Glorious Colonial Digs, Nipple Buttons, Spanish and Coppers

SouthJerseyJim

Hero Member
Jan 8, 2009
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Nova Cæsarea
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Detector(s) used
T2 LTD 13" Detech
Primary Interest:
Relic Hunting
Well after reading BillD and Dans post for weeks now I needed some of my own colonial fill up here in NJ. It was time to give those VA boys a run for their money! Arty and I met up around 10am today to scout some new areas we thought would hold some buttonage(mom was sick and couldnt join) Started out in a field with a lane of trees running hunreds of yards towards the river. Found a flat button and a random flying eagle penny. Eye balled some nice looking field on the other side of a drainage ditch and scoured the area for signals. First signal was a cast button..One you dont see posted alot on Tnet. Well this area was our small bonanza for the day. Lots of cast buttons and more than 5 NIPPLE buttons. My first of this kind and probably my oldest. Found a worn KGII also in the same area. We pounded this spot for hours and decided to try the adjacent field for more buttons. More buttons followed on the long walk back to the trucks for lunch. After lunch we had eye balled a huge rise in the field to our right. Tons of brick and pottery littered the peak. Arty pulled 2 large 2 piece buttons from the area and the mucky mud was a little too much for us at the time and decided to go back to our glory field. When we returned the signals were less but I found the silver we thought would be there with all the old colonil finds. It looks to be the size of a half reale. Its very worn except one part that shows of lines. Found a few more buttons and decided to follow the sunlight out to the trucks. We stopped by the raised hill area of the other field just as it was getting dark. Well the ground had frozen up and no more gooey walking. Little did we know we would finding a ton of buttons and relics in the dark. The T2 doesnt have a back light but every solid signal was either a button or piece of history, no trash. We decided after about an hour of night detecting we would save the field for a daylight hunt. The only night I had came from my Pro pointer :laughing7: It was an awesome day of digging and there will be much more to find in the future for these fields. I will let Arty post his great finds. Is it me or does one of the cast buttons Appear to have a "1" in the center? This would be significant if true.
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Upvote 9
WOW Those are a lot of colonial digs! That spoon handle, with the three rounded parts on the top, I've dug two of those, and I've heard that they are very old. Anybody have any information on them?
 

Great finds! sounds liks a good spot.
 

Man I like it!!! Very nice and early finds!! Love those early buttons. Join in anytime, love seeing early finds

Dan
 

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Nice finds. A purposely scratched coin is a indicator that the coin was once in the possession of a Native American as some often defaced the coins intentionally--some form of supersticion, I guess--especially, when you see a deep gash across the throat ofa face coin.
 

Super hunt Jim! Glad to see the nipple/pimple buttons being found, you are so correct, not many found at all, but sure is a great indicator that site is one of the first settled areas. Now the only trouble with a site that old, no NJ's! :)

Don
 

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WOW Those are a lot of colonial digs! That spoon handle, with the three rounded parts on the top, I've dug two of those, and I've heard that they are very old. Anybody have any information on them?

The spoon handle part I think it is called by a couple different names, but Split End type I think is one of them, they match the nipple buttons for dating the site, mid to late 1600s I believe.
 

Those are some nice early finds Jim. Bet there is more out there.

HH Jer
 

Great spot - Awesome finds
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Thanks guys. Thanks for the approx date on the site. Couldnt believe the age of buttons we were finding. Cant wait to get back. Very interesting about the coin scratching. Im afraid i may have added a scratch myself. I was talking to Arty as we were walking the fields about the boys down in Virginia tearing up the super old sites saying man I wish I could find that OLD old stuff up here. Wish granted. Now we just need some lizzies and cut spanish :)
 

Great day of hunting. Nice digs bud and we still have allot of real estate to cover. Till next time.
 

That's quite a haul of colonial goodies for just a day's hunt. Those hotspots definitely deserve to be gridded out and hunted hard. No telling what else lies under the surface at an early site like that. Great post, and good luck to you guys when you go back.
 

awesome digs Jim. Congrats on the reale...a little rough though. I'd love to find one of those flying eagles some day!
 

Great day of hunting. Nice digs bud and we still have allot of real estate to cover. Till next time.
Hi arty & Jim 8-) , Jersey guys need to turn it up a notch , although i do appreciate seeing cut silver and hammered , nice work down there ,, darn tootin' ,, tha's just wonderful :icon_thumright: Jersey had little tobacco commerce ,,, for that reason our possible lost coin currency will be Spanish milled , maybe a straggler cob :dontknow: but listen up , some of the best State and earlist of US coppers and the Best part :notworthy: early Philly Mint US silvers and gold coins ,, imo worth a lot more historically and collector value , :o

imo one 1793 to 1807 silver is possible , odds of finding early US silver here in Jersey and PA are better than anywhere . Just sayin' :icon_scratch: Va has some of the oldest coins but Jersey has the big money Early American silvers and gold coins .... now here's a clue that works , research some Delaware River and Bay port commerce sites .

The cut up pieces are cool if their 8 reales :skullflag:

and I have news for you guys ,,, you may not have to quit your job or be retired to get the rare one :cool: forget about those cut 2 R pisterenie , s :tongue3:
 

Looks like you guy's are onto another hot site! I see a linked pair of cufflinks - anything on those?

Great hunt and I'm looking forward to your next post :thumbsup:
 

Thanks guys, Steve the links apear to have a little design around the center < ^ > something like that.
 

Dang Jim, this is making me wish it was Spring already! Cant wait to get out again. Congrats!!!
 

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