Home Metal Detecting

Finds for 01/07/08 and 01/08/08

I got off work yesterday at my normal 4:30pm time so I decided I would try and get some metal detecting in. I sat all day at work yesterday trying to figure out where I should go in order to get the hang of my new DFX and to also find enough stuff to help me figure out what I Was doing (no junk).... Well after some long thought it hit me like a ton of bricks!! Our Fraternal Order of Police Lodge sits on an old Boy Scout camp and is also currently used by the YMCA and Kiwanis club for summer camp. I knew that this would be a good spot because no one would be there but me and I figured that very few, if anyone at all, had hit this place before. Well 4:30 rolled around and I was running out the door and home. I managed to get to the lodge by 4:45.... don't ask just know I got there... I jump out of the car excited about what treasures awaited me, or junk, but either way I was determined to have fun... Well I did. By the end of the first day I had found $2.86 cents in change (clad), one kids necklace charm, and one 1899 Indian Head Penny. The Indian Head was a complete surprise to me. I had been finding all modern clad items when I got around a flag pole that had recently been installed. When searching around it I got a weird signal. I pulled my pinpoint trigger and it showed the item to be about an inch deep. The signal bounced back and forth and finally displayed a 1 cent sign, tone, and VDI. I figured, "Heck another Lincoln cent to go with the other 20!" Well I dug and saw that the coin was bent so I figured it was worthless. Well I used a bit of nature's degreaser (spit) and found, to my surprise, that the coin was an indian head!! It is in HORRIBLE shape and bent like someone hit it with a shovel (no I didn't hit it) but to me it's priceless becasue it is my first Indian Head! I guess whoever dug the flagpole out dug this up also.
Today I sat at work fidgeting around waiting for 4:30 to hit. Well at 4:10 I couldn't stand it and ran out the door. I had a Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) meeting tonight at 7pm there so I figured I would hunt until everyone showed up (yes even in the dark!). Well I got to the lodge about 4:30 and started my work in an area that was away from the newer playground. This area had older swings and was built sometime in the 70's. Wel the first target I hit was a 1958 Wheat cent!! My first Wheatie! What a two day run so far! Now if I could just find some stupid silver! Anyways, I went back to searching when I got a strong, and I mean strong, 25 cent signal. It was loud, sharp, and the graph was peaked out with one solid bar... I thought, "SILVER!!!!!" Well I pinpointed the target to 3.5 inches and then plunged the shovel into the soft earth. I pried the ground up and sitting right under my clump were 4 quartes neatly stacked one on top of the other. One 1980, one 1973, and two 1971 (none silver). I looks like someone buried them there. I hit that area super hard trying to see if this was someone's hiding spot but nothing else was found in a 10 foot area around this. By nights end I had $3.89 in clad money and a gold earing.
So far with my new DFX I found all modern clads (except a dollar), a Wheat Penny, Indian Head Penny, charm, and earing. I hope to keep hitting this spot and searching deeper to find the silver. I know it is there.... Has to be..
Todd

Here are the pics: (excuse the bluriness I was in a hurry and it is mainly clad items)
image

image

image

image

image

Comments

  • Rickc300Rickc300 Posts: 876 ✭✭
    Very cool! Keep it up and the silver will arrive... I was more excited by my first Indian head penny than anything else! I had already had the good fortune to dig up 30 or so silver coins before finding that first Indian... Maybe it is an East coast VS West coast thing? I found more silver than Indians out west while here in Arkansas I have found more Indian pennies than silver (15 to 4) so far...
    Happy hunting!

    Rick
    Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed lamb contesting that vote. Benjamin Franklin - 1779

    image
    1836 Capped Liberty
    dime. My oldest US
    detecting find so far.
    I dig almost every
    signal I get for the most
    part. Go figure...
  • cool finds...keep at it and you'll find those silvers....hh
    "see ya at the beach"
    imageimageimageimage
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hey, an Indian Head!

    Who cares about how rough it is- I have dug some scary ones over the years, myself. My most recent one was a fluke, and the exception to the norm.

    It don't matter HOW they look, an IHC will put a smile on my face every time. image

    Consider that as an indicator that you're on the right track, and you'll be silvered quite soon, at the rate you're going.

    The Swami says you are due a Mercury dime very soon.

    With the sheer volume of modern stuff you are digging, it shows you're doin' things right. Now all it will take is a visit to the right places, and presto, we'll be seeing more of you on the monthly awards thread.

    Attaboy- keep the coil to the soil! image

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Very cool... keep the coil to the soil.... more to come. Cheers, RickO
  • ASUtoddASUtodd Posts: 1,312 ✭✭
    Went back tonight again was shutout on silver. I did find almost $2.00 in clad though. I also found a curious object... I'm not sure if it is a marbel, ball bearing, or a musket of some sort. Its about the size of a marble but seems heavy to me. I'll take a pic and post it later.
    Todd
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Ball bearing = rusty steel

