Shield Nickel CACHE and Find-of-a-LIFETIME!

BuckleBoy

Platinum Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2006
Messages
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Location
Moonlight and Magnolias
🥇 Banner finds
4
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
2
Detector(s) used
Fisher F75, Whites DualField PI, Fisher 1266-X and Tesoro Silver uMax
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Hello All,

Wow, what a week! Here's the video:



Now let me explain... I've been waiting on a certain field since I had a great day digging an 1809 half cent, seated dime, and a good many Civil War relics there. Every time I go to it, the farmers are messing with it--plowing, flattening, rowing, discing. :BangHead: So I just bided my time, did turn rows and border areas, and made the best of the crappy hand I was dealt. Well those sparse finds got put up on my relic table "in the queue." So we had rain, rain, rain down here the past few weeks and I was not willing to deal with the heat AND the mud, so I waited patiently for things to dry out. Well the day came last weekend and I went to that same field again hoping that it had washed down. They had chunked it up again and it was in ankle-breaking clumps where I'd have gotten zero depth. :BangHead:

So I was officially out of a site to dig. I drove around scouting on the 80,000 acres we have permission for, looking for a field that was in just the right condition for this time of year to produce some finds. Then I remembered I'd run across a site where I'd pulled a 1930s green Scotch Whisky bottle about a month ago. I figured if I couldn't find a good field to DIG some finds in, I could at least EYEBALL some! So I got out in that site, which was chock full of broken glass, scrap iron, and can slaw/pull tabs/jar caps. The trash was intense and I decided to get further back in the field so I could focus better. Well, lo and behold I started seeing olive green glass, less trash, porcelain and china, and ginger beer bottle shards. This just might be the right age! I hiked the half mile back to my car to get my detector. By this time it was 91 feels like 97 degrees. When I got back to where I was seeing the ginger beers I eyeballed a hammer from a lock plate! I imagine it's from the left side of a double barrel shotgun.

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I picked a random row and started detecting. White glass buttons were everywhere (I picked up 71 of them between one half and one full day of detecting). Within 15 feet, I had a half dime in my hands! A holed 1857-O!

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Then I turned around at the end and came back through that same patch and picked up a shield nickel:

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Then 20 inches away from the first Shield Nickel, I dug a second one! I now had two shields and a half dime:

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I went to the end of the cane row and detected my way back into that same area again and picked up ANOTHER nickel! It was a THIRD shield!

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The daylight was fleeting so I made plans to return early the next day. Shangalang decided to join me, and he came tearing up in his truck yelling "SURPRISE, MOTHERF(*&$(@!!!" :laughing9:

So we got right at it, as I now suspected that this could be a scattered cache, since all the coins were in a concentrated area.

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It wasn't long until Shangalang dug his first Shield nickel of the day. Then I found my fourth one for a total of FIVE so far! We then dug a couple of large caliber round balls each and I got a carved minieball! So there was CIVIL WAR in here too!! 8-)

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Then it got close to lunch time and I came up the last row before our break and dug a two piece button. Not knowing what it was, I assumed military since we seldom get two piece buttons that aren't military buttons here. When I turned it over, it was a tulip.

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When I was almost to the end I hear Shangalang say "Hey, I think I've got a two-piece button too!" I walked over to him and through the mud I could see the tell-tale neck of a sleepy old Civil War Louisiana Pelican button!! It was his first ever coat sized pelican!

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After lunch we didn't need any convincing to get into the fields again! Immediately once I got back in the area of the coins shangalang dug ANOTHER shield nickel! This was getting ridiculous. SIX SHIELD NICKELS so far.

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During one of our "we don't want to die of heat stroke" breaks, I carefully cleaned his pelican button. Turned out to be a beauty!

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Backmark is c.1860 * SCOVILL MF'G CO * WATERBURY

Then I got another 28 signal on the F75 and popped yet another nickel. I was expecting a shield but it happened to be an 1899 V Nickel. LOL

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Then I turned around and got into the coin scatter again and dug ANOTHER nickel--our SEVENTH shield nickel. Ridiculous.

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I got a neat little spur, a flat button that was right on top, and turned around to get on the next row and head back. Then on the way I picked up a plow-struck plantation token which turned out to be an unlisted one from a neighboring plantation!

