I have been struggling lately

[Steve in PA]

To find new sites. I prefer to dig Civil War era and earlier - the earlier the better! Easter weekend I finally secured permission from the caretaker of a large property to check out three sites that show up on the 1867 atlas, one of which was a log cabin that burnt down about 30 years ago. It mainly produced 20th century stuff, nothing old enough to excite me. I hiked back into the woods and found the second spot - an old cut stone cellar hole with stone spring house. Very thick underbrush and lots of thorn bushes. Nothing but some iron junk here. The next day I found the other cellar hole. Again cut stone foundation and stone spring house. Here I got a slick coin like disk the size of a two cent piece, a pewter spoon bowl, a couple oil lamp wick holders, and a nice Benedict & Burnham (1834-1843) one piece flower button. I will probably go back here at lease one more time. This past weekend I hiked into the woods and found a 1789 iron furnace. This furnace made shot for Mad Anthony Wayne's 1794 expedition against the Ohio Indians. When I got to the furnace ruins it was on PA State Game Lands and there was a sign posted that said it was illegal to remove man made objects including historical or archaeological items. So I turned around and hiked back out two miles (all up hill) and went to one of my pounded sites since it was such a nice day. Here are some of the odds and ends I have come up with the last two weeks. Unfortunately nothing exciting. Now I'm just hoping a couple of my favorite fields get plowed this year.


Here are some of the better items


I eyeballed this crude bone button


I also found this William McKinley commemorative token issued after he was assassinated in 1901


Here are better images of the token I got off the internet

 

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[Loco-Digger]

Sounds like you had a good adventure along with some good metal detecting. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Nice finds! Any one of which is better than I'm digging up.

It's early in the MD'ing season yet so there is room to improve on that.
Hope they plow those fields soon for ya! GL & HH!

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

Finding new sites does get tougher all the time, and is the most important skill.
Not only do you have to find new sites, but good ones, even tougher.
And you were far from skunked.

 

[pescadore]

Those look like nice finds to me !! Congrats.

 

[pepperj]

That's far from struggling, I'm on my 3rd site and I could post up a little harness ring to show for the efforts. Nice assortment of finds you have managed to get though.

 

[CoinandRelicMan]

Looks better than my field hunting out here for the most part but some days are better than others

 

[Evolution]

Sounds like you've got a large area to cover. I like the designs on the buttons. The token is from a presidential token series that were made in the mid 1900s.. Nice finds!

 

[Argentium]

Nice Find ! I too was thinking the font style looked closer to mid century than early first decade .

 

[Steve in PA]

Sounds like you've got a large area to cover. I like the designs on the buttons. The token is from a presidential token series that were made in the mid 1900s.. Nice finds!

I thought that was from a series that was issued in the mid 20th century. That's what I told my sister when I dug it. But the corrosion and a rough date I came up with on a quick web search made me think it was earlier. I remember finding a bunch of the aluminum ones in a yard way back when I started detecting. They were 1970s I believe. Do you know who issue these brass ones?

 

[VOL1266-X]

Still good hunts Steve. Between bad weather and lack of new CW sites, I have only 20 CW relics for the year. this time last year I had 340. Sites are getting hard to locate so go back to the last cellar hole. WTG, Q.

 

[WHADIFIND]

I believe a rethink about just what excites you might be in order. I mean that, sometimes we get caught up searching for a certain type of find and if we're not getting that, the rest just disappoints.



I'm liking what I'm seeing!

 

[metalev4]

I like the gilted buttons Steve. Nice recoveries, although I know you are looking for the early stuff. Good luck this season. I hope you dig some early silver......like a tree coin

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Steve - most folks would not consider your finds as "struggling", but I know what you mean. When you're on the hunt for the early stuff, flat buttons and IHs just don't cut it. But don't give up on the season just yet - you'll still have some opportunities to go out with a bang. Good luck!

And it's about time for my usual "last hunt of the year" comment. You always pick at me when I say that, and you're usually right as sites always seem to pop up at the 11th hour. Right now I have a fantastic property with multiple early sites to hunt, but just can't gain access due to all the activities going on there. I was only able to hunt it once for a 1/2 day when Evan was in town, and haven't been able to get back in there after almost 3 weeks. Things don't look promising either, and planting is just around the corner. Looks it might have to wait for the fall. And if that happens, looks like I've already had my last field hunt of the season. At least I went out with some silver.

 

[DJS3]

Those look like great finds to me.

 

[johnnyblaze]

Nice variety there Stevie boy..
We cant kill it everytime.Do you have stone walls and Cellar holes in PA?
I find the oldest stuff is out in the woods.

~Blaze~

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs. It all looks good to me

 

[Steve in PA]

Nice variety there Stevie boy..
We cant kill it everytime.Do you have stone walls and Cellar holes in PA?
I find the oldest stuff is out in the woods.

~Blaze~

JB, the earliest house sites I have hunted didn't have cellar holes. Two of these recent ones did have stone cellar holes and springs. Most of the stones were cut. Even though they were in the woods, there was very little open ground around them. The ground was uneven and thick with thorn bushes.