Hunt yields Native American and colonial artifacts plus gold and a surprise encounter

[Bill D. (VA)]

My friend Reid and I were going to hit a local beach this morning but he had to back out due to a hand injury. So I figured I might as well give it a shot by myself since the salt water would probably be good for the 200+ seed tick bites I’ve been suffering with for the last 11 days. But after getting almost to the beach I realized I wasn’t sure if I had the permit I needed to hunt there so I stopped to check. Sure enough, I couldn’t find it, but since I was close to my colonial creek front site I figured I’d give it a shot since it had been almost a year since I last checked it. I spent about 90 min there and found plenty of the usual artifacts. I eyeballed another 75 pieces of Native American pottery as well as some 17[SUP]th[/SUP] and 18[SUP]th[/SUP] century colonial pottery and glass including some early tin-glazed earthenware pieces. I was also able to dig 4 tombac buttons and a piece from a colonial frame buckle. I also brought my new 250 lb magnet and tried pulling it across a small section of the beach that was loaded with iron which had produced some great finds in the past. I was very impressed with its ability to pick up both small and large iron, and I could only pull it a few feet before having to clean off all the “clingers”. That’s how I found the colonial buckle piece that had apparently been masked by the iron, so I definitely plan to go back and try that strategy more aggressively next time. When I returned to my truck I was looking in the tool box and surprisingly found my permit attached to another pouch. So I decided to make a quick run to the beach even though it was an hour past low tide. I hunted in up to chest-deep water for a couple of hours, and the targets were very few. But I did manage to save the day by digging a large but thin 14kt gold wedding band in ankle deep water. While I was hunting the wet sand I happened to have a chance encounter with NFL football great and hall-of-famer Bruce Smith who played college ball at my alma mater Virginia Tech who was walking the beach. I think my VT shirt and hat caught his eye. Bruce was one of the investors that started a new development at this beach a couple of years ago, and he may own a house there. So all and all it was a fun and productive day. I tried to put together a 10 min video of my creek front hunt, but it was quite herky-jerky from trying to film with one hand and detect with the other. Need a head mount for sure. But you can check it out anyway to at least get an idea of what this site is like. Here's the link to that followed by a pic of the creek finds and gold ring. Thanks for looking!

 

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[Nooberz]

Great finds Bill! The video was a good watch as well.

 

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[metalev4]

Nice post Bill! Great finds, the gold ring was a nice surprise. I cant believe you ran into Bruce Smith! That would have been the highlight for me. That Bills game was the most exciting sporting event I have ever seen in person. Talk to you soon.
-Evan

 

[joeyfresh]

Great video Bill! I've been learning that a lot of the salt glazed stoneware in our area was a product of the "Poor Potter" of Yorktown, William Rogers. Also, that's an amazing amount of Indian pottery. Do you have any idea why or do you think it was just a prime location? Glad to see you're getting out and meeting The Sack Man would have made my year!

 

[lab rat]

Wow! I could spend hours at a time for years on end in a spot like that (video)! Would be fun to see a whole bottle or indian pot come out. Thanks for sharing!