I went to Corning, NY to attend an annual museum conference at the Corning Museum of Glass that I try to attend every year. This year I decided to spend some extra time there and take my CZ70. I bought a nice out of print local history book to research the area, and mapped out all of the late 1700 - early 1800 town squares and parks to hunt.
I got out for a total of five hunts. I wasn't planning to hunt the first day, but on my way from the Rochester airport to Corning, I saw a sign for a town I had high hopes for and decided to just take a look at it and then head for the hotel. The town square was from the 1820's, and was surrounded by hotels, saloons, stores, and churches. I got there and it looked great, so I decided to break out the CZ70 from my suitcase and give it a shot. It was either filled in, or hit hard, as I was only finding 1970's and newer coins. After a few disappointing hours here, I headed for Corning. I still had a couple of hours of daylight and decided to drive around a pick a random area to hunt until it was dark. I ended up finding two silver rosies (first target was one) and a wheatback. Not old, but still off to a great start. The next day I decided to hit a town square that started in the 1790's. I found several wheatbacks, but no silver. I decided to hunt under a bush that looked like it had been there for a long time. I got a nice signal and dug a hole that was as deep as my lesche is long, and I found an old buckle. I think it may be a Colonial buckle, but I'm really interested in what the Colonial experts think? It was silver plated, and had a simple design of lines on the front (that may not be apparent in the photo). Apparently it was hand made, on the photo of the rear, file marks are visible on the upper left . It also doesn't appear to have been plated on the back, only the front. Here it is:
The next day I hit an old park from the 1880's and pulled a 1919 Merc. I moved to another park that was iffy due to reconstruction, and wasn't finding any old coins, but on the way back to the car as it was getting dark I hit an inviting basket ball court thinking it a good spot for jewelery and found this marked 925 sterling silver wedding band:
osgood invited me to hunt a spot in the woods with two cellar holes where he found two civil war tokens and a spill of large cents. We hit it for a few hours and the only notable find I made was an old pewter spoon. He did a good job cleaning it out, but I think it would be worth hitting with a small coil, as there's a lot of iron in the spots he found the coins. We tried another spot not far away and didn't find much so we headed for another town. Hit an old field that definitely had some age on it. We found some wheats and osgood found a nice sterling silver ring, and as I was heading back to my car I finally found a silver coin that day and it was a nice 1953 Washington quarter
I invited osgood to hit some spots that I had researched the next day . First stop was an old town square that dated back to the early 1800's in an old wine making region in the Finger Lakes. I immediately started pulling wheats, and then after a couple of wheats I got that oh so familiar sound of deep silver, and pulled out my first seated dime!! Turned out to be a nice 1884 seated liberty dime
This was within the first 30 minutes and I thought for sure more old silver would come, but it wasn't to be, although osgood his second silver ring of the weekend here. We hit old spots around this particular lake, and surprisingly only found more wheats so we decided to hit an old park that Ossgood found on the way back to Corning. He started pulling wheats, and I was finding lots of clad, and then finally moved to another area and started finding wheats too. I got a nice deep hit and at about 7" pulled out a 1906 Indian Head. The just a couple of feet from the injun I pulled out this old button at a good depth as well. It's marked * J.H. Wilson * Philadelphia and has a harp on the once gold gilted front. J.H. Wilson was in business from 1873-1904 and apparently made both military as well as civilian buttons. Anyone have any ideas what this button is from? Military band perhaps?
My last day I tried the town of Painted Post. The parks were from the 1800's but nothing, and I mean nothing. Hardly any trash OR coins
I moved back to the first park that produced and started finding wheatbacks right away. After a few wheats the first silver appeared, this time a 1943 merc! Not high dollar, but I love mercs. After few more wheats I get a nice faint silver sound, and at about 7" I recovered a nice little antique sterling ring with a heart shaped green stone in the center I love finding gold and silver jewelery, especially the older stuff. After the ring and another wheat or two got a nice silver sound and a silver rosie came to light. Although it's usually a good way to jinx yourself, I decided I would stay there until I got at least three silver dimes 
Found a few more wheats, but no silver for about an hour. I started working a pattern back to my car as it was getting cold, and raining. Luckily the CZ70 is rainproof, so I didn't car about the rain and kept going. Finally just across the street from my car I got a real iffy iron to high coin bouncer (I believe it was on edge), but something about it was enticing so I decided to dig it and was rewarded with a 1916 Merc. Unfortunately it was not the coveted "D" (the second non "D" 1916 of the year). Found a few more wheats in that area and decided to call it a day.
The wheats range from 1911 to 1957.
Although I'd really hoped to find a large cent and break into the 1700's, Overall I was pleased with my finds and really enjoyed hunting and exploring some older areas as well as meeting up with osgood, he does great with his F70 and has some great spots to hunt in his area.
I was happy with the performance of the CZ70, it's a great machine. The CZ70 loves silver and also seems to be a ring magnet! I've found more rings with it in the past couple of months, then I've found will all my other machines combined (perhaps aside from my Sovereign). In the past month I've found three silver rings, and a nice antique gold signet ring, not to mention several junkers although a couple of them were antique(ish), definitely lost for a long time (deep).
