Z.K.
Bronze Member
Howdy folks
It's been a fun couple of months, with a good find or two popping up with each hunt. I'm pleased with two 1798 draped cents and my first federal issue Canadian large cent, but I love the beautiful bell. Got my first full set of cufflinks, too! And I always like a few more buckles, an ox knob, and scythe handle part.
A visit last weekend from Aureus/Anton was fun and instructive on a number of levels, and will change the way I approach some of the hobby. This was also the first experience I've had with a true comparison of my etrac with the deus in what for me was an iron infested mess. And I couldn't believe how the deus could hear cent-size and smaller conductive targets on the same ground that my etrac was completely nulling out. I'll have another steep learning curve, but I clearly need that tool in my kit!
In addition to the technical education and camaraderie, it was some great time deep in the abandoned woods; I'd set down everything periodically just to hear the birds and streams, and remember why I really love this hobby: in what other avocation can we combine hiking, exploring, discovery, history, and the peace of the natural world?
The group of dandy buttons below makes me really happy. I'll take a nicely designed one of these over a large cent at this point. We pulled a combined 15 dandies at one site; the fact that 7/8 of mine had designs comforted me in my coinless state whilst The Detecting Wizard of the North found a flying eagle after being on American soil less than 24 hours.
Speaking of dandies, I'm edging closer to investing time into creating some kind of shared resource for these (like a Dandy Wiki?), as they are such a cool but unstudied chapter in late 18th century material culture. Perhaps we could start to match up our designs by state and county, which would give at least some data towards a census and distribution? I welcome your thoughts and feedback...all 6 of you who have read this far and like such an idea!
Lastly, an unusual but interesting collection of early 1900s Hood Dairy copper milk can labels from a rare yard hunt. These would be affixed to the necks of 10 gallon cans in which milk was shipped up until the 1930s, when refrigeration began to change the industry (and American life). I enjoy digging things that teach me something, or encourage me to see it in a new way.
Finds Anton kindly left for me to add to my collection, out of my love of buttons and buckles.
An example of an nice little button with a wheat bushel motif that my etrac couldn't hear at all through a field of nails, but which the Deus (and its operator) did.
Omitted from the pics are a few mercs, IHPs, and wheat pennies that I gave to landowners. Turns out I gave away a white gold ring, too. Thought it was silver. Ah well, it wasn't colonial or anything : )
Wishing you all good history, and a safe and fun remainder of the summer.
It's been a fun couple of months, with a good find or two popping up with each hunt. I'm pleased with two 1798 draped cents and my first federal issue Canadian large cent, but I love the beautiful bell. Got my first full set of cufflinks, too! And I always like a few more buckles, an ox knob, and scythe handle part.
A visit last weekend from Aureus/Anton was fun and instructive on a number of levels, and will change the way I approach some of the hobby. This was also the first experience I've had with a true comparison of my etrac with the deus in what for me was an iron infested mess. And I couldn't believe how the deus could hear cent-size and smaller conductive targets on the same ground that my etrac was completely nulling out. I'll have another steep learning curve, but I clearly need that tool in my kit!
In addition to the technical education and camaraderie, it was some great time deep in the abandoned woods; I'd set down everything periodically just to hear the birds and streams, and remember why I really love this hobby: in what other avocation can we combine hiking, exploring, discovery, history, and the peace of the natural world?
The group of dandy buttons below makes me really happy. I'll take a nicely designed one of these over a large cent at this point. We pulled a combined 15 dandies at one site; the fact that 7/8 of mine had designs comforted me in my coinless state whilst The Detecting Wizard of the North found a flying eagle after being on American soil less than 24 hours.
Speaking of dandies, I'm edging closer to investing time into creating some kind of shared resource for these (like a Dandy Wiki?), as they are such a cool but unstudied chapter in late 18th century material culture. Perhaps we could start to match up our designs by state and county, which would give at least some data towards a census and distribution? I welcome your thoughts and feedback...all 6 of you who have read this far and like such an idea!
Lastly, an unusual but interesting collection of early 1900s Hood Dairy copper milk can labels from a rare yard hunt. These would be affixed to the necks of 10 gallon cans in which milk was shipped up until the 1930s, when refrigeration began to change the industry (and American life). I enjoy digging things that teach me something, or encourage me to see it in a new way.
Finds Anton kindly left for me to add to my collection, out of my love of buttons and buckles.
An example of an nice little button with a wheat bushel motif that my etrac couldn't hear at all through a field of nails, but which the Deus (and its operator) did.
Omitted from the pics are a few mercs, IHPs, and wheat pennies that I gave to landowners. Turns out I gave away a white gold ring, too. Thought it was silver. Ah well, it wasn't colonial or anything : )
Wishing you all good history, and a safe and fun remainder of the summer.
Upvote
44
. It really is a deadly machine in the iron and it's a ton of fun to squeak something out from between the nails. I really like the bell too and congrats on your links man. I like the dandy resource wiki/database idea.
Perhaps detecting in the 22nd century?
