VTColonialDigger
Hero Member
Hi everyone, I was really busy yesterday and wasn't able to post these then, but I still want to share the incredible day I had yesterday!
I was digging a mid-1800's house- 1840's with 1860's addition, however there was earlier history at the site. A minister in my town built his cabin somewhere on the property in 1790 and lived there until 1817. I only searched for an hour and a half and only a small portion of the yard, so there's no telling what else could be there!
I started out searching the edge of the yard along the house. The first find was this unknown item, possibly some sort of token. It gave a mid 40's on my Ace 400 and appears to be silver plated brass. (I don't believe it's an electrical knock-out plug). there was a nice piece of redware pottery in the hole with it which was a nice surprise.
The next find I was quite pleased with, a beautiful sterling ring with mother of pearl inlay!
After finding the ring I noticed two massive old maple trees near the road and next to the start of a stone wall. Thinking there might be something around them, I started detecting my way in their direction. I got a great signal an dug this nice ox knob!
Once I started detecting around the trees, things started to get crazy. I dug a piece of junk, but then got a 80's-90's signal that trailed off to a 30's - 40's signal. I started by digging the really good signal and soon was holding this awesome 1846 Large Cent in my hand!
Once I put the Large Cent in my tackle box, I dug the mid-tone which proved to be a .44 caliber Civil War era Henry rifle bullet!
By now I was quite excited and I kept swinging in the same area. I soon got a great 80's signal which turned out to be a nice sized chunk of a shoe buckle frame! (This shoe buckle frame proved to be way cooler than I ever imagined!)
By this time it was starting to get dark out, so I did a quick sweep though the middle of the lawn and dug a nice 1873 indian head penny!
After showing the property owners my finds, I headed home to clean up what I had found. As I started wiping off the shoe buckle frame I realized it was the same design as another fragment of shoe buckle frame I had found previously.
The piece I had dug before was discovered when I first started the hobby, and didn't realize what it was. I only realized what it was a few years after I had originally dug it, and thus don't remember exactly where I found it. (I am 98% sure I found it on my property)
When I brought the piece I had dug years ago back to compare, I was looking at the two fragments up close and realized that they had a similar break in them. Looking at the break even closer I realized that the break was not in fact just similar but the EXACT SAME! THE PIECES MATCHED!! I couldn't believe my eyes as I held the two pieces together and they went together perfectly to form a larger fragment of the same buckle frame!
After this realization I was in a bit of shock. The house I found this at is about half a mile away from my property as the crow flies. I still have no idea in the WORLD how this could happen, but I do know the mathematical probability of the same guy's shoe buckle breaking and then me finding the pieces that match are insane! One of the most thrilling, perplexing, and wonderful finds I have ever made metal detecting!
Here are all the finds from yesterday. I can honestly say I am still in disbelief about the shoe buckle. Just unreal.
VTColonialDigger
I was digging a mid-1800's house- 1840's with 1860's addition, however there was earlier history at the site. A minister in my town built his cabin somewhere on the property in 1790 and lived there until 1817. I only searched for an hour and a half and only a small portion of the yard, so there's no telling what else could be there!
I started out searching the edge of the yard along the house. The first find was this unknown item, possibly some sort of token. It gave a mid 40's on my Ace 400 and appears to be silver plated brass. (I don't believe it's an electrical knock-out plug). there was a nice piece of redware pottery in the hole with it which was a nice surprise.
The next find I was quite pleased with, a beautiful sterling ring with mother of pearl inlay!
After finding the ring I noticed two massive old maple trees near the road and next to the start of a stone wall. Thinking there might be something around them, I started detecting my way in their direction. I got a great signal an dug this nice ox knob!
Once I started detecting around the trees, things started to get crazy. I dug a piece of junk, but then got a 80's-90's signal that trailed off to a 30's - 40's signal. I started by digging the really good signal and soon was holding this awesome 1846 Large Cent in my hand!
Once I put the Large Cent in my tackle box, I dug the mid-tone which proved to be a .44 caliber Civil War era Henry rifle bullet!
By now I was quite excited and I kept swinging in the same area. I soon got a great 80's signal which turned out to be a nice sized chunk of a shoe buckle frame! (This shoe buckle frame proved to be way cooler than I ever imagined!)
By this time it was starting to get dark out, so I did a quick sweep though the middle of the lawn and dug a nice 1873 indian head penny!
After showing the property owners my finds, I headed home to clean up what I had found. As I started wiping off the shoe buckle frame I realized it was the same design as another fragment of shoe buckle frame I had found previously.
The piece I had dug before was discovered when I first started the hobby, and didn't realize what it was. I only realized what it was a few years after I had originally dug it, and thus don't remember exactly where I found it. (I am 98% sure I found it on my property)
When I brought the piece I had dug years ago back to compare, I was looking at the two fragments up close and realized that they had a similar break in them. Looking at the break even closer I realized that the break was not in fact just similar but the EXACT SAME! THE PIECES MATCHED!! I couldn't believe my eyes as I held the two pieces together and they went together perfectly to form a larger fragment of the same buckle frame!
After this realization I was in a bit of shock. The house I found this at is about half a mile away from my property as the crow flies. I still have no idea in the WORLD how this could happen, but I do know the mathematical probability of the same guy's shoe buckle breaking and then me finding the pieces that match are insane! One of the most thrilling, perplexing, and wonderful finds I have ever made metal detecting!
Here are all the finds from yesterday. I can honestly say I am still in disbelief about the shoe buckle. Just unreal.
VTColonialDigger
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