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Digs O' The Day, January 5, 2006: First hunt of 2006 a modest success!
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,241 ✭✭✭✭✭
First time out since last August. Sure was nicer for diggin' today than it was in steamy August! It was sunny, blue skies, and 73 degrees.
I went to a relic site (Crescent Farms area, McIntosh Co., GA), but got skunked. My first target of the new year WAS a 175-200 year old artifact, but it was a rusted, crumbly square nail. The remainder of the relic hunting site produced nothing but aluminum cans and fragments thereof- by the dozen. Ugh. One coin did appear- a modern clad quarter (1967).
So I went back to Brunswick and hit one of my favorite old standby sites- the northern half of Halifax Square. Do those of you who were here last year remember in Virtual Treasure Hunt 1, when I found that decent 1903 Indian cent in the N half of Halifax, and took a picture of the spot, then left my camera hanging in a crape myrtle tree and drove off?
Well I was in that same spot today with my Troy Shadow X2. Though Halifax and all the squares in Brunswick have been pounded for at least 25 years by detectorists, I thought I would try the Shadow with its larger 10.5" coil, in that very spot (which I first hunted in 1983 or 1984!)
All the easier coin signals were gone years ago- I was digging tiny targets like buckshot and deep .22 shells and lots of bullets. Most of the signals were iffy and hard to get a good pinpoint or repeat signal on. I dug a few though. About half I had to give up as "phantoms"- they were that iffy. (Dig to China, nothing there, signal quits).
One was iffy but clear enough that I could tell there was something there. But the signal sounded so poor I walked away.
Four or five paces away, a little voice in my head said,
"Hey, dude- you're out here to find that deep, overlooked stuff, right? So why are you wimping out on some of these signals? Whatsamatter with you? Afraid of a little digging and root hacking?"
*sigh*
So I went back found the iffy signal again.
And I dug. And hacked through some roots (relatively small ones in this hole- not so bad).
Eight or nine inches down in a nice, tight, tidy hole if I do say so myself, I got a good probe hit with the Tinytec. On the bottom of the hole.
As soon as I stirred the point of the probe in the dirt at the bottom of the hole, I saw that magical round coin shape pop out of the dirt, then fall back under. So I scooped up the loose dirt from the hole. Pow. Loud, clear signal now. In my hand. Ahh, I do love that moment of truth, don't you?
Woohoo. You know when a coin comes from the bottom of an 8" to 9" hole in good ol' Indian Head Alley, it's gonna be old. The last Indian there was at five and a half inches or so.
Thank you, Little Voice In My Head. I should listen to you more often.
I went to a relic site (Crescent Farms area, McIntosh Co., GA), but got skunked. My first target of the new year WAS a 175-200 year old artifact, but it was a rusted, crumbly square nail. The remainder of the relic hunting site produced nothing but aluminum cans and fragments thereof- by the dozen. Ugh. One coin did appear- a modern clad quarter (1967).
So I went back to Brunswick and hit one of my favorite old standby sites- the northern half of Halifax Square. Do those of you who were here last year remember in Virtual Treasure Hunt 1, when I found that decent 1903 Indian cent in the N half of Halifax, and took a picture of the spot, then left my camera hanging in a crape myrtle tree and drove off?
Well I was in that same spot today with my Troy Shadow X2. Though Halifax and all the squares in Brunswick have been pounded for at least 25 years by detectorists, I thought I would try the Shadow with its larger 10.5" coil, in that very spot (which I first hunted in 1983 or 1984!)
All the easier coin signals were gone years ago- I was digging tiny targets like buckshot and deep .22 shells and lots of bullets. Most of the signals were iffy and hard to get a good pinpoint or repeat signal on. I dug a few though. About half I had to give up as "phantoms"- they were that iffy. (Dig to China, nothing there, signal quits).
One was iffy but clear enough that I could tell there was something there. But the signal sounded so poor I walked away.
Four or five paces away, a little voice in my head said,
"Hey, dude- you're out here to find that deep, overlooked stuff, right? So why are you wimping out on some of these signals? Whatsamatter with you? Afraid of a little digging and root hacking?"
