Keeping it Rolling with a 250 Year Old Silver and TWO Seated Ladies!

[BuckleBoy]

Hello All,

Got out today with Diggergirl for some hunting in the oven that is South Louisiana. Knew we'd have a good day with DG eyeballed Seated Silver just laying on the top of the plowed ground.



We hit the area hard and came up with some more great finds. DG found her 2nd Seated Dime of the year, so she got the most silver--including a beautiful solid silver button. But I got the oldest one, with a Philip V Half Real.

Enjoy the video and photos.



Here is DG's eyeball find. An 1858 Half Dime. Can't tell if there's an Orleans mintmark or not. Post-war farmer drop, judging from the wear.



And DG's nice-details but otherwise plow damaged 1840-O Dime:



DG's 1918 Buffalo



1900? 1890? Crusty McNickel.



1925? Beefalo.



My Phillip V Half Real. It is the second style (crown goes all the way to the upper rim), so it was minted between 1742 and 1747.

The "1-7" in the date are plainly visible in the third photo. Wish it was the last two digits, but better than an unidentifiable one, of which I've found more than a few!

This is Spanish Silver #16 for the year. Hope we can make 20 this year, after last year's near miss at 19. It is quite an amazing feeling to have the Spanish reales outnumber the Seated silvers again this year. Last year there were 10 Seated silvers to 19 Spanish. Hard to believe that's happening, but for the best Colonial hunting of our lives, we'll roll with it. Keep in mind that "Colonial" here in Louisiana means up to 1812, unlike y'all up there in the Northeast. At any rate, here is the Phillip V:



A nice SCOVILLS civilian button. I haven't looked up the backmark, but as I recall it's 1840s or so.



I have recovered late 1700s/early 1800s silver-gilded buttons with basket weave designs before, but this is by far my best example. Back bears the eagle with the word "PLATED."



Two cool eyeball finds. DG got a tiny red bead. No idea how she managed to see it. I got my first clay marble with traces of paint remaining (3 blue rings).



DG's beautiful silver button. This is the first solid silver button we've dug down here, surprisingly enough!



I think that the other part of this was dug by Shane in a previous video. Not sure what it is. CW-era horse tack? Bridle hardware?



I found a lock's guts that looked familar. Then found the face of it in my junk bin. I think I have dug pieces of similar locks before, now that I can look inside and identify the moving parts.



And here are all the finds of mine, plus DG's interesting finds thrown in. She has not cleaned everything yet, and there is a badge that I am very curious about! I also got a piece of red marble, obviously from a fireplace, or something in a Fine plantation home. (upper right)



Happy Hunting to All,


Buck and DG

 

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[wheatfinder13]

Awesome seated silvers and Spanish. I also like the marbles

 

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[Trezurehunter]

great finds, and great video. Thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[BuckleBoy]

You two Rock . I think she might push you over on seeing an eye ball find lol. Great hunt all the way around. That is a lot os silver this year. I would love to see it laying out there like an artifact. Btw do you ever see and flint?

Strangely enough I have had my eyes peeled for flint, and I have seen exactly two pieces in two years down here. Both were gun flints. I do not think that there were many rocks down here capable of being knapped, and certainly no native flint. Not sure what Native Americans did. I have friends who find points down here, but perhaps the trouble is that we are in a flood plain along a river. No clue about the absence of flint. I would have thought I'd find a nice Native American artifact by now, as much eyeballing as we do.

 

[The Patriot]

You are just tearing it up....16 Spanish this year...almost unheard of....plus all your other spectacular finds...hope the rest of the year is just as kind to you...

cheers

 

[BuckleBoy]

You are just tearing it up....16 Spanish this year...almost unheard of....plus all your other spectacular finds...hope the rest of the year is just as kind to you...

cheers

Thank you so much for your reply, my friend. It's been a great year so far. Surpassing even last year in terms of finds. Not sure how long our summer options will hold, but hopefully it will work out to go year-round.

Cheers,

Buck

 

[BuckleBoy]

Glad to see you guys are still tearing it up in the fields with multiple silver every time out. Your totals for the year are more than impressive. And I don't think you're ratio of seated to spanish is strange at all. I've probbaly only dug about 15-20 seated coins ever compared to about 150 colonial silver. I guess a lot of it comes down to the types of sites we hunt. Regardless, old silver is old silver, and congrats to you for putting more of it in your pocket. Keep 'em coming!

Thanks for your reply my friend. I'm pleased that we're digging the oldest sites we could find down here. We are also helped by the persistence of spanish silver in circulation until after the Civil War. That seems to be a unique thing here in Louisiana. Probably since the citizens were so used to it in Colonial days, and on through early statehood in the absence of a mint or ciruclating US coins until the late 1830s, then on through after the Orleans Mint closed. It seems that supply didn't meet demand until probably the close of Reconstruction or even the early 20th c.

Regards,

Buck

 

[Steve in PA]

Nice finds there between the two of you. You must have done a good job converting DiggerGirl into a hard core digger, because only hard core goes out in those kind of conditions! The copper to silver ratio down there in Lousiana is simply amazing, and similar to Virginia with the exception of cut pieces. Silver was obviously the king and a lot of those pieces you dig saw long, hard use. Up here a general rule of thumb is 10 coppers to 1 silver.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Nice finds there between the two of you. You must have done a good job converting DiggerGirl into a hard core digger, because only hard core goes out in those kind of conditions! The copper to silver ratio down there in Lousiana is simply amazing, and similar to Virginia with the exception of cut pieces. Silver was obviously the king and a lot of those pieces you dig saw long, hard use. Up here a general rule of thumb is 10 coppers to 1 silver.

She goes out in the heat, no problem. But she always says "no mud!" Well I can tell you that the mud here is Awful! Sticky, sink to your knees mud. And no repast most of the summer from the cycle of rain every day. It's like a rain forest. So the mud is a real problem. I think I may have beaten it, with a chemical treatment called "NeverWet," available from Home Depot. If it does what I hope it will do, then there will be a lot of rejoicing in the Cane Bandit Camp.

You can see my article about the ratio of silver to copper in the current W&E Silver and Gold Annual. We have so far dug only three large cents and one French Copper. It's difficult to miss a copper, so I am certain that silver was king here. What we are not finding is cut pieces, but the sites are a little later than the heyday of cut silver. The one cut silver recovered was the banner find emergency issue coin, cut by planter's bank in New Orleans c.1812. In terms of colonial silver, that is 35 spanish to one french copper. Factor in the seated coins and the ratio is more like 50 silvers to 4 coppers. Seems like the opposite. I sure miss recovering coppers, but will never complain about what we're finding.

Best Wishes,

Buck