The Iron Brigade has been busy Diggin

[BuckleBoy]

Hello All,


It's been a few weeks since I posted finds, but we've been busy hitting the books, doing research, scouting the next batch of sites, and diggin some.


Last week we had a little campout on the property of a Very Cool owner right beside a neat site in the woods where we detected and did some sifting. Part of the festivity was due to our welcoming aboard the newest member of the team, coinmaster2db. This guy is good at research and history, and always seems to have an extra 6-pack of beer around. Here's a very short video of our campout.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNw9HIQZHEk





The finds were pretty slim for this event, but the company was top notch.



I went out the next day for a little hunt with Hill Billy. We got on a new spot that had a beautiful view. The iron was thick, the zinc canning jar lids were a nightmare, and we didn't get many keepers for a lot of diggin. But HB got a nice brass-faced bridle rosette right off. Then he got a solid silver signal on his XLT.


He dug carefully, and I could see a silver reeded edge poking out of the side of the clod. We just knew it had to be a Seated Quarter...











When he pulled it out, we both got a laugh, and started wondering "What is that doing here?" It was a Silver Georgie. :P The picture below Sucks because I was laughing so hard.








Anyhow, the scenery was beautiful, the two bulls in the field left us alone, and I found a nice Eagle Button.




















Then over the weekend I got together with Rodeo and coinmaster2db for the last field hunt of the season. It was a rainy mess, but again beautiful countryside in this area too.







We hit the site hard, knowing that there would be no re-hunt for six months. For the first few hours, we got harmonica reeds, spoon handles, and bits. I started to doubt the age of the site, since there were no flat buttons found--at all! Maybe those long-gone inhabitants boycotted buttons. Maybe since it was such a remote area they just went around "Nekkid" But it was wierd to have a hunt with no flatties found.


Here's a photo of Rodeo and Coinmaster. Rodeo had just dug two huge old skeleton keys, and was pretty stoked.











I managed to find an interesting broken point in the field, and I got an in-situ shot before I picked it up.








MORE photos in the first reply below:

 

[RPG]

Another great post BuckleBoy and by the way, I like the avatar. I've always liked that old tree.

The bacon looks good but I don't know about that coffee.

I kinda figured you had been busy digging these last couple of weeks. Looks like the gang has been having fun. Congrats on the large cent and I really like the keys. I'm still looking for my first brass key. I think one of the best finds is the artifact. Looks like a turkey tail. Post it in the artifacts forum and those guys will confirm this. If so, go back when the owner plows the field and you will find some killer artifacts.

Hope to see more soon.
Randy

I wish the owner still deep plowed the fields, but they are all no-till. The site should be a good one for Native American artifacts though--right near a creek, and on a big hill. Those keys are tough finds to make. I've only found 4 or 5 since 1992. I think the reason is that they were not only functional, but a necessity, and they were practically indestructible.

Most of the ones I've found have been twisted or bent (same case with the bigger of the two that Rodeo dug, posted above). I would imagine that those big, iron door locks were hard to turn when they started to rust a little. Even so, that's a lot of torque to bend a monster key like that.


Best Wishes,



Buckles

Shame he doesn't deep plow it anymore. Maybe one day he will.

As far as bending those keys, You must remember, people from that time period were strong. They had to work for a living, unlike those of us who have a job to go to every day.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Glad to see you all back at it,Looks like some Great finds and good Fellowship. Nice to see the new member and hope he makes some Great finds and enjoys such a Great Team.

Nova Treasure

We have to get him enrolled in the "IRON Brigade training course." Rodeo spent many months training, but I think ole Coinmaster will have a shorter time of it. He's been diggin for years. I try to get the training over with before they're mad enough at me to stab me with a lesche.



Thanks for the reply, my friend. I hope all is well.



-Buckles

 

[BuckleBoy]

Shame he doesn't deep plow it anymore. Maybe one day he will.

As far as bending those keys, You must remember, people from that time period were strong. They had to work for a living, unlike those of us who have a job to go to every day.

Good point. I have often wondered how much elbow grease it would take to put the small end of one of those keys in a padded vise grip and bend the sucker back. I don't think I'd try it though--I like the character of the bent keys.

 

[RPG]

I wish the owner still deep plowed the fields, but they are all no-till. The site should be a good one for Native American artifacts though--right near a creek, and on a big hill.

You said the owner is very cool. Maybe if you talk to him he will make a couple of runs across the field with the plow this fall just to see what you can find. I have an owner that plowed his entire field and asked me to find him some artifacts. He's not even a farmer.
Randy

 

[Detectingfreak]

Very nice job on the coins and button!

