ollievon
Elite Member
So, it's been pretty cold here in Upstate NY and it's normally my time to walk in the woods with a handheld GPS and mark locations for the following year. Luckily about 2-weeks ago we had a mild spell where the sun had warmed up the ground and there was very little snow covering anything, so I headed out with GPS and the 705 just for the heck of it.
After about an hour of walking in the woods of an old property, and one I had been informed by the owner did not have any signs of prior habitation, I stumbled on a cellar hole...or at least what appeared to be one - it was not stone lined, but sat on a high point in the woods and clearly did not look natural. Right off the bat when I started my machine I got targets, not a lot, but enough that peeked my interest that this had been a homesite at one time.
The first strong signal turned out to be a copper batwing buckle, clearly colonial, the next was a lead spoon and some broken blueplate,, and then nothing. I spent another hour there with no real tones, but I was hopeful.
When I was about to end my hunt for the day I hit a nice mid tone (I was praying for a gold coin) the numbers were solid and when I dug up the item it was a circular lead blob...so I figured it was a smashed lead round ball. Upon wiping it off I noticed a few stars which really puzzled me...one side was completely blank, the other side turns out to be the obverse of an 1838 large cent in reverse! At first I thought it may have been some secret location for minting bogus coins...but why would they use lead as the planchet? It's cool find nonetheless, but I think it was someone just goofing around years ago and hitting lead on a coin to see what it would do...you just never know what you'll find in this hobby.
I will be back to this place in the spring, there's more there for sure.
After about an hour of walking in the woods of an old property, and one I had been informed by the owner did not have any signs of prior habitation, I stumbled on a cellar hole...or at least what appeared to be one - it was not stone lined, but sat on a high point in the woods and clearly did not look natural. Right off the bat when I started my machine I got targets, not a lot, but enough that peeked my interest that this had been a homesite at one time.
The first strong signal turned out to be a copper batwing buckle, clearly colonial, the next was a lead spoon and some broken blueplate,, and then nothing. I spent another hour there with no real tones, but I was hopeful.
When I was about to end my hunt for the day I hit a nice mid tone (I was praying for a gold coin) the numbers were solid and when I dug up the item it was a circular lead blob...so I figured it was a smashed lead round ball. Upon wiping it off I noticed a few stars which really puzzled me...one side was completely blank, the other side turns out to be the obverse of an 1838 large cent in reverse! At first I thought it may have been some secret location for minting bogus coins...but why would they use lead as the planchet? It's cool find nonetheless, but I think it was someone just goofing around years ago and hitting lead on a coin to see what it would do...you just never know what you'll find in this hobby.
I will be back to this place in the spring, there's more there for sure.
