2014 american digger sampler

American Digger

®

er

sa Yea ry r Is su e!

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

American Digger American Digger American Digger Vol. 10

®

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

The Hard-Won Relics of the Western U.S.

An Outstanding Year of Colonial & Civil War Relics

Zen With A Grin Provides Detecting Tips & Laughter

®

Issue 1

Vol. 10

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

Issue 2

Vol. 10

Excelsior Brigade Detecting A Camp Organized Texan Ancestor’s Hunt Pictorial Hometown

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

CANNONBALL HUNTING WITH A NC LEGEND

2014 SAMPLER

Deciphering War of 1812 New York Officers’ Plates

A Timeline Of American Digger History

How To Date Detecting Club A Site Using Archaeological China Sherds Survey of Cabin

HOW TO LOCATE EARLY COLONIAL HOUSE SITES

1848 PATTERN “US” MARKED CANTEENS

RETURNING A RING TO ITS RIGHTFUL OWNER

AN EAGLE ON ITS SIDE STILL FLIES HIGH

War Relics In California Gold Fields

Issue 3

VIRGINIA RIVER DIVING FOR RELICS

NJ CLUB HUNT YIELDS REV. WAR PLATE

Concluding A Year Does Selling That Was Loaded Artifacts Create With Artifacts A Moral Dilemma?

A Different Way Of Rust Removal

®

PENNSYLVANIA EVENT IS ALL ABOUT FUN

Detecting In Mexico Confirms Murphy’s Law Misunderstood Meaning Of Swastikas

www.americandigger.com

Jan-Feb. 2014 $6.95 USA

www.americandigger.com

March-April 2014 $6.95 USA

May-June 2014 $6.95 USA

www.americandigger.com

American Digger American American Digger American Digger ®

® ®

Vol. 10

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

Issue 4

Vol. Vol.10 10

DETECTORISTS FIND EVIDENCE OF A NEW NATION

10 YEARS OF DIGGIN’ IN CULPEPER, VA

EXPLORING THE KENTUCKY MILITARY INSTITUTE

OBSOLETE CAR PART TRIGGERS FOND MEMORIES

www.americandigger.com

®

The TheMagazine Magazinefor forDiggers Diggersand andCollectors Collectors

Issue Issue 45

Vol. 10

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

A digital sampling of American Digger® Magazine,Volume 10, Issue 1-6 RELIC HUNTERS WORK WITH NPSDETECTORISTS FIND SOUTH CAROLINA IN ARKANSAS EVIDENCE OF A ISLAND PRESENTS NEW NATION A MYSTERY BABY MASTODON SKULL PROVES SIGNIFICANT

10 YEARS GETTING THE OF DIGGIN’ IN IN MOST FROM VLF CULPEPER, VA MINERALIZED SOIL

Issue 6

HUGE COIN CACHES STILL BEING FOUND

ARELIC WWII HUNTERS SOLDIER STONEMAN’S WORK WITH NPS CAVALRY RELICS REMEMBERED IN ARKANSAS THROUGH A RELIC IN GEORGIA

NEW JERSEY BABY A MASTODON YOUNG SNAKE BUCKLE SKULL PROVES DIGGER TELLS BONANZA OFSIGNIFICANT HIS BEST FIND

DETECTING WITH TV’S TURTLEMAN

RARE “L” BUCKLES’ MYSTERIOUS EXPLORING THE STONE BLADES ORIGINS KENTUCKY MILITARY AND POINTS OF INSTITUTEOHIO PREHISTORIC

CIVIL WAR CAMP RARE HOW“L” TOBUCKLES’ REBUILDFULL OF WILLIAMS MYSTERIOUS AN EXPLODED CLEANER BULLETS ORIGINS CANNONBALL

NATIVE AMERICAN BANNERSTONES, GORGETS, & AXES

OBSOLETE CAR PART FAMILY GOLD TRIGGERS FOND PROSPECTING MEMORIES VACATION

DETECTORISTS AID REVOLUTIONARY WAR MUSEUM

RECENT FINDS, IDENTIFICATIONS, & MUCH MORE!

July-August 2014 $6.95 USA www.americandigger.com www.americandigger.com

July-August 2014 Sept.-Oct. 2014 $6.95 $6.95 USA USA

www.americandigger.com

www.americandigger.com

www.americandigger.com

Nov.-Dec. 2014 $6.95 USA

1

Deep Seeking, Seeking, Deep All Terrain Terrain AT AT GOLD GOLD All

™ ™

For E Extreme xtreme Relic Relic Hunters!

Hunters!

For

799 799

$ 95 MSRP $ 95 MSRP Includes land-use headphones Includes land-use headphones

 True All Metal Mode for deepest detection and sensitivity  True All Metal Mode for deepest detection and sensitivity  EXCLUSIVE All Metal Iron Audio™ – Hear discriminated iron  EXCLUSIVE All Metal – Hear discriminated iron without leaving a TrueIron All Audio™ Metal Mode! without leaving a True All Metal Mode!  EXCLUSIVE Ground Balance Window™ – Spread the ground  EXCLUSIVE Groundthe Balance Spread the ground balance to reduce effectsWindow™ of ground– mineralization. balance to reduce the effects of ground mineralization.

Relics found by Melvin L. of South Carolina with his AT Gold and AT Pro detectors.

Relics found

by Melvin L. of South Carolina with his AT Gold and AT Pro detectors.

Waterproof to Waterproof 10 feet! to (Recommended 10 feet! for

freshwater use only) (Recommended for freshwater use only)

® ®

2

■ Adjustable threshold ■ Adjustable threshold ■ 18 kHz frequency to detect tiny gold pieces ■ 18 kHz frequency to detect tiny gold pieces ■ 5"x8" DD coil design ■ 5"x8" DD coil design ■ Ground balance: automatic and manual adjust ■ Ground balance: automatic and manual adjust ■ Fast recovery speed ■ Fast recovery speed ■ Proportional audio for more target ■ Proportional audio information for more target information ■ Digital Target ID ■ Digital Target ID ■ High-Res Iron Discrimination: ■ High-Res Iron 40 points, adjustable Discrimination: 40 points, adjustable ■ 2 Discrim Modes ■ 2 Discrim Modes ■ 4 optional ■ 4searchcoils optional searchcoils

To find your nearest dealer and to see our latest videos visit Garrett.com To find your nearest dealer and to see our latest videos visit Garrett.com 1.800.527.4011 (U.S. / Canada) 1.800.527.4011 1.972.494.6151(U.S. / Canada) 1.972.494.6151 ®

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

GarrettDetectors Channel GarrettDetectors Channel

Garrett Metal Detectors Garrett Metal Detectors

MADE IN THE USA MADE IN THE USA

www.americandigger.com

3

Welcome to the 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler ®

A note from the publisher Dear Reader, It's time again to share just a few of the highlights of American Digger® magazine, this time for 2014. Not only does this give regular readers easier access to selected favorites from the year, but also introduces us to those in the hobby of collecting that may not be familiar with our regular bi-monthly publication. It is also our way of saying "thank you"to our dedicated advertisers, and we encourage you to visit the links provided in each of their advertisements.

In this, the 2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler, you’ll find just a fraction of what our regular readers enjoyed during the year. You’ll find actual articles and items from our regular print and digital editions. Included are notes as to which issues these appeared in, making it an easy task to order either that paticular hard copy (if in stock) or the digital edition.

Throughout, you’ll notice hyper-linked notes and advertisements, meaning that even more information is only a click away. These are shown as a blue outlined box with drop shadows. Please click these and enjoy the many places they take you. If it is an advertiser’s link, please support them by not only clicking the hyper links, but also by utilizing their products and services whenever possible. Many of these advertisers have supported us by running continuous advertisements during all of the 2014 issues, and to return the favor, we have listed them here at no cost. Above all, tell them you saw their products in American Digger® magazine. Help them to help us to help you!

Our goal in this Sampler, as in the years past, is not to recap the most spectacular finds, or highlight the best written articles, but rather to give an average sampling of what was seen in American Digger® magazine, Volume 10, Issue 1-6 (January-December, 2014). If you have not read our publication before in its hard copy form, or enjoyed it in its digital downloadable version, we hope this gives you a taste of what you are missing. If you already are a reader or subscriber of our magazine, we hope you’ll enjoy this sampling of American Digger®, 2014, in full color and free online. Whether you are a longtime reader (we are entering our 11th year of publishing American Digger®), or have just discovered us, if you like us, please spread the word!

In addition to this online Sampler, American Digger® magazine brings you the best in relics, bottles, coins, arrowheads, fossils, and more in highquality print form, as well as downloadable digital issues, and will continue doing so six times a year, every year. Despite the name, our content is not limited to only North American interests. We now have a number of overseas readers who are submitting their stories and finds as well.

We also have included an index of all articles published in 2014 by American Digger®. If you would like to read any of the articles not included in this Sampler, please click the links given to order a particular back issue. You may also call 770-362-8671 or visit www.americandigger.com. Note that back issues in hard copy often sell out, so we suggest you order as soon as you find the issue(s) that you desire. If an issue is sold out, don’t despair! We also offer our entire past archives digitally on CD. In 2014 there were well over 50 full length articles, 24 regular columns, and hundreds of recently found items. If you want to experience the hobby magazine everyone is talking about, we suggest you subscribe and have each issue delivered to your home or office, or order our digital editions at www.americandigger.com. If you like digging, collecting, or just keeping abreast with artifacts, you won’t be sorry!

Regards, Butch Holcombe. Publisher American Digger® Magazine

4

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

We wish to thank the following advertisers for their support of American Digger® magazine. Please visit their ads on the pages shown below: Anderson Detector Shafts (pg 92) Big Shanty (pg 97) C.S. Sentinal Forum (pg 34) FMDAC (pg 89) Fisher (pg 102) Garrett (pg 2) Garrett (pg 103) Gettysburg Electronics (pg 9) Gettysburg Segway Tours (pg 96) Greybird Publishers (pg 51) Greybird Relics (pg 97) Ground EFX (pg 55) High Plains Prospectors (pg 73) Joshua's Attic (pg 73) Kellyco (pg 35) Mike Kent Shows (pg 92) My Treasure Spot (pg 92) North Georgia Relics (pg 72) Outdoor Outfitters (pg 3) Picket Post/ Lee’s Headquarters (pg 10) Pinnacle Web (pg 97) Predator Tools (pg 89) Relic Hunter Supply (pg 96) Shiloh Relics (pg 11) Shiloh Relics (pg 97) Southern Metal Detectors (pg 96) Stone's River (pg 95) Teknetics (pg 28-29) Tom's Treasures Forum (pg 11) White's Electronics (pg 41) XP Deus (pg 59) For information on advertising in any of the American Digger® media venues (print, digital, radio, or internet) please visit us on page 93, or call (770)362-8671 to find out more.

www.americandigger.com

5

American Digger

®

nn 10 iv th er Y sa ea ry r Is su e

!

For Diggers and Collectors A

2014 Sampler HARD-WON RELICS OF THE WEST ........ By Evan Alvord

DIV XXIV: PICTURE PERFECT ........ By Butch and Anita Holcombe When an organized hunt was held at a site detailed in Howard Crouch’s legendary book, Relic Hunter, we decided a pictorial would be in order.

Pg. 30

Pg. 36

SHERDS OF BLUE AND GREEN ........ By Mike Wheless

HIJACKING THE SWASTIKA ........ By Foster W. Fleming

When a Coca Cola watch fob with a swastika was dug, the finder began a quest to learn just what this emblem meant before the Nazi Party adopted it.

Pg. 46

DICKEY WOLF AND THE CANNONBALL ........ By Peter Schichtel

Pg. 52

When a New Jersey metal detectorist decided he wanted to find a cannonball, he headed to North Carolina and looked up a legendary digger.

You can’t dig it if you can’t find it, and research is the key. These proven techniques can help you locate those elusive early sites that can pay off big.

Pg. 60

When road work was planned at an Arkansas battlefield, relic hunters teamed up with the National Park Service to conduct a revealing metal detecting survey.

MASTOBABY! ........ By Glenn Harbour

NEW COLOR 3

Pg. 42

Ignoring fragments of china found on a site also means ignoring vital clues in dating the location. Read what this author has to say about the sherds we encounter.

RETURN TO PEA RIDGE ........ By Stephen Burgess

Vo

Quarterly. This is mostly a fee-based site, but free acc obtained through some universities and libraries. Yo The Ha register for a free MyJSTOR account that will provide Relics limited-use access to over 1200 historical journals.

JST an extremely valuable reference source toWester help you id locate early homesites and I strongly urge you take ad this opportunity.

Additionally, out-of-print historical books from t An toOut the century can provide many interesting clues help colonial research. You can find many of these in theof lo Year section of your library, and some are available for fre & Civil or download on Google Books, archive.org, and other Hard copies of these and other old books can also be pu very reasonable prices from online vendors such as Ad Zenextens Wi Cleared areas without homes that show up on Books or Amazon. Over the years, I’ve created Provide and hardcopy reference libraries, and I frequently ref mid-1800s maps can be a good indicator of a materials to pick up that one small detailTips that may&b much earlier occupation on the site. needed to finish solving the puzzle.

I’ve already touched on the use of maps, and there sive resources on the web to help you with that form o trip to get an idea of “the lay of the land” in an area I’ve been Some of my favorites include the Gilmer maps, the Offic researching. I try to stay on or near the original colonial roads and Survey’s historical image collection, and the Library of look for fields that have a nice looking knoll or ridge that stands All of these sources are excellent references for identif out and also have a fresh water source nearby. I can’t put enough War period homesites, and the fact that many of these emphasis on using this technique, as I’ve had a very high rate of their original occupation during colonial times make success finding early homesites and military camps by using it sources quite useful. Aerials and topographic maps fr myself. Almost all of the sites I’ve found by scouting are undocuEnglish whiteware or ironstone (ca. ent time periods can also complement your searches. mented and areEarly ones that I might not otherwise have been willing 1830–1860). Note the even edges and shell has both recent and historical topographic maps availa to check out. Two of the three highly productive sites I hunted last designs. As a general rule, the deeper the or ironstone potteryAerials can help with impressed designs, the older theothers piece. over A fewthe Late whilewhiteware Google Earth and Historic season were found this way, as were several last English (ca. 1860–1890). The edges are still colored pieces made just before 1860 have almost no present satellite images that can yield valuable info three to four years. Undocumented sites are always going tobut be withand no shell design impressed on shell design characteristics. helpInstead, in yourthe quest to has discover that long-lost homesite. among the most productive and should be what any relic hunter the edges. plate an 1860s ______________ splatter design pattern.

The sherd dates to the locals, particular And don’t forget to chat with strives to discover.

1890, with a plain, thin, cobalt blue edge trim. timers, as they often have knowledge that will never b Another excellent source ofSalt-Glazed information I’ve used on numerous English Stoneware ______________ Produced from 1650 through 1750.

Thick gray or white clay any book or website, and that will soon be gone forev occasions is the online version of the Virginia Gazette. The bodies with cobalt blue decorations; hard, shiny clear glaze times conversations wi Gazette was awith colonial an orangenewspaper peel texture. mulberry, yellow, brown, or gold. friends, or acquaintance published in Williamsburg during English Creamware (Early) English Whiteware or Ironstone (Early) the 1700s Produced whichfromcontained 1750 through 1780. Thinner than the above Produced from 1830 through 1860. Thinner white clayoff bod-in a big way, too. F white clay bodies with clear salt or lead glaze ies with plain even edges impressed with shell designs, which local historical society large sectionsstoneware, of advertisements www.am with cream colored tint. Evenly scalloped edges first appear became shallower as production continued into the 1860s. have some unique docu announcing properties for sale, lease but have no coloring.

Shell designs disappeared after 1860 and edge coloring bethat may be of value as w came thinner and is limited to cobalt blue, green, and red. or rent, auctions, and other notices English Pearlware (Mid) certainly say from perso that made reference to old homes.

Produced from 1775 through 1820. Thinner white clay bodEnglish Whiteware or Ironstone (Late) that the rapport Many times the included in scalloped edges. Edges have Produced from 1860 through 1890. Thinner white clayrience ies details with hand-cut asymmetrical with impressedvaluable Rococo shell designs and are seen in a variety of plain, even edges and no impressed designs. Edge colors are personal interaction can the ad will provide clues colors including cobalt blue, green, red, aqua, black, mulberlimited to thin bandslooking of cobalt blue, green, and red.

While for “bombs” were a big part of Dickey and way toward helping m to help determine the location of an ry, yellow, and brown. This was the first “shell edged” china.

Sometimes big managed to make other finds, as shown here. The Remin contacts and early homesite and its owner. My in the backstrap. All of the items were getting found ininto the English Pearlware (Mid-Late) thingsfiled come in The research path article published in the May-June _______________________ Produced from 1780 through 1820. Thinner white clay bodies ® scalloped edges. Edges have finely cut, molded, evenly small packages.

2013 issue ofwith American Digger ver time, Dickey was able to teach meeach many site things is usually Dickey tookdif me designs and are colored with cobalt blue, about detecting in the Cape Fear area. He unique, took me out in especiall and and canhe somet demonstrated impressed how anshellearly site green, red, aqua, black, mulberry, yellow, brown, or gold.