 

[Colonial Copper Zeus]

Nice story Buck..Too bad the quarter had to be what it was. Such potential. The largie more than made up for it though. I wish to find more of those Benningtons. I found a few of them. I'm due for a campathon. It's been a while.You guys have quite a few coppers for the year if i'm not mistaken. Keep up the great work.
Chris

 

[RPG]

Nice story Buck..Too bad the quarter had to be what it was. Such potential. The largie more than made up for it though. I wish to find more of those Benningtons. I found a few of them. I'm due for a campathon. It's been a while.You guys have quite a few coppers for the year if i'm not mistaken. Keep up the great work.
Chris

I kinda liked the quarter too.

 

[time4me]

Congrats on a fine hunt Buckles!

Love that largie!!!

 

[BuckleBoy]

Nice story Buck..Too bad the quarter had to be what it was. Such potential. The largie more than made up for it though. I wish to find more of those Benningtons. I found a few of them. I'm due for a campathon. It's been a while.You guys have quite a few coppers for the year if i'm not mistaken. Keep up the great work.
Chris

At least it wasn't a 1964. Now That would've been insulting.


This has been a good copper year. I've surpassed the total LC finds from last year with just what I've dug in 5 months this year. 8) Plus I have a Draped Bust LC from KY and a nice Civil War Sword Belt Plate. Rodeo has scored some nice seated silvers and an early plain militia plate. So it has been a blast so far. I can't wait to see what we dig out of the Jungles this summer.


Best Wishes,



Buck

 

[BuckleBoy]

I kinda liked the quarter too.

It's the first silver Washington I've seen come out of the ground in three years. It was such a shock that I felt a little tortured by being led on. Of course, we made that worse by taking a break and getting all excited about it, before the "unveiling" of the coin.


At this point, I'm still happy for silver. Silver doesn't come around too often with the type of hunting we do. After digging Seateds with my team, the funny thing is--this is HB's first silver Washington.


The newest silver we found last year was an 1899 Barber dime--and it was the Only Barber the whole year. This year, DG got an early 1900s Barber Quarter. And it will probably be the only Barber we find. I thought it was so funny that a GW Quarter happened to be dropped by a farmer on a spot where an old house Used to be many years before.



But the longer I do this hobby, the more I am convinced that just about anything can be found just about anywhere.




Best Wishes,




Buckles

 

[texan connection]

Very cool

 

[MaineRelic]

I would have been honored 2 go on a camping hunt with yu! Looks like u guys had a great time and yes managed some hungover finds!! It dosen.t get better then that!!1

 

[ModernMiner]

Looks like that was fun and you all made some nice finds, btw, in the second to the last photo the object closest to the bottom, oval with 3 holes, any idea what those are? I dug one last time out in a CW spot.

Tsgman,
I've found many of these myself at CW sites. They remind me of the roller shade brackets.
-MM-

 

[BuckleBoy]

Looks like that was fun and you all made some nice finds, btw, in the second to the last photo the object closest to the bottom, oval with 3 holes, any idea what those are? I dug one last time out in a CW spot.

Tsgman,
I've found many of these myself at CW sites. They remind me of the roller shade brackets.
-MM-

If that's the case, then I've found one example of an endpiece from a roller. Here's the post where it was ID'ed. I will dig out that piece and see if the nub on it fits into the bracket piece. I didn't think they had these during the CW era, but evidently they did--as Gypsy's reply proves in the post below:

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,206206.0.html



Best Wishes,




Buckles

 

[RPG]

What's this?

 

[BuckleBoy]

What's this?

That's a little cap of some sort that appears to be made of either pewter or pot metal. (most likely pewter.) I thought it was a pewter button when I found it, but upon removing it from the plug I realized that it is a cap or lid. There are no screw threads on it.


I may post another photo or two of that piece in this thread later on...



Regards,



Buckles

 

[fender346]

But the longer I do this hobby, the more I am convinced that just about anything can be found just about anywhere

Thats a great quote man.

Nice post thanks for the read

 

[Shawano~]

Some real sweet finds there... WTG!!

 

[BuckleBoy]

But the longer I do this hobby, the more I am convinced that just about anything can be found just about anywhere

Thats a great quote man.

Nice post thanks for the read

No problem. Welcome to Tnet.

 

[Tnmountains]

Ahhh the broken Turkey tail point was the real heart breaker. I just love it when metal detector is in hand and you spot an ancient artifact. Good hunt guys glad you had fun.

TnMountains