Hit this Site in the Nick-of-Time, 4 LC's and Best Buckle to Date

[paleomaxx]

I left work a little early yesterday to hunt and had absolutely no idea it would be snowing today; in retrospect that was perfect timing. The site has been completely overgrown all summer, but has been extremely nice looking. Now that the weeds have finally died I only have the hardier brambles to contend with. This hunt was mostly just to scope it out since a real search would require some actual clearing, but from what I found that might be worth it.



The cellar hole is completely covered in fallen trees so you can’t swing anywhere near it, but all of this was found in the orchard in front of the house. It’s cool because the progeny of the original apple and cherry trees are still all around and the ground is only six inches deep before bedrock so digging is super easy.

The large cents are varying degrees of toasted. The 1817 one is in the best shape followed by an 1834. There's what looks like 1816, but very hard to see and another with no markings left. The two cent piece was in the path in front of the house so may be unrelated and dropped by someone walking past years later. There were a few brass flats including that cool star button. The best find by far is the buckle though. The shovel didn't even touch it so there's no nicks to the patina and some of the iron even survived. Based on the fork am I right in thinking colonial?

Despite wrecking the LCs, the ground here is actually very gentle on iron relics. I've found tons of intact farm tools including two axe heads, a sickle blade, plow blade, saw blade, chisels, a garden hoe, and some odd pieces of chain. If people want I can get photos of those together too. Not sure how easy it is to date equipment like that, but they're cool nonetheless. Makes me wonder why a farmer would leave all this behind though...

 

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[Appalachianman76]

Great finds! Looks like a good sight to go back to. Hopefully you will be able to clear that cellar hole.

 

[Goldcoindigger]

Great finds
I just bought a fisher 2. I am just getting into metal detecting. I found a old golf course near by
That is not in use. It was first established in 1894. I started finding coins on the back nine Dating
back to 1951. I thought I could find older one where the club house was. My metal detector was all
Over the map. After a half an hour of useless hunting I realized there was a cell tower nearby. Does
A cell tower at fact the metal detector? The oldest part of the golf courses on huntable It seams.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Awesome hunt paleomaxx! The buckle is a shoe buckle and the fork is the tongue that would stick through the shoe strap. There is even a bit of the chape left on the other side of the tongue. Really like the design on the frame too. Excellent buckle man, and yeah, it's colonial or rather late 1700's most likely. Good looking coppers too. Definitely worth clearing the brush from that site.

 

[Eternity79au]

Really like to see photos of the farm tools if it's not too much trouble. Love the old farm tools! Great finds by the way.


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[paleomaxx]

Definitely, I'll get photos of the tools up tomorrow! I never see them up on the forum so didn't know if people here found them so often that they couldn't stand seeing yet another plow blade/garden hoe that rang as silver

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[Ahab8]

First off great finds my friend! That shoe buckle is very nice. Now for those trees....move those suckers and clean up my friend. I have literally spent 4 hours on a site just moving stuff around and clearing out the site. I can't begin to tell you how much great stuff is hidden under there. I personally can't tell you how much it would bother me to leave that stuff behind. On my last hunt I moved a tree and there was a complete shoe buckle under it. One time I shovels sections of snow off a site and found a bunch of marked 1812 buttons. The harder you work the more you will be rewarded.
Now for the iron. Post it up man. I had Brad (OutdoorAdv) do electrolysis on some of mine and it turned out amazing. Those old iron took will display beautifully and you'll be psyched to have that stuff....I promise. Looking forward to your future posts. This was a great one

 

[romeo-1]

Very nice buckle!! Those 2 cent pieces tend to hold up well...congrsts!

 

[Ahab8]

Paler here's a couple of early pieces or iron after electrolysis and wax

 

[JeffInMass]

For a scope-it-out hunt, you kicked major butt! Congrats on the great finds!!

-- Jeff --

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

Return asap , a few more searches should promise exciting results .

 

[trapperart]

Congrats on some very nice finds good luck looks like a good site

 

[paleomaxx]

Get ready for the iron!



So this is just what I hauled out; there's a pile with about 40lbs more still there. The object in the 2nd and third photos is a mystery to me. It almost looks like a horseshoe, but there's a brass plate sandwiched between the top and bottom iron and it's delicately made for an iron piece. The large ring and chain piece is also something I don't recognize so definitely chime in if you've seen it before!

The big axe head is in such good condition that I could probably put it on a handle and start using it! The saw blade is a first for me and it looks like it was mounted not by the center, but by little holes through the ring.

I'll probably start bringing the pile back bit by bit, but there are some great wrought iron hinges with the forged nails still in them and the plow blade. I'm also going to get some photos of the foundation for you guys to see what my winter project will be.

 

[DigIron2]

Darn nice 2 cent piece man..The buckle is killer....I would say clearing would be worth it imo looking at those finds nice stuff man..

 

[Eternity79au]

Well those of us not fortunate enough to live in your beautiful country are a little green around the gills. Lol. We don't have a lot of history in Oz.


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[Eternity79au]

I have to smile when the Aboriginal folk start blowing off that they've been here for 40:000 years. We have mountains full of iron in WA and yet after all that time there is not one artefact! NOY ONE! Hmm Probably not a good idea to brag about how long one has been around!! The Chinese have made iron tools for how long? Hmmm!


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[Scrappy]

Great buckle and coppers. Also the buttons are spot on with date range of those coins. Great site. On another note, we just had our first snow today. Yikes!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Fantastic hunt! A little of everything that we all like to find; I love the buckle!