SPANISH COB, BUCKLE FRAGS, MUSKET BALLS, POTTERY SHARDS, PIPE BOWL AND STEMS

joeyfresh · Sep 29, 2013

Finally got for the first time since it started to get hot last Spring. I met a man last weekend at the hardware store who turned out to be the land manager for a few old properties in my county and he granted me permission to relic hunt on them. Since most of his properties are still in bean I decided to walk a 300 acre property that he is currently clearing. None of the old maps I have show any home sites on this property even the Civil War map I have shows this property as woods. On top of that, rather than using the slash and burn land clearing method, they are mulching the land so the ground is basically covered with mulch which makes it impossible to search for brick, glass or pottery which are indicators of house sites. My plan was to walk around the high spots and kick the mulch around looking for the indicators. I was doing this for a couple of hours when I noticed a cleared area without any mulch so I figured that would be my last spot I checked and I'm glad I did. I immediately found a pipe bowl on top of the ground then I found a pipe stem:

Then I walked around picking up pottery and glass pieces:

I turned on the detector and my first find was a Spanish Cob:

Then I found a couple buckle frags, a flat button, a musket ball and a round mount:

There's absolutely no rhyme or reason to the site. It's surrounded by a numerous high knolls and is not close to any water source (that I could see). There's a reasonable amount of iron but the brick fragments are few and far between. I'm going to head back out there this afternoon and poke around a little more.

Thanks for looking!
Joey

SCDigginWithAK · Sep 29, 2013

Awesome hunt!!! Congrats! Happy hunting

ironhorse · Sep 29, 2013

Way to begin the fall season!

Davers · Sep 29, 2013

Very nice relics. Good Job

joeyfresh · Sep 29, 2013

Thanks

CRUSADER · Sep 29, 2013

Very good, I think lemon juice will help that cob shed its green.

CASPER-2 · Sep 29, 2013

Greylock · Sep 29, 2013

Great stuff

joeyfresh · Sep 29, 2013

CRUSADER said:
Very good, I think lemon juice will help that cob shed its green.

I've tried lemon juice on a Spanish real before but it dulled the look of it. Whats your lemon juice method.

lumbergh · Sep 29, 2013

Awesome finds, Joeyfresh. It's good to live in Virginia. Lots of lost sites waiting to be found..

CRUSADER · Sep 30, 2013

joeyfresh said:
I've tried lemon juice on a Spanish real before but it dulled the look of it. Whats your lemon juice method.

Put it in pure lemon juice for 2 minutes at a time & rinse with water after every dip. If the silver content is not debased.

Evolution · Sep 30, 2013

Still looking for my first cob. I'm green with envy. :happysmiley:

. Congrats. :thumbsup:

joeyfresh · Sep 30, 2013

Evolution said:
Still looking for my first cob. I'm green with envy. . Congrats.

I've been lucky to find quite a few.....and I mean lucky! I found two a couple of years ago within a few yards of each other at a site that I stumbled upon similar to this one. The funny thing is that I didn't find much else at these sites. Every time I find one I always say I'll never find another, lol.

The Rebel · Sep 30, 2013

Awesome eyeball finds!

Bill D. (VA) · Sep 30, 2013

Great hunt Joey! It's nice when things work out the way they did for you. But I agree with you that it doesn't seem like the likely place for a home site. Maybe it was part of an early camp? And you're getting to be a real cob magnet. You've found quite a few in the short time I've known you. And by the way, I found a large cob about 4 years ago that had similar green crud on it. I just did my usual light electrolysis on it, checking it every minute or so. And it came out great. After 2-3 years it started to build up some of that same corrosion so I cleaned it again and applied some Renaissance wax and its quite stable now.