*sigh*
So I went back found the iffy signal again.
And I dug. And hacked through some roots (relatively small ones in this hole- not so bad).
Eight or nine inches down in a nice, tight, tidy hole if I do say so myself, I got a good probe hit with the Tinytec. On the bottom of the hole.
As soon as I stirred the point of the probe in the dirt at the bottom of the hole, I saw that magical round coin shape pop out of the dirt, then fall back under. So I scooped up the loose dirt from the hole. Pow. Loud, clear signal now. In my hand. Ahh, I do love that moment of truth, don't you?
Woohoo. You know when a coin comes from the bottom of an 8" to 9" hole in good ol' Indian Head Alley, it's gonna be old. The last Indian there was at five and a half inches or so.
Thank you, Little Voice In My Head. I should listen to you more often.
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No doubt you'll be wanting to know what I found, eh?
Well, since I am at home, on a horrible dialup connection and a virus-infested, worm-eaten computer, uploading pics would be a practical impossibility. I did take a few pics during the outing. (Hung my camera in that same crape myrtle tree, too, though I didn't drive off and leave it this time).
Have no good pics of the coin at present- just some blurry, unfocused ones of it as it came outta the dirt. It's out in the workshop in my rock tumbler right now, spinning in crushed pecan shells with some other dug crusties.
It's nothing amazing- something I have found before (the type, at least- I think it might be the first of that particular date I have found, though).
Regardless, it put a smile on my face. Especially as I have swung a detector coil over it unsuccessfully for two decades. It probably would say, "Well, it's about time you found me! Gee whiz, I waited in that dirt for a century!"
Will try to upload pics in the afternoon, at least of the trip, even if the coin isn't suitably cleaned up to photograph.
February, 2005: the north half of Halifax Square, looking north from Prince Street, which divides the Square in two.
February, 2005: view of the NE corner of the N half of Halifax Square, showing the crape myrtle tree I later left my camera in, and the location where I dug that 1903 Indian, which was down about five and a half inches, as I recall. Unbeknownst to me at the time, I was almost standing on top of today's coin when I took that shot back last February. (There's a new shot from the same direction that I took this afternoon- it should be interesting to compare the two when I get the new one uploaded. Interesting for me, anyway.)
That same blue car drove up and parked in the same place along the curb today. The fella got out and waved.
Loading pics and so on... BBIAF
I'll post more when I'm not getting interrupted by work (groan).
This is how we track down old homesites when relic hunting in Coastal Georgia. First we find "naked dirt" that's been bulldozed or cleared somehow. Then we walk the site and look for bits of oyster shell, in an area otherwise devoid of shell- it's a sign that people were there.
Sometimes those concentrations of shell can lead you to prehistoric Native American sites, too. The next thing to look for is pottery sherds or old glass. Sometimes you will find both prehistoric and antebellum pottery on the same spot- here in the low country, higher ground has always been good real estate, for thousands of years, so overlapping homesites or campsites are fairly common. In fact, I did find one small piece of plain earthenware Indian pottery on the site yesterday, but old porcelain and glass is what to look for if you're going to be detecting for metal relics. The Indians here didn't use much (if any) metal, and there's not much stone to speak of in our sandy, coastal soil. So white bits of shell and pottery tend to stand out well in the dirt, particularly after it's rained.
Though it's practically impossible to date plain white pottery sherds, pieces with a pattern can usually tell you how old your homesite is. This particular site has yielded much early 19th century pottery in the past, and some pieces that could date to the late 18th century.
You can even tell when other relic hunters have been there before you. This old broad hoe was right on the surface, by the side of the road. Another detectorist had found it and left it there, since my last visit. These big old hoes are common finds on old plantation sites here- the slaves used them in the fields.
I hunted the Crescent relic site and some of the sand roads up there for an hour or two, but the homesite indicated by the shells and pottery in the pictures above has long been picked over by lots of relic hunters with big coils, so the pickins' are slim indeed, unless one wishes to hack into the underbrush, which is not my idea of fun.