About The Author the field and showed me where the spots called “impact slithering about down manyAsunexpe was found with the help of details Mike Wheless isHarbour a lifelong resident of Savannah, By Glenn time we areas” were. These were areas where the fire fromyou the warships Georgia andintense with his Nancy collecting was more thanwife other areas enjoys and, consequently, there was Dickey would before the puzzle can u provided in a Gazette ad. English Pearlware (Late) Produced from 1820 through 1830. Thinner white clay bodrelics, coins,chance and bottles.

He is shells. also aThe co-author of of finding a greater to find intact possibility shouldn’t forget solved.

A good examp There are plenty of otheredges online ies with irregular embossed with agrarian motifs of thea highly acclaimed book, Relics of The Coastal Dickey loved it complete shell or ball seemed very remote, however. I was wheat, fish historiscales, trees, and geometrical designs.

The Civil Years. thereforeEmpire: content, during trip War after trip, to hack myisway through told aDETE story a site I found out toabD opportunities grapes, to perform Edges are colored with cobalt blue, green, red, aqua, black, the dense and piney areas which lay on the west side of the peninwas the same as this year through a EV vi cal research, and one of the best is October 2008: sula and pry cannonball and Parrott shellMagazine fragments from The peninsu March-April, 2014Inventory American Digger 35 beneath A Virginia Historical Big Brook local A few JSTOR (short for “Journal Storthe pine roots that had hidden them for one hundred andmuseum. forty bardment up too N report led the author theCarolina early Marlboro, New Jersey years. It’s hot onto the North coast in July, so hot that in unsurpassed unt century artifacts on dis age”). This site has a massive digithe wooded areas where there was no God-saving breeze to cool momentous even colonial site where he discovered had to hurry.

It was thousands almost discovered tal Ilibrary containing of you down, the temperatures easily reach 100˚ or more.

Although by nitiesaccident have sprun twilight. The purpose of my end-of-the two scattered caches hammered 26 Americanof Digger Vol. 10, Issue 3 large construction projec early academic journals including day run was realized. I’d fished up a silver coins which date to the 1500s. years ago. The only in my favorite, Williamspear and Mary beautiful argylite, the archaic-aged point, but now it was time to move.

May-June, 2014 American You don’t want to be hiking the ravine Fresh from the dirt, a 3.67 caliber Hotchkiss bolt found

by Doug Scott is Digg

What happens when a die-hard relic hunter moves to a part of the West Coast where 19th century military finds are scarce? He does his homework and finds them anyway.

KNOW WHERE TO GO ........ By Bill Dancy

A

Mastobaby!

O 66 Pg.

®

Pg. 70

Sometimes big things come in small packages. Although the mastodon skull this author found was small, it definitely wasn’t insignificant.

A

®

PVT. MAGLIOCCHETTI’S MESS TIN ........ By Edwin van Engelenshown above, while elsewhere on this page is a Bormann fuse recovered by After finding a WWII mess tin while relic hunting in Germany, idea it would lead to meeting the son of the soldier who lost it.

with no light. Double-timing past the gravel bars and through the shallows, I started to walk right past a very large vertebra stuck in the mud. I came to an immediate halt. Wow — that was the biggest cow vert I’d ever seen! I stepped back to have a closer look ...

Pg. 74

Gordon McCain, Jr. Artillery-related finds were abundant at the site, as this digger diggers had no like Sandy Dolle (shown on the title page seconds after she dug a 12pounder Bormann fused cannonball) can attest.

March 27, 2013: _________________ he “cow vert” from ‘08 turned out to be a mastThat fateful day in the early spring of 2013 found me

T

odon vertebra and process bone from a large specimen. And it was a beauty! During the Ice Age, middle New Jersey was what I’ve come to refer to as “Paleo Central.” The reasons are mostly geographic.

The last of four major ice sheets was retreating north about 12,000 years ago, settling on what is now Manhattan Island. Central Jersey became tundra, providing vegetation on which animals could browse. The megafauna (large mammals) followed, and Paleo Indians followed the megafauna. Today, Pleistocene (Ice Age) fossils and Native American artifacts are often found here, and in the past 50 years some of these discoveries have been significant.

I received quite a bit of press and recognition after my 2008 find. I had officially entered the pantheon of important local contributors. However, the Pleistocene era in central New Jersey was not done with me yet. Not by a long shot.

Pg. 80

Even after millions of hits on YouTube, and his own TV show, Ernie “Turtleman” Although retired, Doug wanted to help with the most recent dig at Pea Ridge.

Brown, Jr. still loves relaxing by catching snapping turtles by hand and metal detecting.

After all the introductions and explaOur freelance writers are the best in the industry! Want to write ® for American Digger ? Click here for writer guidelines.

44 American Digger®

6

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

EX KENT or relic, and did not give a rebel yell upon discovery, our digging bud had the right to take the item away from us.

Continuing on, I asked, “If I OBSO dig a TR pelican (Louisiana) button by the tavern,

retracing my steps in Hop Brook in Holmdel, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Two weeks earlier, I’d made some excellent finds on the same run. These included a plesiosaur tail vertebra, an Archaic-age spear point and two big sharks’ teeth. But on March 27, I was finding only other hunters’ footprints and little else. Also, I was playing hooky from work, so after about an hour, I turned around to head out.

Just after executing my about-face, I noticed a jumble of bones to my left at the bottom of the embankment. It looked like another pile of butcher bone (which litter the creeks from our many historic farms in Monmouth County) but, due to the high occurrence of Ice Age materials in the area, I felt I had to investigate. I immediately identified the bone pile as pieces of some type of skull, but there was a lot of breakage and more mud than skull. I carefully lifted as much as possible and carried it to the water’s edge for washing.

LIVE ACTION: HUNTING WITH TURTLEMAN ........ By Rodney Cox Ridge survey we did from 2001 to 2003.

nations, Mr. De Vore wanted to know if any of us had any questions. As most of those present were old friends, I could not resist being a smart aleck.

Vol. 10, Issue 4I spoke up and explained to him how most of us detectorists, if hunting campsites on private property, would act upon finding a bona fide Confederate artifact.

I explained how if we were hunting with a partner and found a Confederate button

O C

and give a rebel yell, will you let me keep it?” Mr. De Vore looked a little wide-eyed but, with a smile, finally said most emphatically, “NOooo!” After my facetious test of his authority, we were ready to go.

The metal detector operators ready to assist the park service were Tom Bowen, Jr., Stephen Burgess, Sandy Dolle, Doug Dorothy, Jack Ferguson, father and son team Matt and Nick Longwith, Gordon McCain Jr., and Jim Trammell. Doug

American Digger

®

American Digger®

Founded in 2004 by those that love the hobby

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors Publisher

Butch Holcombe

American D-Mail……….8

Marketing Director

American American Digger American Dig Just Digger Dug…………….......12

ol. 10

®

®

Anita Holcombe

Photographer/Consultant

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

ard-Won of the rn U.S.

tstanding f Colonial l War Relics

Issue 1

Vol. 10

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

Excelsior Brigade Q&A....……….….……..24 Detecting A Camp Organized

Texan Ancestor’s Hunt Pictorial Hometown

Stumpt.............................26 How To Date

Deciphering War of 1812 New York Officers’ Plates

Detecting Club A Site Using Archaeological China Sherds Survey of Cabin

News-n-Views.................86 Concluding A Year That Was Loaded Does Selling With Artifacts Artifacts Create A Moral Dilemma?

A Different Way Of Rust Removal

Product Reviews..............90

ith A Grin es Detecting Laughter

What’s The Point............96

A Timeline Of American Digger History

mericandigger.com

War Relics The Hole Truth………....98 In California Gold Fields

Detecting In Mexico Confirms Murphy’s Law Misunderstood Meaning Of Swastikas

Cover Photo Jan-Feb. 2014 $6.95 USA

www.americandigger.com

Senior Issue 2

Charles S. Harris

Editor Vol. 10

Bob Roach

The Magazine for Diggers and Collecto

CANNONBALL Copy Editors

HUNTING WITH Wylene Holcombe A NC LEGEND

John Velke Bill Baab

Editorial Assistants NJ CLUB HUNT

Teresa REV. Harris YIELDS WAR EricPLATE Garland

Editorial Intern

Amy Anderson

HOW TO LOCATE Webmaster EARLY COLONIAL

A RIG

Pat Smith HOUSE SITES

Consultants

Dennis Cox, William Leigh III, Jack Masters, Jack Melton, Mike O’Donnell, Jim Roberson, Mike AN EAGLE ON Don Troiani.

Singer, Bob Spratley, Jim Thomas,

P

ITS SIDE STILL Our Mission: FLIES HIGH

“To promote the responsible excavation and collecting of all artifacts.”

American Digger® (ISSN# 1551-5737)

published bi-monthly by Greybird Publishers, LLC PO Box 126, Acworth, GA 30101.

(770) 362-8671.

Periodical postage paid at Acworth, GA and at additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: American Digger® , March-April 2014 Acworth, GA 30101 $6.95 USA P O Box 126, www.americandigger.com

M

An assortment of 2014 covers of the ® Yearly print subscriptions magazine for diggers and collec® ® USA, $35.95 ® Canada, $55.95; Europe $75.95 tors, American Digger ! In each and Digital subscriptions: $19.95 Vol. 10 The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors Mail subscription payment to: every issue you’ll Issue find4 Vol. a wealth of American Digger The Magazine Vol. 10 Magazine for Diggers and Collectors The Issue Vol.10 10 TheMagazine Magazinefor forDiggers Diggersand andCollectors Collectors Issue 45 PO Box 126 artifacts recovered and collected by Acworth, GA 30101 ECTORISTS FIND RELIC HUNTERS Or pay online at: VIDENCE OF A WORK WITH NPS H STONEMAN’S people just like you: arrowheads, DETECTORISTS FIND www.americandigger.com SOUTH CAROLINA ARELIC WWII HUNTERS SOLDIER CAC NEW NATION IN ARKANSAS CAVALRY RELICSusing most major PhoneNPS orders also welcome EVIDENCE OF A WORK WITH ISLAND PRESENTS REMEMBERED BEIN INcredit GEORGIA cards: (770) 362-8671 Civil War relics, colonial items, NEW NATION botIN ARKANSAS A MYSTERY THROUGH A RELIC No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of the publisher. tles, coins, fossils, meteorites, and 10 YEARS BABY MASTODON American Digger has no affiliation with any hobby JERSEY D OF DIGGIN’ IN SKULL PROVES groups,NEW entertainment venues, or websites other than much more. We hope this compli10 YEARS BABY GETTING THE A MASTODON YOUNGSNAKE BUCKLE our own. While we strive for accuracy, American CULPEPER, VA SIGNIFICANT OF DIGGIN’ IN IN SKULL PROVES MOST FROM VLF DIGGER TELLS BONANZA TU cannot be held liable for inadvertent Digger mentary online sampler gives you CULPEPER, VA MINERALIZED SOIL OFSIGNIFICANT HIS BESTmisrepresentation.

FIND Reader submissions are encouraged, and you may write or visit our website for an idea of what we are all about. guidelines. Emailed submissions should be sent to XPLORING THE RARE “L” BUCKLES’ publisher@americandigger.com.

CIVIL WAR CAMP We reserve the right NATIVE A or visit us TUCKY MILITARY Call us at 770-362-8671 MYSTERIOUS reprint photosOF and WILLIAMS text as needed. Unless otherwise EXPLORING THE RARE STONE BLADES HOW“L” TOtoBUCKLES’ REBUILD FULL BANNE INSTITUTE ORIGINS is requested, all correspondence to American Digger KENTUCKY MILITARY MYSTERIOUS AND POINTSissue!

OF AN EXPLODED CLEANER BULLETS GORGET online to never miss PREHISTORIC another subject to publication.

We strongly oppose illegal INSTITUTEOHIO ORIGINS CANNONBALL We respect our readers’ privacy, and never sell, rent, or publicize subscribers’ names or addresses.

American Digger American American DiggerAmerican Digg

OLETE CAR PART RIGGERS FOND MEMORIES

®

®

®

®

OBSOLETE CAR PART FAMILY GOLD TRIGGERS FOND PROSPECTING MEMORIES VACATION

recovery and wanton destruction of artifacts. Please dig responsibly. Our hobby depends on it!

© 2014AID DETECTORISTS REVOLUTIONARY WAR MUSEUM

www.americandigger.com

www.americandigger.com

RECE IDENTIF & MU

7

American D-Mail

Digging Through Our Mail Box… Got a comment or question? Write or e-mail us!

Open Season – On Diggers

Here in Minnesota we lack the colonial and Civil War sites that others enjoy “back east.” [However this lack] may protect us from the continuing onslaughts of professional archaeologists and their claims that they alone own the past and the right to search for artifacts. That was brought home to me once again by an op-ed piece which appeared August 3, 2013 in the New York Times. The diatribe by an archaeologist was titled “Open Season on History.” Writing about a recent organized detecting event in Virginia, the author trotted out the usual tired lies, misleading nonsense, and standard innuendo: that hobby diggers only dig for profit, hobby diggers make big money selling all the valuable things they find, diggers lie to property owners to gain permission to dig and, of course, the biggest lie of all: history is being lost “all for the sake of a few bucks.”

While some fellow diggers have dug without permission or otherwise violated the unwritten code of conduct the vast majority of us follow, many diggers and collectors actually do more to rescue artifacts and share them with the public than the credentialed academic crowd. If you don’t believe me, go to the Minnesota Historical Society and ask to see the bottles dug at Fort Ridgely in 1936–1937. When I asked some time ago, I was informed that no such bottles existed. When I showed the MHS staff member my copy of the June 1939 issue of Minnesota History, which contained an article about the dig and the photo of those bottles, I was told someone would contact me, which never happened. This is not the first time I have run into such nonsense. In the late 1960s, the Army dug an area of old Fort Sill in Oklahoma which had been occupied by the 10th Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) in the 1870s. The material dug there also disappeared into museum catacombs and was neither displayed nor properly cataloged when I asked about it in 1971 and again in 1975. The simple fact is that most of the artifacts held by museums and academic archaeologists are never displayed or made available for study by the general public.

You all know what a modern museum looks like: enlargements of old photographs and drawings, diagrams, maps, neatly printed descriptions…and very few actual artifacts.

This is not to say that there has not been any thaw in the icy disdain of the academic crowd. A recent article (“Helping Out,” by Adam Ensign) in the September — October issue of American Digger® describes an effort by some detectorists to assist academic archaeologists on a site in Alabama. [Even so] that was done on the archaeologists’ terms; the academics kept every artifact found. If hobby diggers have to turn over everything they find as the price of mitigating the scorn of the archaeologists, one has to ask if it is really worth the effort.

The October issue of Civil War Times contained a story

8

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

Beepin ’

Steve Meinzer

“Who needs a pinpointer? I find most of my targets with my digging tool.”

which may give us hope that the era of academic finger pointing may be coming to an end. Written by an archaeologist from the College of William and Mary, the piece is titled “Dig It! Can archaeologists and weekend relic hunters find common ground in the search for Civil War knowledge?” I admit to being surprised when the author concluded that archaeologists and relic hunters “should be close allies” and that we “can all benefit from learning more about each other.” Of course, she only arrived at that conclusion after tossing around some of the usual academic rhetoric, including the nonsensical theory that artifacts are “safer and better protected in the ground.”

Apparently she is unaware of the effects of corrosion, soil acids, and heavy equipment on metal, glass, stoneware, and other artifacts. Nonetheless, it may be that some academics are taking a second look at their relationship with hobbyists. We should work with those who are open-minded while continuing to keep a careful eye on the high-brow types who consider us to be looters, destructive amateurs, or worse. We need to always remind anyone who will listen that American history belongs to all of us and that anyone who is interested enough to study and search for its artifacts has the right to do so.

Boyd Beccue Willmar, Minnesota

We are familiar with the New York Times article that you reference and we, along with most hobby diggers, were

appalled, but not surprised, at the ignorance. Still, we were encouraged by the Civil War Times article, as that author/archaeologist sees the value of both sides working together. It does seem that the tide is changing, but the process is slow and tedious. What we would like to see is those who use hobby detectorists in digs help us in standing up for our hobby. Too many otherwise detectingfriendly archaeologists remain woefully silent when laws that threaten our hobby are proposed. -AD

surprised as my lawyer was when I told him this story, let me give you a little history on marine salvage. On July 20, 1985, Mel Fisher discovered the shipwreck Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a Spanish galleon that sank off the coast of Florida in a 1622 hurricane with 40 tons of gold and silver valued at $450 million. At the time of this discovery, maritime law was “finders-keepers.” When the story of Mel Fisher’s find made the news, it gave archaeologists all over the United States heartburn. They immediately went to the Senate and demanded that the U.S. Government take over the ownership (Originally published in Volume 10, Issue 1) of everything in the territorial waters of America. The majority of senators did not want to make this a federal law; however, Price of the Past two senators passed the “Abandoned Shipwreck Act” (43 SC In reference to the article in the January/February issue, “The 2101) in an after-hours session on April 28, 1988. This act gave Price of the Past.” I do not think responsible selling creates a any state in the United States title to anything in the waters of moral dilemma, and I have firsthand knowledge of how irate that state. Virginia and most other states with coastal waters archaeologists can cause trouble for relic hunters. enacted laws to take advantage of this gift from Congress.

On Labor Day of 2010, my wife, another diver, a passenger In Virginia, the Commonwealth claims anything dropped or on my boat, and I were cited by Virginia Game and Inland thrown into its waters. However, the Virginia Marine Resources Fishery officers for violation of laws related to the removal of Commission will issue a permit to explore the waters of the material from the sub-aquatic beds of the waters of Virginia.

