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Seated Silvers, a PISTOL and a Rare Railroad Lock!

BuckleBoy

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

Posting the results of the first couple hunts of 2021 now that I have a chance to catch up due to the SNOW here in Louisiana!!

2021 started with a visit from my old friend Kindafoundabuckle from KY. He got me back into the hobby after about 10 years where I didn't dig much. He took me out the very first hunt to a church yard back in 2006 and I went around toward the old outhouse and dug my first buckle! Sword Belt Plate! I will never forget that day--or how red his face turned! :D

At any rate, it was great to host him down here to put the coil to the Louisiana soil! Here's the video:



Here's some photos of the hunts... First photo, objects in it are smaller than they appear :laughing11:

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This guy is like a brother to me. We don't get to dig much together anymore like we once did but when we get together for a hunt it's a reason to celebrate. Long trip from Kentucky to Louisiana!! We dug some civil war bullets, I got a seated half dime and he a barber dime, and we had a hell of a lot of fun.

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From the field beside this one I dug an 1896-O barber dime, and he dug this which is an 1895-S. SOOOO close to the RARE 1895-O! One day!!

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After KFB left I kept digging, using the NEL sharpshooter coil my wife got me for Christmas (awesome wife!!). Pulled a lump of silver from a pounded site (about 1/4 ounce melted), along with another half dime:

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Also went to another site and picked through some iron carefully and got a nice Eagle "I" cuff right at darkfall:

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The following hunt I went to a field to eyeball. It's always best to do this right after the first few hard rains after plowing (when all the marbles and other items are on the tops and sides of the sugar cane rows), then wait for about a month and eyeball again once the marbles have weathered out and rolled down to the bottoms and the coins and other items are weathered and washed flat. Spent the entire day eyeballing and didn't even turn on the detector. Walked away with many handfulls of marbles, some old glass bottles, half a gold plated ring, a brooch, a stirrup piece, and walked up on a WWII AF cap badge lying in the dirt:

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Missing the eagle's talon with the olive branch but otherwise complete.

Also eyeballed what I thought was a toy gun sticking out of the mud. Brass barrel but not like anything I'd seen before. When I got it home I discovered it was rifled. So the search started to ID it. Turns out it's an Otis A. Smith .32 cal rimfire pistol (5 shot).

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https://www.ima-usa.com/products/or...-32-rimfire-serial-905?variant=18943905693765

Obviously the pistol frame was broken at the weakest point by the plow. Armed with the knowledge of what I was looking for, I swept the barrel under my F75 and it read 68-70 on the ID. So I went back the following day to this trashy TRASHY site to dig anything that read 62 or above on the ID. After a grueling day of digging hundreds and hundreds of aluminum ice cube tray pieces, bleach caps from bottles, melted aluminum, and other junk, I failed to find the rest of the frame (which means it's either deep or busted into more than one other piece). I did make several other great recoveries though. I eyeballed a hammer from a musket or rifle (anyone know what this might be from?)

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I also dug my first ever complete brass bullet mold! Even better, when I started carefully cleaning it, it was marked! "MASS ARMS CO"

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Here's a few photos of a non-dug one:
https://simpsonltd.com/massachusetts-arms-co-bullet-mold/

mass arms mold3.webp mass arms mold1.webp mass arms mold2.webp

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This mold was for the .36 cal Adams patent revolver.
https://www.rockislandauction.com/d...co-adams-patent-double-action-pocket-revolver

download.webp Adams Revolver1.webp

Then as I rounded a row and the signals got a little thin I walked into an outbuilding site on the property and the iron nails intensified. I got a very high tone and out flopped this Railroad lock!!

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The last one of these I dug out west in Utah when I was on a trip hunting ghost towns there a few years ago, so I was stoked to find one in Louisiana!

While carefully cleaning the lock I started to see the marking with the letters S P C! South Pacific Coast Railroad!! This is a VERY rare line, running between Alameda, Santa Cruz and San Francisco--and for ONLY 11 years from 1876-1887!!

RenderedImage (1).webp Here's the wiki page on this railroad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_Coast_Railroad



SouthPacificCoastRailroadMap 1876 to 1887.webp

And here are some of photos of the paddle wheeler ferry "the Newark" that traveled across the San Francisco Bay, owned by that railroad, and photos of various engines and cars from the SPC line:

The Newark was an SPC Ferry from alameda to san francisco [Bancroft].webp newark san fran bay.webp

Coaches for passengers spc rr.webp spc rr mission street tunnel on cherry street.webp

SPC number 20  Boulder Creek Ca..webp spc rr stopped for a photo in coon gulch.webp

So here's at photo of a few of the marbles and buttons, along with my top three brass finds:

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I now have more than one reason to go back to dig--I tried to find the value of a RR lock like this but while I didn't find a lock for sale I did see a key for sale (keys are more rare, as one key opened all the locks on any line). And an S P C RR key is valued at $1000.00!!

https://railtiques.com/shop/spcrr-c-bk-unmarked-south-pacific-coast-railroad-car-key-estremely-rare/

OK, lets get this snow over and done with--I want to dig!!

Best Wishes,

BB
 
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Upvote 94
Excellent post! Thanks for sharing!
 
Craigslist Chattanooga,TN someone is buying heart shaped railroad locks...good post ,,good luck
 
A great haul - congrats !
 
Your post is the second one I've seen where a bullet mold has been found...what a great find on the lock and gun as well...oh and the part where your friend's face turned red after your find by the outhouse!....excellent post! Thanks for sharing...:notworthy::notworthy:
 
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What incredible finds and research! Bravo!! You really painted a picture around those finds BB!!!!:hello2::occasion14::headbang::notworthy:
 
10 outta 10 for both presentation and relics found!
 
Looks like some great finds Buckleboy. I like that Railroad lock and the coins.
 
Thanks for such and informative and researched post
 
Holy smokes! What a hunt! Thanks for sharing!
 
Your post is the second one I've seen where a bullet mold has been found...what a great find on the lock and gun as well...oh and the part where your friend's face turned red after your find by the outhouse!....excellent post! Thanks for sharing...:notworthy::notworthy:

haha many thanks ��
 
What incredible finds and research! Bravo!! You really painted a picture around those finds BB!!!!:hello2::occasion14::headbang::notworthy:

I appreciate it Terry! Congrats on your recent Morgan dollars!
 
That was a great post BuckleBoy! Looks like you have been doing extremely well in 2021. I got a kick out of the bullet mold... it came from my neck of the woods here in Massachusetts. Sorry to hear about your snow issue. No fun!
 
SIMPLY STELLAR BB!!!!!!!! Nothing better than huntin with GREAT FRIENDS!!! Lookin forward for more from y'all. CONGRATZ......
 
Doing well as usual, congrats...
 
Very Nice!!! Great finds & Info!!! Congrats!!!
 
Great RR piece!
Beaucoup bucks for the right ones as you know!
Now to find the key for it!
 
That lock is a great find !
Very nice .
 

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