I got the OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

BuckleBoy

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Location
Moonlight and Magnolias
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4
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Detector(s) used
Fisher F75, Whites DualField PI, Fisher 1266-X and Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello All,

I decided that I would go digging from dawn till dusk yesterday, and I would bring home some keepers. Fate wanted me to work pretty hard to make some finds, though. First site I went to had been hit before--which almost Never happens in the area I hunt. The whole site had been picked clean, except for a School Ticket token for the Louisville Railway and a single, small caliber musketball. So after three hours, I went to site #2. This one had the makings of a great spot, and I felt sure that I could find a keeper there--but after a few hours, the grim realization hit--that this place had been hunted too! My little transportation token was snuggled up with a whole pocketfull of shotgun shells at that point! :-[

So I dug into the cellarhole a bit, looking for an unbroken bottle or some decent glass finds. There was a good bit of glass scattered about, so I figured I had a chance. Well, there wasn't anything whole in the mix for me--but I did pick up all the pieces to a pretty crock. This one won't be worth anything, but it will be a neat project for the coming days...

pottery1.webp

So at that point it was 2:30pm, and I'd been out since 7am. Pretty near exhausted, but I called DiggerGirl and she wanted to hit another spot with me. So she drove out and we met up for my last chance at some goodies. I got permission and got out on the site:

site.webp

I started swinging away, and DG started digging for bottles in a trash pit. I decided to delve into an iron patch so thick that the Devil Himself wouldn't have touched it with a detector. I figured, might as well give myself a whipping as well as a skunking. :D So... 25 lbs. of iron later, I got a pleasant little "chirp" that had been masked by some of the big pieces of junk iron scattered everywhere. I flipped over one more shovelfull of dirt, and I saw a flash of silver in the hole. "It's a little tombac cuff button" I told myself. But this was no button. :o

HD in dirt1.webp

It was a Seated Liberty Half Dime!

Hd in hand1.webp

I called DG over and we rejoiced that my slump was finally over. :) But, fate had a few more BIG surprises in store. (I guess I've been "saving up" the good fortune for six or seven hunts now.)

I kept attacking the iron patch, cussing and swearing at the pieces I was pulling out that were the size of my arms, my head, and even one piece the size of my torso! Danged farmers must've tossed the Farm Junk at the old, abandoned, fallen-down house back in the twenties. >:( But I was digging into good looking layers during my Iron Removal--brick, pottery, and glass--so I knew that there must be more goodies in there. DG and I both found some flat buttons, and she got a fantastic dragonfly pin (it's actually a woman with dragonfly wings):

Pin1.webp

Next it was my turn with the jewelry items. I got a beautiful brooch with a dark red stone in the center:

Brooch.webp

Then I got a GREAT signal (I wish I'd had it on video--but my first instinct was to dig the sucker up, that's how GREAT it was!) So I cut a chunk of sod and a Large Copper rolled out!

1846 LC in dirt.webp

1846 LC in hand1.webp

At this point I was quite pleased. Glowing! :icon_sunny:

I kept on pulling the big iron out of the site. (I was up to almost 75 lbs of iron!) While I was digging another chunk of junk out, something caught my eye. Did I imagine it? I tossed the iron piece into the ever-growing pile and grabbed up my detector again. And my trusty Fisher hit--HARD over the dig hole! I thought I had imagined a second large copper revealed, then covered again in dirt. So I said a little prayer and grabbed a handful... Most certainly, it was a Second Large Cent!

