The house was built in 1901 and I knew the yard had been previously detected pretty hard. I didn't want to get my hopes up, I just wanted to get out and do some detecting.
They must've done a good job because there were very few signals in the yard. I found a couple of wheat pennies here and there, but really, I wasn't getting much of anything.
So I stepped back and took a look at the property. I noticed that what used to be a big ivy patch was now down to the ground. I thought maybe they didn't get in there...
By the signs of it, I was right.
The first signal in the ivy patch turned up a thin metal heart-shaped something. Carissa thinks it's a page marker for a book, but I don't know for sure what it is.
Any guesses?
A few steps away, I got a solid signal...
I couldn't believe what I turned over! I saw the back mark to a button and I could tell it was an old one. I turned it over and saw the very first Civil War infantry button that I've ever found in my hometown.
And sure enough, my VA friends helped me to identify the button. It is a Federal Infantry button - it has an eagle with an "I" in the center. WG Mintzer - Philadelphia is the backmark.
This find made my day! But of course, I kept on digging...
And a few swings later I got a really good silver dime signal...
and turned up a 1957 Rosie.
A few pieces of trash later, I got another solid tone...
and found an old copper cufflink.
It's really nice - it looks like it was gold plated at one time.
The ivy patch wasn't producing many more signals, so I switched modes on my machine (the MXT All-Pro) and searched the yard one more time.
I got a solid quarter signal. It must have been a recent drop, because it was only an inch deep.
But when I re-checked the hole, I got a jumpy midtone at 6-7 inches...
I re-opened the plug and I found a really nice old copper thimble.
All-in-all, it was a great hunt. I still can't believe I found a Civil War button!
Here it is cleaned up:
It goes to show you (and I mean no disrespect to the previous detectorists) no site is ever really hunted out.
Total finds
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