All-terrain colonial relic adventure

[DownNDirty]

Last Saturday I revisited my favorite colonial plantation site with the hopes of finding a few more goodies. I started the day detecting the main home site, which has been really hit hard over the years. The site is absolutely loaded with nails but good targets can be had if you go slowly and keep at it. After an hour or so the only find was an iron buckle so the plan wasn't going all that well. Shifting gears I opened up part of a trash pit that I had worked on over the winter; it had been very productive and I picked up where I left off. A good variety of 18th century pottery shards popped up in the sifter as well as a fair number of pipe stems and a lot of rose-headed square nails. I also sifted out a small iron buckle and dropped .69 caliber round ball.



Here are the two buckles; the smaller one turned up in the sifter.



One interesting shard was this partial mug handle that has a diamond shape stamped into it. No idea what the significance of this mark is-any ideas?



I also like this one-you can see the legs of a bird, probably a rooster or pheasant.



While I thoroughly enjoyed the consistent finds that the sifter produced, after about three hours in the heat I had enough and decided to relocate to the adjacent creek and cool off. On the previous trip to the site I was pretty sure I had figured out where the avenue to the main house had crossed the creek over a bridge, and I decided to test the theory while cooling off in the creek. After a few minutes I picked up a good 70's signal just below where the bridge would have been. The pinpointer led me right to the target, which was lying on the bottom. Much to my surprise I reached down and pulled up a complete 18th century stirrup! This is my first complete stirrup and a very old one at that.



Within a few feet of where I found the stirrup I recovered another .69 caliber round ball and a very large iron skeleton key. These finds confirmed the bridge location.



All in all it was a fun and productive day-a lot of work but well worth the effort. That site just keeps on producing-and I can't seem to stay away in spite of the 90 minute drive each way.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Very nice finds!

 

[100acre]

Very cool

 

[trapperart]

Nice assortment of finds congrats

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Excellent post Glenn You pulled some amazing iron and did a great job preserving it. That stirrup is just awesome... Sure looks like an old one. I have many half-stirrups and only two complete ones. They're definitely some of the best iron you can dig. The 90 min drive each way sounds like something I'd do. Haha. I'd be excited the whole way there while pondering what will turn up, then excited to get home and clean everything.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Very nice relic hunt, congratulations!

 

[Carolina Tom]

Very well done DND. That stirrup is killer!

 

[DownNDirty]

Excellent post Glenn You pulled some amazing iron and did a great job preserving it. That stirrup is just awesome... Sure looks like an old one. I have many half-stirrups and only two complete ones. They're definitely some of the best iron you can dig. The 90 min drive each way sounds like something I'd do. Haha. I'd be excited the whole way there while pondering what will turn up, then excited to get home and clean everything.

Thanks Brad. That site is pretty amazing and I have pulled so many really good, very old finds from there that the drive is not a consideration. The stirrup was an unexpected surprise especially in the creek, but I guess that makes sense with it being a few feet downstream of where the bridge would have been.

 

[Tommy G]

These are some really nice finds! I love the pottery shards. I've collected many over the years, but have never considered laying them all out together as a display. The stirrup is really cool! I am impressed with your thoroughness, using both sifter and metal detector. Well done!

 

[DownNDirty]

These are some really nice finds! I love the pottery shards. I've collected many over the years, but have never considered laying them all out together as a display. The stirrup is really cool! I am impressed with your thoroughness, using both sifter and metal detector. Well done!

Thanks Tommy! That site is so rich in quality relics that I would be remiss if I didn't search the creek. Many of my best finds have come from the creek as a matter of fact.

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

Killer hunt! The handle appears to be from a rheinish stoneware tankard, the diamond shaped mark is where the silver or pewter lid would affix if I'm not mistaken, functioning like a stein. I found a decently complete one around Charleston last month, here it is, yours likely would've looked similar! Love that stirrup too!

 

[DownNDirty]

Killer hunt! The handle appears to be from a rheinish stoneware tankard, the diamond shaped mark is where the silver or pewter lid would affix if I'm not mistaken, functioning like a stein. I found a decently complete one around Charleston last month, here it is, yours likely would've looked similar! Love that stirrup too!View attachment 1349187

Killer mug reconstruction Luke! Does yours have the same indention in the handle?

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

Killer mug reconstruction Luke! Does yours have the same indention in the handle?

Thanks! Mine has two actually, one appears to have been off center and the other is centered. I'll check to see if I have a picture, I'm currently at college and don't have the tankard here

 

[Pacivilwarluke]

found one! You can see the hole here

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Killer hunt! The handle appears to be from a rheinish stoneware tankard, the diamond shaped mark is where the silver or pewter lid would affix if I'm not mistaken, functioning like a stein. I found a decently complete one around Charleston last month, here it is, yours likely would've looked similar! Love that stirrup too!View attachment 1349187

You are correct Luke .....