    Musketball = lead

    It's usually fairly easy to determine. Both can be rather heavy.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • ASUtoddASUtodd Posts: 1,312 ✭✭
    Its a light gray color with a white coloring on it. No rust on it whatsoever. The ball wieghs about 23. some odd grams (can't remember from when I weighed it lastnight) which would put it in the 345+ grain range, which is close to musketballs from what i have read. Diameter will be larger than a .50 caliber but smaller than a .68 caliber. I will guess probably a .58 caliber. I measured it with the calipers lastnight but once again the number has slipped my mind. I want to say around 12 mm maybe 17mm, I know thats a large discrepency but like I said I can't remember the size. In looking at pics it looks like a musketball. Here is how I found it. I was searching for coins in an area that I found four quarters stacked on top of each other the other day. I figured that since this was in an area where the swings and such were older there had to be some silver. Well I didn't hit on anything until I got near a stump and found a 1960 penny. I thought that maybe there may be some old relics in that area so I switched over to relic mode and took a couple of swings. On the third swing I hit a good signal about 5.5 inches down right beside the stump. There was nothing displayed on the scrren as far as a icon is concerned and the signagraph didn't peak very high, however, the tone was very strong. Well I dug the target and found the ball. I thought it was an old marbel and decided that I didn't want to dig marbles all day so I went back into coin and jewelery mode. Once I got home and washed the mud off I found that there was no rust on the object and it was covered in a white crusty type substance, much like what you see on civil war bullets. That's when I Thought I may have found an old musket. Who knows.... I'll try to get pics of it, with correct weights and measurements, this evening. Thanks!
    Todd
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    White crust is commonly found on old musketballs and bullets. And .58 cal. is, as you probably knew, the most common caliber for CW-era muzzleloading rifles like the Springfields and Enfields. A lot of them fired round balls as well as the conical Minie bullets.

    WTG- it sounds like you have a potential musketball there.


    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    PS- don't remove the white patina, if you suspect it is a musketball. That is often a prized characteristic of dug ones. Just brush enough to get the dirt off.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • ASUtoddASUtodd Posts: 1,312 ✭✭
    Yeah well....I think I may have gotten more of it off than I should have. I didn't even think that it could be a CW musketball until I was done with some cleaning. There is still a considerable amount of pantina on it but some has been removed down to the lead. I really did think it was an old steel marble at first. Oh well, stupid is as stupid does...
    Todd
  • ASUtoddASUtodd Posts: 1,312 ✭✭
    Here is an ariel photo of the place I have been hunting.
    Todd
    image
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not the end of the world if you removed a bit too much of the patina on that. It's better than overscrubbing a scarce old coin!

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
  • ASUtoddASUtodd Posts: 1,312 ✭✭
    Ok well here are the specs on the mystery ball! Weight is 23.2 grams Width is about 16 mm (about .63 inches). The pics are once again blurry....sorry about that... I really need to get a small tripod for this camera. Anyways, you can see the patina, the size, and now the weight. Hopefully someone can verify that this is a CW bullet.... Thanks!
    To See Pics Click Here

    Todd
  • ASUtoddASUtodd Posts: 1,312 ✭✭
    I spoke with several Civial War historians here in our town and they all agreed that this was either a Civil War Musket ball or it may actually predate the Civil War. They did have a huge lot of .58 caliber bullets that they dug with the .69 caliber balls and the .58 caliber conical bullets so they are very certain it came from the Civil War. Man this has made me want to quit my job and go detecting all day every day.... Although with the chap on the way I can't do that...so.... Anyways, it is a musket ball so I am happy that I can now add this to my list of first!
    Todd
  • lordmarcovanlordmarcovan Posts: 43,530 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yeah, buddy, you have yourself a bonafide musket ball there, and a NICE one, at that. I love those "whitey drops". (Dropped, unfired, unsmushed ones with the nice patina, in other words- I've dug a few on old plantation sites).

    That's as good as a silver coin in my book! image

    Congratulations. I dug my first around the time I got my first Indian cent, too. (Back in the early 1990s, in my case). It was a rush.

    As your historians told you, it could predate the CW. The plantation sites I mentioned were at their peak in the 1820s-1830s. Of course the first ones I found were in NC (Asheville) in an 1880s cemetery. I also got a Confederate Enfield no-ring Minie there, though, so the site was likely a spot where Confederate sentries were posted prior to there ever being a cemetery on the hilltop. The Battle of Ashevile was fought nearby in 1865 (a very minor skirmish- nobody died on either side- one guy lost a leg to a cannonball, I think).

    Two conclusions:

    1) You have a promising site, there.

    2) You're past the total novice stage and you have been "initiated". When those first couple of old silver coins come up, you'll probably end up a "lifer" like some of us here.

    See- when you were lamenting over on the World Coin Forum that you wouldn't be able to afford collecting much after the baby comes, I TOLD YOU not to sweat it... the dug stuff don't cost you nothin'! (Except batteries, gas money, and time, of course). You'll find your interests branching out into historical buttons and other relics, now, which is all good.

    Congratulations again.

    PS- it's 19th century, your musketball, but that is probably as close as you'll ever be able to date it since it's the round ball. It is probably not prior to the 19th century, I wouldn't think, because it's my understanding that the Rev War balls (from the Brown Bess musket and the like) were larger, around .75 caliber. Yours is early 1800s to maybe 1870s or so, most likely in the decades around the CW. Round balls were used later than the CW for hunting, of course, and still are by some folks today, but yours is at least 140-150 years old, I would think, because of that nice patination.

    Explore collections of lordmarcovan on CollecOnline, management, safe-keeping, sharing and valuation solution for art piece and collectibles.
Sign In or Register to comment.