DownNDirty
Bronze Member
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2015
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- South Carolina
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- Minelab Equinox 800
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
VMI Digger and I returned to the 17th/18th century plantation site where he recently scored a near-perfect 30th Regiment of Foot button. The first hour was spent with both of us swinging the coils over the heavily-hit site. I pretty much struck out but Jon found a few interesting relics that I'll let him share in his next post. Then we broke out the shovels and sifter and tag-teamed at an area where I previously had some luck.
The roots were especially thick at this spot but we hit it hard and moved a lot of dirt. All of our finds were from the 18th century which is typical of this site. My first find of the day turned out to be my best-while checking the hole in between sifts I picked up a strong signal and pulled out half of a full cheek snaffle horse bit
While it had some rust on it the bit actually swiveled right after coming out of the ground so I knew it would clean up well. Here it is after electrolysis and submersion in melted microcrystalline wax
There would have been an identical second piece hooked to it through a loop, like this
One of the relics that always turn up in the sifter in quantity at this site are clay pipe stem and bowl pieces. Here is a shot of all of them I have found at the site to date; not sure how many but it's definitely in the hundreds.
You never know what might turn up in the sifter-like this partial pair of tiny scissors. Possibly used for embroidery?
And this whatsit-any idea??
The finds continued with two buckles-one small iron and a partial brass knee buckle. The knee buckle fragment was covered in a hard black crust and I thought it was just a plain one until I cleaned it.
Finds also come from the sift pile while metal detecting it-like this back of a two-piece button with a drilled shank
Another unusual relic that I sifted out was this large semi-circular piece of thin lead. There are no markings on it and it is another head-scratcher.
All in all it was decent day with the usual pottery shards, nails and animal remains rounding out the finds.
The roots were especially thick at this spot but we hit it hard and moved a lot of dirt. All of our finds were from the 18th century which is typical of this site. My first find of the day turned out to be my best-while checking the hole in between sifts I picked up a strong signal and pulled out half of a full cheek snaffle horse bit
While it had some rust on it the bit actually swiveled right after coming out of the ground so I knew it would clean up well. Here it is after electrolysis and submersion in melted microcrystalline wax
There would have been an identical second piece hooked to it through a loop, like this
One of the relics that always turn up in the sifter in quantity at this site are clay pipe stem and bowl pieces. Here is a shot of all of them I have found at the site to date; not sure how many but it's definitely in the hundreds.
You never know what might turn up in the sifter-like this partial pair of tiny scissors. Possibly used for embroidery?
And this whatsit-any idea??
The finds continued with two buckles-one small iron and a partial brass knee buckle. The knee buckle fragment was covered in a hard black crust and I thought it was just a plain one until I cleaned it.
Finds also come from the sift pile while metal detecting it-like this back of a two-piece button with a drilled shank
Another unusual relic that I sifted out was this large semi-circular piece of thin lead. There are no markings on it and it is another head-scratcher.
All in all it was decent day with the usual pottery shards, nails and animal remains rounding out the finds.
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