Two more recent outings
lordmarcovan
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Well, I now have a total of three outings with the GTA-2500. No silver yet, and no old coins except the Wheatie I got on the first outing. I have been finding coins, though, including some nickels. I put the stock coil on the detector instead of the giant spider coil, and have been doing better. The big coil was just too big for the trashy areas I was trying to hunt with it.
On my second outing, which was only for about fifteen minutes on my way home from work one morning, I went to Gascoigne Bluff. This bluff (which is where the causeway from the mainland enters St. Simons Island), has been the gateway to the island for 10,000 years. Native Americans, Spanish, British, Confederate and Union forces- you name it- they've all passed through there. In the past I usually hunted the northern part of the bluff where the plantation house stood and some slave cabins survive today. That's where I found my most valuable find (the War of 1812 Light Dragoons beltplate) in 1998. However, the garden club that looks after these historical structures has gotten touchier about people detecting there, so it looks like my "old faithful" hunting site is now not such a friendly spot to search.
I went instead to the southern part of the bluff, which is covered in big live oak trees.
(Here's an old picture I took of the southern part of the bluff a year or two ago.)
It's a promising area, but because there is a modern marina there and lots of folks park their trucks and trailers there, it is practically carpeted with pulltabs. I have found a religious medallion, a turn-of-the-century token, and a Buffalo nickel there, but the only really old relic I had ever dug on this part of the bluff was a musketball.
Until my recent visit, that is. I noticed they'd finished building a new fishing pier that juts out into the Frederica River, on the southernmost part of the bluff, where it is adjacent to the Causeway. They'd also cut out a circular turnaround for folks using the new pier, and the middle of this roundabout was good ol' "naked dirt"... oh boy.
This plowed-up dirt was full of oyster shell, which is not surprising. I also eyeballed a large rusty blob that might have once been a big square-headed nail or small spike. So maybe there was old stuff there. I got the detector out and my first signal was a clear nickel signal, pretty shallow. I kicked my toe in the loose sand and out popped the target, which was definitely the right size, shape, and color for a nickel.
It wasn't, though- it was a really nice one-piece flat button with an intact shank and a silvery color. I think it's made of tombac. It has no backmark or other markings, but it's a beauty, as flat buttons go. I have found identical pieces on the northern end of the bluff where I got the War of 1812 beltplate, and this button is certainly from that general timeframe- circa late 1700s/early 1800s. An encouraging sign. It can't have been more than an inch or so deep, but the ground there had been churned up. Still, I have found others on the northern part of the bluff that were as shallow as half an inch deep.
The next clear nickel signal was just like the first, and I was hoping for another button. It proved to just be a nickel, though. At least I wasn't getting pulltabbed to death- I only found one. I got a couple of clad dimes and Memorial cents, too.
On my third outing, I went to Hillary Square in downtown Brunswick, and my first signal proved to be a deep ring. It's a tiny ring, probably a child's ring. It had a pinkish stone and I thought it might've been 10-karat at first, but closer examination proves it is gilt brass. Still, it is probably Victorian- it was about eight inches down.
That, and half a horseshoe and the nameplate of an old Hohner harmonica were my only other interesting finds.
I think I'm due some silver.
On my second outing, which was only for about fifteen minutes on my way home from work one morning, I went to Gascoigne Bluff. This bluff (which is where the causeway from the mainland enters St. Simons Island), has been the gateway to the island for 10,000 years. Native Americans, Spanish, British, Confederate and Union forces- you name it- they've all passed through there. In the past I usually hunted the northern part of the bluff where the plantation house stood and some slave cabins survive today. That's where I found my most valuable find (the War of 1812 Light Dragoons beltplate) in 1998. However, the garden club that looks after these historical structures has gotten touchier about people detecting there, so it looks like my "old faithful" hunting site is now not such a friendly spot to search.
I went instead to the southern part of the bluff, which is covered in big live oak trees.
(Here's an old picture I took of the southern part of the bluff a year or two ago.)
It's a promising area, but because there is a modern marina there and lots of folks park their trucks and trailers there, it is practically carpeted with pulltabs. I have found a religious medallion, a turn-of-the-century token, and a Buffalo nickel there, but the only really old relic I had ever dug on this part of the bluff was a musketball.
Until my recent visit, that is. I noticed they'd finished building a new fishing pier that juts out into the Frederica River, on the southernmost part of the bluff, where it is adjacent to the Causeway. They'd also cut out a circular turnaround for folks using the new pier, and the middle of this roundabout was good ol' "naked dirt"... oh boy.
This plowed-up dirt was full of oyster shell, which is not surprising. I also eyeballed a large rusty blob that might have once been a big square-headed nail or small spike. So maybe there was old stuff there. I got the detector out and my first signal was a clear nickel signal, pretty shallow. I kicked my toe in the loose sand and out popped the target, which was definitely the right size, shape, and color for a nickel.
It wasn't, though- it was a really nice one-piece flat button with an intact shank and a silvery color. I think it's made of tombac. It has no backmark or other markings, but it's a beauty, as flat buttons go. I have found identical pieces on the northern end of the bluff where I got the War of 1812 beltplate, and this button is certainly from that general timeframe- circa late 1700s/early 1800s. An encouraging sign. It can't have been more than an inch or so deep, but the ground there had been churned up. Still, I have found others on the northern part of the bluff that were as shallow as half an inch deep.
The next clear nickel signal was just like the first, and I was hoping for another button. It proved to just be a nickel, though. At least I wasn't getting pulltabbed to death- I only found one. I got a couple of clad dimes and Memorial cents, too.
On my third outing, I went to Hillary Square in downtown Brunswick, and my first signal proved to be a deep ring. It's a tiny ring, probably a child's ring. It had a pinkish stone and I thought it might've been 10-karat at first, but closer examination proves it is gilt brass. Still, it is probably Victorian- it was about eight inches down.
That, and half a horseshoe and the nameplate of an old Hohner harmonica were my only other interesting finds.
I think I'm due some silver.
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Comments
No silver, but at least you were out there trying!
I wanna see the button and ring tho! Hope you can post a pic soon.
I don't want to rub it in but I found 6 silvers in Sept. so far including 2 Merc's. Hope for more. Good luck, LM.