Yesterdays Colonial Snow Dig...kept the coin streak alive in Copper & Silver!!!

HomeGuardDan

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Jul 15, 2011
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Williamsburg, VA
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Yesterday's Colonial Snow Dig...kept the coin streak alive in Copper & Silver!!!

We received a blanket of the "white stuff" here in Virginia on Friday. Not to be deterred, my good pal Bill D and I decided to go do some digging. We had to wait for the roads to somewhat become clear, but by noon we were out for our half-day snow hunt. It was cold, a little wet and fairly slow at first.

After a couple of hours and only a few buttons I hit a little iron patch and began to slow down and dig iffy signals. First I dug a button, then a part of a shoe buckle, and then a nice piece of cut spanish silver popped up. It was just a few minutes earlier that we were discussing whether or not our coin streak at this site would continue, it looked bleak (5 consecutive hunts with one of us digging a colonial coin).

After digging a couple of musket balls (some with sprus still on them) I dug a test hole and located a very deep and fairly sizable pit. Running out of day light, we filled it in after the test hole and will return on our next trip to dig it out, full of brick, pottery and bone, hopefully it will pay off. A few feet away I received a deep but large high-tone. Digging down close to 18" I popped out this large brass cap/lid/top of some sort. (An ID would be appreciated if possible). Once removed from the hole, I noticed the same color of dirt and flakes of bone and brick. Sticking the loop down in the hole I was surprised to hear another tone...once more dirt was removed, out popped this beauty of a VA Half Penny! Two Coins!!! Our streak was saved and I was happy. UPDATE: (I initially posted that I did dig one early pewter Pillars of Hercules button, but it is basicaly rotten.) I thought I could make out the left pillar on the left). (image of the back) (New image provided of the front.) Upon cleaning the button I was able to make out a "1st" on the fact. It appears it is some sort of a regimental button, but none of any kind I am familiar with. Any thoughts would be helpful!

I ended the day with 11 buttons, a few pieces of colonial buckles, and some lead. The two coins were the highlight. The big brass item is solid cast, and looks to have had the middle broken out. Any ideas?

HH

Dan
 

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Upvote 12
brass thing maybe the base of a candle holder?
 

WTG on keepin the STREAK alive DAN!!!! Your copper is a BEAUT, were you able to get a date off of it? Does your brass piece look as if it was a base for sumthing? Boy I hope you found a pit, hard to say what kind of GOODIES are hidin there.. Send sum of that nice weather this way bud. lol. CONGRATS... HH
 

Killer stuff! That pit will be LOADED!!! Bill has sent me some articles describing finding trash pits, but I'd love to see some photos on-site showing how you guys dig down into the pits. Do you do a trench, shave the sides?
 

Data-Star-Trek-Fist-Pump.gif YES ...Nice finds
 

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WTG on keepin the STREAK alive DAN!!!! Your copper is a BEAUT, were you able to get a date off of it? Does your brass piece look as if it was a base for sumthing? Boy I hope you found a pit, hard to say what kind of GOODIES are hidin there.. Send sum of that nice weather this way bud. lol. CONGRATS... HH

1773 is the date. I believe the base is what folks have been saying, candlestick holder. Saw one in a museum today that looked very close, just slightly larger and pewter. It def is a pit, we will just have to see how good of one it will be!

Dan
 

Killer stuff! That pit will be LOADED!!! Bill has sent me some articles describing finding trash pits, but I'd love to see some photos on-site showing how you guys dig down into the pits. Do you do a trench, shave the sides?

Just depends on the pit. However, I typically will shave the sides carefully until the soil layer changes or I run out of color or iron. This goes for the sides and floor. Don't know about the pictures of this one, I am sure we will take some, but want to be careful as to show any signs of the location.

Dan
 

You and Bill are fast becoming legends of all finds colonial. I enjoy reading about and seeing your hunt-to-hunt success.
 

1773 is the date. I believe the base is what folks have been saying, candlestick holder. Saw one in a museum today that looked very close, just slightly larger and pewter. It def is a pit, we will just have to see how good of one it will be!

Dan

How far away was the museum, YOUR LIVING ROOM!!! lol. Great saves.. HH
 

Man yaw are sure in one heck of a spot there.keep up the great work.AWESOME FINDS MAN
 

That was a fun time Dan. Been a long while since I've dug in the snow. Like you said, it certainly makes it easy to see where you've been. Those coins are great, and the halfpenny looks to be in superb condition for a field copper. Glad you were able to come through at the 11th hour to keep our streak alive. I'm really looking forward to seeing what we can get out of the pits. Its definitely a good sign when you can pull a colonial coin out from a random hole like you did. Saturday can't come soon enough. Great job yesterday!!
 

Congrats on the finds Guys, That VA. Halfpenny looks to be in great shape. Like you said snow hunting is great for telling where you've been and you can really grid an area. I used to like hunting with just an inch or so on the ground just for those reasons :)
 

Great bunch of finds as usual! Love the VA half penny!
 

Do you guys video any of your hunts?
 

Do you guys video any of your hunts?

I have before, but got out of doing it once folks tried too much to figure out where I was. I need to get back to doing them, guess I got lazy and figured I am not that entertaining. I appear in many of Aquachiggers ha ha.
Dan
 

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