paleomaxx
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- Aug 14, 2016
- 841
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- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
I'm finally back in the game! Rough couple of weeks with not a lot of time or options kept me pretty much inside for the past month. I finally got a day set aside and checked out a new area. Both spots on the map were gone by the 1860's which is always a good start. The first site I found pretty much immediately since it was an obvious cellar hole, but the second had no trace whatsoever of a foundation. After some wandering back and forth I noticed there were a few apple trees off the path so I slowed down and then spotted the tell-tale pottery fragments weathering out of the ATV trail. Bingo! Best part about a site like that is I'm sure I'm the first to detect it. The weeds are pretty high so I focused on the path and was pulling out great old targets left and right. Not one inch below the surface was this:
It's worn completely smooth, but I'm fairly positive it was a Spanish 1/2 real. Even looking like this I'm happy to dig any colonial silver! Not far away was a first-time find, a Canadian token:
Not a lot left from the design, but the date is strong and I was able to identify it as a Tiffin copper half-penny token. Joseph Tiffin was a Montreal grocer who had them made and imported in 1832. The design and date is the same as earlier 1812 tokens, but his were significantly underweight. Despite this they readily circulated and his scheme was later imitated by others leading to tokens minted in brass and underweight versions of other tokens entering circulation.
I also found a bunch of buttons including a nice basket-weave dandy and an 1830's fancy button with a good amount of gilt remaining.
There's also a pewter button that someone took the time to hammer completely flat. The casting mark and shank are still visible on the reverse and whatever the design was there was a circle of dots around the rim. I guess someone was bored.
The best find though was the hard times token. "Leverett & Thomas No. 235 Pearl Street New York." It's a merchant token and it dates from 1833-1835, but it's still categorized under hard times tokens in most references. Conditionally it's very well preserved with very little missing from ground action, but it obviously circulated for quite a while since it's worn almost smooth:
It's difficult to get the right lighting angle for photos, but you can see almost all of the lettering if you fidget with it under a lamp. After some searching I did find a well-preserved example online, but it turns out there aren't that many photos of this token out there.
It's listed as an R-5 so only 31-75 examples!
Given that it's a rarity I'm glad I found it in any condition!
Beyond that there were a bunch of the usual homesite bits:
Of note is a huge lead weight with an iron loop. My guess would be a fishing net, but it's pretty hefty. Most of the site is buried by plants so I'll be back towards the fall to give it a real sweep. After this I went back to the first spot and did a scouting sweep. It's also pretty buried by plants and I get the feeling that it has been detected before, but I didn't come away empty handed. Almost immediately I found one and then two large cents!
The condition is pretty good on both of them and the dates, 1818 and 1837, are solid. I also found a few flat buttons before I called it for the day. It wasn't until I got home and started cleaning that I realized what I had found:
1st Regiment of Artillerists coat button! These were only made for a few years, 1811-1813 and from what I can tell do not turn up often. It took me a long time with andre's pencils to get it to the point you see there. For some reason the dirt was really cemented to the patina and I had to be really careful not to scrape off the script lettering. Pretty much all of the detail can be seen so I'm not going to mess with it more, but I am hoping that a few more are waiting to be found at that site and maybe one of those will be clearer.
Needless to say I cannot wait for the weeds to die off and I'm really glad to be back out there!
It's worn completely smooth, but I'm fairly positive it was a Spanish 1/2 real. Even looking like this I'm happy to dig any colonial silver! Not far away was a first-time find, a Canadian token:
Not a lot left from the design, but the date is strong and I was able to identify it as a Tiffin copper half-penny token. Joseph Tiffin was a Montreal grocer who had them made and imported in 1832. The design and date is the same as earlier 1812 tokens, but his were significantly underweight. Despite this they readily circulated and his scheme was later imitated by others leading to tokens minted in brass and underweight versions of other tokens entering circulation.
I also found a bunch of buttons including a nice basket-weave dandy and an 1830's fancy button with a good amount of gilt remaining.
There's also a pewter button that someone took the time to hammer completely flat. The casting mark and shank are still visible on the reverse and whatever the design was there was a circle of dots around the rim. I guess someone was bored.
The best find though was the hard times token. "Leverett & Thomas No. 235 Pearl Street New York." It's a merchant token and it dates from 1833-1835, but it's still categorized under hard times tokens in most references. Conditionally it's very well preserved with very little missing from ground action, but it obviously circulated for quite a while since it's worn almost smooth:
It's difficult to get the right lighting angle for photos, but you can see almost all of the lettering if you fidget with it under a lamp. After some searching I did find a well-preserved example online, but it turns out there aren't that many photos of this token out there.
It's listed as an R-5 so only 31-75 examples!
Given that it's a rarity I'm glad I found it in any condition! Beyond that there were a bunch of the usual homesite bits:
Of note is a huge lead weight with an iron loop. My guess would be a fishing net, but it's pretty hefty. Most of the site is buried by plants so I'll be back towards the fall to give it a real sweep. After this I went back to the first spot and did a scouting sweep. It's also pretty buried by plants and I get the feeling that it has been detected before, but I didn't come away empty handed. Almost immediately I found one and then two large cents!
The condition is pretty good on both of them and the dates, 1818 and 1837, are solid. I also found a few flat buttons before I called it for the day. It wasn't until I got home and started cleaning that I realized what I had found:
1st Regiment of Artillerists coat button!
These were only made for a few years, 1811-1813 and from what I can tell do not turn up often. It took me a long time with andre's pencils to get it to the point you see there. For some reason the dirt was really cemented to the patina and I had to be really careful not to scrape off the script lettering. Pretty much all of the detail can be seen so I'm not going to mess with it more, but I am hoping that a few more are waiting to be found at that site and maybe one of those will be clearer. Needless to say I cannot wait for the weeds to die off and I'm really glad to be back out there!
Upvote
33
Love the Token!