Commonwealth and recover artifacts. These artifacts must be These officers said at the time of the citation that they reported to the Marine Resources Commission who then turns and other officers had been sent the information over to the Virginia by the Virginia Marine Resources Historical Resources Commission Be a part of our print and digital publication Commission throughout the rivers and if they want anything the ...click here and send us a message! of Virginia to find us. If you are as permit holder has found, they must

www.americandigger.com

9

compensate the finder for the item.

I had a permit for years and reported my finds as required.

I never heard a word from anyone about my finds or what I did with them. During the time prior to the court case, I contacted the Marine Resources Commission and asked what had caused them to come after me. I was told that someone had complained that I was selling Virginia’s history on Ebay.

They wanted to stop me from recovering artifacts until they could investigate the complaint. I hired a lawyer at a cost of $1,200 and went to court to fight the charges. In court, the judge, the Commonwealth attorney and my lawyer repeatedly passed the law book back and forth between them trying to decide what the statute said and if I was in violation of it. In the end, the judge decided that I probably had broken the law but dismissed the case because the Commonwealth could not prove their case.

After the dismissal, I requested a meeting with the Virginia Historical Commission [I wanted to be able to understand what proof I needed to provide which showed that I was legally permitted to sell what I found, and how long I needed to wait prior to selling anything]. I also told them in this meeting that I had a few things that I thought were unique and would donate them to Virginia as long as they promised to display them and not put them in storage in a basement. The head of the Historical Recourses Commission replied, “We don’t have any money; we don’t have any space to store artifacts and we don’t want them.”

On average, it costs between $50 and $100 per day for my wife and me to hunt artifacts in Virginia’s rivers. I spend two to four days a week between April and October diving, and I must sell artifacts to finance my pastime. I think it is hypocritical for archaeologists to complain about hobbyists when archaeologists get paid obscene sums of taxpayer money to relic hunt.

Starting in 1978, a marine archaeologist (name withheld) dove on a British shipwreck in the York River at Yorktown, Virginia. He applied for and received grants in the millions of dollars from the government (i.e., taxpayers) to explore this shipwreck. He was shown numerous shipwrecks in the York River by hobby divers prior to his becoming an archaeologist.

When he applied for the grant, he said that it was necessary to get this money in a hurry because divers were plundering

10

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

the wrecks. The marine archaeologist did not recover anything from the wreck of historical or monetary value. In fact, he could not find anything to prove the wreck was the one he said it was. After he finished diving the shipwreck, he applied for and received a second grant (over $100,000 of taxpayer money) to cover the wreck with a cofferdam to prevent anyone from plundering the site.

Archeologists will not do what I do to find and conserve history without someone else paying the bills. Why is my selling finds any different?

Dallas Weston North Prince George, Virginia Throughout the history of American Digger® magazine, we have tried to bridge the gap between professional and amateur archaeologists (which in reality is what most hobby diggers are).

Yet for every step forward, it seems another is taken backwards.

One of the loudest rallying cries now heard from the professional community is that hobbyists (in reality a small percentage) sell their finds and thus “profit” from history. In most cases, such sales barely help to cover expenses, while most true professionals would not even consider a dig without financial compensation.

As we do have quite a few professional archaeologists who read and enjoy this publication, we hope to also hear them weigh in on this subject. As for the marine archaeologist you mention, we have withheld his name in the spirit of fairness. -AD (Originally published in Volume 10, Issue 2)

Hijacking the Swastika

I found the article on swastikas (American Digger®, Volume 10, Issue 2, “Hijacking the Swastika”) very interesting, as I have a soda bottle with a swastika embossed on it. It is from the Home Bottling Company of Tulsa, Oklahoma. For some reason, they had a hard time retailing this product in the early 1940s! Also, as any e-Bayer knows, you cannot list any item on their auctions with a swastika.

Terry Titus Ocoee, Florida Sometimes it only takes one bad apple to spoil the whole bunch. In this case, a group of bad apples (the Nazis) ruined what was until then considered, at the least, harmless, and

cal (but lately all too common) tale by asking at an auction, a rather distinguished looking what should we, the nonprofessional collector, elderly gentleman strolled over to my table. He take away from it? Political correctness and an seemed very interested in my coprolites, which emotionally overcharged sense of what is his75 million yearsand old lucky fish feces (you read thatit is sad from atare most, a sacred symbol.

While torically right have infected our society like an retrieved from the local a right) historical prospective thatcreeks. venues such as e-Bay have ® At American Digger out-of-control virus. magazine, Thethe gentleman, Don Dorfman, was banned sale of any item listed asPh.D having a swastika, it is It is now three times hard to collect, prehead of of how the Marine Biology Department at the we want to hear from our as readers! proof much long-lasting harm was done during the serve and report finds at a local level. All the avUniversity of Monmouth (West Long Branch, 1930s and 1940s under that ancient symbol.-AD Click here to send us a D-mail! erage citizen is supposed to do is visit museums New Jersey). Don had both serious academic (Originally published in Volume 10, Issue 3) and watch the History Channel.

We, as Americredentials and an open minded attitude. Most can citizens, still have the right to collect and importantly, he gladly acknowledged the contriA Little Different dig, as long as we do it with permission and stay butions of amateurs to science and was fascinatJust Dug On May 13, 2014, I found something that was a little differthe bounds the law.issues, It is neither a right ed by my finds. After the Dalton point debacle, I read “Just Dug”within multiple times of between because ent, tobecame say the my least. went aroundpuban old well pump nor an obligation to follow in lock step behind Don aceI in the searching hole. Professors it gives me hope that I will find something awesome. So house in southern those who hold degrees. The margins, however, lish like a rabbitCaliformaking bunnies and soon we far I haven’t, but I’m hopeful. I’ve dug in Ohio and New nia that dates to around are narrowing and the eyes (and voices) of those teamed up to publish a series of scientific articles Hampshire. I found a Slaymaker Padlock at an old train who would condemn us are everywhere.

1920.

What I found surThe Dalton depot Point in which based on my finds. The first was you guessed Ohio and farm implements in New Hampshire. prised thecoprolites, dickens out it on thenofothers followed. I evenwas rejected for publiI have a hard time finding resources that show pictures Postscript me: a Russian-made 9mm help me with the long tually asked if he could cation by the newspawhere I can identifyIn my2010, finds.

I discovered an amazing 5.5 inch Makarov was neglectedpistol.

Dalton It piece. per’s archaeologist.

Keith Keough stemmed Paleo point in Marlboro, New Jersey. wrapped inside cloth, Donup knew theaantagonistic archaeologist and __________ Spencer, Ohio It was perfect Paleo point number two and, of then insidethat a Ziploc confided he hadbag, a reputation for arrogance course, it had to be recorded. Unfortunately, I eveninside amonga his peers.

As for my Dalton point, then nylon bag, Amazing findsmany are made everyproblems day throughout the world. went through of the same I’d experienced almost he suggested we submit then inside a metal case, an article to the annual New Jersey Whether amazing to the digger or not, there is historical half a decade earlier.

It was a bit depressing; it felt like I’d never Archaeology Thisdeep. periodical annuallywhat highlights and was buried Bulletin. about a foot Upon realizing it was,the I value and interest in almost every find a detectorist recovers. gone through the vetting process. Thankfully, a local commercial Garden State’s most finds highly immediately called thesignificant sheriff. The gunand wasisso badlyprestigious rusted thatin As to resource are thousands of books and monthly pickedmaterials, it up and there did a better than expected job on the scientific circles.not One of Don’s closest friends was the managing the sheriff could even remove the magazine.

I will say that article. websites that can help identify your finds.

The bad news is chiefnot editor ironically enough, the newspaper’s I was tooand, impressed with his evidence recovery archaeologist techniques; my discovery of aofpartial skeleton that More most recently, are focused on one type item mastodon or era, making also sat on the board of the magazine.

The web handling that was being he did not even put gloves on (see photo) before it. I brought quite a bit more recognition.

Finally!

It only took general identifications difficult. While there are a few general woven this single to spear point indeed! was givenaround a report number follow up was on it,getting but do thick not want to numerous phone calls, several interviews and the backing of three In the spring of 2006 (almost a year after my find), the bulletin collectable guides, such as Kovels' Antiques and Collectibles, hassle with all the legal paperwork of trying to claim it. I’m just people But I had evolved.

I now at least bookwith canPh.D’s. not have it all.

Until someone figures outexisted a wayin arrived with an accurate, objective write-up, and photos of the one going to chalk it up as being a good citizen. eyes thus, the find could be properly The write anand all-encompassing reference, we documented. would suggest Dalton point. It was late in coming, but there it was: a literal totheir Keith Mullins media giveth and ®the media taketh away. But it should never be exercise in persistence and luck.

American Digger as a good all-around reference.-AD Riverside, California able to rob a find of its provenance.

(Originally published in Volume 10, Issue 6) The gravy on top of my ‘taters was the verbal dressing down

We commend you for doing the right thing in calling the authorities. One has to wonder just what kind of history the weapon had for it to have been so well hidden. As to lax evidence recovery techniques, we want to give the sheriff the benefit of the doubt. It could be that the gun was so deteriorated that it would have been impossible to check for fingerprints, or perhaps he had other reasons for not donning the gloves. We only hope that your good deed leads to justice served, if indeed the firearm was used in a crime. -AD (Originally published in Volume 10, Issue 5)

About The Author See ourhas backbeen issues for other great Glenn Harbour digging and collecting since Volume 10 (2014) D-Mails! his teenage years and has traveled both the west and Click here toinorder... the east coast extensively his pursuits of the past.

Although his degree is not in archaeology, he takes his hobby very seriously and considers himself to be an amateur scientist. Hailing from central New Jersey, Glenn is also a prolific author and a local folk artist.

November-December 2012

American Digger® Magazine 29

www.americandigger.com

11

Just Dug

:

Here’s what our readers are finding...

Bryan Jordan recovered this unlisted button in South Carolina. Little is known about these scarce pieces, which some believe to be for an early 1800s rifleman.

They are only reported to have been dug in Florida and South Carolina. The one-piece button is 17 mm with a backmark of “DOUBLE GILT” and, fittingly, retains most of its gilt finish. It was found in October 2014 with a Fisher F75. Photo by Bryan Jordan (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Evan Alvord was digging at a West Coast site in October 2013 when he found this 1869-1872 J. Walkers Vinegar Bitters bottle made at the San Francisco Glass Works. The cork is still in the bottom. By most accounts, this drink was unpleasant to ingest and, despite being touted as “alcohol free,” still contained about 5% alcohol.

Photo by Evan Alvord (Volume 10, Issue 1)

® ® 12 122014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Patrick Edwards often relic hunts for Civil War and colonial relics along what used to be the river road following the Pamunkey River in north central Virginia but it is not unusual for him to locate Native American artifacts as well. All of the above Indian tools were found by Patrick in the summer and early fall of 2013.

Photos by Patrick Edwards (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Robert Devilbiss was detecting in Uniontown, Maryland on Veterans’ Day, 2013 when he found this early 1900s 10 carat gold ring. Robert first found a bracelet, then rechecked the hole and heard another target. Further digging in the hole revealed the ring at five inches deep. It is engraved “FW” and is hallmarked “10K BF” on the inside of the band. Robert uses a White’s DFX detector.

Photo by Robert Devilbiss (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Over 800 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2014 issues! Click here to see more.

Steven Miller was searching a field which once was an old house site in central Illinois and made this find.

The 14 K gold pin represents the Order of the Eastern Star, a Freemasonry group open to both men and women. Established in 1850, it now has approximately 500,000 members in 20 countries. Judging from the Tbar fastener, it was probably made in the mid-1800s, although the catch itself is a more modern style that was likely added in the early 1900s. Steven found the item in October 2013 with a Minelab E-Trac.

Greg Hornsby was taking part in Diggin’ in Virginia XXV, in Culpeper, Virginia when he recovered this personalized relic. The silver VI Corps badge is engraved with the information of its original owner, Squire A. Mallory, Company A, 4th Vermont. Mallory enlisted at the beginning of the Civil War and fought in many major battles over a three year period. Promoted to sergeant in 1864, he was soon after captured and spent 10 months at Andersonville prison. Mallory was released at the end of the War and died in 1901 at the age of 64. Photo by Greg Hornsby (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Photo by Steven Miller (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Joann Dunn found this scarce artifact in eastern Texas. The one-piece Republic of Texas Navy button was made around 1837. The Republic of Texas Navy was formed to protect Galveston and keep Gulf trade routes open. The Texas Republic became a state in 1845. Joann found the button in October 2013 with a Garrett AT Pro. Photo by Brian McKenzie (Volume 10, Issue 1)

Duane Kaiser was hunting “The Old Utah Territory” when he made this find: a pair of Federal Cavalry sabers buried together in the same hole. The tip of both blades are broken, which might be why they were discarded, or perhaps they might have been intentionally broken to prevent salvage and reuse by the opposing Later Day Saint forces during the Mormon War of 1857-1858. Duane made the find in late November 2013 while using a Whites DFX. Photos by James Martin (Volume 10, Issue 1)

www.americandigger.com

13

Andrew Krawczyk is getting an early jump on history hunting, thanks to the help of Addam Coe. Andrew, 13, recovered this nice 1812 era one-piece navy button while on a trip with veteran digger Addam in the South Carolina Low Country. Andrew made the find on December 29, 2013, with a Garrett AT Pro detector he got for a Christmas gift.

Photos by Anita Holcombe (Volume 10, Issue 2)

Henry Parro was searching an old dump site in central Vermont in October 2013, when he recovered this clay pipe. It shows, in great detail, a child holding a dog, and is thought to date to the mid-late 1800s. Photo by Henry Parro (Volume 10, Issue 2) ® ® 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 14 142014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

In November 2013, Bob Spratley was digging an 18th century trash pit northeastern Florida and recovered, this Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) jug in good condition. Several other intact vessels have also been found, preserved largely due to the site being surrounded by a marsh. Bob learned of the site from an elderly lady whose grandfather took her to it many years ago. St. Augustine was established in 1565 by Pedro Menendez of Spain. In 1763, the Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War and gave ownership of St. Augustine to the British in exchange for Havana. Not wanting to be under the control of the British, the Spanish people opted for moving to Havana or returning to Spain. They were limited to taking only a few items due to the shortage of space on the ships, and dumped their valuables in tidal marshes rather than let the British have it. Photo by Bob Spratley (Volume 10, Issue 2)

Heath Johnson recovered these Confederate relics in central Virginia in late 2013. The buckle tongue is half of an interlocking two-piece “Confederate States” sword belt plate, while the saddle shield is an uncommon type used by some members of the Southern cavalry. Both were recovered with a Fisher F75 metal detector.

Photos by Ran Hundley (Volume 10, Issue 2)

Over 800 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2014 issues! Click here to see more.

When Autumn Battles first saw the glint of worked stone, as seen in the in situ photo she snapped at the time (above), she had no idea it would be any more than a broken tool or average point. It was only after brushing away the excess dirt that she saw it was this beautiful undamaged 6¼ inch Benton knife. It is made from Buffalo River chert, and would have been used between 6,000 and 4,000 years ago. This discovery was made in middle Tennessee in 2013.

Ryan Lillicotch recovered this silver watch fob near his central Virginia home in late 2013. It measures 1¾ x 1¼ inches and bears the name of “C. T. Smith,” who lived in this area; a local elementary school is named for him. Smith was a captain in the 3rd Virginia Cavalry, captured and later released in a prisoner exchange. He afterward fought at Gettysburg. Ryan uses a Fisher F75. Photo by Ran Hundley (Volume 10, Issue 2)

Photos by Autumn Battles (Volume 10, Issue 2)

Billy Harrelson was searching an old lumber mill site near North Horry City, South Carolina when he recovered this piece of railroad history. The copper baggage tag, which dates to the last half of the 19th century, is for a round trip between Charleston, South Carolina and Richmond, Virginia. Billy made the find in late 2013. Photos by Anita Holcombe (Volume 10, Issue 2)

Tony Guin, who is president of the Middle Tennessee Metal Detecting Club, decided to try a bit of hunting out of state in late 2013, and traveled to southern Louisiana to recover this silver coin. It is an 1877 S Seated Liberty quarter, minted in San Francisco.

More information on the Middle Tennessee Metal Detecting Club, which meets in Nashville, can be found on page 95 of this sampler.

Photos by Anita Holcombe (Volume 10, Issue 2)

www.americandigger.com

15

Jason Ritter dug this Civil War artillery projectile in eastern Virginia. It is a 4.5-inch U.S. Dyer that was fired from a gunship but failed to explode. This example, a case shot, was packed with lead balls around a central bursting charge. Jason made the find in January 2014. Photo by Ran Hundley (Volume 10, Issue 3)

John LeFevre dug this early political piece near Suffolk, Virginia. The one-piece button is marked “MARCH THE FOURTH 1789 / MEMORABLE ERA” and was made to commemorate George Washington’s inauguration. John made the find with a Minelab X-Terra 705, in January 2014.

