2014 In Review

[Guest 1551]

Well its time for my end of the year post. As i close out yet another exciting year back in the hobby, i'm just blown away at what i found. I found so many cool finds that its hard to know where to start! First off, i found a pocket watch that was made in NYC in 1924. I found my first civil war bullet this year. A .58 caliber Confederate Minnie ball. I know that it was fired by Confederates because the Union army was never on this side of the river near which it was found. Also, the Confederate army passed within 100 feet of where it was found while on their way to the Battle of Natural Bridge. The Battle of Natural Bridge was one of the only Civil War battles that took place here in Florida. My favorite find for 2014 was an 1830s Second Seminole War pistol barrel. I found it at a Second Seminole War fort here in North Florida. I'd wanted to find a pistol since i was only 5 years old when I first read about treasure hunting and pirates. The pistol barrel was truly a dream come true. Two WWI Great Seal buttons made an appearance this year. I had wanted to find one shortly after I got back into metal detecting a year and a half ago.
I also found a 1920s straight razor which was made in Germany.

I found a few nice bottles this year. First, a Tallahassee Florida Coca-Cola bottle from 1943 (yet another item i'd wanted to find for a while), a late-1800s medicine bottle and finally, i finished re-construction on an 1830s rum bottle, the pieces of which were recovered in my back yard over a couple years. My house was the site of a Second Seminole War camp so the bottle was broken back in the late-1830s.

This was also a phenomenal year for me in the sense of jewelry and coinshooting. I found my first Mercury dime this year (1939) and 3 wheat pennies. I also found my first silver rings this year. One of which was returned to the owner who even paid me $10! I found my first tungsten ring back in July while hunting at a water hole. My Dad had recently outgrown his gold wedding ring so he was planning to have it re-sized. Eventually he decided that he liked the tungsten ring so much (it fit him too!) that he paid me $20 for it. The year of 2014 yielded a record setting $26.28 in clad. (i'll probably find a little more before the year is up though)

I'll add pics of the mercury dime, silver rings and tungsten ring later.

Thanks for looking, liking, and commenting!

~Donneybrook

 

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[jackc]

awesome finds and thanks for sharing! much better year than I had!

 

[Guest 1551]

I found the flint knife while digging out an old railroad spike about a mile south of my house. its illegal to take native american artifacts from state-owned land, so this was an awesome find for me since it was on private property. the three iron knives were found at my house and are from the Second Seminole War. The two silver rings are my first precious metal rings that i've ever found. the little brass rod is actually a ramrod tip from a musket that i also recovered on my property. This year i also found my first old token ever: an Alabama Sales Tax Token which was made between 1930 and 1935. Also pictured is the 1939 Mercury dime that i found a couple weeks ago. (my first merc ever) The wheat penny pictured is from 1924 and currently holds the record for oldest wheat that i've found.

 

[Guest 1551]

the iron bar is actually a connecting rod from a 1800s locomotive. This locomotive was used to quickly transport Confederate troops to the Battle of Natural Bridge in 1865. Had they not gotten to the bridge in time, Union toops would have been able to cross the river and potentially capture Tallahassee. Since the Confederates were able to stop the Union advance at the Battle of Natural Bridge, Tallahassee earned the distinction of being the only Confederate capital east of the Mississippi that was not captured during the war. It's so cool to think that this very rod may have been used on the actual locomotive that played a pivotal role in Florida's Civil War history!

The little 1971 matchbox car i found at my grandparents' house. My Mom told me later that day that it used to be hers and was probably lost by one of her brothers!

The 5 bricks are all stamped by their maker (T. Anderson. and TA & Sons) they pre-date 1850!