on the bottom:
I was hoping there would be more pieces of the gun nearby and I think I did find one:
I've never seen one before but I suspect it's a small plate that went on the handle of the gun, maybe in place of a butt-cap. I'm not completely sure though. We really did need to be back by lunch so I did two or three loops around the cellar and then packed it in. Plenty more turned up in those sweeps though:
Talk about an amazing hunt, and I'm so glad they were along to see it. They had a great time and it sounds like this will be an ongoing tradition since they made me promise to take them out on hunts whenever I'm there. I'll have to bring my spare detectors and shovels for them too.
We got to the site (two cellar holes about 500 feet apart) and to my shock I didn't see any sign of detecting. No iron on rocks or disturbed ground. I thought maybe they just packed everything out, but almost immediately I started getting obvious shallow signals and was pulling out big iron left and right. This was fantastic for my "entourage" since I was digging out a target every few steps (although usually sheet iron.) Finally I got a non-ferrous tone and pulled out an ox knob, and then soon after an absolutely beautiful bridle rosette with a pewter back:
After explaining what they were I worked my way to the front of the house and got a nice low 90's tone and an accompanying green disc:
A Connecticut copper! The soil there was very sandy so there wasn't much ground damage, but it was worn almost smooth by the time it was lost so not a lot of detail to work with. It wasn't until I got back home that I started looking up what die variety. There's almost nothing left of the obverse, but fortunately on the reverse the sprig in Liberty's hand is pretty well preserved and as it turns out quite distinct.
I'm still not 100% on this, but after exhaustively comparing all of the 1786 die varieties the closest I've seen is the Miller 5.2-H.1:
If I'm right (and I know it's a longshot,) this is an R-6+ that has 10-12 known to exist! I really wish it were in better shape to get more details. My biggest issue is that the patina is unstable. Right now I have it in soil from where it was dug, but eventually I'm going to have to figure out how to permanently keep the patina intact or it'll all flake off. Does renaissance wax help with that, or am I better off with a coating of glue?
While the CT copper wasn't much to look at in the field, the next coin was much more impressive. Right along the side of the cellar I got a shallow 80's tone and out popped this beauty:
1808 Spanish 1/2 real. Been awhile since I've had one of those in the hole and talk about a good conversation piece. Over the course 2 hours I had quite the pile of relics:
Surprisingly few buttons, but a bunch of nice iron including an absolutely huge piece of a cast iron pot. I only had a short time before we had to be back so we stopped by the smaller cellar hole just to do a quick sweep. Well that was the idea anyways. After I found the best relic of the day, there was no way we could just walk out of there.
An 18th century brass pistol trigger guard! Right out of the ground I knew what it was and they got to see one of my best relics for the year right as it was pulled out of the plug. Talk about perfect! It even has a hand engraved design on the bottom:
I was hoping there would be more pieces of the gun nearby and I think I did find one:
I've never seen one before but I suspect it's a small plate that went on the handle of the gun, maybe in place of a butt-cap. I'm not completely sure though. We really did need to be back by lunch so I did two or three loops around the cellar and then packed it in. Plenty more turned up in those sweeps though:
Talk about an amazing hunt, and I'm so glad they were along to see it. They had a great time and it sounds like this will be an ongoing tradition since they made me promise to take them out on hunts whenever I'm there. I'll have to bring my spare detectors and shovels for them too.
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