BuckleBoy
Gold Member
Hello All,
I got out with Hill Billy over the weekend to do a little digging. We had started the day trying to chase down a site that we couldn't quite locate (which burned part of our hunting time up). The ground was still mainly frozen, and we were a little worried about breaking a shovel trying to chisel our way through. The second site we did manage to find but it had been bulldozed, which no doubt destroyed and buried some of the finds. We still did quite well though. It took a while to find our spot--we found a trash dump in the edge of the woods that did look like it had some older pieces in it (stoneware). Then we got out in the field and did some hunting, finally getting some harmonica pieces in a little flat part of the way down a hill. I got half of a really cool crotal bell and then got a nice signal I thought might be an IH cent. When I chiseled my way through the ground, the signal disappeared in the sloppy muck. I grabbed a muddy dirt cookie and saw that it had a silver edge poking through. "SILVER!" I yelled at HB.
We started hunting with the fever, and HB pulled two interesting jewelry items up. One is a gold plated brooch, and the other is a turn-of-the-century Shriner's badge from Texas (of all places). Here are the photos of these items cleaned up:
I wandered back around the fringe area again (the un-bulldozed part), and spent a long couple of minutes chiseling through the icy mess. Then I saw a two-piece button sticking out of an icy dirt cookie:
When I turned it over in my hand, I could tell already that it was an Eagle Button--and an "I" at that.
We poked around until the signals dried up, and dug around in the dump some--collecting some stoneware and a little depression glass--then hiked the long sloppy hike back to the car to head home.
When I cleaned up the finds, I was surprised to see that the flat button I'd dug had a nice design on it. As I gently toothpicked the Eagle I could see some gilding shining through, so I changed plans and used aluminum jelly on it. I was quite happy with the end result. After it dried, I toothpicked the back (repeating my mantra of "Civil War Era Backmark, Please!" And indeed, it was.
The backmark is listed in Tice as "B8-18: SCOVILL MF'G CO., / WATERBURY. dm, with small lettering between two rings of dots, about 1860." The silver dime was a 1901 Barber in beautiful shape.
I only got two silvers last year to go with my 20 Large Cents (a half dime and a new Georgie Quarter). I also only dug two eagle buttons last year (I usually average 6-8 per year). So I think 2010 will be a good year. 8)
Here are the before/after photos of my finds:
Best Wishes,
Buckles
I got out with Hill Billy over the weekend to do a little digging. We had started the day trying to chase down a site that we couldn't quite locate (which burned part of our hunting time up). The ground was still mainly frozen, and we were a little worried about breaking a shovel trying to chisel our way through. The second site we did manage to find but it had been bulldozed, which no doubt destroyed and buried some of the finds. We still did quite well though. It took a while to find our spot--we found a trash dump in the edge of the woods that did look like it had some older pieces in it (stoneware). Then we got out in the field and did some hunting, finally getting some harmonica pieces in a little flat part of the way down a hill. I got half of a really cool crotal bell and then got a nice signal I thought might be an IH cent. When I chiseled my way through the ground, the signal disappeared in the sloppy muck. I grabbed a muddy dirt cookie and saw that it had a silver edge poking through. "SILVER!" I yelled at HB.
We started hunting with the fever, and HB pulled two interesting jewelry items up. One is a gold plated brooch, and the other is a turn-of-the-century Shriner's badge from Texas (of all places). Here are the photos of these items cleaned up:
I wandered back around the fringe area again (the un-bulldozed part), and spent a long couple of minutes chiseling through the icy mess. Then I saw a two-piece button sticking out of an icy dirt cookie:
When I turned it over in my hand, I could tell already that it was an Eagle Button--and an "I" at that.
We poked around until the signals dried up, and dug around in the dump some--collecting some stoneware and a little depression glass--then hiked the long sloppy hike back to the car to head home.
When I cleaned up the finds, I was surprised to see that the flat button I'd dug had a nice design on it. As I gently toothpicked the Eagle I could see some gilding shining through, so I changed plans and used aluminum jelly on it. I was quite happy with the end result. After it dried, I toothpicked the back (repeating my mantra of "Civil War Era Backmark, Please!" And indeed, it was.
The backmark is listed in Tice as "B8-18: SCOVILL MF'G CO., / WATERBURY. dm, with small lettering between two rings of dots, about 1860." The silver dime was a 1901 Barber in beautiful shape. I only got two silvers last year to go with my 20 Large Cents (a half dime and a new Georgie Quarter). I also only dug two eagle buttons last year (I usually average 6-8 per year). So I think 2010 will be a good year. 8)
Here are the before/after photos of my finds:
Best Wishes,
Buckles
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You were rockin'! 
Seeing the pics of the goodies frozen in the dirt, I had to laugh. I ended up with blobs of mud in my keeper pocket last week when our ground was frozen. :P 