Photos by John LeFevre (Volume 10, Issue 3)

® ® 16 162014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Stephen Shokes eyeballed this quartz blade in late 2013 at a site near Columbia, South Carolina. The ancient stone artifact measures 2.67 inches long and is believed to be between 3,000 and 6,000 years old. Photo by Stephen Shokes (Volume 10, Issue 3)

Larry Soper found these relics in late 2013 while hunting on the West Coast. Pictured is an 1870s “schoolhouse” ink bottle he eyeballed. Beside it is an 1843 $5 gold coin, his 4th gold coin in four years. The other find is a brass saddle from an 1860s Chinese opium pipe. Larry made the finds with a White’s MXT. Photos by Larry Soper (Volume 10, Issue 3) Over 500 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2014 issues! Click here to see more.

Tim Leonard was searching a construction site near Gilgal Church, Georgia in January 2014 and recovered this Confederate brass spur. This design, sometimes known as a Western Theater style, was popular among Southern cavalrymen. Photo by Tim Leonard (Volume 10, Issue 3)

Kenneth Clark was detecting near Louisville.

Kentucky and made these finds in March 2014. The one-piece button at the top of the photo is from the late 1700s, worn to show patriotism. Below it is a 1759 gold guinea depicting King George the Second.

Kenneth made the finds while using a Garrett Ace 250 detector. Photos by Kenneth Clark (Volume 10, Issue 3)

In late 2013, Ralph Tapp was detecting a Revolutionary War site near Charleston, South Carolina and dug this British relic. The pewter one-piece button was worn by the 17th Regiment of Foot. Although most of the regiment served in the northeast (including Virginia, New York, and Pennsylvania), a small number of them were in South Carolina. Photos by Charlie Harris (Volume 10, Issue 3)

Ed DeMatteo was searching a site in northern Texas in late 2013 when he recovered this silver 20th century relic. It appears to be a bracelet or uniform adornment and is inscribed “DECATUR BAPTIST COLLEGE/ 1934.” This school was founded in the late 1800s as America’s first two-year college and later became Dallas Baptist University. According to DBU historian Dennis Linam, the school was financially strapped in the 1930s and commissioned no class rings or other adornments, especially in silver. Initials are on the back of this piece, leading to the discovery of the original owner, but Ed has been unable to locate her. It is believed that this is a oneof-a-kind item that the owner’s family had custom made.

Ed has donated the find to the Dallas Baptist University for their archives. He made the find with a Garrett AT Pro. Photo by Ed DeMatteo (Volume 10, Issue 3)

www.americandigger.com www.americandigger.com

17 17

Glen Heath was relic hunting near the Civil War battle of Wysefork, North Carolina when he found this silver engraved identification tag. The tag’s owner, James Van Vaulkenburg, served with the 1st Michigan Light Artillery. As can be deduced from the engraving, he was also a Freemason. He survived the war and became a farmer. Glen dug the artifact in late 2013. Photo by Butch Holcombe

Rebecca Evans was searching a field in Delaware County, Ohio and hoping to find some Indian artifacts before the farmer tilled the field. As her friends and she began to head off in different directions to try their luck, they were stopped in their tracks when Rebecca spotted this intact slate gorget after only a few steps. Although the exact uses of gorgets seem to vary, most were made approximately 1,500 to 4,500 years ago. This specimen was found on April 12, 2014. Photo by Rebecca Evans (Volume 10, Issue 4)

(Volume 10, Issue 4)

Bobby Nuckols recovered this piece of 19th century jewelry while detecting at location in central Virginia. The ring is 18K gold and is inscribed, “W.L.B. to A.L.B. Nov. 6, ‘78.” Bobby made the find in March 2014, while using a Minelab Explorer SE Pro. Courtesy Sgt. Riker’s Civil War Shop (Volume 10, Issue 4)

® ® 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 18 182014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

In April 2014, Tony LoSchiavo was hunting a colonial site in Maryland and found this rare variant of a George Washington first inaugural button. Listed as W15 in Albert’s Record of American Uniform and Historical Buttons, the book notes that, as of 1976, less than 10 of this style were known to exist. Although that number has since increased, they are still considered very rare.

Courtesy Sgt. Riker’s Civil War Shop (Volume 10, Issue 4)

Over 800 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2014 issues! Click here to see more.

Travis Throckmorton made this odd recovery in central Virginia in February 2014. The Civil War-era socket bayonet is imbedded in a section of tree which has grown around it. Courtesy Sgt. Riker’s Civil War Shop (Volume 10, Issue 4)

Zach “Yellowwolf” Smith was searching an Archaic site near Paragon, Indiana when he eyeballed this Native American stone artifact. It is 1.3 inches long and is believed to be 5,000-7,000 years old. Zach made the find in April 2014. Photo by Zach Smith (Volume 10, Issue 4)

Carter Pennington found this rare Revolutionary War button near Fishkill, New York. The one-piece pewter New York militia button is from the first two years of the war and predates the standard “USA” buttons that were introduced in 1778. It was mixed in with nails and was eight inches deep. The video can be seen on Youtube by clicking on this photo. Carter made the find in April 2014, using a Teknetics T2 detector with a 9.5 inch aftermarket search coil.

In early 2014, Don Westbrook stumbled upon a hidden picnic grove located near Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin and, to his surprise, the first signal was a Mercury dime — as were his second and third targets. After three days of hunting at the site, he had found the coins shown here, along with numerous others not pictured. Don also bottle hunts, and recovered the glass from a single pit in northern Wisconsin, also in early 2014. Don uses a Minelab CTX 3030.

Photo by Carter Pennington (Volume 10, Issue 4)

Photos by Don Westbrook (Volume 10, Issue 4)

www.americandigger.com

19

Paul Schilling, David Jones, and Doug Newberry were participating in a small group hunt organized by Rod Hall at a Civil War site near Marietta, Georgia and dug these artillery projectiles within three hours. Paul (White’s MXT) dug the solid shot cannonball, David (Garrett AT Pro) found the Hotchkiss case shot, and Doug recovered the Bormann-fused 12-pound cannonball. All three hunters were aided by Garrett Propointer pin pointers. The finds were made on June 22, 2014, exactly 150 years to the day after the rounds were fired in battle.

Photo by Butch Holcombe (Volume 10, Issue 5)

Greg Toney was relic metal detecting a plantation site in the South Carolina lowcountry when he recovered this slave hire badge. It is embossed “CHARLESTON / 1847 / PORTER.” Issued by the city of Charleston, South Carolina, these were required in order to hire out one’s slaves. A video of the hunt can be seen on Youtube by clicking on this photo. Greg made the find in May 2014 with a Teknetics T2 SE and a Garrett Propointer.

Photo by Greg Toney (Volume 10, Issue 5)

Bill Blackman spent February 14, 2014 digging out a Civil War hut site in southern Virginia, and recovered these bottles. All are circa 1860s or earlier. Bill used a Minelab GPX 4500 detector to locate the hut site (via the deep iron left in it) in a former winter camp of the Union army. Photo by Charlie Harris (Volume 10, Issue 5) ® ® American Digger Magazine Sampler 20 2020142014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Ralph Tapp dug this snake buckle at a central Kentucky Civil War site. Imported from England, most (but not all) were used by Confederate troops. Ralph found the relic in late February 2014. He also eyeballed the five stone points and blades nearby. The black blade is three inches long, and the large archaic point on the left is 2¾ inches long.

Photos by Ken Hamilton & Ralph Tapp (Volume 10, Issue 5)

Over 800 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2014 issues! Click here to see more.

In May 2014, Chris Wiley found this coin cache while relic hunting near Winchester, Virginia. Such a cache was not on his mind when Chris decided to work a creek where he'd found Civil War bullets in the past.

He first dug a lead bar and then, a few feet away, an iron container. When he picked the iron up, he saw a coin sticking out of the side. Before it was done, Chris had recovered 88 coins dating between 1895 to 1946.

Fifteen were silver. A video of the hunt can be seen on Youtube by clicking on this photo. Chris uses a Garrett AT Pro. Photos by Chris Wiley (Volume 10, Issue 5)

After suffering a heart attack, Jimmy Dillon was told by his doctor that he could return to metal detecting after Memorial Day and return he did!

He hit the oceanfront of Virginia Beach and had his first three gold ring day since 2008. Two weeks later, he dug the pear-shaped diamond ring from the same location. The latest is a man’s ring with five diamonds, found in waist deep water. All five rings are 14K gold. Jimmy made the finds in early June and July 2014, with a Minelab Excalibur II. Photo by Jimmy Dillon (Volume 10, Issue 5)

Ryan Murray sent us an update on the bison skeleton, featured in “Just Dug,” March-April 2014, that he and Seth Baldwin found near Burnet County, Texas. First thought to be a bison antiquus of up to 10,000 years old, partially because of its enormous size, it has now been identified as a very large modern bison which lived between 200-4,000 years ago. A video of this dig can be seen on Youtube by clicking this photo. Photos by Ryan Murray (Volume 10, Issue 5)

Jason Stanley recovered these Civil War artifacts from a single hole while he was hunting a creek in Culpeper, Virginia. The hole, likely a dump site for a farmer or soldiers policing the area, yielded several good finds, including a bayonet scabbard, a Federal cartridge box with US accoutrement plate, a Union belt and buckle, a Confederate cartridge box, 400 bullets, numerous percussion caps and, oddly, a flintlock gun hammer.

Although the leather would have disintegrated long ago on dry land, it was preserved in this case by the wet environment. Jason made the finds in April 2014, with a Garrett AT Pro. Photo by Jason Stanley (Volume 10, Issue 5)

www.americandigger.com www.americandigger.com

21 21

John Deville was detecting at an antebellum home located in Natchez, Mississippi and dug this 1897 dog license. John notes that while it is rare to find any pre-1900 Mississippi dog license, this one is the oldest known to exist for Natchez. John made the find on July 12, 2014, while using a White’s MXT Pro.

Kelley Rea was detecting near Smithfield, Virginia when she dug this brass 19th corps badge. While most Army Corps badges were made of cloth, those who could afford them sometimes purchased commerciametal badges such as this one. Although most of the 19th Corps spent the war in the Department of the Gulf, several units served in Virginia. Kelley made the find in August 2014. Photo by Kelley Rea (Volume 10, Issue 6)

Photo by John Deville (Volume 10, Issue 6)

Scott Burch was metal detecting near Sheboygan, Wisconson when he found this ancient copper tool.

The site, which is on private property, is a known Old Copper Complex location. The Old Copper Complex is a term used for Native American groups who utilized raw copper to form weaponry and tools.

The flat-stemmed knife or dagger is four inches long and believed to be between 4,000 and 7,000 years old.

Scott recovered the artifact in August 2014.

Photos by Scott Burch (Volume 10, Issue 6)

® ® 22 222014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Marty Gates was hunting near Murfreesboro, Tennessee and dug this Confederate button. Embossed with the state seal of Tennessee, these were believed to have been manufactured by the New Orleans firm of C. Rouyer. Marty recovered the scarce button in July 2014 along with nondescript flat buttons, eagle general service buttons, and various types of Civil War bullets. Marty made the find with a Whites XLT. Photos by Marty Gates (Volume 10, Issue 6) Over 800 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2014 issues! Click here to see more.

Charlotte Stevenson was relic hunting near Chattanooga, Tennessee when she found this copper badge. Embossed “NATIONAL EX-SLAVE MUTUAL RELIEF BOUNTY & PENSION ASS’N” and “OF THE U.S.A.,” the brass item originally hung from an unmarked top bar and was given to members of that organization. The group was formed in 1897, with the stated objective being to unite blacks in their fight to obtain Federal assistance to help ex-slaves. By the end of WWI, the group had all but dissolved. Charlotte made the find in July 2014. Photo by Charlie Harris (Volume 10, Issue 6)

Matt McDonald made this surface find in June 2014 in Hardin County, Tennessee. Known as a Kirk Corner Notch blade, the stone tool measures 1¾” wide and 3¾” long. It is from the Early-Middle Archaic Period, and is thought to be between 6,000-9,000 years old.

Photo by Autumn Battles (Volume 10, Issue 6)

In September 2014, Larry Soper was relic hunting and found this quartz specimen with gold laced through it. A specific gravity test on it reveals the gold content at .399 of an ounce. and the quartz being 1.038 ounces. Larry made the find on the U.S. West Coast while using a Fisher Gold Bug Pro detector. Photos by Larry Soper (Volume 10, Issue 6)

in August 2014, Jack Shelton recovered this Civil Warera hand grenade in a Confederate trench in central Virginia. It is believed to be a Raines Confederate model. Similar to the Union Ketchuam grenade, this Confederate version employed a cloth streamer instead of cardboard fins. Photo by Ran Hundley

www.americandigger.com

23

?

Q&A With Charles Harris

I

n July 2013 I was hunting for jewelry with my Garrett AT Pro on the Yuba River (California) when I came across this beauty. It was about nine inches deep right on the edge of the water. The Yuba was heavily mined and panned during the gold rush. I’ve had a few people tell me that this buckle could be pre-Civil War. Is that true?

Robert Ashbaugh Both the publisher of this magazine and I have seen these from time to time over the years and had always called them sash buckles. In fact, they were identified as such in reference books, including our go-to book on buckles, American Military Belt Plates by Mike O’Donnell. Now, however, there is new information from that author on what I (and most others) always figured were lightweight militia plates.

Mike told me that the designation “sash buckle” is actually a misnomer and misnomers are hard to correct.

They live on forever as errors of misidentification because they were once published as the truth. Your buckle tongue is now one of those items. Yes, they are regularly found in Civil War sites. Yes, they were used on cloth belts and possibly sashes during this period

24

of history. There are other “Yes-es” that validate the original premise of their being Civil War sash buckles, but...

Mike suggests that your plate, and others like it, could more accurately be called a “miner’s buckle.” He notes that the design of the eagle and the oversized shield are actually from the 1846-1848 Mexican War period, not the Civil War. He also mentions that, after the Mexican War, the demand for military goods almost completely evaporated.

That was before the discovery of gold by Mr. Sutter on his property in California.

Suddenly, the gold rush was on and it is estimated that nearly 500,000 men went west across the country to California to find gold and become (they hoped) rich. A mighty industry was formed around the gold rush in order to supply these miners with their needed goods, including gold pans, picks, shovels, mule harnesses, back packs, and belts.

Mike has inspected a collection of over 50 belt buckles dug from the gold fields in California by relic hunters. From the pieces in this collection, and 1850s photographs of miners in this part of the country, we know many of them wore interlocking tongue and wreath buckles.

Many of these are similar to yours. The design of a patriotic eagle with the shield on its chest is very prominent, and most of these eagles are surrounded by fivepointed stars (in your case 27). This is not a random number, but instead denotes the number of states in the Union when the buckle stamping dies were manufactured; 27 stars denotes the number of states in 1846.

Also in that collection were buckles depicting clipper ships and others with the California state seal on them. Mike has a theory that the die for your eagle buckle was made several years prior to the California Gold Rush, and I agree.

We both think these lightweight “miner’s

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

buckles” predate the Great Gold Rush of 1849. Mike believes that the dies made to stamp this buckle were actually created during the Mexican War period and were originally designed to make heavier duty buckles for use by the military. The Mexican War came to a close, demand for military goods evaporated, and the dies were placed into storage, later available for sale to anyone that wished to purchase them.

At this point, some of the dealers like Horstmann, James Smith, and others acquired these dies and began manufacturing thinner stamped brass buckles for the civilian market of a very patriotic country. Those that didn’t sell in the east were bought up by sutlers out west that worked the mining camps in the 1850s, selling anything that the miners needed.

One of these miners lost this portion of his belt buckle, maybe while on the edge of the creek panning, and you found it over 160 years later.

(Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 1)

C

an you help identify this button I found? It has the letters “DNHS” on the front and a “STEELE & JOHNSON / WATERBURY”backmark. It was found in central Virginia. Are you familiar with what it represents?

Mark Lewis

This is a Civil War veterans’ organization button made in 1873 or shortly thereafter. It is identified in the book, Record of American Uniform and Historical Buttons, by Alphaeus Albert, as “National Home for Disabled Veteran Soldiers” (N.H.D.V.S.) and given the designation VN 50. I didn’t recognize it and finally located it under the veterans organizations listed in that book.

Although Albert’s book lists this as “Veteran,” most references suggest the “V” represents“Volunteer.”

The home was originally called the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, but in 1873, “Asylum” was changed to “Home” to avoid confusion with places for the mentally ill, which the majority of these disabled soldiers were not. The residents were given uniforms to be used for ceremonial occasions which utilized these buttons.

These homes were authorized on March 3, 1865, by the U.S. Congress to provide care for disabled soldiers.

The original plan was to have three campuses. The northeast one was to be in Augusta, Maine, the northwest one was to be in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and the central one was to be in Dayton, Ohio. The original requirements were that the campuses were to be at least 200 acres, have railroad access, and be 3 to 5 miles from town. The sites had to be healthy, with fresh air and an ample supply of water.

Eventually, it was realized that the Augusta and Milwaukee sites had much too severe winters for the aging veterans and several new sites were selected in the 1880s. Among these were the Chesapeake Female College in Hampton, Virginia that had been abandoned during the Civil War and never reopened. Other N.H.D.V.S sites were established in Leavenworth, Kansas and Santa Monica, California.

Since yours was found in central Virginia, it is likely that someone from the Hampton facility lost it.

(Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 2)

I

recently acquired this pottery egg that was dug from an old privy near Jackson, Mississippi. It is about the size of a regular chicken egg and has a baby’s face and hands coming out of one side. The other side has the baby’s butt and feet coming out, but what is it?

