Top Shelf '24....updated!

[ironhorse]

Hey hey diggers!
Here it is, the end of 2024 and what a year it has been. Day one way back in March to the last digging day back a couple of weeks ago has been sprinkled with amazing and historic finds and the most wonderful recoveries that I've found in thirty years of detecting.
Yeah I guess I say that on the regular every year at this time but it's so amazing that every year I have such an array of finds that it blows my mind when I see it all in one place. The coins and the relics and all the other little bits we claim from the ground to become part of our collections to display, learn from, and share with others is a testament to our determination and passion as detectorists.
I feel there is still a lifetime's worth of things for us just waiting out there to be found, but that will begin when the ground thaws again in spring . For now we will focus on the past season with all the fun finds I've had this year.

Due to sensory overload I'll break down the finds over the next few days and post to this thread each day each category of find.

So here is Day 1..
Coppers
Not a bad year for coppers this time around. My 'jar' coins included the wiped, worn, and corroded coins that did not make the cut for album keepers but are a great study group . Theres a couple of hundred of those plus the keepers...some oldies, some foreign coins, tokens, modern era decimals, and many other interesting bits.
Some of my favourites included my earlier European and British coppers which are among some of the better coppers I found this year.
If was going to pick a favourite out of this batch it has to be my 1797 2 pence cartwheel...not the prettiest example but a first for me and a highlite of the year. I'm proud of the rest and will treasure them all equally.

Tomorrow...it will be silver!
Stay tuned for the rest of the best..you wont be disappointed!!

 

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[unclemac]

It seems you have little competition!

 

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[Almy]

I'm in Maritime Canada as well and have similar artifacts but no where near the quantity. You have harvested more in one year than I have found in total over my 30 years of detecting. There are probably lots of reasons for this: likely you hunt more and harder, probably you have more sites (I have hunted maybe 20) perhaps you have a better detector but I suspect a lot of it has to do with a greater concentration of artifacts in the soil because the population density was greater where you are. My area was settled by Loyalists starting in 1783 but they were in scattered dwellings, not a settlement.
I am happy with what I have found, am glad you have done so well and enjoy seeing yours finds. I especially like coins, as I have since I was a kid. The old and unusual ones are particularly interesting to me.
Incidentally, that 1 R pistareen is exceptional for its rarity and excellent condition! Wow!

 

[unclemac]

yeah...that Louis I alone is pretty banner worthy!

 

[ironhorse]

It seems you have little competition!

Like most places there is plenty of competition, there's a ton of other diggers I know and others that I'm aware of...and probably many I'm unaware of as well.
The vast majority are once in a while guys but theres a few serious guys like me who treat it like a job( putting in a 40 hour week of detecting) and the result speaks for itself.
Research is a whole other can of worms that we can explore another time

 

[ironhorse]

I'm in Maritime Canada as well and have similar artifacts but no where near the quantity. You have harvested more in one year than I have found in total over my 30 years of detecting. There are probably lots of reasons for this: likely you hunt more and harder, probably you have more sites (I have hunted maybe 20) perhaps you have a better detector but I suspect a lot of it has to do with a greater concentration of artifacts in the soil because the population density was greater where you are. My area was settled by Loyalists starting in 1783 but they were in scattered dwellings, not a settlement.
I am happy with what I have found, am glad you have done so well and enjoy seeing yours finds. I especially like coins, as I have since I was a kid. The old and unusual ones are particularly interesting to me.
Incidentally, that 1 R pistareen is exceptional for its rarity and excellent condition! Wow!

You dont have to go very far in the Maritimes to get to an early area that had Loyalists lay down the foundation of those communities.
They play largely into my research.
I travel extensively and have a huge roster of sites I currently hunt and those I rarely visit any longer and some that are now gone ( mostly have new construction on them again) yearly I would hunt anywhere from 50 to 100 old home sites in fields. The condition of the field plays a major factor...mostly grain, potato, and soy beans are usually pretty easy conditions to deal with.
If I couldn't find coins out there I probably wouldn't detect near as much as I do but theres so much more to find than coins in the ground that going home with none is tough unless you have something else that piques your interest and steals the thunder of a good coin..the coins are sometimes just the icing for the cake!

