Seated Silvers, a PISTOL and a Rare Railroad Lock!

[BuckleBoy]

Hello All,

Posting the results of the first couple hunts of 2021 now that I have a chance to catch up due to the SNOW here in Louisiana!!

2021 started with a visit from my old friend Kindafoundabuckle from KY. He got me back into the hobby after about 10 years where I didn't dig much. He took me out the very first hunt to a church yard back in 2006 and I went around toward the old outhouse and dug my first buckle! Sword Belt Plate! I will never forget that day--or how red his face turned!

At any rate, it was great to host him down here to put the coil to the Louisiana soil! Here's the video:



Here's some photos of the hunts... First photo, objects in it are smaller than they appear





This guy is like a brother to me. We don't get to dig much together anymore like we once did but when we get together for a hunt it's a reason to celebrate. Long trip from Kentucky to Louisiana!! We dug some civil war bullets, I got a seated half dime and he a barber dime, and we had a hell of a lot of fun.



From the field beside this one I dug an 1896-O barber dime, and he dug this which is an 1895-S. SOOOO close to the RARE 1895-O! One day!!



After KFB left I kept digging, using the NEL sharpshooter coil my wife got me for Christmas (awesome wife!!). Pulled a lump of silver from a pounded site (about 1/4 ounce melted), along with another half dime:





Also went to another site and picked through some iron carefully and got a nice Eagle "I" cuff right at darkfall:



The following hunt I went to a field to eyeball. It's always best to do this right after the first few hard rains after plowing (when all the marbles and other items are on the tops and sides of the sugar cane rows), then wait for about a month and eyeball again once the marbles have weathered out and rolled down to the bottoms and the coins and other items are weathered and washed flat. Spent the entire day eyeballing and didn't even turn on the detector. Walked away with many handfulls of marbles, some old glass bottles, half a gold plated ring, a brooch, a stirrup piece, and walked up on a WWII AF cap badge lying in the dirt:



Missing the eagle's talon with the olive branch but otherwise complete.

Also eyeballed what I thought was a toy gun sticking out of the mud. Brass barrel but not like anything I'd seen before. When I got it home I discovered it was rifled. So the search started to ID it. Turns out it's an Otis A. Smith .32 cal rimfire pistol (5 shot).





https://www.ima-usa.com/products/or...-32-rimfire-serial-905?variant=18943905693765

Obviously the pistol frame was broken at the weakest point by the plow. Armed with the knowledge of what I was looking for, I swept the barrel under my F75 and it read 68-70 on the ID. So I went back the following day to this trashy TRASHY site to dig anything that read 62 or above on the ID. After a grueling day of digging hundreds and hundreds of aluminum ice cube tray pieces, bleach caps from bottles, melted aluminum, and other junk, I failed to find the rest of the frame (which means it's either deep or busted into more than one other piece). I did make several other great recoveries though. I eyeballed a hammer from a musket or rifle (anyone know what this might be from?)



I also dug my first ever complete brass bullet mold! Even better, when I started carefully cleaning it, it was marked! "MASS ARMS CO"



Here's a few photos of a non-dug one:
https://simpsonltd.com/massachusetts-arms-co-bullet-mold/





This mold was for the .36 cal Adams patent revolver.
https://www.rockislandauction.com/d...co-adams-patent-double-action-pocket-revolver



Then as I rounded a row and the signals got a little thin I walked into an outbuilding site on the property and the iron nails intensified. I got a very high tone and out flopped this Railroad lock!!



The last one of these I dug out west in Utah when I was on a trip hunting ghost towns there a few years ago, so I was stoked to find one in Louisiana!

While carefully cleaning the lock I started to see the marking with the letters S P C! South Pacific Coast Railroad!! This is a VERY rare line, running between Alameda, Santa Cruz and San Francisco--and for ONLY 11 years from 1876-1887!!

Here's the wiki page on this railroad:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pacific_Coast_Railroad




And here are some of photos of the paddle wheeler ferry "the Newark" that traveled across the San Francisco Bay, owned by that railroad, and photos of various engines and cars from the SPC line:







So here's at photo of a few of the marbles and buttons, along with my top three brass finds:



I now have more than one reason to go back to dig--I tried to find the value of a RR lock like this but while I didn't find a lock for sale I did see a key for sale (keys are more rare, as one key opened all the locks on any line). And an S P C RR key is valued at $1000.00!!

https://railtiques.com/shop/spcrr-c-bk-unmarked-south-pacific-coast-railroad-car-key-estremely-rare/

OK, lets get this snow over and done with--I want to dig!!

Best Wishes,

BB

 

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[BuckleBoy]

I appreciate the tip BuckleBoy and I’ve learned a lot from you. Thank you

If this will help in any sort of way It broke off the lock buttt if you can do anything with it I can mail it to you View attachment 1903622

Hello my friend, I appreciate the offer but please keep it yourself. You dug it! It’s from the reign of Queen Victoria (VR means Victoria Regina). Cheers!

 

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[BuckleBoy]

What a GREAT post! The effort it takes to get good video, take pictures, put the back story together on the items....fantastic stuff! That was like reading a book, but better! What an amazing thing it would be if everybody’s more productive hunts were so well documented and posted. THIS is the kind of post that genuinely makes people interested in detecting. Huge PROPS on the whole thing BB!

hello my friend, thank you so much for your considerate and thoughtful reply! This is the reason why I sometimes sit on finds for a few weeks to ensure a proper ID and cleaning, and to do research. I also prefer digging to posting on forums, so when I get a day free I dig more! This sometimes causes a back-up in dirt-covered finds sitting all over our house ��

but that said, I prefer to make posts like this that get people thinking about the history rather than just the value

 

[BuckleBoy]

what beautiful glass and beads, it took about 1 century as they were lost and worn ...!!!!

thank you friend, I like the glass and beads as well ��