Sandy Johnson

H

ere is an item I have not been able to identify. I dug it near the Butterfield Stage Trail in central Arizona. The item is iron and about five inches long.

Dan Click One of these drove us batty a few years ago, mainly because the brass plug made me think it was artillery related, or maybe even a grenade. Yet it is neither. Collector and author Peter George finally confirmed what it was: a trailing wire antenna weight. He notes, “I’ve seen quite a few of those objects. People have dug some at Civil War sites, and thus thought that these were some kind of rare Confederate grenade or artillery projectile. Actuality, it's a World War II era airplane radio trailing wire antenna weight, model WT-7-A.” Peter is exactly right, and also notes that, in your photo, the screwin brass plug is marked “WT-7-A.” I find it very interesting that in a later conversation, you told said you had just read an article about how WWII pilots would fly from Tucson to Yuma following the Butterfield Stage Trail, and could easily make out the trail in the setting sun because of all the broken bottle pieces which lined it and “lit the old trail up like a line of stars.” I’d say that one of these planes lost this.

(Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 5)

My wife, Teresa, an advanced collector of antique infant products immediately recognized this as a birthing egg.

Birthing eggs were made of pottery and popular from the 1880s-1920s.

Childbirth is one of the most painful ordeals that the body can go through.

You may be familiar with the famous military expression: “Bite the bullet.”

Well, that expression also applies to giving birth. Anything that can be done by the patient to overcome or partially alleviate the pain is welcome.

For many new mothers-to-be, gripping and squeezing an object is a welcome relief. By the clenching and often screaming, the pain is somewhat alleviated for the moment. The birthing egg was made to clench during childbirth.

The pottery that it is made from has a stone-like surface for easier gripping.

The thickness of the walls of most birthing eggs are a ¼ inch or more to prevent breakage if squeezed too hard or thrown across the room. Because of that, the survivability should be great, but I have only heard of one other example that was excavated.

(Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 5)

Got a question for Charlie? Click here to subscribe and read his Q&A column in every issue!

www.americandigger.com

25

PT

M U ST

Adam Lewis recovered this brass item on private property near the battlefield at Spotsylvania, Virginia. The piece is about four inches long and two inches wide, and has a small hole in the front and a larger hole in the back (about the size of a quarter dollar). We hope someone can tell us what the mysterious piece is.

We don’t know what they are.

Charlie doesn’t know what they are.

Do you know what they are?

Send your guesses, facts, theories, ideas, and related ® correspondence to: Stumpt, c/o American Digger , PO Box 126, Acworth, GA, 30101 or e-mail: publisher@americandigger.com

Marshall Lee came across this medallion and is asking us for help.

The figures are thought to be Civil War generals, but who? The reverse is blank, save for an engraved “H” on a lined field. Made of bronze or copper, it shows traces of silver plating. It is 44 mm in diameter.

Dan Patterson dug this piece at a plantation site that was occupied

by Confederate troops. The thin brass 24 mm piece shows an eagle on a plain field. Although it appears to be a flattened button face, we can not be certain. We hope a reader can tell exactly what this is, and if it is a button, what kind.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 3)

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 4)

Bob Kish found this Masonic piece in a Dallas, Georgia Civil War camp, but a few pieces from later eras were also found.

This appears to be a coat pin, although there are no signs of an attachment device. It is cast brass and about 1⅞ long. We are looking for its actual use and age, but have had no success.

Please contact us if you have any information.

Stephen Shokes is trying to find out what this 16 mm button is. It is onepiece pewter, and is mid-late 1700s.

The thought is that it is either an early South Carolina “palmetto tree” (the first confirmed appearance on buttons was in 1808), or a “Liberty Tree” button. Boston's Liberty Tree became a rallying point for those opposed to Britain’s rule over the American colonies.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 1)

Merv Wood at first thought this three inch long brass item was a knife guard, but it’s too thin. He then suspected it was a concertina (squeeze box) reed but if so, the shape is different from any we have ever seen. Please contact us if you can help identify it out.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 6)

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 2)

® 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 26 262014 American Digger Magazine Sampler ®

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 5)

SOLVED! Bobby McKinney has identified the mystery item dug by James Alonzo (left photo, as shown in “Stumpt,” Vol. 10, Issue 5) as part of early spring style clip to designed to hold papers together. He notes that he was told these brass clips were used onboard ships.

Bobby says that he dug one at a coastal site and also saw a similar one for sale some years back, both of which are pictured at right. Thanks to our sharp-eyed readers, we can now put this one down as “SOLVED!” Thanks, Bobby! (Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 6) Richard Otterbourg dug this thin cast brass item at an eastern U.S. coastal site, along with several early 1800s militia buttons. It has two “dolphins” nose to nose in the middle. The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia suspects it is an early 1800s sheet music holder (the reverse side is flat), but is uncertain. We welcome your ideas.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 5)

Feedback: Tom Ference believes the brass cylinder dug by John Billeter in last issue’s “Stumpt” might be the top portion of an old keg tap. Tom notes that he’s seen a variety of holes in them that accepted oddshaped keys for security. While certainly a possibility, we're still seeking a more definitive identity. (Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 1)

Feedback: As to the “giant US buckle” found

by Doug Garwood and shown in “Stumpt,” Douglas Roussin says it “is identical to one I have. It was attached to 1960s woman’s purse.

There was once a small rectangular piece under the 'US' which allowed for fastening.” Still, we must reserve the “SOLVED!” label until we can see one of these still attached.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 2)

FEEDBACK: Billy Spedale says that the item dug by Whit Hill and shown in Stumpt! (Vol. 10, Issue 3) is almost identical to one he obtained in trade years ago from a collector (now deceased). The collector claimed that it was a form of currency used by the Aztec, Inca, Mayan, or other early American civilizations. Although he could not confirm that, the one Billy owned had a small ink numeral on it, indicating that it was possibly once part of a museum collection.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 5)

"Stumpt!" Appears in each issue of American Digger® magazine, and by asking our readers' input, many previously unidentified items know have been identified. Click here to subscribe and help solve mysteries like these!

You are also encouraged to send your own items for identification.

www.americandigger.com www.americandigger.com

27 27

28

2014 American Digger速 Magazine Sampler

www.americandigger.com

29

Hard-Won Relics of the West

By Evan Alvord

24 American Digger速 Vol. 10, Issue速I

30

10th Anniversary Issue

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 1.

Click here to order 9, single issues.

Originally Published in Volume Issue 1.

Click here to order single issues.

O

ld-timers talk about the good old days: the 1960s, Consequently, I found that to sustain my hobby, the ‘70s, and ‘80s when permission was always granted search for relics would require persistence and determination and virgin sites abounded. Five-plate, 100-bullet, bordering on obsession. No longer could I leave my apartment, 25-button days. Armed with Metrotechs and mine detectors, drive to a local elementary school, and dig Minie balls. I also these pioneers stumbled over Parrott shells, inadvertently quickly learned why the western U.S. has few relic hunters. leaned their detectors against war logs, and were known to Firstly, the population density was much less in the West rebury bullets and frags when pouches during the 19th century. Secondly, military reached their bursting point. I have heard sites were few and far between. And stories of bottles left where they lay and rather than a corps or a division, a typical promising sites abandoned if they proved fort or camp might have housed a couple to hold only Union relics. I missed these of hundred men at the most. days entirely.

There are fewer relic hunters in this I have to say that while living briefly in part of the country because there are Eagle “I” Infantry button Virginia I did manage to find relics, mainly fewer relics to be found. Knowing how dug at the West Coast eagle buttons and bullets, although these slim the pickings were probably going to fort. When found (left), didn’t exactly jump into my pouch. During be, I decided it was time to either move it only hinted at the gilt my two-year stay in that state, I had to do back East, hang up the detector, or change revealed after a gentle my research in order to find what I did. And my entire mindset and venture off into cleaning (right). as I was just starting out, it was possible to the middle of nowhere to forgotten sites, cross something off my wish list after every miles and miles from paved roads. couple of hunts. But everything changed when I returned After six months of research and several searches with to the West. Compared with the large number of colonial few results, I finally received the type of tip I had been waiting and 19th century dwellings so prevelant in the East, good for. My wife came home one day and said, “My new teaching detecting sites are scarce. It is difficult to locate a standing assistant said that when she was little, her family camped at home older than 1870. Also, other than a few miles between an old fort. She said they have a box of buttons they picked towns and cities, there is a vast expanse of wilderness and up off the top of the ground.” The images that came to mind desert to contend with. would have had the old-timers drooling. I imagined a virgin, January-February, 2014 American Digger®

www.americandigger.com

25

31

Two days of relic hunting at a West Coast fort site produced the two assortments of 1860s-70s military artifacts shown here.

At the bottom of the page, the author holds a set of brass knuckles he had just unearthed from a trash pit, while a whisky bottle peeks out from another pit.

pristine fort with crumbling walls, privy foundations, and sword plates resting just under the pine straw. If her family had eyeballed relics without intention or equipment, then surely I was on the verge of finding the “mother lode.”

There was hope! Except…the family was tight-lipped about the spot.

When I finally figured out the name of the fort, I was told that it was extremely rural, on private property, and only accessible by four-wheel drive vehicles. I finally determined the site’s coordinates and typed them into Map Quest. Then I printed out the directions, most of which contained roads with numbers rather than names.

One summer Saturday, I set off before dawn alone on the five-hour drive that I anticipated would lead me to the promised land. After several hours, no fort, and countless unmarked dirt roads, I found myself close to giving up. Then I saw a pickup truck and a man, accompanied by his dog, repairing a fence. Without any illusions that he would have a clue about what I was to discuss, I asked if he had ever heard of the site I was searching for. He drew me a map, gave me the location of the owner’s house, and wished me farewell.

26 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue®I

32

My next stop was at the house of the assumed landowner.

I found myself parking next to a corral, right in the middle of a cattle branding extravaganza. Here I was given another name and informed that the property had been sold. By now it was afternoon and I figured that, having come this far, I should at least attempt to gain permission to hunt. So I dialed 411, asked for the phone number of the name I’d been provided, and was quickly transferred. A kind woman

10th Anniversary Issue

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Cavalry and Infantry hat insignia, bottles, a shoulder scale, numerous buttons, and a silver ring are just some of the many items lost or discarded by the fort’s inhabitants.

answered and informed me that I had located the correct owners, and I was welcome to explore the site, if I could find it.

After another 25 miles on sketchy roads, navigating around trees and crossing a ford, I rounded a corner and realized that the hand-drawn map I had studied countless times was spot on. I had found it! But reality kicked in when I stepped from the truck. Nothing remained of the site; no buildings or foundations were visible, no landmarks for perspective were evident, and the entire site was littered with square nails,

ration cans, and stove parts. The large number of old beer cans and modern bullet casings indicated that the site was hardly unspoiled. However, this was my best shot at finding Western relics and I vowed to make the most of it.

Following this visit I came home smiling, with several iron underwear buttons, two general service eagle cuffs and a Minie ball, as well as the pleasant realization that relics really do exist in the West. After this initial solo venture, I invited my brother and my dad for a weekend of camping and digging. My dad lost interest and took a nap within January-February, 2014 American DiggerÂŽ

www.americandigger.com

27

33

A box of fresh finds is shown above, while at left are assorted bullets and cartridges. At right are a Henry rifle buttplate, padlock, and assorted pieces from exploded 12 lb. Bormann fused cannonballs. All were found at or near the fort.

an hour of our arrival. My brother Scott, despite his unusually short attention span, stuck with it. He ended the day with his first relic, a general service eagle cuff button.

These expeditions have now become a tradition, and we have returned to the site a couple of times per year. Scott is a “gearhead,” and his favorite part of these adventures is acquiring and using the equipment necessary to navigate the difficult terrain and successfully put us at the site, regardless of the season. Three Toyota Tundras, two broken winch

cables, a chain saw, and a one-mile stretch of road later cleared of more than 20 trees, the site has yielded relics for four years.

Experience has taught me that anyone can scan the internet, place an order, and waddle to the mailbox for the relics we all covet. But if you want to unearth them yourself, especially in the West, you need the kind of obsession, persistence, and dedication shown by the men who lost these items 150 years ago.

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 1.

Click here to order single issues.

About the Author Evan Alvord lives on the West Coast and works as a psychologist for Veterans’ Affairs. He is obsessed with Civil War history and the artifacts of the time period. When not spending time with his family, he may be found in the bottom of a privy or in the middle of nowhere exploring the West with his brother, Scott.

28 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue®I

34

10th Anniversary Issue

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

www.americandigger.com

35

' in XXiV n i gg inia i d g Vir

Picture Perfect

Shown on this page are just a few of the many buckles, plates, and attachments found Sometimes the bestDIV wayXXIV to tellhunt: a story(clockis with pictures. at the This Novemberwise 2013 is a perfect example. fromorganized top left:diga Confederate two-piece buckle tongue found by William Leigh III with a White’s Blue & Gray; Charlie Polizzo dug these two plates from one hole using a White’s MXT detector; a small “baby” sized US buckle recovered by Wade Watson along Civil Shownaon thisWar-era page areroadjust a few of the many buckles, bed located on the property; plates, and attachments found this keeper at therifleman's DIV XXIVbuckle hunt: (clockwise from top left: a Confedwas found by Garrett camerate two-piece buckle tongue found William Leighwith III eramanbyBrian McKenzie with a White’s & 9Gray; Originally PublishedBlue in Vol. Issue 1. aCharlie Garrett ATX; adug broken ConClick here to order single issues.

Polizzo these two plates from one hole using federate frame buckle dug by a White’s MXT detector; a Larry “baby” Shirah sized with aUSMinelab small buckle recovered by Wade Watson GPX 5000; a rifleman's buckalong a Civil War-era roadbed located on the property; le and keeper recovered by this rifleman's buckle keeper Mark and Kurt Owen camwith was found

by Garrett eraman Brian McKenzie White’s TDI detectors; anwith eaa Garrett ATX; a broken Confederate buckle dug by gle crossframe belt plate, shown in Larry Shirah with a Minelab situ, dug byaJohn Lowebuckwith GPX 5000; rifleman's le and keeper by a Minelab GPXrecovered 5000; this Mark and Kurt Owen with eagle cross belt plate an found White’s TDI detectors; eagle cross belt plate, shown in by Doug Stokes is shown besitu, dug by John Lowe with a 5000; this foreMinelab and afterGPX being removed eagle cross belt plate found from its resting place. beby Doug Stokes is shown

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 1. Click here to order single issues.

Photographs by Anita and Butch Holcombe

fore and after being removed from its resting place.

January-February, January-February,2014 2014 American AmericanDigger Digger® ® 2929

® ® 36 362014 2014 American American Digger Digger Magazine Magazine Sampler Sampler

®® January-February, 2929 January-February,2014 2014 American AmericanDigger Digger

Personalized relics found included a bullet carved with “JWC” and “Clark,” found by John Page (White’s TDI). A “James W. Clark” was in Company “I”, 72nd New York, which camped at the site.

Also shown is an identification disc of P.S. Donahoe of Company D, 70th Regiment, 1st Excelsior Brigade, New York Volunteers. The back shows the battles Donahoe was in. It was found by Charles Embry. The gold ring is stamped “Exc. Brig./Bernard Donnally/ Co. I/ 5th Regt.” It literally fell into Doug Harris's hand while he was scraping the wall of a hut he'd located while probing and was found without the aid of a metal detector.

Carved bullets also provide a personal link with the troops who crafted them during lulls in the camp life during the Virginia winter of 1863. From left: a “demon” head recovered by James Reed with a Minelab GPX 4800; a “ventilated” William's Cleaner dug by John Page with a White’s TDI; and a tiny cannon barrel or pendulum, also carved from a William's Cleaner, dug by Steve Frantz.

The hunt site offered several 1863 winter camps (above left and center photos) of the 1st Excelsior Brigade (New York) as well as an old road bed (above right) which was a major march route during the battle of Brandy Station. Both surface hunting and pit digging paid off equally well for most participants.

30 American Digger®® Vol. 10, Issue I

30 American Digger®® Vol. 10, Issue I

10th Anniversary Issue

10th Anniversary Issue

www.americandigger.com

37

buttons were recovered, including these. buttons were includingbutton these.

Clockwise from recovered, top left: Louisiana Clockwise top left: Louisiana button found

by Kenfrom Weitlauf (Minelab GP 3000);

by Ken Weitlauf GP 3000); afound one-piece Virginia and(Minelab Rhode Island buta one-piece Virginia and Rhode Island ton, recovered by Mike Cox (White’s TDI);buta ton, recovered by Mike Cox (White’s TDI); Confederate Artillery button dug by Barrya Confederate buttonFederal dug by RifleBarry Cook (MinelabArtillery GPX 5000); Cookbutton (Minelab 5000); Federal Rifleman dugGPX

by Makayla and Jimmy man button dug by and aJimmy Spalding (Minelab GPXMakayla 4800); and twoSpalding (Minelab GPX 4800); and a twopiece Virginia Mike Campbell.

Duringrecovered the threeby day DIV hunt over 200 piece Virginia recovered by Mike Campbell. buttons were recovered, including these.

Clockwise from top left: Louisiana button found by Ken Weitlauf (Minelab GP 3000); a one-piece Virginia and Rhode Island button, recovered by Mike Cox (White’s TDI); a Confederate Artillery button dug by Barry Cook (Minelab GPX 5000); Federal Rifleman button dug by Makayla and Jimmy Spalding (Minelab GPX 4800); and a twopiece Virginia recovered by Mike Campbell.

