I was playing around with some online LIDAR imaging. The LIDAR image showed an old road and structure where none exist currently. The 1912 topo shows a structure in the area. So, with phone in hand, I headed out to see if I could find the nail bed for the old structure. I was cycling between the old topo (without a location marker) and the maps app to see where I was at.

With all the topography and occasional thickets, it was impossible to travel in a straight line. After hunting the approximate area for a while I failed to find any nail patch but did wind up off to the side a little ways. At that point, I figured I might as well head back to the car and try another day. Since I followed a circuitous route to get to that point, I figured I would just head to the nearest road and hike back to the car. Of course, I kept my detector on as I went. And a good thing too…

On my way I ran across a patch of nails in a different spot. Not one to ignore a target of opportunity, I slowed down and switched to Tekkna on my D2 with 11 x 13 coil. Within a couple minutes I hit a strong quarter range signal and was flabbergasted to see a green copper disc the size of a 50 cent piece at less than 6 inches.

I have never found a large cent (my record for oldest coin was 1882). However, I was certain this was a large cent. I carefully stashed it in my good pouch and kept hunting. Not too much later I hit another quarter signal and out came another large copper disc. Two in one day! This was too good to be true.

When I hit a third, doubt crept in. So I sat down and very carefully tried to wash some dirt off the last piece. This one had multiple lines of small text on one side and was definitely not a large cent. I thought well maybe I have three tokens. So I carefully wet down one side of one of the other discs to see “TES OF AM” above a wreath with “ONE” inside the wreath. That settled that issue. I figured it was a flowing hair large cent. I then noticed the “token” was slightly smaller in diameter and slightly thinner than the large cent. The remaining one was identical in size to the large cent.

When I got home I got a couple more surprises. One large cent had a clearly visible date - 1829! Not only did I knock over 50 years off my oldest date, but it was a matron head rather than a flowing hair large cent. Unfortunately I cannot see a date on the other one.

The crazy thing is the large cents might not be the find of the day. The token actually has a punch hole and appears to be a gilded medallion. There is a bust on the front with letters around the rim. Around the 1 o’clock position I can see the letters “WASH” possibly followed by an “I”. On the back, the remaining discernible words are "…Eternal th... and by all th... sacred and ... to man since th... history of many ... recorded ther...as been no caus... more just tha... the cause...". Could this be some sort of George Washington Cincinnatus medallion? I can’t find anything online to give any clue on this one.

I also found what appears to be part of the heel of an infant’s boot, a buckle and clasp, a 1927 wheat penny, a piece of iron shaped like a hooked blade, and part of a bell or neck of a carafe. The rainbow soda bottle was a surface find. A piece in my possible junk pouch was not the scrap brass it appeared to be in the field. Instead, it appears to be some sort of belt slide with a metal tab and slot connection. The fleur-de-lis on one side makes me think scouts. The backside says “PAT JAN 31 98”.

All the modern coins and cartridge casings were found on the way in. I did find a number of canning jar lids and over a dozen old shotgun shell heads with the nails.

Given the 1927 penny and the large cents, this site must’ve been in use for a while. The crazy thing is I only covered part of the nail patch. I will definitely be going back!

I would greatly appreciate any input on the slide, buckles, possible heel piece, and especially the medallion.

Thanks for looking, and happy hunting!

You made some amazing finds!!!
The heel plate is most likely from a woman’s shoe, and a great find!!
If you can get some details off the LC that is missing the date, you might be able to date it within a few years.
I did that recently with one I found in the river.
As far as the other pieces, all I can say is they are quite old!!
Looks like you have found a good site that has never been detected.
Good luck on your next trip there.

Excellent.

Great research and finds!!

Fun huh

Epic hunt. Finds like those would have me crawling back. Congratulations.
Well written little story. Love these.

A gentleman on another website stated the heel plate is actually a Sutler item from the Civil War which soldiers would buy and use in an attempt to keep their Army-issue leather heeled shoes from wearing out. He said the cross cut-out is the insignia for the Union Army's 6th Corps. The original shape, with the broken corner restored, would be the shape of the Union Shield like was depicted on buttons. Since soldiers would return home in uniform, it was probably lost as the former soldier went about his daily life on his homestead.

I finally identified the medal! I was able to make out some more letters on the front: “uis Rossuth Washi”. Well, the R was actually a K. Louis Kossuth was known as the Washington of Hungary.

Kossuth fought for Hungry’s freedom from Austria. He became president of Hungary in 1849 but only briefly. Russia intervened and two years later he was exiled. In 1852 he came to Ohio and addressed the legislature. He requested funds for his cause, which Ohio did not grant. However, Ohio was so moved by his speech that the original copy was placed in the State’s archive. I assume the medal dates from this time period.

I even found pictures of what the medal originally look like. Please see attached!

Great research and finds! I looked online to search lidar imaging, do you mind explaining more on how you use it in regards to metal detecting? Specifically on how to acquire the images. Again, great finds and super cool that you used the latest technology to find them.

Dan

Having a great outing, research, research...

Capt Dan said:

Great research and finds! I looked online to search lidar imaging, do you mind explaining more on how you use it in regards to metal detecting? Specifically on how to acquire the images. Again, great finds and super cool that you used the latest technology to find them.

Dan

Click to expand...

I picked up this information from a gentleman on another forum. I don’t know about this forum’s policies regarding mentioning other forums, users, or posts. I assume I can share that information via PM if requested. For now, I will post my “Cliff Notes” version here.

The USGS National Map website (National Map, https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/) has LiDar (Light Detection and Ranging) maps of North America and US territories. LiDar laser imaging by satellites, aircraft, etc. effectively sees through structures and forests to create an image of the actual ground surface. This can show topographic anomalies like old roads, driveways, foundations, and other features which might be worthy of investigation.

I tried to hotlink the above, but I’m not sure it worked - at least not in a draft post. If not, then I apologize. In this case, please copy and paste the address in your browser. When you go to the website, you will see a map of North America.

Zoom in to your target area (I will pick a spot at random), then go to the layers menu (this icon on the upper menu bar):

Scroll down and select "3DEP Elevation - Hillshade Stretched" and then close the pop-up menu with the “X” in the upper right corner of the pop-up menu:

There you go! LiDAR imaging of your target area! Please let me reiterate the coordinates above were chosen at random, and permission will still be necessary to hunt a site as always. Resolution may vary by location. In this screenshot, you can see several anomalies indicative of structures and roads. You can cross-reference this with current and old topo maps to navigate to the suspect anomalies. There is a different website I use for old topo maps of the US. There is also an application which will allow for overlay of LiDAR and old topo maps with GPS location on your phone. I am out of time for now but I will post more on this later.