HomeGuardDan
Bronze Member
Yesterday's Colonial hunt yeilds three cut silvers!!
I got out yesterday with my good pal Bill D for another round at the colonial site that we have been pounding as of late. This time my dad was up visiting and we invited him along for a hunt.
Bill and I started the day digging into a couple of pits that we had located with test holes previously. Those who remember my post from last weekend might remember that during one of the test holes I dug the base to a candle stick and a VA Half Penny. We immediately started back there. At first we were about as excited as two small boys on Christmas Eve. The soil looked great, we dug down and identified a brick foundation, had already dug two buckles out of the pit and the nothing, but iron and brick. We spent a good hour expanding and finding a little here and there (lead items and misc brass) but nothing else. We moved on to the next one and dug a couple of flat buttons and a broken pipe, but again nothing.
After the third We called it quits. All the while my dad was roaming around surface hunting, and had done fairly well, a handful of buttons and an early worn cut silver (most likely from a pillar half reale). Bill and I called it quits and decided to join him. We only had a few short hours left to surface hunt as dad and I had to be back home early to take the wives out for the rest of the day. Within about 45 minutes dad dug himself another cut silver, this time a nice monogramed Carlos III 2 reale (early 1708-1714) and a few more buttons and other odds and ends (buckle parts, spur, etc.).
I stayed around where we dug the pits and just began to work slowly, eaking out a few buttons here and there. I just knew that if I stayed there another coin would surface. Finally with about 20 minutes left to hunt I unearthed a nice little piece of cut silver - though this one was not Spanish. This was a first for me, a 1731 6 Sol Isle Du Vent. This was a French Coin from the Windward Islands, meaning "Island of the Wind." The H is the mintmark for "La Rochelle." Too bad it is cut, but at least I had enough detail to make out what it was. On my piece I can make out H LUD "Mint mark and for Louis VX" and on the reverse a Fleur-de-lis with ISL "beginning of ISLE."
All in all we ended the day with a couple of dozen buttons (each of use digging about 12 or so) and plenty of other colonial brass and lead. Bill also dug a few items, and took some good pictures of the pits we were digging. I also dug another portion of my candlestick holder (dug the base last weekend), with the nice stembase and a nice lead seal with a stamped trident on it.
Just goes to show that not every pit you dig will pan out, but you have to try them.
HH
Dan
I got out yesterday with my good pal Bill D for another round at the colonial site that we have been pounding as of late. This time my dad was up visiting and we invited him along for a hunt.
Bill and I started the day digging into a couple of pits that we had located with test holes previously. Those who remember my post from last weekend might remember that during one of the test holes I dug the base to a candle stick and a VA Half Penny. We immediately started back there. At first we were about as excited as two small boys on Christmas Eve. The soil looked great, we dug down and identified a brick foundation, had already dug two buckles out of the pit and the nothing, but iron and brick. We spent a good hour expanding and finding a little here and there (lead items and misc brass) but nothing else. We moved on to the next one and dug a couple of flat buttons and a broken pipe, but again nothing.
After the third We called it quits. All the while my dad was roaming around surface hunting, and had done fairly well, a handful of buttons and an early worn cut silver (most likely from a pillar half reale). Bill and I called it quits and decided to join him. We only had a few short hours left to surface hunt as dad and I had to be back home early to take the wives out for the rest of the day. Within about 45 minutes dad dug himself another cut silver, this time a nice monogramed Carlos III 2 reale (early 1708-1714) and a few more buttons and other odds and ends (buckle parts, spur, etc.).
I stayed around where we dug the pits and just began to work slowly, eaking out a few buttons here and there. I just knew that if I stayed there another coin would surface. Finally with about 20 minutes left to hunt I unearthed a nice little piece of cut silver - though this one was not Spanish. This was a first for me, a 1731 6 Sol Isle Du Vent. This was a French Coin from the Windward Islands, meaning "Island of the Wind." The H is the mintmark for "La Rochelle." Too bad it is cut, but at least I had enough detail to make out what it was. On my piece I can make out H LUD "Mint mark and for Louis VX" and on the reverse a Fleur-de-lis with ISL "beginning of ISLE."
All in all we ended the day with a couple of dozen buttons (each of use digging about 12 or so) and plenty of other colonial brass and lead. Bill also dug a few items, and took some good pictures of the pits we were digging. I also dug another portion of my candlestick holder (dug the base last weekend), with the nice stembase and a nice lead seal with a stamped trident on it.
Just goes to show that not every pit you dig will pan out, but you have to try them.
HH
Dan
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