Tommybuckets
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2015
- Messages
- 1,056
- Reaction score
- 1,894
- Golden Thread
- 1
- Location
- Bodymore, Metalland
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 1
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excal, Safari, Garrett infinium, Whites prizm 4
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Smokey and I headed back to our amazing colonial site that has been producing some extraordinary finds.
The plan was simple; expand the edge of our hole that produced amazing hammered coins and relics last dig, as we suspected there was more we just didn't have the time to retrieve previously.
We dug down about 20 inches and spread the dirt about 12 inches thick on the edge of the hole. As we worked the dirt we had taken out of the hole it became apparent that our guess was the best possible one as to which way to dig!
The first signal was a screamer and out came the first of many great finds, an 18th century buckle. It is amazing and disconcerting that our state of the art detectors can't pick these items out at depth but the sad truth is they are too deep with too much iron in the ground with them. Then we eyeballed another buckle that had fallen loose and was in great shape as it was below the reach of the plow. All together four and a half buckles or buckle parts came out of the hole this day!
Since I was below ground level at this point, I took the job of actually Locating the items in the wet dirt. I fanned through the loose dirt with my fingers and we spotted it: that black and white shine of old silver. It sent a little shiver down the spine as my brain realized its not a button or trash but in fact the treasure we were seeking. I saw the globe and pillars of an older half reale then saw the date 1748 and I was in awe. I passed the coin up to put in the bucket and she was fairly flabbergasted which is rare for her. "Keep going there's got to be more! "
I prepared myself that the next signal probably wouldn't be as amazing but secretly yearned that we would hit it big. I scrabbled through the dirt and there was Charles the 3rd and his big nose on a 1773 half reale grinning up at me. I just started laughing and couldn't stop.
I started cutting the wall back further and out drops another silver looking round (and hopefully a) coin. It was a smaller nose Charles the 4th 1798 1 reale. We were ecstatic! In a good year, I find maybe one Spanish silver and here we are with three in five minutes! All at once I want to dig as rapidly as possible. Smokey says to take it really slowly and not damage anything. Smokey's standing above the hole sweeping the edge of the cut. " Keep going this way." Today this was MY hole but I wasn't minding a bit of guidance!
I gently scooped out another piece of the sidewall and there's bright shiny silver in the lip! Big silver, the stuff I had only dreamed about until that day. I snapped a picture and got some video of me puling it out. Its a Charles 3rd 1779 2 reale ! The next few signals were nails and buttons and we start seeing some black colonial glass. I start carefully probing and pulling out pottery shards of beautiful blue grey Westerwald pottery exported from Germany in the first half of the 18th century, hand painted red ware and pipe stems were emerging with the shells.
It felt like minutes but I know two hours went by like nothing with the excitement and endorphins we had going. I scanned the bottom and sides of the hole with the Equinox and it was a caucophony of iron and mid range targets that were too often colonial buckshot and lead bits. The high sounds kept turning out to be big square nails. The Equinox loves the nails, and didn't pick out mid or high range targets in the sidewall. My mind scrambled which way to dig. Down, sideways try another hole? The rain had started as a trickle and had become a full on cold hard rain. I looked at Smokey as she checked the hole with the Deus and she shook her head. The Deus was not fooled by the iron and no more targets, iron or otherwise were being found in the new 8' long sections of sidewall. All the good targets seemed to be out of the hole. I hated filling it in since I didn't get a cob and I know that's where I am going to find one but there's only so much one can do in a day. We huffed and puffed and got it back as nice as we could in the rain. It was now really sticking to the shovel, but we made it look great and then started sweeping the same ground we've been over so many times. We just couldn't dig the other pit she had pointed out to me, it would have been too wet and cold to not be moving around more. So we started detecting.
I was surprised when another buckle came out right beside our hole! It rang up "23" at a foot down and was fairly repeatable despite laying on a bed of iron.
Outside of the hole, one of the larger choice targets was a complete colonial hoe! That's the second one from this site. The other was found a few weeks ago and about 20' away. We detected about 1 more hour. At one point Smokey says to come check this out. A silvered button lying on top of the ground. Smokey did pretty well outside of the hole and I got 4 Reales and four and a half buckles.
The rain finally soaked us through and we headed back to the car to oggle our bounty. I had never heard of someone getting four reales in one day let alone one hole and that person was ME! I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I was awake but if it was a dream I didn't want it to end. I wish we could get in there with a back hoe and really get to the bottom of things lol. I feel like we left many mysteries unsolved and many signals unexplored. The good news is that this is the first cooking area/ trash pit we excavated at this site and we have indications where there are more. There's still plenty of turf we haven't swung over yet and the ground we've covered is still giving up artifacts so I think we are in good shape as long as the permission holds. I think Smokey and I will have a lot to post from this site in the month(s) ahead until they plant it again. Thanks for looking and enjoy!
