Or, perhaps call it a spill. How many coins does it take to make a cache anyway? A friend of mine has a nice colonial site which has been totally hammered for years and years and years. At the end of the year I got a HUGE iron signal on the XP Deus, and decided to go for it and dig it. Well, it was a nearly intact colonial hoe. Now that's something you don't see every day. It was about 15" deep. I noticed some shells and charcoal in the hole, so covered it over and determined to come back and dig some more. I did that a couple weeks ago (I really lose track of time these days). In the hole was a little piece of exquisite yet broken late 17th century Venetian glass. The ground was so muddy, and the cat so out of shape, I recovered that and a couple buttons and called it a day and covered the hole back in and left.
View attachment 1674974
View attachment 1674975
These are finds from then and the piece of glass.
Well, the ol' cat was just itching with curiosity as to what was in the hole? There was a lot more metal there, for sure. So my buddy Tommy couldn't go Friday, so I went by myself and started digging the same dirt out...now for the third time. The owner came by and said hi, and the sight of me sitting in what amounted to a mud pit with a newly found piece of the glass had to have him laughing for hours. Well, the first thing out of the hole, didn't want to come out of the hole. I keep prying and banging and banging and prying and finally this big iron thing plopped out of the side and into the bottom.
View attachment 1674976
View attachment 1674978 
A side plate with frizzen to an extremely old flintlock gun! Amazing! But Wait! There's more! I found a few buttons, late 17th to early 18th style, and a few tiny buttons (which were not buttons) with no shanks. It's coming, hang in there. The oyster shells were huge. Check it out. View attachment 1674979
View attachment 1674980 That's my HAND holding it! Bigger than my outstretched hand they be!
Then some pipe stems started falling out of the sidewall, along with some ceramics. I was actually looking for the ceramics, and glass, I wasn't expecting much else. View attachment 1674981
View attachment 1674982 Redware, Delftware, stoneware, and a piece to a pancake onion bottle.
View attachment 1674983
At that point I'm excited. I noticed another icky button (not a button) and a grey lead disc pop out, and put them in a pouch. Again, not a lead disc. When I quit, leaving the huge hole open, I started cleaning up stuff.
I had SEVEN HAMMERED COLONIAL COINS, TWO IN SILVER! From one tiny (but huge to me) hole! I had six, then a last one came tumbling out. Including the one, shown below, the old German one, that's EIGHT in 2019.
So Tommy and I went back Saturday (yesterday). The glass and ceramics had disappeared. We started finding "rocks" in a place that should have not had them, and we also detected after we got tired of the hole. Hidden in all my "stuff" were three little square pieces of metal. One was just a square little piece of metal, the second, a late 17th century to early 18th century brass hand made nut and the third - I couldn't believe it! A Spanish 1/2 reale cob! The first one I ever found! Actually these are pretty much firsts of everything.
I got 1 broken buckle, a nice 1575-1700 buckle, and from another spot a couple hundred yards away while just detecting a complete tombac button and broken late 18th century shoe buckle.
OMG! Thank you Lord! If this isn't the best day detecting and digging I have ever had, I do not know what is.
And to boot, one of the rocks looks like a sharpening stone, and the roundish rock I think is an American Indian game ball or other stone. Your comments appreciated. I have a lot more iron, I do not THINK I have the hammer to the gun, but one of those larger pieces looks really odd.
View attachment 1674993
I hope nothing is upside down. Iphones are not picture friendly for me.
The coins again:
German 17th Century token or jetton and Charles I Shilling
View attachment 1675001 And since the other one won't load again, Two Charles I rose farthings, one Charles I Sixpence and a 1702-1728 Spanish 1/2 Reale cob, minted in Mexico City. Plus Another copper Charles I something or other.
I can't believe I dug the whole thing. I gave the shilling and token/jetton to Tommy. We only got 1 coin Saturday. Same hole.
SEVEN HAMMERED COINS IN TOTAL, ONE HOLE!
