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Unexpected phone call leads to the recovery of spanish silver #17 for the season

Bill D. (VA)

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Oct 7, 2008
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Location
SE Virginia
🥇 Banner finds
6
Detector(s) used
F75 SE (land); CZ-21 (saltwater)
Primary Interest:
Other
I had already hung the detector up for the season, and was about to send it in for some much needed repairs. Good thing I didn’t as this morning I received a phone call right after getting back from my 3 mile run. It was from the woman who owned the site where I found a ton of colonial artifacts a couple months ago including the gorgeous 1795 liberty cap cent, a W&M copper, 4 spanish silvers and a ton of buttons and buckles. She told me the farmer had been to the field last week and sprayed weedkiller, and now the field was huntable again. That was great news and I really appreciated the heads-up. Not often a property owner will go to that much trouble. Especially one that almost didn’t let me hunt the site at all.

During our talk she was trying to tell me about some very old pottery she’d found years ago in another section of the field, one that I had roamed a couple of times before without any luck. But before she could give me a specific location she had another call coming in and had to leave. I ended spending almost 2 hours zig-zagging all over that spot and could only come up with a small caliber musketball. I ended up going back to the other area that contained the 2 hotspots that I’ve hit very hard. I did a bit of roaming around the edges of those areas, but others who have hunted the site before seemed to have vacuumed everything outside of the iron patches, but were apparently scared off by all that iron. I was getting ready to leave for the day when I noticed that many of the thick strips of soybean stubble left from the last harvest had settled down from 6-8” thick to only about 2-3”. So I took my time slowly covering those 3 ft wide spots, especially in the irony areas. I was surprised I started getting a good signal here and there. At the first hotspot I recovered a larger roundball, a button and a couple buckle pieces. When I moved to the 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] area I hit a button immediately, then my next target was an unexpected surprise – a nice little cut piece of silver. I ended up with a few more buttons, and 2 other them were huge with designs. Finally called it quits after about 3.5 hours, but I was very pleased that it all worked out and I was able to close out the season (again!) on a high note.
 

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Upvote 27
Thanks Dave. To help cement the relationship I gave her a nice wooden case with some of the finds. After she received it, she started telling me she had some contacts who might be able to get me into some historical areas. Never hurts to go the extra mile.

owner display case.webp
 
Great late season finds Bill. We just met a farmer who let us hunt between his planted corn. Still cant believe it. Never in 24 years have I had a farmer offer up a field freshly planted in corn. He offered them after we asked to hunt some of his other unplanted fields. I know better than to go there. lol. So we hunted it and its got colonial sites waiting for us this winter. Easily one of the nicest farmers I've ever met. He literally tried to talk our ears off. Its all good. I tried to give him some of the finds but he has no interest - yet at the same he was eager to help us out with our hobby.
 
Great late season finds Bill. We just met a farmer who let us hunt between his planted corn. Still cant believe it. Never in 24 years have I had a farmer offer up a field freshly planted in corn. He offered them after we asked to hunt some of his other unplanted fields. I know better than to go there. lol. So we hunted it and its got colonial sites waiting for us this winter. Easily one of the nicest farmers I've ever met. He literally tried to talk our ears off. Its all good. I tried to give him some of the finds but he has no interest - yet at the same he was eager to help us out with our hobby.

That's only happened once to me as well. The soybeans were already up about 6" but he said go ahead and hunt the rows. Oh, I just remembered, I also got the green light to hunt the rows of a large, mature veggie garden, and made some great finds right up against the plants. I've run into a bunch of really nice owners and farmers over the years, and they outnumber the jerks at least 25-1. That's definitely a good thing.
 
I strictly hunt cultivated fields here in southeast Va, and just about everything has been planted and is off limits until the fall harvest. My season generally runs from Oct thru April, and I spend the summer on research and doing a little beach hunting.

Ok, I gotcha. Nice that you get out to the beach a bit until your fields are ready again. Do you ever hunt super old homes/yards? I'd go crazy detecting down there with all that history! Super old finds around here are 1890's, so I'm jealous of you folks. Anyway, your finds are always remarkable...happy hunting
 
Ok, I gotcha. Nice that you get out to the beach a bit until your fields are ready again. Do you ever hunt super old homes/yards? I'd go crazy detecting down there with all that history! Super old finds around here are 1890's, so I'm jealous of you folks. Anyway, your finds are always remarkable...happy hunting

I started out years ago hunting old yards (I thought early 1900s was old .... haha!). Now I'm so spoiled I'm only interested in pre-1750 sites, although I do stumble across some that are not that old. But to answer your question, its rare when I get the opportunity to hunt an old yard but that is still one of my favorite things to do. But in my area the sandy soil allows items to quickly sink out of range, and that's usually the case in a yard where the soil has not been disturbed.
 
Yep, pre 1750 sites would be on the top of my list too haha.
 
Bill - Great stuff. Now rest up - I'm looking forward to all your great post in the fall.
 
Congrats on 17 Bill! I thought you had another hunt or 2 in you. Now get back in there before they plant!
 

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