1826 LC in hand.webp


At that point, I didn't mind that it was after 5pm and I'd been digging since 7am that morning. I also didn't mind that I had dug 75 lbs of iron out of the ground in two hours' time. (Although I am one SORE guy today!) We kept hitting the site, pulling up a few more trinkets. I found a porcelain marble in a dig hole while unearthing a parasol clip. DiggerGirl got what I consider a great find--a set of lead knuckles which looks like it had been partially "recycled" years ago (cut up to melt and cast into bullets). What an awesome find! I've never found anything like it, but I have seen such items online before. :thumbsup:

I also got a wheaty. They're kinda curious when I find 'em--because I don't find many. (They're almost always farmer drops.) But here it is, peeking up at me through the plug:

wheaty1.webp

Cleaned finds photos appear in the next reply! :o
 

Upvote 0
Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the LEAD KNUCKLES

redlined said:
Way to go! :thumbsup: I knew that you'd come out of your slump in a big way. Makes my great finds of a Zippo lighter and lantern piece look silly. Love your Irish pride(maybe that contributed to your good luck ;D) I hope your heading out today, the weather is gorgeous. I'm guessing you are, good luck buddy..........

Finds never look silly to me--no matter what they are. I can't get out today--lots of work to catch up on--but hopefully this weekend I'll make another trip out.

Thanks for the kind words, my friend. :)


-Buckles
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

No pain no glory someone once said. It's worth it in my book.

Thanks for the great story.

HH
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

Buck looks like the slump is behind you now. I went out yesterday with a first time hunter-loaned him a machine and got skunked.
His first time out first coin ever dug and gets an 1842 large cent at 2" deep that looked like it had not been in the ground a year :icon_scratch: I've yet to dig an american large cent. Got several Canadian Largies does that Count?
Good news is he knows alot of folks around these parts and got me permission to hunt 3 more old sites. ;D

P.S. By the way I was running a close second on big iron dug yesterday LOL I'm so sore :crybaby2: :
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

That Fairy is so cool.


Keep @ it and HH!!!
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the LEAD KNUCKLES

Michigan Badger said:
Buckles O'Malley???

You crack me up! ;D

And my regular crack is pretty big as it is. :thumbsup:

Oh ya, nice clad ;D

Bad-Ger

Yep. Clad total for 2009 so far: 3 Clad. Now THAT's a NICE total! ;D

I have now disrobed my Irishness. :wink:


Carry on.


-Buckles
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

Congrats on that Halfer and the pair of Larges. That is a sweet reward for an excruciating day!
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

WTG Congrats on the Half dime and the big coppers !!!! Cool finds :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

Buckleboy, Another great hunt for you and diggergirl, Alway's look forward to your post :thumbsup:
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

Some nice finds there! Hopefully I will find the time for a full day hunt. Workin 10 hours a day just to keep my head above water. w/o the o/t pay I must say. Keep up the posts!
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

Seateds and two Largies are awesome enough,but lead knuckles even fragments are super!!!That is something on my list,a couple of freinds have dug them but I am waiting....probably going to be a long long time they are rare,Way to go you two!!! :thumbsup:
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

Those are some really nice finds guys.

Your really on a roll man with all the research and permission getting. Your finding the best type of things you can find basically in the US or for your parts of the country. You seem to have a nice bit of history around you.

Looks like you and the crew are gonna be pulling up some nice items again this yr. Good luck out there.

HH Jer
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

DD-777 said:
Outstanding day for the both of you Buck! Great finds all around - definitely worth all the iron pulled. Looking forward to seeing what you can make out of the pottery my friend... :thumbsup:

Hey, thanks for the kind words, my friend. I'm looking forward to seeing what the reconstructed jar looks like too. It appears that I may be missing a small section of one side--so I'll likely return to the site and do a bit more poking around to see if I can find the missing piece. But even incomplete, these pieces are quite beautiful to me. It seems that the stoneware jugs and jars were tossed out because they were already broken or in some way unusable--so it is unusual to find all of the pieces of one. I have a few others that are incomplete, yet mostly there, which I may post some point.

