Colonial and Civil War On One Site

[462]

Went to a friends property near Middletown Maryland yesterday that my buddy and I have hunted several times and it continues to produce some good finds. After hunting his property for a couple hours we decided to check out his neighbors property that we had also received permission to hunt. Our friends house was built in 1815 and his neighbors house is believed to be 100 years older, so we were hoping for some good finds and were not disappointed. At our friends house i only managed to find a tombac flat button, a tiny buckle, a 1954 wheat cent and what I think is a leaf shaped earring and my buddy found and 1812 large cent. At his neighbors my first find was a 1864 fatty Indian Head and the second find was a 1906 IH. As I made my way around what was originally the from of the house I found a .69 caliber musket ball and then the find of the day a 1773 Virginia Half Penny with a piece of a clay pipe in the same hole. The next target I dug was the end plate from a Civil War Cavalry soldiers carbine sling which could be considered by some to be an even better find. Next I found a .58 three ring Minie Bullet. I also found some interesting buttons including one with a deer on it. The let down of the day is that the property owner would like to keep most of the items found, especially Civil War related and Colonial era finds. I knew this was possibility going in but it's still tough to take when you have first finds like the Fatty IH and the Virginia Half Penny.

 

[USN Retired]

Nice finds.

 

[Evolution]

Nice finds and a great example of the difference in metal composition in the copper/nickel version IHs (fatties.. 1859-1864) as compared to the bronze ones. (halfway through 1864-1909).

 

[digging440yrs]

Thats a fine day out !!!

 

[G.A.P.metal]

462
You had a very good hunt, love to see the history pop out of the ground,that Va. half penny has a lot of detail .
Gary

 

[pepperj]

Liking the Va copper, a very nice find.

 

[Gaspipe]

Give the landowner the bullet . Unless I were donating to a historical society or museum I'd keep my finds. That landowner stuff is BS. You give him the halfpenny it'll end up in a drawer.

 

[metalev4]

Congrats on your first half penny. The bat wing is a cool find as we'll.

 

[parsonwalker]

It would be HARD to give up that batwing. I set up an agreement BEFORE we hunt. (If the landowner "might" want to keep some finds) best deal is like this: BEFORE you hunt, agree that you'll flip for first "picks" (Or if the landowner demands first picks, so be it). Lay ALL your stuff out at the end of the day. Whoever goes first gets his choice. Whoever goes SECOND, gets TWO (because the best thing is already gone). Then it goes back to the other person, each getting only one thing at a time, until it's gone. Sometimes, a landowner might pick something for personal reasons that should really be a 3rd or 4th round draft pick. Just a suggestion for NEXT time. Nice finds!

 

[CASPER-2]

VERY NICE - WTG!

 

[cjon455]

very nice finds, I like that Virginia half penny!, all around great hunt!

 

[462]

Thanks for all the comments everybody.

As I said before it's tough to give up some of these finds but it helps to know that the property owners really appreciate the history behind each and every item I found. I know that these items will not be put in a drawer and forgotten about, they will be displayed as part of the history of the property.

I've only been metal detecting for about two years now but I have discovered that it's not always about finding treasure, it's also about preserving history and sometimes the right place for that history is not in my collection.

Doug