Photo courtesy SCS Publications

Photo by Scott Duckworth

Photo by Scott Duckworth Photo by Scott Duckworth

Long before Diggin' in Virginia was Long before Diggin' in Virginia was conceived, author Howard Crouch conceived, author Howard Crouch documented the camp in his monudocumented the camp in his monumental 1978 book, Relic Hunter.

A mental 1978 book, Relic Hunter. page (left) from that book showsA page (left)credited from that shows the diggers withbook finding the Long before Diggin' in Virginia the diggers credited with finding the was camp, Paul and Dennis Irvin, and conceived, author Howard camp,ofPaul Dennis Irvin, andCrouch some theirand finds there, includdocumented the camp in his monusome ofmental their findsbook, there, including French Chasseur de Vincenne 1978 Relic Hunter. A ing French Chasseur de Vincenne page (left) from that book hat plates and buttons. According shows the diggers credited with finding the plates and buttons.

According tohatCrouch, “The French Army...set camp, Paul and Dennis Irvin, and to style Crouch, “The French Army...set the standard for the some of their findsmilitary there, includthe style the we military world.

What better for could ingstandard French Chasseur dedo,Vincenne world.

What better could we do, the dashing 'Chasseur de Vincennes' hat plates and buttons.

According thought the Americans, than to select to Crouch, “The French Army...set thoughttothe Americans, thanAtolarge selectshako the dashing 'Chasseur Vincennes' uniform send tostandard America... with a heavy brassdefront plate; the style forAthe military uniform to send to America... large shako with a heavy brass front plate; an elegant piped coat with distinctive, silver colored, cast pewter eagle world. What better could we do, an elegant piped with distinctive, silverthecolored, cast pewterde eagle buttons; white gloves, gaiters, and quite possibly the French inspired riflethought thecoat Americans, than to select dashing 'Chasseur Vincennes' buttons; white gloves, gaiters, and quite possibly the French inspired rifleuniform to send to America...

A large shako with a heavy brass front man’s buckle.” Some members of the 1st Excelsior Brigade were issued these plate; an elegant piped coat of with distinctive, silver colored, cast pewter man’s buckle.”

Some members thehat 1stplates, Excelsior Brigade were issued these eagle uniforms.

Several such buttons and along with rifleman buckles, buttons; white gloves, gaiters, and quite possibly the French inspired rifleuniforms.

Several such buttons and hat plates, along with rifleman buckles, were found at the November 2013 DIV hunt.

Shown arebuckle.” a Chasseur demembers Vincennes plate excavated

by Bob Croyle man’s Some of hat the 1st Excelsior Brigade were issued these wereusing foundaatWhite’s the November DIV partial hunt. Shown are aby Chasseur de Vincennes hat plate excavated

by Bob Croylebuckles, while TDI and2013 another one found Doug such Stokes;a pewter Chasseur button (before cleanuniforms.

Several buttons and hat plates, along with rifleman while afound White’s TDINovember andanother another onebuttons found byare Doug Stokes;a Chasseur button (beforeby cleanwere at the 2013 DIVrare hunt.

Shownafter acleaning, Chasseur depewter Vincennes hat plate excavated Bob Croyle ing) dugusing

by Jeremy Boyer; and ofpartial the found

by Scott Duckworth (White’s TDI). while using a White’s TDI and another partial one found by Doug Stokes;a pewter Chasseur button (before ing) dug by Jeremy Boyer; and another of the rare buttons after cleaning, found by Scott Duckworth (White’s TDI). clean-

ing) dug by Jeremy Boyer; and another of the rare buttons after cleaning, found by Scott Duckworth (White’s TDI).

® ® 38 382014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

January-February, 2014 American Digger®® 31 31 ®® January-February, 2014 American Digger®®Digger January-February, 2014 American

31

Trash pits and hut cellars, Trash filled pits in and overhut thecellars, many filled in over the many years since their use during years since theirallow use during the Civil War, diggers the War,both allow diggers to Civil recover metal and toglass recover both metal and items.

Clockwise from glass items.Blane Clockwise from top left: McGlothlin, top left:byBlane McGlothlin, aided Denny Morrison, aided bya Denny Morrison, digs in trash pit that condigs in a trash pit that contained several deteriorated tained several deteriorated canteens; Jamie Goldie recanteens; Jamie recovered not onlyGoldie numerous covered not only numerous mid-1800s bottles in the mid-1800s trash pit hebottles located,in butthe also trash pit he located, also a Schenkl artillerybut projeca tile Schenkl in the artillery bottom ofprojecthe pit; tile in the bottom pit; a close-up of oneofofthe Jamie's a bottles close-up of one after of Jamie's seconds it was bottles seconds it was plucked from after the hole; the plucked from the hole; the results of one pit excavated results of one pit excavated

by John Bowers; a matchbying John a matchpairBowers; of embossed bottles ing pair of embossed bottles found by Mike Campbell; found

by MikeCox Campbell; Kim “Streak” and Ron Kim and Ron Falk“Streak” show aCox ginger beer Falk a ginger beer crockshow and food jar they had crock food jar this they trash had just and unearthed; just trashto pit unearthed; has alreadythis started pit has already startedwhat to produce, and contains produce, and contains what every pit digger hopes to every digger to see, apit layer of ashhopes and black see, a layer of ash and black& dirt; an embossed “Clark dirt; an /embossed “Clark & White New York” bottle White New York” bottle found/ by Tony Stevenson; found Tony Stevenson; an inkbycontainer recovered an container recovered byinkThomas Bunnell; this bycrock Thomas Bunnell; this was found

by Barry crock Barry Cook,was Jr.;found theseby soda and Cook, Jr.; bottles these soda whiskey wereand exwhiskey bottles were excavated by James Brown cavated

by James Brown while digging in a trash pit. while digging in a trash pit.

32 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue I 32 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue I

10th Anniversary Issue 10th Anniversary Issue

www.americandigger.com www.americandigger.com

39 39

Clockwise from upper left: Trime found by Mike Surcey (Minelab GPX 5000); cast brassfrom sling buckle Clockwise upper left: dug by Bruce Barbour Trime found by Mike Sur(Minelab GPX GPX 5000); pacey (Minelab 5000); triotic badge recovered by cast brass sling buckle Jimmy groupdug bySpalding; Bruce Barbour ing dug by Mike (Minelab GPX 5000);Cox pa(White’s TDI); publisher triotic badge recovered by Butch managed JimmyHolcombe Spalding; groupthese ing finds dug in bybetween Mike takCox ing photos for this article; (White’s TDI); publisher AButch NewHolcombe York button (left) managed and eagle button show the these finds in between takdifferences in the soil from ing photos for this article; to the other.

A one Newfield York button (left)

Clockwise from upper left: Trime found by Mike Surcey (Minelab GPX 5000); cast brass sling buckle dug by Bruce Barbour (Minelab GPX 5000); patriotic badge recovered by Jimmy Spalding; grouping dug by Mike Cox (White’s TDI); publisher Butch Holcombe managed these finds in between taking photos for this article; A New York button (left) and eagle button show the differences in the soil from one field to the other.

and eagle button show the differences in the soil from one field to the other.

At left, a remote Relic Roundup broadcast entertained DIV XXIV participants, while below it is aa group shot of Garrett At left, remote Relic Roundfactory reps who were introup broadcast entertained DIV ducing the new ATX pulse XXIV participants, while inbeduction In finest pholow it isdetector. a group shot of Garrett tobomb publisher factory tradition, reps whothe were introjumped in at the last second ducing the new ATX pulse inwith a Minelab GPX (although duction detector.

In finest phohe also hunts with a Garrett).

It tobomb tradition, the publisher speaks about projumpedvolumes in at the lastthe second fessionalism of (l-r) Sham Bonwith a Minelab GPX (although ner, Steve Moore, RustyIt he also hunts with aand Garrett).

Curry the publisher speaksthat volumes about the was pronot beaten to a pulp.

At right, a fessionalism of (l-r) Sham Bonlineup of the finest detectors in ner, Steve Moore, and Rusty the world asthe usedpublisher at the hunt: Curry that was Garrett, White’s, Minelab, and not beaten to a pulp. At right, a Teknetiks. lineupFisher of the/finest detectors in

At left, a remote Relic Roundup broadcast entertained DIV XXIV participants, while below it is a group shot of Garrett factory reps who were introducing the new ATX pulse induction detector. In finest photobomb tradition, the publisher jumped in at the last second with a Minelab GPX (although he also hunts with a Garrett). It speaks volumes about the professionalism of (l-r) Sham Bonner, StevePublished Moore, and Originally in Vol-Rusty Curry publisher ume 10, that Issuethe 1. Click here towas order single issues. not beaten to a pulp.

At right, a lineup of the finest detectors in the world as used at the hunt: Garrett, White’s, Minelab, and Fisher / Teknetiks.

the world as used at the hunt: Garrett, White’s, Minelab, and January-February, 2014 American Digger® ® 40 40 2011 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler Fisher / Teknetiks.

33 January-Feb

INTRODUCING

® FEATURES 3 AUDIO MODES - Bullseye TRX has selectable audio modes; Beep and Vibrate, Beep Only or Vibrate Only.

The must-have pinpointer you’ve been waiting for.

LED LIGHT - A bright LED provides illumination while probing and acts as a power indicator.

GROUND BALANCE - A quick press of the button “grabs” the ground for accurate ground balance.

TARGET RATCHETING - A quick press of the button ratchets in on strong target signals.

OVERLOAD INDICATOR -A large target will create a series of long audio/vibrate responses to signal overload.

LOST PINPOINTER ALARM - After 5 minutes of inactivity it sounds a long beep every 15 seconds, helping to locate it.

AUTOMATIC POWER DOWN - After 5 minutes of the Lost Pinpointer Alarm, it will power down to save batteries.

HOLSTER - TRX features a handy belt holster with lanyard loop.

REPLACEMENT SHELL - Designed so if the shell becomes worn down, it can be easily replaced.

WEATHERPROOF - Rugged, water resistant.

LOW BATTERY ALERT - 3 cycles of double tone indicates low battery, with continous blinking LED. RULER - A handy ruler is printed on the case to help determine target depth.

DUAL BATTERY SYSTEM - Runs on included 2-AA’s or a single 9-V. Adapter included.

BATTERY LIFE 20 hours. $159.95 MSRP

®

SPRING SHOPPER DOLLARS! You choose up to $20000 in free accessories with purchase of MX5, MXT, MXT Pro, VX3 or V3i.

Details on WhitesElectronics.com or call 1-800-547-6911

1-800-547-6911 WhitesElectronics.com www.americandigger.com

41

Blue Sherds of Blue and Green en

gments of To ignore the fragments of site is to china found on a site is to in dating ignore vital clues in dating the location. n.

By Mike Wheless

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 2. Click here to order single issues.

T

By Mike Wheless

have had the opportunity to hunt has had pottery sherds left he ability to pottery date a sherds potential he opportunity to hunt has had leftsite is a bathere by its former inhabitants. These sherds, usually found sic skill that all relic hunters must des former inhabitants. These sherds, usually found on the surface, are the immediate signs that tell relic hunters velop in order to become successful face, are the immediate signs that tell relic hunters that something old or historical may be hidden there. There at metal detecting.

Many There years ago, hing old or historical may be hidden there. are certain types of pottery that will show up on these sites. when I started to relic hunt, I developed a n types of pottery that will show up on these sites.

This article focuses on the study of that pottery for dating certain set of skills from experienced icle focuses on the study of that pottery for dating these relic sites. elic sites.hunters that helped me to become The style of pottery known as “Feather very successful in discovering relics The style of pottery known as “Feather Edge” or “Shell Edge” can help you from the past.

These diggers taught Edge” or “Shell Edge” can help you date potential sites. The blue and me how spot promising sites blue on and dateto potential sites. The high ground, to find sites withsherds maturefrom green-edged pottery sherds from green-edged pottery trees growing in patterns, to look for this style of English pottery are this style of English pottery are old brickfound or stone foundations, and found in 18th and 19th century in 18th and 19th century sites throughout North America. where tosites search for outdoor privies throughout North America.

This group of pottery also has a and trash pits.

This group of pottery also has a well-documented historical time There are also other skill sets that well-documented historical time line, plus very distinct and identifihistoryline, hunters mustdistinct developand to identifibeplus very able edge shapes and patterns. The come able successful in the environment edge shapes and patterns. The introduction of this pottery began in which they search.

One of these introduction of this pottery began skills in is England being able to determine in England in the mid-1700s and is in the mid-1700sthe and is date ofcredited a possible dig site.

Doing this credited to Josiah Wedgwood. to Josiah Wedgwood.

English earthenware or tin-glaze tin-glaze will help In youthe understand the history In the early 18th century, early 18th century, delftware (ca. 1550-1790). Notice . Notice of theEngland location and identify the relics England emerged as a world emerged as a world the thick body of the red piece with ece with that you discover there. power, establishing colonies all power, establishing colonies all d-painted Pottery sherds have long been yellow stripes and the hand-painted over the globe. The trade and sale over the globe. The trade and sale floral design on the piece beside of manufactured goods with these e beside used ofbymanufactured archaeologists date goodstowith these e these historical sites, fueled and relic can of it. The third sherd above these colonies fueled the economy of colonies thehunters economy two is a piece of delftware made to made to use the same science to date their England, making it a wealthy and England, making it a wealthy and resemble Chinese porcelain. sites.

Almost every relic site that I powerful nation. Raw materials for elain. powerful nation. Raw materials for 32 Digger 22 32 American American Digger®®Magazine Magazine Vol. 10,Issue Issue ® 10, 42 2014 American Digger® Vol. Magazine Sampler

42

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Sherds of Blue and Green

these goods were harvested in the colonies and returned to England to be made into durable products. These finished items were then shipped back to the colonies to be traded or sold at a profit.

One of the most popular commodities produced for this purpose was utilitarian dinnerware known as earthenware.

Earthenware or tin-glazed delftware, produced from about 1550 through 1790, was a heavy-bodied pottery, buff or gray in color and decorated with cobalt blue patterns.

In the 17th century, before England became a world power, the Dutch and Portuguese introduced porcelain china dinnerware to western Europe. These traders established a large trade base with the English colonies overseas, and these goods became highly desirable in the colonies. As this English creamware pottery (ca. 1750–1780) deterred the trade and sale of English goods, the English Note the thinner bodies and the bluish white were forced to develop a version of this china in order to glaze. Also note the hand-painted cobalt blue compete in the market place. The formula to produce porfloral decoration and the colored stripes on the celain china was kept a secret, so before the mid-18th cenmochaware pieces. The plain piece is a good tury the English started experimenting to create a formula example of the beginning of feather edge china. of their own.

By Mike Wheless It has the feathery, non-colored edge.

Raw material, kaolin clay, was needed to form the ______________ bodies of this type of china. A large source of kaolin was finally discovered in the Georgia and South Carolina colofor the desired shape. This type of pottery was usually pronies in the 1730s. This discovery allowed English potter duced in local potteries and decorated with popular local Josiah Wedgwood to create a formula to produce a product or ethnic designs in cobalt blue pigments. This was used he called “creamware.” This type of pottery, made from have had the opportunity to hunt has had pottery sherds left he ability to date a potential site is a babecause it was the only pigment known to withstand the about 1750 through 1780, was light in weight and color, there by its former inhabitants. These sherds, usually found sic skill that all relic hunters must de1,000˚+ Fahrenheit temperatures needed to fire the pottery and could be molded into patterned shapes. This china on the surface, are the immediate signs that tell relic hunters velop in order to become successful in a kiln. During the firing process, salt was thrown onto became all the rage for consumers around the world and that something old or historical may be hidden there. There at metal detecting. Many years ago, the pottery, giving it a hard, shiny orangeallowed England to dominate the marare certain types of pottery that will show up on these sites. when I started to relic hunt, I developed a peel textured glaze finish. Though, as ket for this product. The ability to be This article focuses on the study of that pottery for dating certain set of skills from experienced already noted, the British produced molded instead of turned on a wheel these relic sites. hunters that helped me to become this for about a century, others conallowed the product to be consistently The style of pottery known as “Feather very successful in discovering relics tinued to produce it throughproduced in large quantiEdge” or “Shell Edge” can help you from the past. These diggers taught out the 17th, 18th, 19th, ties at a low cost. This low date potential sites. The blue and me how to spot promising sites on and 20th centuries. Even production cost made high ground, to find sites with mature green-edged pottery sherds from though it is commonly utilitarian dinnerware this style of English pottery are trees growing in patterns, to look for found at older sites, it is affordable to common found in 18th and 19th century old brick or stone foundations, and hard to date it accurately classes of the population sites throughout North America. where to search for outdoor privies due to the long and often for the first time in histoThis group of pottery also has a and trash pits. undocumented timeline of ry. It is for this reason that well-documented historical time There are also other skill sets that its production. many 17th and 18th cenline, plus very distinct and identifihistory hunters must develop to beDuring the 1770s, when tury American homesites, come successful in the environment able edge shapes and patterns. The mass-produced pottery finally especially those near urban in which they search. One of these introduction of this pottery began became affordable and easareas, have large quanskills is being able to determine the in England in the mid-1700s and is ily available, consumers betities of these pottery credited to Josiah Wedgwood. date of a possible dig site. Doing this English earthenware or tin-glaze gan demanding higher quality sherds scattered about. will help you understand the history In the early 18th century, delftware (ca.