 

[unclemac]

how about Labrador?

 

[ironhorse]

how about Labrador?

That's way out of my neighborhood

 

[ironhorse]

Hey hey diggers!
Here we are at the finale!
Day 4 buttons and military
Buttons are the one thing you can almost expect to find at every old site. Every once in a while a nice one pops out and catches your eye.
I've found hundreds of buttons this year and these are the best!

Lots of nicely designed little dainty buttons for the fashion conscious, and lots of nicer older buttons including some beautiful engraved tombacs to livery buttons (Adair family) down to nice little cuff button of The East India Company.

Civilian buttons are great but it's even better when the buttons you find are military....they connect to the adventurous defenders of our place we call home.

At this point you may want to ask the kids to leave the room, I would like to keep this family friendly forum just that but unfortunately I am going to subject you to complete unadulterated button porn!
Please dont be offended lol
My American friends in Massachusetts came to visit this year...a pair of great railroad buttons from the Boston and Maine RR and a pair of nice early state militia buttons as well..National Lancers and a silver washed officers button!
Buttons all the way back to the American Revolutionary War to the navy and local Victorian militias.

I also found some super artillery buttons. Again, a spread of eras from the post Rev War well into the 1800s.
And to cap things off...cap badges! Sweet heart pins, lapel pins, and shoulder flash!
140 Battalion...St Johns Tigers WW l , St John NB
219 Battalion CEF WW l , Aldershot NS
PEI Light Horse 1901-40 WW l&ll, Charlottetown PEI
Enamel maple leaf with crown
Each Maritime province represented in one way or another.
But in the end after all that I could not pick a favourite out of the bunch...it had to be a tie!
PEILH flash and the Massachusetts Militia! Both firsts...both awesome!

So that's it...2024 has treated me very well in the detecting world...I hope 2025 is as good for me as it is for you! Happy New Year everyone

 

[unclemac]

great year you had!

 

[Almy]

Thank you for the informative replies to my queries, IH. I now much better understand the reasons for differences in the quantity of our finds from a similar area. The quality as well, because the best finds are a small percentage of the total and you have a greater total. Your button finds are outstanding, too. Many are in beautiful condition. I think you have enough relics for a museum exhibit, if there were an appropriate museum.
My metal detecting has been approached as a way to find and characterize homesteads in my immediate area. As with yours, most are in agricultural fields and several have had new structures built on them since I detected them. I record my finds from each site, and from them try to get an idea of what kind of people lived there and over what time frame. I also search historical records and try to put names to the families who lived in each site, but with limited success so far.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Congrats on all the fantastic finds !

 

[pepperj]

I must say that you had a great season with many top self placements.

Well dug on the 2 Pence. Even a 1 is a rarity to be dug. What a slug of copper to be carry around.

You really raked in the silvers, and probably like most each one was well received.
I find it amazing how digging one can put the spring back into the step.

The relics can bring the cool factor into the totals, and there are many that just do that. Well dug.

I guess I'm just a sick dirt guy out there that gets a thrill viewing the button porn.😁
I'll admit that the gills are a tad green that your local can provide such a X rated star lineup.

I tip my hat to your year of digging.
It sure adds up over a season into a great show.

 

[ironhorse]

I must say that you had a great season with many top self placements.

Well dug on the 2 Pence. Even a 1 is a rarity to be dug. What a slug of copper to be carry around.

You really raked in the silvers, and probably like most each one was well received.
I find it amazing how digging one can put the spring back into the step.

The relics can bring the cool factor into the totals, and there are many that just do that. Well dug.

I guess I'm just a sick dirt guy out there that gets a thrill viewing the button porn.😁
I'll admit that the gills are a tad green that your local can provide such a X rated star lineup.

I tip my hat to your year of digging.
It sure adds up over a season into a great show.

Thank you pepperj!
I try to present my finds in an informative and entertaining way.
Sometimes the story is better than the find but in the end it's the finds!
Things were so different last year and things will be different next year...I was just happy to be along for the ride this year !
I appreciate your kind words and support ..continued success for you!