BuckleBoy
Gold Member
1700's SILVER, 1850's BELT PLATE, and MORE!
Hello All,
Rodeo Recon, Foxhound, and I made a return trip to the site where we've pulled out 1700's Reales each of the past two hunts, along with powder flask fragments, a CW Eagle Button, flat buttons galore, etc. Man oh man this was one HECK of a hunt! I'll let Rodeo and Foxhound post their great finds...but on with the story.
We got out to the site and immediately the flat buttons and pewter started coming up. Here's a photo of the site (as requested). See anything special about this little patch of cornfield? It's all about the research, being observant, and a little bit of luck.
Anyhow, we all got to work. Here's Foxhound and Rodeo showing off their MAD detectin' skills:
So after a few flat buttons, I got another *o.k.* signal, flipped out the plug and saw this:
It's a 177(4?) Half Reale. I'm STILL on cloud nine from this one! Afterwards, I remember telling Rodeo that I should perhaps change my name to "Reale Finder." Funny that I said that, in retrospect! It gets better...just wait Anyhow, here's the Reale in my hand:
So we kept hunting...and later on (after a bit of a dry spell) I got a signal that sounded just good enough in the middle of a patch of nails. It turned out to be more silver, in the form of this little decorative piece depicting a rifleman. This is currently posted in "What is it," so if you have any idea, I need some help on this one.
So then there was another dry spell for me--and a little bit of beating the brush in the woods surrounding the site. I walked back around the fringe areas of the house site again through the plowed fields. I got a FANTASTIC signal--best one I had had all hunt. Judging by how "fuzzy" it was on my Fisher, I knew it was likely a little deeper. I was praying that it wouldn't be big deep iron. And so I dug...
When I saw this I started fumbling for the camera because I just knew that this piece of brass was what I thought it was. I yelled to Rodeo and Foxhound to come over and take a look.
I had in my hands a Belt Plate!!! I was going crazy. For those of you who have dug them, you know how IMPOSSIBLE it is to slow the heck down after a recovery like that! Needless to say, after the plate came up my detecting abilities were shot. And a close-up of the Half Reale all cleaned up:
And last but certainly not least, the belt plate. You'll notice that when I found it, it was bent in half like a taco...well...I had heated the powder flask fragment with hot water and bent it back into shape (and it was very thin brass)...so...I held my breath...and said a BIG prayer...and gently....gently...bent the plate back so that I could see the face of it. It still has a 45 degree bend in it, but you couldn't PAY me to mess with it any more. WHEW! So here it is:
And a photo of all my finds for the day:
Iron Brigade Digger,
Buckleboy
Hello All,
Rodeo Recon, Foxhound, and I made a return trip to the site where we've pulled out 1700's Reales each of the past two hunts, along with powder flask fragments, a CW Eagle Button, flat buttons galore, etc. Man oh man this was one HECK of a hunt! I'll let Rodeo and Foxhound post their great finds...but on with the story.
We got out to the site and immediately the flat buttons and pewter started coming up. Here's a photo of the site (as requested). See anything special about this little patch of cornfield? It's all about the research, being observant, and a little bit of luck.
Anyhow, we all got to work. Here's Foxhound and Rodeo showing off their MAD detectin' skills:
So after a few flat buttons, I got another *o.k.* signal, flipped out the plug and saw this:
It's a 177(4?) Half Reale. I'm STILL on cloud nine from this one! Afterwards, I remember telling Rodeo that I should perhaps change my name to "Reale Finder." Funny that I said that, in retrospect! It gets better...just wait
Anyhow, here's the Reale in my hand:So we kept hunting...and later on (after a bit of a dry spell) I got a signal that sounded just good enough in the middle of a patch of nails. It turned out to be more silver, in the form of this little decorative piece depicting a rifleman. This is currently posted in "What is it," so if you have any idea, I need some help on this one.
So then there was another dry spell for me--and a little bit of beating the brush in the woods surrounding the site. I walked back around the fringe areas of the house site again through the plowed fields. I got a FANTASTIC signal--best one I had had all hunt. Judging by how "fuzzy" it was on my Fisher, I knew it was likely a little deeper. I was praying that it wouldn't be big deep iron. And so I dug...
When I saw this I started fumbling for the camera because I just knew that this piece of brass was what I thought it was. I yelled to Rodeo and Foxhound to come over and take a look.
I had in my hands a Belt Plate!!! I was going crazy. For those of you who have dug them, you know how IMPOSSIBLE it is to slow the heck down after a recovery like that! Needless to say, after the plate came up my detecting abilities were shot. And a close-up of the Half Reale all cleaned up:
And last but certainly not least, the belt plate. You'll notice that when I found it, it was bent in half like a taco...well...I had heated the powder flask fragment with hot water and bent it back into shape (and it was very thin brass)...so...I held my breath...and said a BIG prayer...and gently....gently...bent the plate back so that I could see the face of it. It still has a 45 degree bend in it, but you couldn't PAY me to mess with it any more. WHEW! So here it is:
And a photo of all my finds for the day:
Iron Brigade Digger,
Buckleboy
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A couple of really great finds.
Will ya just look at that! 