1550-1790).

Notice products. Creamware was still Creamware replaced of the location and identify the relics England emerged as a world a heavy product with a creamy the thick body of the red piece with the exportation of saltthat you discover there. power, establishing colonies all yellow appearance, and disglazed stoneware, a type yellow stripes and the hand-painted Pottery sherds have long been English salt-glazed stoneware (ca. over the globe. The trade and sale 1650– cerning customers wanted of pottery produced from floral design on the piece beside of manufactured used by archaeologists to date 1750). goods with these Note the gray color and the cobalt lighter, whiter colored dinnerabout 1650 through 1750. it. The third sherd above these colonies fueled historical sites, and relic hunters can decoration of on the pieces. The sherd in the ware.theByeconomy the 1780s, creamSalt-glazed stoneware was two is a piece of delftware made to use the same science to date their center gives a good look at the orange England, it a wealthy and peel making ware evolved into a new prodheavier and was made by resemble Chinese porcelain. sites. Almost every relic site that I powerful nation. Raw materials for uct called “pearlware.” texture of the glazed finish. turning the clay on a wheel

To ignore the fragments of china found on a site is to ignore vital clues in dating the location.

T

32 32 American AmericanDigger Digger®®Magazine Magazine Vol. Vol.10, 10,Issue Issue22

March-April, March-April,2014 2014 American AmericanDigger Digger®®Magazine Magazine 33 33

www.americandigger.com

43

______________

find many different types of feather edge china from Pearlware, produced patterns were introduced. from about 1780 through The rims were still colored different time periods on 1830, was more durable, with a variety of hues such whiter in color, alighter in as cobalt blue,as red, the green, hapes, and single site. A time range can still be established, body, and featured edges brown, black, purple, and with be designs resembling incised patterns test can earliest identified sherds likely indicate whengold.theThehomesite feathers or seashells. Colon the edges would finally efore ored 1830. was enfirst inhabited, and the newer sherds indicate the endbutofthe edges and designs disappear by 1860 the beauty of the colored edges remained ith thehanced brohabitation. piece.

The durability and until the end of production lighter color were achieved in the 1890s. our tongue, by adding lead to the clay Although the ability to body and the glaze.

The adrecognize pottery sherds ised that it The Chronology of Feather Edgedallows China dition of lead also created us to create a timeline to be used in identifywhen ita health wasproblem; users of _______________ this type of china suffered ing a site’s age, we must refrom many illnesses due to member that old homesites heavy metal poisoning. were often inhabited by The reign of pearlware several generations of the ended when heavy metal same family, and houseEarly English pearlware pottery (ca. 1775– poisoning was discovered hold goods were passed 1820). Note the hand-cut asymmetrical, in the late 1820s. While it down from generation to scalloped, green or blue edges. lasted, however, the era of generation. It is possible to ______________ pearlware was considered find many different types the golden age of English of feather edge china from china, and during this time different time periods on period dozens of different colored edges, edge shapes, and a single site. A time range can still be established, as the embossed patterns were produced. A simple field test can be earliest identified sherds likely indicate when the homesite used to determine if the pottery was produced before 1830. was first inhabited, and the newer sherds indicate the end of To conduct this test simply touch your tongue with the brohabitation. ken edge of a sherd. If the fragment sticks to your tongue, then it was produced before 1830. Just be advised that it The Chronology of Feather Edged China has lead in it, which is still just as hazardous as when it was _______________ made.

The final step in the evolution of English china was English Earthenware or Tin-Glazed Delftware the introduction of whiteware or ironstone. This type of Produced from 1550 through 1790. Thick red or buff colchina was even whiter in color and lighter in weight than ored clay bodies with white glaze and brightly colored hand pearlware. Produced from about 1830 through 1890, whitepainted decorations. Made to resemble Chinese porcelain. ware was used by the working class of peoples around the world. The different edge shapes and embossed patterns disappeared after 1830, when straight edges and incised

china was his type of weight than 890, whitearound the ed patterns nd incised

English Earthenware or Tin-Glazed Delftware Produced from 1550 through 1790. Thick red or buff colored clay bodies with white glaze and brightly colored hand painted decorations. Made to resemble Chinese porcelain.

ca. 1775– e middle he edges. irregular the Middle pineera and late English pearlware (ca. 1775– 1820). Note the evenly cut edges on the middle mongperiod thepieces and the shell designs on the edges.

Also note the late period pieces with irregular diesedges andand the agrarian designs like the pine tree in one of the pieces. These were among the ore-1830 last to be produced with lead clay bodies and Remember the made-before-1830 cle. lead glazes. field test as described in this article.

34 American Digger® Magazine ® Vol. ® 10, Issue 2 44 American Digger Magazine Sampler 442014 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

, and an be 1830. e brongue, hat it t was

find many different types of feather edge china from different time periods on a single site. A time range can still be established, as the earliest identified sherds likely indicate when the homesite was first inhabited, and the newer sherds indicate the end of habitation.

The Chronology of Feather Edged China _______________

English whiteware or ironstone (ca. wasEarly English Earthenware or Tin-Glazed Delftware 1830–1860). Note the even edges and shell As a general the deeper the 1790. Thick red or buff colpe ofdesigns.

Produced fromrule, 1550 through Late English whiteware or ironstone pottery impressed designs, the older the piece. A few thanpiecesored 1860–1890). edges are still colored bodies with glaze(ca. and brightlyThe colored hand madeclay just before 1860 have white almost no but with no shell design impressed on shell design characteristics. whitepainted decorations.

Made to resemble Chinese porcelain. the edges.

Instead, the plate has an 1860s ______________ splatter design pattern.

The sherd dates to d the 1890, with a plain, thin, cobalt blue edge trim.

Salt-Glazed Stoneware ternsProduced fromEnglish ______________ 1650 through 1750. Thick gray or white clay cisedbodies with cobalt blue decorations; hard, shiny clear glaze with an orange peel texture.

mulberry, yellow, brown, or gold.

English Creamware (Early) Produced from 1750 through 1780. Thinner than the above stoneware, white clay bodies with clear salt or lead glaze with cream colored tint. Evenly scalloped edges first appear but have no coloring.

English Whiteware or Ironstone (Early) Produced from 1830 through 1860. Thinner white clay bodies with plain even edges impressed with shell designs, which became shallower as production continued into the 1860s.

Shell designs disappeared after 1860 and edge coloring became thinner and is limited to cobalt blue, green, and red.

775– English Pearlware (Mid) ddleProduced from 1775 through 1820. Thinner white clay bodies with hand-cut asymmetrical scalloped edges. Edges have ges.impressed Rococo shell designs and are seen in a variety of including cobalt blue, green, red, aqua, black, mulbergularcolors ry, yellow, and brown. This was the first “shell edged” china. pine English Pearlware (Mid-Late) from 1780 through 1820. Thinner white clay bodies g theProduced with finely cut, molded, evenly scalloped edges. Edges have shell designs and are colored with cobalt blue, andimpressed green, red, aqua, black, mulberry, yellow, brown, or gold.

1830 English Pearlware (Late) Produced from 1820 through 1830. Thinner white clay bodies with irregular edges embossed with agrarian motifs of grapes, wheat, fish scales, trees, and geometrical designs.

Edges are colored with cobalt blue, green, red, aqua, black,

English Whiteware or Ironstone (Late) Produced from 1860 through 1890. Thinner white clay with plain, even edges and no impressed designs. Edge colors are limited to thin bands of cobalt blue, green, and red.

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 2. Click here to order single issues.

About The Author Mike Wheless is a lifelong resident of Savannah, Georgia and with his wife Nancy enjoys collecting relics, coins, and bottles. He is also a co-author of the highly acclaimed book, Relics of The Coastal Empire: The Civil War Years.

March-April, 2014 American Digger® Magazine

www.americandigger.com

35

45

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 2 Click here to order single issues.

Hijacking the Swastika How one detectorist’s find opened a window into the history of a misunderstood emblem.

By Foster W. Fleming

It

was a w a r m summer d a y , sunny and, of course, the humidity was making it seem hotter than the 90-degree reading on the thermometer. I had taken a half day off from work and couldn’t wait to go metal detecting to see what I could dig up. I had no real plan in place that day other than to just get in the car and go! There’s a nice little park up the road that has walking trails, playground equipment,

This “Coca-Cola” fob found by the author set him on a quest to learn more about the swastika and its history. Also shown is a 1920s “Good Luck” token found by Rodney Warner (using a Teknetics Delta 4000) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and a German 1937 Two Reichsmark coin dug by Lamar White in north Georgia. Both display the swastika. It was not long after that the emblem fell into disfavor with much of the world due to its Nazi connotations.

® ® 46 462014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

picnic tables, and soccer fields. There are children playing by day, homeless sleeping at night, and dog owners walking their pets, not unlike in any other park in America. The land once belonged to the Coleman family and had been donated to the city after their passing.

I had been there before on several occasions and cleaned out most of the clad coins ($20-$30 dollars’ worth), lots of cheap rings, matchbox cars, pop tops, dog tags, keys… well, I think

March-April, 2014 American Digger® Magazine

57

finding these things had been good practice when I was first you know the rest. Never assume! I almost assumed that learning my machine. I’m a history nut, not a collector of all of the other treasure hunters (and there are many) in modern coinage, although I guess if I got enough of them middle Tennessee had already been here and cleaned it out. and cleaned them, I could buy How wrong I was. One area lunch. of the park was still virgin Just when you think you territory, where nobody had have seen it all, you are provbeen hunting. That is to say, en wrong. It was starting to if someone had hunted there, get late. The afternoon trafthey sure left me a lot to fic rush hour was starting to find. I had also found a 1943 mercury dime, a 1936 Buffalo build up, and this park sits at one of the busiest intersecnickel, and an old colonial flat tions in town. I was getting button with a neat backmark, thirsty, the canteen had run all in the same park.

At the time, I was using dry, and it was just about time a White’s MXT: a great to head to the house and get supper started. Before doing machine, but a bit noisy. so, I decided I had to check I had pretty much worked out a particular area just one over all of the obvious places where people are most likely more time. It was the general area where I had found the to lose things. An area that flat button a couple of months was once a sandbox for the Swastikas adorn this early urn from North kids to play in gave up lots Elmham, Norfolk, made between the fifth prior. On the way back to the and lots of clad coins and truck, I got a very strong, and sixth centuries. At the top of this many not-so-valuable rings good-sounding signal. “Anpage, a swastika figures prominently in a other buried aluminum can?” and toys. Clad coins and second century Roman mosaic.

I asked myself. I decided to costume jewelry just don’t Photo credits: Urn, British Museum; mosaic, Maciej dig it up and see for sure. It get me real excited, although Szczepańczyk, Wikimedia Commons 58 58 American AmericanDigger Digger®®Magazine Magazine Vol. Vol.10, 10,Issue Issue22

www.americandigger.com

47

Native Americans were among the many cultures who once held the swastika symbol in high regard. Above is a silver ring with a native American flair found by Chris Lewis and the remains of a turquoise bracelet found by Ralph Magee, both displaying the good luck symbol. Likely made for the late 19th to early 20th century tourist trade, both predate the emblem’s use by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party (below and on title page).

Historical photos courtesy of National Archives

________________

was indeed metallic, but not a can. It was covered in rich, black soil.

Black soil is always a welcome sight to me. I grew up in Maury County, Tennessee, where strip mining for phosphate was carried out on a large scale during the 1960s and early ‘70s. As a result, a lot of these farm fields no longer have rich black top soil. What is left is a red clay, which relic hunters in this area do not like to see. Maury County has a lot of Civil War history and it irritates me to think of all of the Civil War relics that were dug up with earth-moving equipment and sent away in the back of dump trucks to be crushed and put in laundry detergents. That’s one of the things phosphate was used for back then. As a young fellow, I used to live almost right on top of a Yankee campsite.

In the fields that my friends and I played in as kids, you could pick up 3-ringers and Williams cleaners off of the ground if you paid attention.

Now these fields have been bulldozed to almost nothing.

Nothing left but memories.

As I removed the dirt from the object, I could not believe my eyes. There was a shape I had seen thousands of times before, although never ® ® 48 482014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

in the dirt. It was a swastika! What was a swastika doing in this park? Had there been Nazis here? I was excited but puzzled. I took this piece home and lightly cleaned it with water and a small brush. Another big surprise was about to unfold. There were the words, “DRINK COCA-COLA IN BOTTLES / 5 CENTS” stamped on the face. Now I was really confused. What does drinking Coca-Cola in bottles have to do with the Nazi party? Nothing, I later found out.

Absolutely nothing!

It was time to do some research. Thank goodness for the Internet. I entered the words “Coca-Cola swastika” in the Yahoo search engine. Bam! There it was, a picture of the very object that I held in my hand. It was a brass watch fob from the early 1920s. The Schwaab Company manufactured this piece in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The word “swastika” comes from the Sanskrit “svastika” — “sv" (or "su”) meaning “good,” “asti” meaning “to be,” and “ka” as a suffix. The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for thousands of years (it even predates the ancient Egyptian symbol, the Ankh).

It is said to represent the sun, March-April, March-April,2014 2014 American AmericanDigger Digger®®Magazine Magazine 59 59

While most swastikas found by metal detectorists in the U.S. are not connected to Nazi Germany, items with that connection still occasionally turn up, either as the result of souvenirs brought back by U.S. servicemen or, on occasion, from German POWs held in the states. From left to right above: German Mother’s Cross found in New Castle, Delaware by Sean McMenamin; Nazi Honour Roll Clasp recovered by Jim Thomas while using a Fisher 1266 near the location of Camp Letterman General Hospital in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and a German Fire Brigade badge (missing its swastika in the center) dug by Lisa Bilyj while using a Fisher F75 in a Philadelphia park. There were several WWII German prison compounds located near there. Other swastikas, such as the ones shown below, are more mysterious in their origins, although judging from the context found they almost certainly predate the 20th century. The brass plate measures 1¾ inches and was found by Shawn Himmelberger with a White’s Coinmaster at a site which produced 1839 Harrison campaign buttons. The other emblem, measuring about an inch, was recovered by Chad Fitzgerald and Frank Phillips in a Pensacola, Florida dump used from the late 1700s through early 1900s.

60 American Digger® Magazine

Vol. 10, Issue 2

www.americandigger.com

49

strength, or good luck, depending on which culture you are studying. The earliest known instances of the swastika appeared in the Neolithic Vinca culture of southeastern Europe. This dates it back to 5500-4500 BCE. Another early instance would be the Bronze Age Indus Valley civilization of ancient India, circa 3300-1300 BCE. The Hindus associated it with the sun and wheel of birth and rebirth. It is a symbol of Vishnu, one of the supreme Hindu gods. Artifacts such as pottery and coins from ancient Troy show that the swastika was a commonly used symbol as far back as 1000 BCE. Native American tribes in North America often used the symbol to decorate pottery and their teepees. These symbols were called the keepers of the four directions. It also appeared in Europe during the Middle Ages.

To counter the feeling of vulnerability and the stigma of being an emerging, unified nation, German nationalists in the mid-nineteenth century began to use the swastika because, like what would emerge as a unified Germany, it also had ancient Norse/Aryan origins.

The swastika was still a positive image in the early twentieth century. It was a common decoration that often adorned tokens, cigarette cases, postcards, buildings, and even Boy Scout medals around the time of World War I and after. Until World War II, the swastika could even be found on the shoulder patches of the American 45th Infantry Division and on the Finnish Air Force.

The early 1920s was a politically unstable time for the people of Germany. An aggressive young Austrian politician named Adolf Hitler laid out the plans for his Third Reich’s reign of terror in his book, “Mein Kampf” which translates to “My Battle,” or “My Struggle.” It was written in 1925, which, coincidently, is the year of manufacture of the watch fob I’d dug. He also chose a symbol to represent his evil empire. On August 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress, the red flag with a white circle and black swastika became the offi-

Even the Boy Scouts were not adverse to being connected to the swastika in the early 20th century, as shown by this token recovered in Chattanooga, Tennessee by Charlotte Stevenson. ________________

cial emblem of the Nazi Party. That symbol was the swastika and was also known as “the Hammer of Thor” by Nazi supporters who wanted to pay homage to the Nordic gods. Hitler allegedly had first seen the swastika at the Benedictine Choir School in Austria that he had attended as a boy for several months. It had swastikas chiseled into the monastery portal and the wall above the spring grotto in the courtyard.

Because of atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis, after WWII the world would never look at swastikas in the same way again. Many countries have now outlawed the use of the symbol. Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, and Brazil are just a few that have banned the swastika. The European Union’s Executive Commission tried to further ban the symbol in 2001, 2005, and 2007 but was met with opposition from Hindu groups across Europe who argued that the swastika had been used for over 5,000 years as a symbol of peace. The European Union eventually withdrew its attempts to make it illegal in other countries. To this day, the Hindu and Buddhist religions use the swastika throughout South Asian countries such as India and Nepal, as well as the East Asian countries of Taiwan, Japan, China, Korea, and Hong Kong.

I hope that the next time that you see a swastika, you will remember that it is not just a symbol of hatred and racism. It is also a symbol of good luck, peace and prosperity in many cultures. Often there is more to a story than meets the eye.

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 2 Click here to order single issues.

A typical “Good Luck” token of the early 1900s, this one promoting a Scranton, Pennsylvania eatery. Although Nazi-associated swastikas are generally seen with the points facing right, the orientation appears to be random on other uses.