View attachment 1674974
View attachment 1674975 These are finds from then and the piece of glass.Well, the ol' cat was just itching with curiosity as to what was in the hole? There was a lot more metal there, for sure. So my buddy Tommy couldn't go Friday, so I went by myself and started digging the same dirt out...now for the third time. The owner came by and said hi, and the sight of me sitting in what amounted to a mud pit with a newly found piece of the glass had to have him laughing for hours. Well, the first thing out of the hole, didn't want to come out of the hole. I keep prying and banging and banging and prying and finally this big iron thing plopped out of the side and into the bottom.
View attachment 1674976
View attachment 1674978 A side plate with frizzen to an extremely old flintlock gun! Amazing! But Wait! There's more! I found a few buttons, late 17th to early 18th style, and a few tiny buttons (which were not buttons) with no shanks. It's coming, hang in there. The oyster shells were huge. Check it out. View attachment 1674979 View attachment 1674980 That's my HAND holding it! Bigger than my outstretched hand they be!Then some pipe stems started falling out of the sidewall, along with some ceramics. I was actually looking for the ceramics, and glass, I wasn't expecting much else. View attachment 1674981
View attachment 1674982 Redware, Delftware, stoneware, and a piece to a pancake onion bottle.View attachment 1674983
At that point I'm excited. I noticed another icky button (not a button) and a grey lead disc pop out, and put them in a pouch. Again, not a lead disc. When I quit, leaving the huge hole open, I started cleaning up stuff.I had SEVEN HAMMERED COLONIAL COINS, TWO IN SILVER! From one tiny (but huge to me) hole! I had six, then a last one came tumbling out. Including the one, shown below, the old German one, that's EIGHT in 2019.
So Tommy and I went back Saturday (yesterday). The glass and ceramics had disappeared. We started finding "rocks" in a place that should have not had them, and we also detected after we got tired of the hole. Hidden in all my "stuff" were three little square pieces of metal. One was just a square little piece of metal, the second, a late 17th century to early 18th century brass hand made nut and the third - I couldn't believe it! A Spanish 1/2 reale cob! The first one I ever found! Actually these are pretty much firsts of everything.
I got 1 broken buckle, a nice 1575-1700 buckle, and from another spot a couple hundred yards away while just detecting a complete tombac button and broken late 18th century shoe buckle.
OMG! Thank you Lord! If this isn't the best day detecting and digging I have ever had, I do not know what is.
And to boot, one of the rocks looks like a sharpening stone, and the roundish rock I think is an American Indian game ball or other stone. Your comments appreciated. I have a lot more iron, I do not THINK I have the hammer to the gun, but one of those larger pieces looks really odd.
View attachment 1674993
I hope nothing is upside down. Iphones are not picture friendly for me.
The coins again:
German 17th Century token or jetton and Charles I ShillingView attachment 1675001 And since the other one won't load again, Two Charles I rose farthings, one Charles I Sixpence and a 1702-1728 Spanish 1/2 Reale cob, minted in Mexico City. Plus Another copper Charles I something or other.
I can't believe I dug the whole thing. I gave the shilling and token/jetton to Tommy. We only got 1 coin Saturday. Same hole.
SEVEN HAMMERED COINS IN TOTAL, ONE HOLE!
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Later they threw the trash in the privies, as privies could only be used so long then had to be moved. I have dug privies before, short term ones. The soil takes on a particular color at the two small privies I dug up. This was absolutely NOT a privy. On the east side of the hole, there is a 5" thick layer of ash and oyster shells 18 INCHES or so underground. So they did burn some trash here. There are some big non native rocks 3' underground at the bottom of the hole, but the trash does not go down that deep (or we really messed up). All the pottery was on the south and west side of the hole. Most of the buttons and coins came the first day on the south side of the hole, just ABOVE a peculiar yellowish clay layer over a foot thick that had NOTHING in it. I think there was a fire pit area on the west side of the hole and the rest of the items were deliberately tossed on the ground near the fire area. The best stuff was just above the fire level. The coins I think were in the dead center, with one exception. The hoe (still yet to be photographed) but now in the SINK was in the dead center of where we dug. I think if you could take 12" of dirt off, your machine would go berserk! I think on this site if we began a new hole just to the south or west of the current dig, we'd be in the good stuff again, however, I think most of the coins were pretty much together.
You have my Banner vote!
