My hunting buddy, Paul, has been eyeballing an old house in another town for a couple of years, waiting for the time he could ask permission to hunt it. Since he's been doing a LOT of river hunting on his days off, and this old house is on the way, he's been swinging by more often on the hopes of catching someone. A few days ago, he finally did.
The house is being rebuilt, and the grounds around it are being re-landscaped, so they just asked that we not go into the house, but we were allowed to go ahead and detect it.
We went out this morning, before the heat hit. This was my first time to see this site, and not only was I excited as I saw the age of the home, there was the added benefit that the entire front yard was covered in shade by the many aged trees. It was a lovely hunt!
I found a little bit of everything: Bullet slug, shotgun headstamp, aluminum cookie cutter (twisted little bit of aluminum in the middle-right of the group shot), jewelry (enameled pin), and OLD COINS!!
I didn't hit the 1800s, but I got close; with four wheaties from the 40s, a 1904 Indian cent with a beautifully mottled patina, and a coin that had me flummoxed until I got it home and cleaned up with the sonic cleaner. Aside from the gorgeous green patina, I learned that the US minted coins for the Philippines (a US territory) in 1903, and that they used the half centavo at the time. I had always assumed that the Philippines would have had their own coinage at that time. Judging by the date and how closely it resembles a Barber dime in some of the details, I'm assuming that it was designed by Barber, as were the others from that era.
Unfortunately, lady luck was not shining as brightly on my buddy, but he did pull a wheat cent and this really cool Keen Kutter brass lock face. What a cool artifact!
Enjoy the pics!
The house is being rebuilt, and the grounds around it are being re-landscaped, so they just asked that we not go into the house, but we were allowed to go ahead and detect it.
We went out this morning, before the heat hit. This was my first time to see this site, and not only was I excited as I saw the age of the home, there was the added benefit that the entire front yard was covered in shade by the many aged trees. It was a lovely hunt!
I found a little bit of everything: Bullet slug, shotgun headstamp, aluminum cookie cutter (twisted little bit of aluminum in the middle-right of the group shot), jewelry (enameled pin), and OLD COINS!!
I didn't hit the 1800s, but I got close; with four wheaties from the 40s, a 1904 Indian cent with a beautifully mottled patina, and a coin that had me flummoxed until I got it home and cleaned up with the sonic cleaner. Aside from the gorgeous green patina, I learned that the US minted coins for the Philippines (a US territory) in 1903, and that they used the half centavo at the time. I had always assumed that the Philippines would have had their own coinage at that time. Judging by the date and how closely it resembles a Barber dime in some of the details, I'm assuming that it was designed by Barber, as were the others from that era.
Unfortunately, lady luck was not shining as brightly on my buddy, but he did pull a wheat cent and this really cool Keen Kutter brass lock face. What a cool artifact!
Enjoy the pics!
