Vernon in Virginia~Formerly Alaska
New member
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[size=large]Went back to the pasture were my daughter Sarah found her Yankee eagle button. The little bull (he's a lot bigger than me) was standing on this hill that I wanted to start detecting on but soon all the cows went to the far end of the field and I had the place to myself. [/size]
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[size=large]I was detecting along and got a good bullet signal. Dug this at about 8". Its my first "pulled bullet"; for those of you who don't know what a pulled bullet is, it was a mini ball or cleaner bullet that was loaded in the musket, and for whatever reason the soldier had to pull the bullet. He did this by attaching a little screw to the end of his ram rod, sliding it into the barrel and screwing it into the bullet enabling him to pull it out of the barrel. Sometimes the men are ordered to pull their bullets instead of firing them out of their gun to clear their weapon. I think this was the case in this particular site, because I started circling on where I found the bullet, took about 3 swings and found another pulled miniball. I continued to circle, ended up finding 6 pulled bullets and 2 dropped bullets in a 12 foot area. [/size]
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[size=large]I continued to circle and got a good signal, but the VDI numbers were jumping around in the low area: 10, 16, 12, etc. I have found that many times when it does this, it is a .22 bullet 2 or 3" in the ground. But there was just something about this signal that told me to dig it. I cut a plug about 7" deep; the signal was still in the hole. I knew it wasn't a .22 bullet at this time. Took out another 3" of dirt, and the target was no longer in the hole. Found this 2 piece button. I could see stars on the side of it, so I knew it was a military button. I got my cleaner brush out and started brushing it, and could see tons of gold. I stopped scrubbing it since it had a lot of sand on it. Didn't know what it was until I got it home and cleaned it properly...[/size]
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[size=large]It is a beautiful 2 piece Maine state cuff button with 95% of the gilt still on it. Back and shank in excellent condition, a real wowzer. I wish I had a better camera to take really good closeups (that's on my "to get" list".
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[size=large]Dug three of these large brass/copper? coins. I thought they were large cents, but turned out to be Chinese coins with dragons on them and Chinese writing. My theory is that these were Chinese workers that worked on the American railroad in the 1850's. Railroad track is approx. 3/4 of a mile from this location. [/size]
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[size=large]Here's the digs. A lot of junk came with this. On top of that hill was a post-Civil War house site. The house is no longer there, but there is a lot of early 1900 paraphernalia: lighters, compacts, pocket watches, tools, etc. I threw all that stuff away. Gonna meet Mountain Man there tomorrow evening so he can try out his new detector, hopefully we'll find some more goodies. Till tomorrow...[/size]
[size=large]Went back to the pasture were my daughter Sarah found her Yankee eagle button. The little bull (he's a lot bigger than me) was standing on this hill that I wanted to start detecting on but soon all the cows went to the far end of the field and I had the place to myself. [/size]
[attachment 89068 2.jpg]
[size=large]I was detecting along and got a good bullet signal. Dug this at about 8". Its my first "pulled bullet"; for those of you who don't know what a pulled bullet is, it was a mini ball or cleaner bullet that was loaded in the musket, and for whatever reason the soldier had to pull the bullet. He did this by attaching a little screw to the end of his ram rod, sliding it into the barrel and screwing it into the bullet enabling him to pull it out of the barrel. Sometimes the men are ordered to pull their bullets instead of firing them out of their gun to clear their weapon. I think this was the case in this particular site, because I started circling on where I found the bullet, took about 3 swings and found another pulled miniball. I continued to circle, ended up finding 6 pulled bullets and 2 dropped bullets in a 12 foot area. [/size]
[attachment 89069 3.jpg]
[size=large]I continued to circle and got a good signal, but the VDI numbers were jumping around in the low area: 10, 16, 12, etc. I have found that many times when it does this, it is a .22 bullet 2 or 3" in the ground. But there was just something about this signal that told me to dig it. I cut a plug about 7" deep; the signal was still in the hole. I knew it wasn't a .22 bullet at this time. Took out another 3" of dirt, and the target was no longer in the hole. Found this 2 piece button. I could see stars on the side of it, so I knew it was a military button. I got my cleaner brush out and started brushing it, and could see tons of gold. I stopped scrubbing it since it had a lot of sand on it. Didn't know what it was until I got it home and cleaned it properly...[/size]
[attachment 89071 4.jpg]
[size=large]It is a beautiful 2 piece Maine state cuff button with 95% of the gilt still on it. Back and shank in excellent condition, a real wowzer. I wish I had a better camera to take really good closeups (that's on my "to get" list".
[/size] [attachment 89072 5.jpg]
[size=large]Dug three of these large brass/copper? coins. I thought they were large cents, but turned out to be Chinese coins with dragons on them and Chinese writing. My theory is that these were Chinese workers that worked on the American railroad in the 1850's. Railroad track is approx. 3/4 of a mile from this location. [/size]
[attachment 89074 6.jpg]
[size=large]Here's the digs. A lot of junk came with this. On top of that hill was a post-Civil War house site. The house is no longer there, but there is a lot of early 1900 paraphernalia: lighters, compacts, pocket watches, tools, etc. I threw all that stuff away. Gonna meet Mountain Man there tomorrow evening so he can try out his new detector, hopefully we'll find some more goodies. Till tomorrow...[/size]