I did dig my first target of 2006 there- a rusty square nail that crumbled away in my hand. The roads through this area are used by modern hunters, so aluminum cans are a problem- I dug at least a dozen of them. One hot signal I thought was going to be a can proved to be a coin, though- it got my pulse rate up when I saw a big reddish-brown disc pop out of the dirt. It was only a 1967 clad quarter, though, stained brown by the soil, as they usually are.
I decided to switch modes from rural relic hunting to city park coinshooting, and to try my Shadow X2 with its bigger coil out in Halifax Square, so I drove back to Brunswick and got there in the late afternoon.
The sun was getting lower in the sky. I dug several deep bullets and cartridge casings and pieces of buckshot- small targets. I shot this picture looking west, after I dug the first noteworthy target. Note the crape myrtle tree on the right with the Spanish moss in it. If you look carefully in the shadows to the left, you will see my detector on the ground. I'm not sure what the spectral blue dot in the left foreground is- maybe a ghost!
This shot was taken facing north. Again, note the location of the crape myrtle tree and the old house.
Live oak trees are evergreen. It seems like every other winter, we get a bumper crop of acorns. Sometimes they're a little uncomfortable to kneel on when you're digging.
I got a faint, semi-crackly, signal, decided it was too "iffy", gave it up and walked on, then changed my mind and went back to dig it. Eight or nine inches down, my probe sounded off at the bottom of the hole. As I stirred the dirt, I saw a coin. Oh, yeah!
Here it is on the tip of my digger, seconds after it came out of the hole.
An 1881 Indian cent! (Sorry for the wretched, out-of-focus pictures).
Many of the Indian cents I've found in this spot were deep, from the 1880's, and in fairly high grade. This one was deep and from the 1880's, but it had seen some circulation and probably would grade Good. So it may have been lost around the turn of the century.
Not the most spectacular find, but it's certainly proof that there are other goodies sleeping deep beneath those overhunted hotspots. They are elusive game and it takes patience and concentration to bag one, but it's always a nice feeling. This is my 39th Indian cent and the 285th "keeper" coin in my "Digger's Diary" album.
(also had success this week and will need to write up the details later)
Also like the new sig line pics (not sure if they're new but the first I've noticed)... very cute.
Happy hunting! or ...
Rick
(Maisy the cat helping with coin sorting, Victoria and Lenee on a carousel on our recent trip to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Maisy curled up with Victoria.)
As you can see, Maisy has to be right in the middle of whatever's going on. Particularly if it involves water. She has a water fetish. She waits outside the shower to lick the water off us. And sometimes it's hard to brush one's teeth...
She's a weird kitty, but a sweetheart. We're very happy we picked her out from the shelter a year ago.
I sometimes have to fight to keep her off the keyboard of my laptop when I'm doing coin stuff.
One of these days I'm gonna sniff out one of those IHC's! In fact that is one of my many goals in 2006!
BTW-Great sigline pics!
I just got permission to hunt in the yard of that house that's in the background of those pictures- one of my coworkers is a tenant there! Woohoo!
Nice pics, story and sig line.
Victoria is a little cutie. Must get her looks from Mom
<< <i>I just got permission to hunt in the yard of that house that's in the background... >>
<drool>
It looks like you had a good time there. Really enjoyed the story with pictures included but something was missing. You didn't follow Zot's format of including a critter in your pics.
Hopefully it won't take me too long after I get back to the states to find my first IHC, Merc and all the rest of the older coins. I'm excited about that but I'm still excited about my little bit of time left here in the UK.
<< <i>You didn't follow Zot's format of including a critter in your pics. >>
You're right. And I thought of that. But the only critter that appeared was a stick-chasing Golden Retriever, accompanied by a woman with a British accent (!). And my camera was hangin' in the crape myrtle tree.
Oh, yeah, there was a Rottweiler, too.
I seem to do more sunset pics than critter pics. Didn't catch the sunset this time, though it was spectacular over the marshes. I guess that one sunbeam shot with the blue "ghost" in it above will have to do.
Nice start, LMC. I'm surprised you didn,t bust that trowel with the roots like what I'm seeing in the picture.