HH,
Brian
I got out for a total of five hunts. I wasn't planning to hunt the first day, but on my way from the Rochester airport to Corning, I saw a sign for a town I had high hopes for and decided to just take a look at it and then head for the hotel. The town square was from the 1820's, and was surrounded by hotels, saloons, stores, and churches. I got there and it looked great, so I decided to break out the CZ70 from my suitcase and give it a shot. It was either filled in, or hit hard, as I was only finding 1970's and newer coins. After a few disappointing hours here, I headed for Corning. I still had a couple of hours of daylight and decided to drive around a pick a random area to hunt until it was dark. I ended up finding two silver rosies (first target was one) and a wheatback. Not old, but still off to a great start. The next day I decided to hit a town square that started in the 1790's. I found several wheatbacks, but no silver. I decided to hunt under a bush that looked like it had been there for a long time. I got a nice signal and dug a hole that was as deep as my lesche is long, and I found an old buckle. I think it may be a Colonial buckle, but I'm really interested in what the Colonial experts think? It was silver plated, and had a simple design of lines on the front (that may not be apparent in the photo). Apparently it was hand made, on the photo of the rear, file marks are visible on the upper left . It also doesn't appear to have been plated on the back, only the front. Here it is:
The next day I hit an old park from the 1880's and pulled a 1919 Merc. I moved to another park that was iffy due to reconstruction, and wasn't finding any old coins, but on the way back to the car as it was getting dark I hit an inviting basket ball court thinking it a good spot for jewelery and found this marked 925 sterling silver wedding band:
osgood invited me to hunt a spot in the woods with two cellar holes where he found two civil war tokens and a spill of large cents. We hit it for a few hours and the only notable find I made was an old pewter spoon. He did a good job cleaning it out, but I think it would be worth hitting with a small coil, as there's a lot of iron in the spots he found the coins. We tried another spot not far away and didn't find much so we headed for another town. Hit an old field that definitely had some age on it. We found some wheats and osgood found a nice sterling silver ring, and as I was heading back to my car I finally found a silver coin that day and it was a nice 1953 Washington quarter
I invited osgood to hit some spots that I had researched the next day . First stop was an old town square that dated back to the early 1800's in an old wine making region in the Finger Lakes. I immediately started pulling wheats, and then after a couple of wheats I got that oh so familiar sound of deep silver, and pulled out my first seated dime!! Turned out to be a nice 1884 seated liberty dime
This was within the first 30 minutes and I thought for sure more old silver would come, but it wasn't to be, although osgood his second silver ring of the weekend here. We hit old spots around this particular lake, and surprisingly only found more wheats so we decided to hit an old park that Ossgood found on the way back to Corning. He started pulling wheats, and I was finding lots of clad, and then finally moved to another area and started finding wheats too. I got a nice deep hit and at about 7" pulled out a 1906 Indian Head. The just a couple of feet from the injun I pulled out this old button at a good depth as well. It's marked * J.H. Wilson * Philadelphia and has a harp on the once gold gilted front. J.H. Wilson was in business from 1873-1904 and apparently made both military as well as civilian buttons. Anyone have any ideas what this button is from? Military band perhaps?
My last day I tried the town of Painted Post. The parks were from the 1800's but nothing, and I mean nothing. Hardly any trash OR coins
I moved back to the first park that produced and started finding wheatbacks right away. After a few wheats the first silver appeared, this time a 1943 merc! Not high dollar, but I love mercs. After few more wheats I get a nice faint silver sound, and at about 7" I recovered a nice little antique sterling ring with a heart shaped green stone in the center I love finding gold and silver jewelery, especially the older stuff. After the ring and another wheat or two got a nice silver sound and a silver rosie came to light. Although it's usually a good way to jinx yourself, I decided I would stay there until I got at least three silver dimes Found a few more wheats, but no silver for about an hour. I started working a pattern back to my car as it was getting cold, and raining. Luckily the CZ70 is rainproof, so I didn't car about the rain and kept going. Finally just across the street from my car I got a real iffy iron to high coin bouncer (I believe it was on edge), but something about it was enticing so I decided to dig it and was rewarded with a 1916 Merc. Unfortunately it was not the coveted "D" (the second non "D" 1916 of the year). Found a few more wheats in that area and decided to call it a day.
The wheats range from 1911 to 1957.
Although I'd really hoped to find a large cent and break into the 1700's, Overall I was pleased with my finds and really enjoyed hunting and exploring some older areas as well as meeting up with osgood, he does great with his F70 and has some great spots to hunt in his area.
I was happy with the performance of the CZ70, it's a great machine. The CZ70 loves silver and also seems to be a ring magnet! I've found more rings with it in the past couple of months, then I've found will all my other machines combined (perhaps aside from my Sovereign). In the past month I've found three silver rings, and a nice antique gold signet ring, not to mention several junkers although a couple of them were antique(ish), definitely lost for a long time (deep).
HH,
Brian