Brendan M.
Hero Member
- Apr 14, 2006
- 649
- 10
- Detector(s) used
- White's DFX, Bullseye II pinpointer, Gray Ghost Headphones
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Hello Everyone!
The weather's been lovely on Long Island this week, so yesterday I made a point of getting in at least a couple of hours of hunting. Man, I'm glad I did!
I hit an old field that I've hunted before, which was used as a colonial militia parade grounds. It's a brutal place to hunt -- lots of thick weeds and stuff that turns into a hard "stubble" in the fall/winter, and it's a ton of ground to cover. Finds are few and far between, and everything good is super deep (7-8 inches minimum), however the last time I was there (last winter) I found the nicest coat button I've dug; it was a huge hunting jacket button with a hound on it, circa 1800-1810. I've always felt like the place had potential, but had yet to make that first key find.
So yesterday I'm doing my usual routine, trying to cover some of the ground, since the clearing is so massive, and was having a slow go of it. My best finds were some old, period copper scraps that were a good 8 or 9 inches down. After an hour of swinging through the stubble, my wrist was crying mercy, and with little to show for it, I figured I'd change it up. I decided to explore the woods just at the edge of one of the sides of the clearing. The general area I was in has been active for centuries, and not too far from a main road, so you could almost sense that the woods had been traversed numerous times before.
Well, it took all of about three minutes of searching for me to get my first target, which was a gorgeous signal -- a strong dime/quarter reading about 8 inches down. As I dug into the soil I noticed how once you penetrated the buildup of decaying leaves and the root system, the earth below it was soft and sandy. My pulse quickened as I dug deeper, and after losing the signal I scanned my dirt pile and realized it was there. After pinpointing and brushing away the soil, I came upon the nicest LC I've ever found -- an 1818 Matron Head. The soft soil barely even clung to the coin; When I picked it up it felt like it had actually been dropped in my own lifetime! I could see the date and detail immediately, and new I had a nice one. I danced a jig for sure. (Excuse the blurry site pics -- took 'em with my camera phone.)
Again, something about the soil seems to be kind to buried goodies: Shortly afterward I hit another pocket near where I found the LC, and up came a Velvet Grip garter clip circa 1890s, and a beautiful suspender buckle, which is now the nicest by far in my collection, and neither of them had lost much of the original plating. The sparkle you see on them now is with minimal cleaning!
Cheers and HH,
Brendan
The weather's been lovely on Long Island this week, so yesterday I made a point of getting in at least a couple of hours of hunting. Man, I'm glad I did!
I hit an old field that I've hunted before, which was used as a colonial militia parade grounds. It's a brutal place to hunt -- lots of thick weeds and stuff that turns into a hard "stubble" in the fall/winter, and it's a ton of ground to cover. Finds are few and far between, and everything good is super deep (7-8 inches minimum), however the last time I was there (last winter) I found the nicest coat button I've dug; it was a huge hunting jacket button with a hound on it, circa 1800-1810. I've always felt like the place had potential, but had yet to make that first key find.
So yesterday I'm doing my usual routine, trying to cover some of the ground, since the clearing is so massive, and was having a slow go of it. My best finds were some old, period copper scraps that were a good 8 or 9 inches down. After an hour of swinging through the stubble, my wrist was crying mercy, and with little to show for it, I figured I'd change it up. I decided to explore the woods just at the edge of one of the sides of the clearing. The general area I was in has been active for centuries, and not too far from a main road, so you could almost sense that the woods had been traversed numerous times before.
Well, it took all of about three minutes of searching for me to get my first target, which was a gorgeous signal -- a strong dime/quarter reading about 8 inches down. As I dug into the soil I noticed how once you penetrated the buildup of decaying leaves and the root system, the earth below it was soft and sandy. My pulse quickened as I dug deeper, and after losing the signal I scanned my dirt pile and realized it was there. After pinpointing and brushing away the soil, I came upon the nicest LC I've ever found -- an 1818 Matron Head. The soft soil barely even clung to the coin; When I picked it up it felt like it had actually been dropped in my own lifetime! I could see the date and detail immediately, and new I had a nice one. I danced a jig for sure. (Excuse the blurry site pics -- took 'em with my camera phone.)
Again, something about the soil seems to be kind to buried goodies: Shortly afterward I hit another pocket near where I found the LC, and up came a Velvet Grip garter clip circa 1890s, and a beautiful suspender buckle, which is now the nicest by far in my collection, and neither of them had lost much of the original plating. The sparkle you see on them now is with minimal cleaning!
Cheers and HH,
Brendan
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