paleomaxx
Hero Member
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2016
- Messages
- 841
- Reaction score
- 6,888
- Golden Thread
- 6
- Location
- Upstate, NY
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 6
- Detector(s) used
- Deus XP
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Completed unexpected, actually the entire site was unexpected! I started looking through a new section of woods that I suspect could have early 1700's settlements. The rock walls certainly seem older than the 1800's and there are patches of fruit trees around the woods. Unfortunately I wasn't having much luck locating older sites, but there's an obvious set of two foundations next to the walking trail. I figured they'd been pounded since they're literally right there. The first is a large and shallow square and then the other is sturdier and built into the hill, but smaller in size. Figuring the smaller one was the house I did a few circles just for fun and as expected there wasn't a single target in the ground. Annoyed I walked back to what I thought was the barn and decided to do a loop since the detector was on anyways. Seems I was wrong on several counts!
There were relics everywhere and most were obvious signals right near the surface. This definitely wasn't the barn and maybe neither site had been detected or maybe everyone else figured exactly like I did that the barn wasn't worth the time. Whatever the reason I'm glad I gave it a chance! Not a super old site, but a great variety of 1860's-1880's relics.
Above is a Victorian picture border and it's quite ornate with flowers and columns stamped into the brass. I also found something that answered a long-standing series of mystery relics. Maybe everyone else already knows what they are, but I find these little brass rings all over the place. Too plain for jewelry and too thin for horse tack and I'd been told they were gaskets, but I still wasn't sure that was it. I finally found one in context!
Suspenders buckle ring; in retrospect it's obvious, but I'm glad I have one that I can point to and say for sure that's what they are.
One coin, a nice 1864 IHP:
But now for the best finds of the day! This next one has been on my bucket list for some time:
A wax seal! Out of the ground it was completely encased in hard clay, but I saw the purple stone and knew it was special.
No engraving on the stone (which is probably glass since amethyst wouldn't scratch as easily), but it cleaned up very well and a little lemon juice revealed much of the gold gilt had survived.
It has a very nice flower motif all round and the only issue is that one of the legs is bent up. Looks like contemporary damage and maybe that's why it was lost or discarded. The royal purple and gold are beautiful together and it must have been something when it was new.
The weeds were pretty high and its hard to top something like that so I was hiking back through the woods and swinging the detector blindly. Literally, I didn't even have the remote mounted to the Deus, I was just listening for iron grunts in case I randomly walked over a homesite. In the middle of nowhere I got a high tone, but no clue as to the VDI I flipped over the dirt anyways and to my shock there was a large silver disc:
Talk about random chance 1908-D half dollar; this is only my fourth barber half ever! Must have been a hunter drop since there was absolutely nothing else around. That's about all the luck you can reasonably expect for one day so I headed home happy!
There were relics everywhere and most were obvious signals right near the surface. This definitely wasn't the barn and maybe neither site had been detected or maybe everyone else figured exactly like I did that the barn wasn't worth the time. Whatever the reason I'm glad I gave it a chance! Not a super old site, but a great variety of 1860's-1880's relics.
Above is a Victorian picture border and it's quite ornate with flowers and columns stamped into the brass. I also found something that answered a long-standing series of mystery relics. Maybe everyone else already knows what they are, but I find these little brass rings all over the place. Too plain for jewelry and too thin for horse tack and I'd been told they were gaskets, but I still wasn't sure that was it. I finally found one in context!
Suspenders buckle ring; in retrospect it's obvious, but I'm glad I have one that I can point to and say for sure that's what they are.
One coin, a nice 1864 IHP:
But now for the best finds of the day! This next one has been on my bucket list for some time:
A wax seal! Out of the ground it was completely encased in hard clay, but I saw the purple stone and knew it was special.
No engraving on the stone (which is probably glass since amethyst wouldn't scratch as easily), but it cleaned up very well and a little lemon juice revealed much of the gold gilt had survived.
It has a very nice flower motif all round and the only issue is that one of the legs is bent up. Looks like contemporary damage and maybe that's why it was lost or discarded. The royal purple and gold are beautiful together and it must have been something when it was new.
The weeds were pretty high and its hard to top something like that so I was hiking back through the woods and swinging the detector blindly. Literally, I didn't even have the remote mounted to the Deus, I was just listening for iron grunts in case I randomly walked over a homesite. In the middle of nowhere I got a high tone, but no clue as to the VDI I flipped over the dirt anyways and to my shock there was a large silver disc:
Talk about random chance 1908-D half dollar; this is only my fourth barber half ever! Must have been a hunter drop since there was absolutely nothing else around. That's about all the luck you can reasonably expect for one day so I headed home happy!
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