They aren't expensive to reconstruct, since they only need a little Elmer's glue. (Most underrated glue on the planet, I think! It holds those Heavy pieces together like a champ. :) ) I try to only glue one or two pieces a night, so that the glue has time to set.

john37115 said:
Buck looks like the slump is behind you now. I went out yesterday with a first time hunter-loaned him a machine and got skunked.
His first time out first coin ever dug and gets an 1842 large cent at 2" deep that looked like it had not been in the ground a year :icon_scratch: I've yet to dig an american large cent. Got several Canadian Largies does that Count?
Good news is he knows alot of folks around these parts and got me permission to hunt 3 more old sites. ;D

P.S. By the way I was running a close second on big iron dug yesterday LOL I'm so sore :crybaby2: :

I think two Canadian LC's counts for one American LC. :coffee2:

But in all seriousness, if you're at sites where you're watching the American LC's come up--then don't focus as much on Who is digging them. The fact that you're hunting sites where they are found means that it is only a matter of time until you have your collection.


:)

halfdime said:
Congrats on that Halfer and the pair of Larges. That is a sweet reward for an excruciating day!

Ya, I'm glad that there was a reward for the effort. Many times, there isn't--and we must keep doing what we do, having faith in our methods, our research, and our abilities, until the payday comes. :)

t-bucket said:
WTG Congrats on the Half dime and the big coppers !!!! Cool finds :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Good to hear from you, t-bucket. Keep up the good diggin.

tcooper1 said:
Buckleboy, Another great hunt for you and diggergirl, Alway's look forward to your post :thumbsup:

That girl has got some Sexy knuckles. :wink: I covet them secretly. I told her we'd try to get her a LC this year, but with a silver dollar and a beautiful barber quarter to her credit this year, Silver finds for 2009 already have "Diggergirl" written all over them.

mcinmich said:
Some nice finds there! Hopefully I will find the time for a full day hunt. Workin 10 hours a day just to keep my head above water. w/o the o/t pay I must say. Keep up the posts!

I know times are bad, but it sounds like you deserve a day off for a nice long detecting trip. Heck, even if you can manage a couple hours out this spring at a time--don't think about work for those hours. Just focus on enjoying the time you have.


Best Wishes,


Buckles
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

kuger said:
Seateds and two Largies are awesome enough,but lead knuckles even fragments are super!!!That is something on my list,a couple of freinds have dug them but I am waiting....probably going to be a long long time they are rare,Way to go you two!!! :thumbsup:


The lady always pulls out the good stuff. I thought about offering a trade. :) I agree that the knuckles are a rarity to find. LC's and Seated coins can generally be scrounged up sooner or later, but the lead knuckles hard to get the coil over.


Best Wishes,


Buckleboy
 

Looks like a great spot to swing, glad the results were so outstanding! Sure cannot be unhappy with half dime, two Large Cents, old jewelry, relics, buttons and of course your favorite , all that IRON.

Glad the day ended so sweet for you.

Don
 

Glad to see your out of your old coin slump BB!! I enjoy seeing your pics of coins in the dirt cause i sure haven't been diggin any lately and i miss seeing those old greenies and silver poking out of the dirt :-\ Good job on that Dragonfly pin DG!!!
Jerry
 

Re: I got the Great OLD COINS and she got the KNUCKLES

JerDfx said:
Those are some really nice finds guys.

Your really on a roll man with all the research and permission getting. Your finding the best type of things you can find basically in the US or for your parts of the country. You seem to have a nice bit of history around you.

Looks like you and the crew are gonna be pulling up some nice items again this yr. Good luck out there.

HH Jer

Thanks for the kind words, Jer. We are sure optimistic about this year, although we are changing our detecting strategies a bit in terms of research focus.

I wish we could get into the late 1700s more, but with this area it is next to impossible. Evey once in a while, a site will come along though--maybe once a year. So until then, I've got my fingers crossed.


Best Wishes,



Buckles
 

That dragon fly sure looks like a little fairy to me and I don't mean the limp wristed kind. (Not that there is anything wrong with that). Just want to be politicaly correct. Monty
 

Hey Buckleboy

Nice documentary and pictures of your adventure. You and your friend had a fun day it looks like.Thank you for sharing your finds so well.
Regards
TnMountains
 

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