Yesterdays finds at old homesite, nice button, relics.....lots of pics

nevrdundetecting

Sr. Member
Sep 26, 2005
317
53
Wayne Co., WV
Detector(s) used
Minelab Equinox 600, White's Prizm III, Bounty Hunter Pioneer EX
Pro-Find 15 pinpointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hello all.....I managed to get out yesterday in the drizzle and windy 40 degree temps.....I hunted an old homesite that I located yesterday with the help of one of the historical maps at maptech.com, the map that I was using was surveyed in 1901. I went to this place back in the summer with the same map, but was unable to locate the ruins of the house then because of all of the foliage......yesterday, I walked right up on it. I found the well which is still uncovered, cellar hole, some bricks, footer stones, and big step pad cut from a large sandstone. Total hunting time was between 3 and 4 hours and I found a nice old POD button made by the Waterbury Button Co, Conn. After researching the button, I found out that is was used on the "Post Office Department" uniforms, however I haven't been able to date it exactly as the Waterbury Company used this same back mark from 1849-1965 according to some button websites that I found. Also found a part of a spoon, some pieces of pottery, and a couple of metal whatzits, the small one has what looks like a flower pattern on it and the long, skinny piece looks like it has a flaming ball on the end, I think that it somehow fit together with the two half-moon shaped pieces but have no idea as to what they are.

Woke up this morning to about an inch of snow and the temp today is only supposed to be up to 32 with a wind chill of around 20....probably won't get to go out today but we'll see, if so I'll post the pics later this evening

Thanks for looking!!

HH
 

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Pics of Homesite well and cellar hole

Here are pics of the well and cellar hole, I detected inside and around the cellar hole...didn't find anything but a few old jar lids with glass seal...sorry about the quality of the pics..they were taken with my cellphone camera..

HH
 

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forgot to mention that I was using my new Prizm 950 coil that came in the mail last thursday, got a great deal on it because it was a display at dealer, $65 shipped with coil cover and there were 0 scratches on the coil or the cover and the receipt said NEW , I like it alot...can cover the area much quicker than the 8 inch stock coil.....pinpointing took a little getting used to because I was used to the solid, stock coil as opposed to the open center design of the 950 coil, but the 8" will definitely be better for extremely trashy areas, which this place wasn't

I also found a shotgun shell but that reads "UMCCo/No 12/NEW CLUB", Union Mettallic Cartrige Co used that particular marking up to 1912, when they were bought by Remington and the marking changed to REM-UMC.....last summer I found a shell butt exactly like this one about 1/4 to 1/2 mile from this spot, could have been shot from the same person with the same gun...

Had a great time there yesterday and will definitely be going back!!

HH
 

Good Finds and some nice pics....The coins will be there somewhere!!!! ;D
 

Nice relics and site! The pics aren't bad for a cell phone. Isn't the 950 the stock coil for a Prizm? I put a 12" Hot Shot coil on my XLT and have noticed a depth and sensitivity increase. HH, Mike
 

Love that button! Neat finds!

Careful of the wells....might be others there too!

Great pictures!

;)
 

Bavaria Mike said:
Nice relics and site!? The pics aren't bad for a cell phone.? Isn't the 950 the stock coil for a Prizm?? I put a 12" Hot Shot coil on my XLT and have noticed a depth and sensitivity increase.? HH, Mike

Mike, the 950 is the stock coil on the Prizm V only, all of the others come with an 8 inch coil that is based on the Royal 800 coil for the high end models. I would say that there are many more cool relics there and hopefully I'll be able to dig up some old coins too.

HH
 

anybody have a button book and can date the button for me? how about the whatzits, any ideas on those?

thx

HH
 

Those are some interesting relics, NDD. Maybe someone on here can ID them for you. Hopefully, you'll find some coins there.

You'll love the open coil. It's much easier to see the exact spot to dig.
 

haupin said:
Those are some interesting relics, NDD.? Maybe someone on here can ID them for you.? Hopefully, you'll find some coins there.?

You'll love the open coil.? It's much easier to see the exact spot to dig.


Yes, you are right about the open center coil, it just took a minute to get used to because I was used to the closed coil design, but, like you said, it is easier now cuz the target pinpoints in the center of the opening, which is easy to estimate because of the small circle

I hope I will find some coins there, at first I thought that the button might be an indian head penny because it ID'd as a zinc penny, but after digging I was happy with the button....I love finding old buttons, it's a real thrill

As for the date on the button, I read on the USPS website that they started using buttons with "POD" in 1893 when they changed from the "PO" buttons, but it didn't really say when they quit using that type of button, although it did say that they switched away from metal buttons in 1942 to help the war effort, so I figure that it has to be somewhere between 1893 and 1942, just wish I could get closer than that

I really don't think that there was a house there in 1942 tho by the looks of the site, there is absolutely no wood left of any of the structures, only stones and bricks, wonder how long it would take for all of the wood to rot away like that?

Thanks for all of the nice comments everyone......

HH
 

Very nice button,,, Interesting pieces of scrap too...
Boy,,, the well sure looks like a good leg breaker, huh?
Good luck, & Happy hunting~
 

Yes Leon, the well is very dangerous, I didn't even see it until I was right up on it...maybe I should try to cover it or at least try and make it more visible for others safety

It took me a while to recognize the cellar hole too, I was just detecting and I looked over and thought to myself "that looks like a rock wall over there"....lo and behold it was the cellar hole

Can't wait to get back there next weekend, the topo that I have shows another house a few hundred feet from that one but I wasn't able to determine exactly where it sat yet, gives me something new to look forward to next weekend, plus there are a lot of other places that I can check on the map too...the area is now a state park and there are lots of homesites on the map that are now abandoned and forgotten about way back in the woods

HH
 

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