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MORE PHOTOS IN THE FIRST REPLY JUST BELOW:
 

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Upvote 42
When I got back into that area again, I eyeballed--before it even beeped--a half dime lying right on the surface!!! I could see the date staring up at me where it was sitting untouched since the Civil War! In situ pic:

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By that point it was late afternoon and the feels like temps were over 100, so we were both exhausted and called it a day. It's soooo difficult to leave a spot that's producing, when your mind says there's more there but your body knows better than to stay. On the way back to the vehicle I eyeballed a green glass jewel from a mid-1800s cufflink, button, brooch, or similar:

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Here are all the non-metallic eyeball finds, as well as all the other dug finds. Oh, and also my FIVE of the seven shield nickels dug :)

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So once I got home I cleaned all the finds, got the hammer from the shotgun into some cider vinegar, and then decided I'd clean the finds I got from the borders around frustrating field that's always getting plowed... I'd dug several fired minieballs, made some eyeball finds, and gotten one cartridge box finial that I was literally too exhausted to even film due to the heat. Oh, and I'd dug one tiny, cuff-sized flat button. This button had been lying on the "relic table" for four weeks. (don't judge, lol) And I decided to carefully remove a little dirt from the face of it. Well, my jaw almost hit the &^$#*(*& floor! I could see the familiar hear-shaped laurel wreath and I could see the lettering around the edge. This was a freakin' George Washington Inaugural Button! This is, believe it or not, my SECOND GW dug in Louisiana. My first one was the same type, a GWI17B, with nearly complete silver gilt. This one looks a little rough, but it might professionally clean up. I'm just terrified to touch it any more :laughing9: I know there?s probably some nice gilding down in the detail? FYI these buttons go for $1500-3000. One just sold in nice shape, dug, for $2,900.00

Here it is, with a photo of a non-dug GWI17B for reference. I'm just FLOORED! I walked back in to check the button at least 15-20 times today to see if the design was still there. (each time, it was, LOL) Wow.

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Oh, and here's the little 1930's Scotch bottle, without which I would've never--EVER located this site, due to how inaccessible it is.

CHEERS,

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Buckleboy
 

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Very Nice!!!! Congrats!!!!
 

I can see them now. I ran into the same problem once upon a time ago, I think all I did was reload mine. Nice stuff. That ground is tough!
 

You guys deserved a good reward for hunting in those conditions. Toughest time of the year to hunt. Congrats! Gary
 

man what an awesome hunt. I'd love searching a place like that. congrats on all your great finds!
 

Awesome score!!!
 

Incredible, big time gratz and thanks for the awesome post\video. I also really enjoyed your "best of 2010-2020" video, very entertaining hour of footage............
 

Wow. What a great couple of days for you. Must have been fun digging all those targets. Big congrats on the GW!!!
 

Amazing finds ! I dream of getting access to a productive site like that !
 

That site is the stuff dreams are made of ! Great hunt and excellent finds.
 

Finding one Shield nickel is usually a good day. You guys killed it! Great write up. Congrats!!!
 

A homerun site!

Congrats.
 

Wow what great finds!! Awesome job! Keep diggin!
 

excuse my French but ****? this website. I can see the photos from my phone and computer. Let me remove and re-upload ALL OF THEM again. MODS you MUST fix this. Happens when I upload photos then the post won?t go because smilies count as photos and I have too many, then it auto saves and distorts every photo and half of TNet can?t even see them.

I'm with you, I've had some incredible finds that I've tried to post here and just gave up because I couldn't get the pics to load! I wonder how many great things we've missed seeing because of this 20 year old software...
 

Why are the photos appearing at the bottom of the post? I'm doing them as inline attachments but they aren?t recognized as such. This may be the LAST post I make on Tnet. After 15 years here and writing 25 articles for publication about detecting, and have just been offered a metal detecting book deal. People pay me for content of this quality elsewhere and here I am trying to coax, pray, beg the TNet forum to accept my photos. I am highly computer literate but the usability of this posting apparatus is ridiculous. Sorry, but I haven't been this angry in a long time!

"You need Treasurenet more than Treasurenet needs you" (That's how we're treated here now).

This may help:

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/help/656649-photo-size-issues.html#post6768093
 

Great hunting! Congrats on the silver, nickels, and the button.

I couldn't see the photos, now they fill the 27" monitor. :laughing7:

Seriously they need to get the problems/issues resolved though.
 

Excellent write up and finds
 

Wow. To find an untouched site like that must be absolutely thrilling. Good job man!
 

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