Waterhead
Senior Member
Here are several pictures of some of my relics that I dug on private property off the James River in Virginia today.
It's a pretty neat area that has offered me some real early colonial relics, War of 1812 relics and a few civil war relics over the years. I dug all these relics in a small area that was loaded with old brick, oyster shells and black glass. There was pretty significant iron readings in there as well which made things pretty challenging for my machine.
This place was screaming Spanish cobs, bits or reales but no such luck. Not one Spanish coin, copper or a big penny. This is the first time I have hit one of these sites where I did not even find one clay pipe stem; I can't figure out.
Anyhow, included in my finds were two British Great Coat buttons; they are often mistaken for small colonial rosettes. The buttons are brass and have iron shanks which are usually rusted off....as are these. These are the two larger buttons in the lower left of the group picture. Directly above that is a damaged solid silver thimble. Also included are 9 flat brass buttons and or pewter buttons, a brass buckle, a lead pendant (probably an early period fishing sinker), a smashed Dosimeter (lead cup used to measure gun powder), a .75 caliber lead ball for the Brown Bess Rifle (I would guess) and a bewildering array of lead balls and shot. I found a ton of various size lead shot so I grabbed some for the picture as a representative. All were field cast and still had the casting sprue attached.
The next two pictures are the gun powder measuring cup and the Brown Bess ball together. I've always known these to be called a Dosimeter and are quite rare. I just wish the cup was not smashed closed. In 25 years of digging, this is only the second one I've dug. They actually look like a small Dixie Cup. Several years ago, I dug about a dozen of these large musket balls about 200 yards from this location. These things are huge when your used to digging the smaller .69 caliber civil war round balls.
There is nothing here that would warrant a visit from the Smithsonian for a display loan. But it was nice outside, the sun was shining and I loved digging every piece.
Wish everyone good luck!
It's a pretty neat area that has offered me some real early colonial relics, War of 1812 relics and a few civil war relics over the years. I dug all these relics in a small area that was loaded with old brick, oyster shells and black glass. There was pretty significant iron readings in there as well which made things pretty challenging for my machine.
This place was screaming Spanish cobs, bits or reales but no such luck. Not one Spanish coin, copper or a big penny. This is the first time I have hit one of these sites where I did not even find one clay pipe stem; I can't figure out.
Anyhow, included in my finds were two British Great Coat buttons; they are often mistaken for small colonial rosettes. The buttons are brass and have iron shanks which are usually rusted off....as are these. These are the two larger buttons in the lower left of the group picture. Directly above that is a damaged solid silver thimble. Also included are 9 flat brass buttons and or pewter buttons, a brass buckle, a lead pendant (probably an early period fishing sinker), a smashed Dosimeter (lead cup used to measure gun powder), a .75 caliber lead ball for the Brown Bess Rifle (I would guess) and a bewildering array of lead balls and shot. I found a ton of various size lead shot so I grabbed some for the picture as a representative. All were field cast and still had the casting sprue attached.
The next two pictures are the gun powder measuring cup and the Brown Bess ball together. I've always known these to be called a Dosimeter and are quite rare. I just wish the cup was not smashed closed. In 25 years of digging, this is only the second one I've dug. They actually look like a small Dixie Cup. Several years ago, I dug about a dozen of these large musket balls about 200 yards from this location. These things are huge when your used to digging the smaller .69 caliber civil war round balls.
There is nothing here that would warrant a visit from the Smithsonian for a display loan. But it was nice outside, the sun was shining and I loved digging every piece.
Wish everyone good luck!
Nniiiiice!
