Another iffy signal pays off, my first plate for 2010

[vayank54]

Today I went back to the house site where I dug the NY cuff button and hunt the beaten down thorns some more. I found this spot about 10 years ago and it has been good to me. Some of my better finds there include a GA frame buckle Sabre belt plate, Eagle Breast plate, Lead filled LA buckle, VMM (Maine) buckle, 1799 8 reales, several 2 reales and quite a few colonial coppers, large cents and other coins as well an quite a few civil war buttons The ground is fairly bad and full of iron. You can dig a hole almost anyplace there, grab a handfull of dirt and it will have 5 to 10 nails in it. I decided to use my Cibola this time. I hunted about 6 hours and got a rough Indian head penny, part of a shoe buckle, a brass spool to a sabre belt rig and a brass rivet. I got a really iffy signal that would chatter one way and do nothing the other. The machine would always chatter in the same spot so I decide to dig it after digging about a foot and pulling out about a dozen nails I saw a site that makes a relic hunters heart jump into their throat puppy paws. It was a nice US buckle but missing the main hook. After that I got something that gave a signal when I would swing from one direction but not the other. It turned out to be an eagle button laying beside a railroad spike. I also got a small piece of brass and a small piece of clay pipe stem. It pays to dig those iffy signals

 

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[Woodland Detectors]

Very nice my friend.
Congratulations on a elusive find!

 

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[Nisroc]

Wow that's a great plate!

 

[vayank54]

Thanks all
IP, The LA was lead filled LA buckle It was decent but had frost damage. It was bowed up from the ground freezing. It is fairly rare and in good shape would book for about $4,000.00 The place is mostly woods but has an overhead powerline running through the middle of it so it seldom gets mowed and is usually to overgrown to hunt. I wish it could be plowed.

VOL1266-x Yep your right the soil was wet and everything worked just right but let's not forget how good a digger I am
OH yeah you have to count dumb luck too.

Kuger, I don't have any idea on how many US buckles. Over the years I've dug about 450 civil war and earlier military and militia plates. We used to sometimes dig 2 or 3 a day. The most I've dug in one day was 5. Man I miss those days.

 

[Mr Tuff]

congrats on a nice CW find MR TUFF

 

[{Sentinel}]

Nice plate bud MAN, you should've taken a photo of it down in the hole so that

we could see it being dug out! To me, those are the best photos showing the plate at the bottom of a

very deep hole...GETS THE BLOOD PUMPING CHEERS on a nice plate

 

[vayank54]

Thanks Sentinel. I took several pictures of it in the hole and the area. Either my camera and my computer hate each other or both hate me and have formed a conspiracy. I'm not sure which but I have a hard time getting pics from my camera to load in my computer. If I get them to load I'll post the pics.

 

[{Sentinel}]

I like the green patina on the plates. Here's my last plate that I dug a couple months ago. You can see some of the

Green patina still on it. This plate was on edge so only gave a very small "blip" from my detector

 

[vayank54]

If they are completely green I will leave them that way. I guess it all comes down to personal preference though.

 

[ModernMiner]

Very nice find VA. Congrats on that beautiful plate.
You have some great CW relic spots you lucky dog.
-MM-

 

[Dman]

Congrats on nice plate.
Dman

 

[kuger]

Thanks all
IP, The LA was lead filled LA buckle It was decent but had frost damage. It was bowed up from the ground freezing. It is fairly rare and in good shape would book for about $4,000.00 The place is mostly woods but has an overhead powerline running through the middle of it so it seldom gets mowed and is usually to overgrown to hunt. I wish it could be plowed.

VOL1266-x Yep your right the soil was wet and everything worked just right but let's not forget how good a digger I am
OH yeah you have to count dumb luck too.

Kuger, I don't have any idea on how many US buckles. Over the years I've dug about 450 civil war and earlier military and militia plates. We used to sometimes dig 2 or 3 a day. The most I've dug in one day was 5. Man I miss those days.

That is truly amazing!!!!450!You truly are one of the legends that got in when the gettin' was good.I can not imagine that.My hats off to you.
Really something to see what it was to what he has become and where its going.I guess thats with everything though,I not an old timer,and can say I seen the better days of a lot of things!!