It was a blast, even though it rained, and working together with another detectorist is always a good bet
The plan was simple; expand the edge of our hole that produced amazing hammered coins and relics last dig, as we suspected there was more we just didn't have the time to retrieve previously.
We dug down about 20 inches and spread the dirt about 12 inches thick on the edge of the hole. As we worked the dirt we had taken out of the hole it became apparent that our guess was the best possible one as to which way to dig!
The first signal was a screamer and out came the first of many great finds, an 18th century buckle. It is amazing and disconcerting that our state of the art detectors can't pick these items out at depth but the sad truth is they are too deep with too much iron in the ground with them. Then we eyeballed another buckle that had fallen loose and was in great shape as it was below the reach of the plow. All together four and a half buckles or buckle parts came out of the hole this day!
Since I was below ground level at this point, I took the job of actually Locating the items in the wet dirt. I fanned through the loose dirt with my fingers and we spotted it: that black and white shine of old silver. It sent a little shiver down the spine as my brain realized its not a button or trash but in fact the treasure we were seeking. I saw the globe and pillars of an older half reale then saw the date 1748 and I was in awe. I passed the coin up to put in the bucket and she was fairly flabbergasted which is rare for her. "Keep going there's got to be more! "
I prepared myself that the next signal probably wouldn't be as amazing but secretly yearned that we would hit it big. I scrabbled through the dirt and there was Charles the 3rd and his big nose on a 1773 half reale grinning up at me. I just started laughing and couldn't stop.
I started cutting the wall back further and out drops another silver looking round (and hopefully a) coin. It was a smaller nose Charles the 4th 1798 1 reale. We were ecstatic! In a good year, I find maybe one Spanish silver and here we are with three in five minutes! All at once I want to dig as rapidly as possible. Smokey says to take it really slowly and not damage anything. Smokey's standing above the hole sweeping the edge of the cut. " Keep going this way." Today this was MY hole but I wasn't minding a bit of guidance!
I gently scooped out another piece of the sidewall and there's bright shiny silver in the lip! Big silver, the stuff I had only dreamed about until that day. I snapped a picture and got some video of me puling it out. Its a Charles 3rd 1779 2 reale ! The next few signals were nails and buttons and we start seeing some black colonial glass. I start carefully probing and pulling out pottery shards of beautiful blue grey Westerwald pottery exported from Germany in the first half of the 18th century, hand painted red ware and pipe stems were emerging with the shells.
It felt like minutes but I know two hours went by like nothing with the excitement and endorphins we had going. I scanned the bottom and sides of the hole with the Equinox and it was a caucophony of iron and mid range targets that were too often colonial buckshot and lead bits. The high sounds kept turning out to be big square nails. The Equinox loves the nails, and didn't pick out mid or high range targets in the sidewall. My mind scrambled which way to dig. Down, sideways try another hole? The rain had started as a trickle and had become a full on cold hard rain. I looked at Smokey as she checked the hole with the Deus and she shook her head. The Deus was not fooled by the iron and no more targets, iron or otherwise were being found in the new 8' long sections of sidewall. All the good targets seemed to be out of the hole. I hated filling it in since I didn't get a cob and I know that's where I am going to find one but there's only so much one can do in a day. We huffed and puffed and got it back as nice as we could in the rain. It was now really sticking to the shovel, but we made it look great and then started sweeping the same ground we've been over so many times. We just couldn't dig the other pit she had pointed out to me, it would have been too wet and cold to not be moving around more. So we started detecting.
I was surprised when another buckle came out right beside our hole! It rang up "23" at a foot down and was fairly repeatable despite laying on a bed of iron.
Outside of the hole, one of the larger choice targets was a complete colonial hoe! That's the second one from this site. The other was found a few weeks ago and about 20' away. We detected about 1 more hour. At one point Smokey says to come check this out. A silvered button lying on top of the ground. Smokey did pretty well outside of the hole and I got 4 Reales and four and a half buckles.
The rain finally soaked us through and we headed back to the car to oggle our bounty. I had never heard of someone getting four reales in one day let alone one hole and that person was ME! I wanted to pinch myself to make sure I was awake but if it was a dream I didn't want it to end. I wish we could get in there with a back hoe and really get to the bottom of things lol. I feel like we left many mysteries unsolved and many signals unexplored. The good news is that this is the first cooking area/ trash pit we excavated at this site and we have indications where there are more. There's still plenty of turf we haven't swung over yet and the ground we've covered is still giving up artifacts so I think we are in good shape as long as the permission holds. I think Smokey and I will have a lot to post from this site in the month(s) ahead until they plant it again. Thanks for looking and enjoy!
It was a blast, even though it rained, and working together with another detectorist is always a good bet
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