MAINE HILLS HUNTER
Full Member
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2006
- Messages
- 233
- Reaction score
- 6
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Oxford Hills of Maine
- Detector(s) used
- Explorer SE Pro
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Good day all,
Well its been almost 1 year (maybe more) since I posted a find. I have been around and lurking and commented on a few of your posts. I just haven't found anything of any quality to post. That is until now.
A friend and I went out on Father's Day to a sight he had found and got permission to detect on. It is an old cellar hole, probably the biggest I have ever seen, about twice the size as an average one that I have seen. Its got a great big barn foundation (I didn't measure but am guessing 40x60 or larger). There are 2 wells, one up on the hill by the house and 1 down the hill from the house.
Well by buddy and I were detecting around the well at the bottom of the hill and were not getting any signals worth digging (IMO). It seemed almost as if my detector was malfunctioning. He went up to the house site to continue digging and sifting through the area between the house and the barn. He was finding all kinds of cool stuff!
I was getting very mad at my detector and left the old well. The detector was still malfunctioning (every swing had about 40 beeps to it). I got mad at it and smacked it around a few times and then pulled the batteries and left it that way for about 5 minutes. I put the batteries back in, started it up and smacked it around a few more times to show it who was boss.
I started detecting down the old carriage road from the well at the bottom of the hill. I went all the way to the township line on the carriage road and dug a few bullets and a lead disc with 2 holes in it that I think was probably a button. On the way back I decided to check out the well again. I spent about 30 minutes around it and still no signals that I wanted to dig.
I went up and talked to my buddy to see how he was doing with his monumental task of excavating the area. He was plugging along (found a nice hot pad?? - one of those things you put your hot pan on). I thought that was pretty cool and was the find of the day. I told him that I was gonna go down and hit that well again. I just felt like I was missing something.
So I went down the carriage road and started in towards the well when I got a sweet high tone. I pinpointed and figured the target to be to large for a coin. Probably just another piece of crappy copper or something I thought. Well I dug down about 5 inches and didn't see anything in the hole. I stuck the pinpointer in the hole and realize that I missed. It was over just a bit. So I dug over a bit (complete pain with the roots) and pulled out this belt plate.
It was upside down so I just thought to myself "cool a belt buckle". I flipped it over and about died! I had a civil war plate. The US was staring right at me. I sat there for about 5 minutes in disbelief. Then I screamed and started doing the happy dance. Scared the crap out of my buddy!!!! I ran up to show him and he started yelling and happy dancing too! Must have been a funny site to see.
Well after that I went back down the hill to get my detector and was walking back up the hill and got another sweet high tone and got a 1827 large cent. It was a great father's day for me considering my wife and kids were 1200 miles away. I am very happy that I dug this cool stuff but would rather have had them around for father's day.
I was doing a little light reading in American digger magazine (volume 3 Issue 6 from 2007) under the just dug and somebody else found the same type. This is what they had to say about it. "... a US buckle that is stamped with the maker, W.H. Smith Brooklyn." Plates marked by the manufacturer are considered scarce, and one as legible as this example is especially desirable." Now mine is in a little worse shape and the back mark is not quite as legible but is readable. I thought that was cool.
OK so now fast forward to today. I was researching the property and found who the owner was 1820 or so to about 1880. It is a house of a family that had several men serve in the civil war in different Maine regiments. So I suppose it belonged to one of them. I feel privileged to have found and to hold a real piece of American History. I know who it belonged to (well at least narrowed down) and found it on the property on which they lived. I think that is pretty special.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the post. I look forward to any comments.
Hills Hunter
Well its been almost 1 year (maybe more) since I posted a find. I have been around and lurking and commented on a few of your posts. I just haven't found anything of any quality to post. That is until now.
A friend and I went out on Father's Day to a sight he had found and got permission to detect on. It is an old cellar hole, probably the biggest I have ever seen, about twice the size as an average one that I have seen. Its got a great big barn foundation (I didn't measure but am guessing 40x60 or larger). There are 2 wells, one up on the hill by the house and 1 down the hill from the house.
Well by buddy and I were detecting around the well at the bottom of the hill and were not getting any signals worth digging (IMO). It seemed almost as if my detector was malfunctioning. He went up to the house site to continue digging and sifting through the area between the house and the barn. He was finding all kinds of cool stuff!
I was getting very mad at my detector and left the old well. The detector was still malfunctioning (every swing had about 40 beeps to it). I got mad at it and smacked it around a few times and then pulled the batteries and left it that way for about 5 minutes. I put the batteries back in, started it up and smacked it around a few more times to show it who was boss.
I started detecting down the old carriage road from the well at the bottom of the hill. I went all the way to the township line on the carriage road and dug a few bullets and a lead disc with 2 holes in it that I think was probably a button. On the way back I decided to check out the well again. I spent about 30 minutes around it and still no signals that I wanted to dig.
I went up and talked to my buddy to see how he was doing with his monumental task of excavating the area. He was plugging along (found a nice hot pad?? - one of those things you put your hot pan on). I thought that was pretty cool and was the find of the day. I told him that I was gonna go down and hit that well again. I just felt like I was missing something.
So I went down the carriage road and started in towards the well when I got a sweet high tone. I pinpointed and figured the target to be to large for a coin. Probably just another piece of crappy copper or something I thought. Well I dug down about 5 inches and didn't see anything in the hole. I stuck the pinpointer in the hole and realize that I missed. It was over just a bit. So I dug over a bit (complete pain with the roots) and pulled out this belt plate.
It was upside down so I just thought to myself "cool a belt buckle". I flipped it over and about died! I had a civil war plate. The US was staring right at me. I sat there for about 5 minutes in disbelief. Then I screamed and started doing the happy dance. Scared the crap out of my buddy!!!! I ran up to show him and he started yelling and happy dancing too! Must have been a funny site to see.
Well after that I went back down the hill to get my detector and was walking back up the hill and got another sweet high tone and got a 1827 large cent. It was a great father's day for me considering my wife and kids were 1200 miles away. I am very happy that I dug this cool stuff but would rather have had them around for father's day.
I was doing a little light reading in American digger magazine (volume 3 Issue 6 from 2007) under the just dug and somebody else found the same type. This is what they had to say about it. "... a US buckle that is stamped with the maker, W.H. Smith Brooklyn." Plates marked by the manufacturer are considered scarce, and one as legible as this example is especially desirable." Now mine is in a little worse shape and the back mark is not quite as legible but is readable. I thought that was cool.
OK so now fast forward to today. I was researching the property and found who the owner was 1820 or so to about 1880. It is a house of a family that had several men serve in the civil war in different Maine regiments. So I suppose it belonged to one of them. I feel privileged to have found and to hold a real piece of American History. I know who it belonged to (well at least narrowed down) and found it on the property on which they lived. I think that is pretty special.
Well, I hope you all enjoyed the post. I look forward to any comments.
Hills Hunter
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