 

[vayank54]

Some of the older guys, I started digging with, have dug over 1,000 plates. One fellow I know has dug over 2,000. One day I dug 3 and was really happy and the guy I was with said I remember when you didn't have a good day unless you dug at least 10 plates. I guess I got started to late ha ha. To tell the truth I'm surprised at the amount of stuff that still comes out of the ground. And yes I agree we have seen the better days of a lot of things.

 

[FortBedfordbob]

Man, That is one Beautiful Plate ! I could go for finding one of those

 

[Iron Patch]

Some of the older guys, I started digging with, have dug over 1,000 plates. One fellow I know has dug over 2,000. One day I dug 3 and was really happy and the guy I was with said I remember when you didn't have a good day unless you dug at least 10 plates. I guess I got started to late ha ha. To tell the truth I'm surprised at the amount of stuff that still comes out of the ground. And yes I agree we have seen the better days of a lot of things.

In no way is it anything like that here, just a different part of the world with different finds, however.... We are the first generation to hunt fields here so in a way it feels a little like you guys did back in the day. I think someone starting now, depending on exactly where they live could have plenty of success, but maybe in another 5-10 years, and especially in the areas we've hit the hardest, I think there could be some frustrated swingers. All our sites get plowed so we basically don't give up on them until pretty much every last non iron target is found. It's true no place usually gets hunted out, but all our sites get quiet enough that anyone walking in for the first time and not knowing what was found, is not going to stick around. Like I always say, you find a site first and hit it hard right away, you basically have just bought the rights to it forever.

 

[Nana40]

Some of the older guys, I started digging with, have dug over 1,000 plates. One fellow I know has dug over 2,000. One day I dug 3 and was really happy and the guy I was with said I remember when you didn't have a good day unless you dug at least 10 plates. I guess I got started to late ha ha. To tell the truth I'm surprised at the amount of stuff that still comes out of the ground. And yes I agree we have seen the better days of a lot of things.

So I'm about 40 years too late into diggin'? :P I'd settle for just one.

You always have amazing finds! LOVE the color on that buckle!

Congrats!! Nana

 

[Iron Patch]

Some of the older guys, I started digging with, have dug over 1,000 plates. One fellow I know has dug over 2,000. One day I dug 3 and was really happy and the guy I was with said I remember when you didn't have a good day unless you dug at least 10 plates. I guess I got started to late ha ha. To tell the truth I'm surprised at the amount of stuff that still comes out of the ground. And yes I agree we have seen the better days of a lot of things.

So I'm about 40 years too late into diggin'? :P I'd settle for just one.

You always have amazing finds! LOVE the color on that buckle!

Congrats!! Nana

I paid a visit to a private run museum in VA, was in 2004. Apparently a lot of the stuff was funded by several local diggers most of whom had passed. What they must have been digging back in the day must have been insane. It was in Fredericksburg, I know someone reading this post will know it. Very cool little spot!

 

[vayank54]

IP, A lot of the guys I started digging with wouldn't hunt fields because the stuff came out messed up. There were a few guys I know who wouldn't dig yankee camps at all and would throw a US buckle or eagle breast plate down through the woods while fussing about the yankee junk. There are places like that here in that a lot of diggers could go through and think there was nothing there. That's the kind of places I dig some of my stuff And like you all I'm not done until the ground is quiet. I get the best signals first then go for the iffy ones and then the iron. I'm greedy and I want it all.
You must mean White Oak Museum. When they first opened it it was mainly stuff that DP Newton and his family dug. It has expanded some now. Those camps down that way were loaded and the brass always came out nice. Anyone who visits VA needs to stop in there. Heck if anyone does go let me know and I'll join you. I love that place and DP is a great down to earth guy.
Nana, do you know how many times I've heard "I got started too late digging"?
There was a guy I used to dig with that started in '65 and he always said he started to late ha ha. I started in '69 and I started to late The last several years I've gotten one plate each year and I've felt fortunate with that the way things are now.

 

[extractor]

beautiful plate

 

[Detectingfreak]

nice plate! I had to buy mine because I knew I would never dig one.

 

[49r Relics]

Stellar find Sure cleaned up nice too. Congrats!!

HH, Mark