Lamar White made this find in north Georgia. ® ® 50 5020142014 American Digger Magazine Sampler American Digger Magazine Sampler

About the Author

Longtime detectorist and history buff Foster Fleming is a member of Nashville’s Middle Tennessee Metal Detecting Club and loves recovering history with his current metal detector of choice, a Garrett AT Pro. March-April, 2014 American Digger® Magazine

61

or this one...

or this book...

*If you liked this book... or maybe this...

Then you’ll like

W

Greybird Publishers!

ith a full range of options for your next project, talk to us first. We can take your book idea and turn it into a reality, with guaranteed quality, an eye for detail, and one-on-one personalized service. Among the many options we offer our customers are: • Hardcover • Softcover • Full color • Black & White • Ad Design • Editing • Proofing • Promotion

*All examples shown here are actual projects completed by Greybird Publishers.

Contact us and your next book might be in this advertisement! www.americandigger.com

51

DICKEY WOLF AND THE CANNONBALL

By Peter Schichtel Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 3 Click here to order single issues.

I

felt a flutter of anticipation as my finger reached for the doorbell. There was no answer at first, and the possibility that I might be at the wrong house crossed my mind.

But the walkway up to the house was peppered with cannonball fragments. There could be no mistake.

The inner door opened and I saw the figure of a large man in the shadows. To say “large” was an understatement – this guy was big.

He swung open the storm door, leaned forward, and asked, “Can I hep’ you?” I was really surprised to see that the image I had had in my mind had clearly been way off. “You Pete?” he asked.

“Yeah. You Dickey?” I replied. I recognized his voice from the many phone conversations we’d had over the past eleven and a half months. I say eleven and a half months because that was exactly how long it had been since I’d first heard the name Dickey Wolfe.

Here he was standing there – no crew cut, no tubercular physique, no pack of smokes rolled up in his sleeve, not even a gas station shirt. He was a soft-spoken man with long silver hair pulled back in a ponytail; big, like I said, and with the most incredibly colored eyes. They were the color of brass.

I felt the cooler air coming from the house 24 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue®3

52

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

and was pleased when he cordially invited me in. We entered the front room, where he pointed to a seat for me and dropped down into a recliner in a corner. The recliner’s lever was pulled, Dickey’s legs were up, and the conversation immediately went to Civil War ordnance. After about an hour or so, I had to leave.

I had family to attend to at the condo, and the ruse I’d employed to get out was a short shopping trip to the Food Lion.

I had been coming to Carolina Beach with my family and parents for a few years and had begun to explore the island from my very first days there. I had found my way down the peninsula of land I had learned was called “Federal Point,” and ended up at the remains of a fort constructed of sand that had mostly washed into the sea. Fort Fisher and Dickey Wolfe became the focal point of every trip thereafter.

_________ Left: Some of Dickey’s projectile finds included these 100 and 200-pounder Parrotts (center of photo). At the top left of this page, a pile of shells await cleaning and preserving by Wolf (at top right).

Enfield rifle with saber bayonet, Whitworth solid shot, Enfield butt plates, and sword hilt. All were recovered from the Modern Greece by Dickey Wolf and others.

B

y the end of 1864, Wilmington was the last major port remaining open to blockade runners coming in from Nassau and Bermuda. One by one, the other Southern ports had been captured. But Fort Fisher’s guns had proven an extremely formidable obstacle to its Yankee foes. Its 8-inch and 10-inch Columbiad and Blakley guns, Brook rifles, and ingenious construction (including a network of bombproofs, torpedoes, and abatis) had managed to keep the port open, but Federal military planners intended to change that.

The Christmas Eve of 1864 was not a good one for the almost 1,400 Confederate soldiers manning Fort Fisher. Huddled in their bombproof shelters, they must have been horrified as sixtyfour Federal warships with more than 600 guns pounded away at the fort. Two shells every second exploded in and around the parapets. The fortification was well built but the sheer volume of shells fired at the fort and surrounding area took their toll.

The bombardment of the fort and the peninsula was intended to soften up the Confederate defenses and allow for a Federal assault that was to commence with a beach landing north of the fort. Apart from the garrison at the fort there were smaller gun positions up the peninsula: Battery Gatlin and Battery Anderson.

These were built to aid in firing at the Federal gunships patrolling offshore and preying on any blockade runner trying to break through and make it up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington. Most of the runners made it through, but occasionally one would succumb to the Federal fire, slip beneath the waves, and come to rest beneath the shallow waters just off the beach.

As the Christmas Eve bombardment continued and thousands of shells were thrown at Fort Fisher, the Federal Navy began to move its troop transports into position for the beach landing. The Navy had received intelligence that the woodline somewhat behind the northern batteries up the peninsula was filled with Confederate troops awaiting the anticipated beach assault. Smaller gunboats that drew less water were brought in to clear the woods of anyone there, and dropped a variety of smaller ordnance into the forest. After they realized that the 3.4 inch

Dahlgrens and 32-pounder balls weren’t doing the trick, the Navy upped the ante and went in with bigger guns, as close as possible to the shore. The heavy bombardment which followed obliterated the pine forest, and any enemy activity was silenced.

The Union troops landed on the beach at night in a cold rain and waited there for further orders. Those orders never came, due to the blundering of General Benjamin Butler, and the land assault fell apart. In the next few days the Federal troops were slowly extracted from the beach, having accomplished nothing but the capture of a group of boys from the 8th Battalion, North Carolina Junior Reserves.

Throughout the 1990s, my trips to Carolina Beach were somewhat like a Jekyll and Hyde experience. As the father of two boys and the husband to one woman, I enjoy and am dedicated to our family life. However, when we were in Carolina Beach and the words “cannonball” or “Fort Fisher” were mentioned, I would undergo a transformation. My eyes would glisten, my pulse rate would rise, I would begin to sweat in areas I would not normally sweat, and I would speak in a strange language, using unfamiliar words like “sabot,” “Parrott shell,” and “grapeshot.” I would mumble as we passed by wooded areas. A trip with Dickey into the pines, detectors in hand, and I would be back to normal again.

My family recognized this behavior and accepted it. Dickey said this was “the bomb bug.” It was bothersome, but not fatal.

I would speak to Dickey frequently between my family’s yearly summer visits to Carolina Beach. We became good friends and we would both look forward to my return. I live in New Jersey, where finding Civil War ordnance is not likely to happen. During the year between visits, my metal detecting time was spent traipsing through the woodlands of north Jersey and adding to my collection of coins and tidbits. An occasional package from Dickey was a nice way to break up the winter doldrums and was always a welcome addition to my collection. Dickey was extremely well versed on all things Fort Fisher. His expertise and ability to come up with some great items helped me to build a decent collection centered around finds from the Cape Fear area.

May-June, 2014 American Digger®

www.americandigger.com

25

53

While looking for “bombs” were a big part of Dickey and the author’s exploits, the pair managed to make other finds, as shown here. The Remington revolver has eight notches filed in the backstrap. All of the items were found in the Fort Fisher/ Wilmington area. _______________________

O

ver time, Dickey was able to teach me many things about detecting in the Cape Fear area. He took me out in the field and showed me where the spots called “impact areas” were. These were areas where the fire from the warships was more intense than other areas and, consequently, there was a greater chance to find intact shells. The possibility of finding a complete shell or ball seemed very remote, however. I was therefore content, during trip after trip, to hack my way through the dense and piney areas which lay on the west side of the peninsula and pry cannonball and Parrott shell fragments from beneath the pine roots that had hidden them for one hundred and forty years. It’s hot on the North Carolina coast in July, so hot that in the wooded areas where there was no God-saving breeze to cool you down, the temperatures easily reach 100˚ or more. Although 26 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue®3

54

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Dickey took me out many times, he didn’t like the really hot days and he especially didn’t like the copperheads that we had seen slithering about more than a few times.

As time went on and I was able to find spots on my own, Dickey would usually check in on me and let me know that I shouldn’t forget to show him my finds, no matter what they were.

Dickey loved it all, no matter how insignificant. Each fragment told a story to Dickey and he was keen to sense that my passion was the same as his. I took in everything he said.

The peninsula was the site of the biggest sea-to-land bombardment up to that time, and the bombardment would remain unsurpassed until WWII. But today it is hard to realize that any momentous event ever took place there. Thriving beach communities have sprung up along the coastline and all but the southern

Fort Fisher. This sabot was from a Dahlgren fired from one of the gunboats that were brought in to clear out the woods behind the two gun batteries. Finding an identifiable relic is a good thing for anyone who hunts in earnest. Finding an item that can be pinned to a specific time or event is like manna from heaven. I became fixated on that area like Ahab on the White Whale.

The next few trips down to North Carolina produced what might be expected; 9-inch and 10-inch ball fragments, cylindrical 20, 60, 100 and 200 pounder Parrott shell fragments and the like continued to fill my pouch. One particularly hot day, deep in a swampy area, I received a loud, screaming hit and assumed it was another pesky aluminum can. How these cans can get so far into the thicket in areas that I can access only by crawling is beyond my understanding. I dug the signal anyway and was extremely pleased to see a green cylindrical shape in the dirt. “Fuse!” I shouted as I snatched the item from the sandy hole. Sure enough, “Toward the end of our hunt, he gave me a I had found a U.S. Navy watercap fuse with “1864” stamped on it. I was a very pleased boy. A pat on the back from Dickey made Dahlgren lead sabot that had peeled back by it all the better and I headed off to the condo to try to explain to the force of the explosive charge and ended up my wife and kids what this item was. looking like a partially opened flower.”

One particular evening, I found myself drawn back to the site of my previous hunt. The air was still and the evening was warm, and I was going over some previously hunted ground – not tip of the peninsula is rapidly being developed. To have a good unusual behavior, as detectorists often benefit from repeat vischance at finding anything at all, one must make the torturous its to productive sites. I swung my loop over an area where the trip into the woods or wait until the bulldozers are heading for a soil had been piled up along the edge of an old road. A solid sigwooded area, and then follow in behind once the workers have nal sounded good enough to check out, so I started to dig. I had left. The area where the late-1864 woodline once stood was one come that day equipped with a really poor shovel that I’d found location where construction activity had begun. Roadways were in the back of my mother’s car. I suspect she had used it on cobeing plowed through the pines. vert plant-stealing missions along North Carolina’s back roads. I Dickey called me one day and said that a friend had been into think that my “good” shovel had gotten bumped from our car to that area, and that I should head over there quickly. The “bug” make room for belly boards or some such thing. In any case, as set in. I left my dinner half eaten and belched out my pardons as I dug down past the usual fragment depth, the shovel broke. At I ran out of the condo. As I pulled up to the cleared area, I saw about 14 inches, I couldn’t go any further. I picked up the shovel a pickup truck parked close by and a man swinging a detector pieces and my detector and trudged back to my truck. amongst the stumps and downed pines. “Hey,” he said. “Hey” beFor whatever reason, it is stuck in my head that it was a Suning a common colloquial word which implies both greetings and day. Monday passed uneventfully, but I felt the symptoms of the acceptance, we hunted together for an hour or so and my pouch “bomb bug” setting in. By Tuesbecame full of fragments. day morning, I was beginning to It was interesting for me to plan my escape. Having already note that, as this “local” passed told everyone about my deep over hits, he would say “frag” and signal the night before, I tried point here, and “frag” and point all day to keep my mouth shut there, indicating that they were about it, and to instead show infor me. These local guys meant terest in all the vacation stuff gobusiness and wouldn’t waste their ing on around me. However, by time on slices, but instead were the afternoon, my wife, Marleny, seeking the whole pie. But intact was able to see right through me. shells eluded us.

“Are you going to see Dickey?”

Toward the end of our hunt, she asked. That was the acquihe gave me a Dahlgren lead sabot escence that I needed in order that had peeled back by the force to head up the island. It was my of the explosion and ended up own personal “Viaja con Dios,” looking like a partially opened “‘Fuse!’ I shouted as I snatched the item with no guilt attached. flower. Back at the condo, I pored I think that Dickey was exover my books, and realized the from the sandy hole. Sure enough, I had pecting me because when I got to lead sabot was confirmation of a found a U.S. Navy watercap fuse with his house, he was ready to go. My chapter in the historic account of ‘1864’ stamped on it.” call of 10 minutes earlier couldn’t the December 24, 1864 attack on May-June, 2014 American Digger®

www.americandigger.com

27

55

Miscellaneous finds made by Dickey Wolf and Pete Schichtel on private property in the vicinity of Fort Fisher. Elsewhere on this page is the cannonball found by Schichtel, as discussed in this article. ________________ have given him enough time to rise from his recliner and gear up.

I could even smell bug spray. “Where we gonna’ go, Dickey?” I asked him. Dickey could sense my shell-hunting fever and said, “Let’s go find you a shell, boy.” He went into the garage and brought out a nice, big shovel. “I keep this one nice and sharp,” he said with a wink. We jumped into my truck and headed down the beach. When we got to my site, we drove off the edge of the blacktop and onto the sand, coming to a stop at the woods’ edge.

Dickey immediately began to shove the detector under every pine tree and low bush in sight. “Yeah boy, we gonna’ find you that shell.” In and out of the thickets he went. In the really tight places, he sent me in. A half an hour passed and he looked a bit frustrated. “Let’s go see where you got that hit the other day,” he said. We jumped into my truck for the short hop there.

When we arrived, Dickey looked over at me and said “Son, everybody’s been through here.” Over the past few years, my nickname had progressed from “Cuz” to “Boy,” and most recently, “Son.” “Well, we should at least check it out,” I suggested. I walked right to the spot and saw that Dickey had begun to take notice of the immediate area. I heard my big friend let out a noticeable “Hmmm,” followed by “Pass me your machine.” He seemed to become mildly interested. He put on the headphones and started swinging the detector over the spot. There was a pause... it seemed like forever. His facial expression became more serious than I had ever seen before. He looked up at me. Everything went silent. Our eyes met. A long silence followed, and then I heard the words I will never forget. “Dig, boy.”

I barely noticed that I had been demoted to “boy” again. I dug. I passed through the dirt that I had refilled two days earlier and quickly reached the point where my shovel had failed me.

The hard-packed sand was filled with pine roots but the sharpened shovel made its way through. At about 24 inches deep there was a loud “bonk,” and I looked up at Dickey. “What was that?” I asked.

28 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue® 3

56

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

“Get down in the hole and see,” Dickey quipped. I was on my belly in half a New York second. My arm was in the hole nearly up to my armpit when I felt cold metal. “What is it? Is it a pipe?”

Dickey asked.

I ran my hand from side to side. “No, Dickey, It’s round!” I blurted in a breaking voice.

“Round? Get out the hole, son.” I was “son” again. I picked myself up as fast as I could and traded places with Dickey. Down on his knees, and arm in the hole, he paused before saying, “You did it, son; that’s a 9-inch ball!” I think I heard bells ringing and I know I heard Angels singing “Hallelujah.” I quickly snapped out of it when I heard Dickey say “Get to digging.” It took me about 40 minutes to get my prize free of the large pine root that held it in place. After the two of us lifted it from the hole, we high-fived each other a few times. It was dark by then.

Back at Dickey’s house we put the ball into a bucket filled with water. I wanted to sleep in Dickey’s garage next to it but Dickey thought it would be best for me to go home to my family. So I headed home to the condo. Once I was out of earshot of Dickey’s house, I let it all go. I had been trying to keep somewhat cool for the past hour but now I was alone and safe from embarrassing myself in front of my mentor. I’d turned on the radio, opened the windows, and was bouncing in my seat. I called the condo at the first stop light to tell them the big news.

“Are you kidding?” was all Marleny could say.

“Nope, I’m serious,” I assured her. I asked if I could speak to whichever of my boys was near the phone. I told my oldest, Christian, the news which he immediately passed on to his brother: “Lucas, Dad found a cannonball!” I then heard yelling in the background. By the time I got home, my boys were waiting for me in the driveway and my wife and parents were on the balcony.

I felt like George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” They were hugging me, jumping up and down, and were actually singing to me: “Daddy’s great. . . he found the cannonball.” This impromptu song still echoes in my head. We were all happy that night.

The next day I was up early, reading about the bombardment of Fort Fisher and the first landings on the beach. As I read, I began to realize the significance of my find. I had already known

Some of the almost 40,000 artillery projectiles fired at Fort Fisher. Most of the relics shown here were found by Dickey Wolf and the author. ________________ that the woods had been raked by 3.4-inch deck guns from the smaller gunboats, but further reading really got me excited.

After seeing that the Dahlgrens, 32-pounder balls, and 10 and 20-pounder Parrott shells weren’t doing a thorough enough job, the U.S.S. Brooklyn, with its 9 and 10-inch guns, was brought in and opened fire. How cool, I thought. A cannonball from an identified ship, fired on a specific day with a specific purpose.

Later in the morning, I picked up Dickey and we headed over to the house of his good friend and detecting partner, Bennett Langley, to disarm the shell.* It was obvious that these guys were good. They went right to the nerve-wracking task of drilling and removing the powder from the ball. I was a bystander to the operation; in fact, I hid behind a nearby tree, causing both of them to laugh. In a few minutes, Dickey, using a hose they had adapted for their operation, flushed the powder from the ball and rendered it safe. I brought my trophy home to my biggest fans and had great stories to tell over a nice bowl of spaghetti and sauce.

T

he following trips down to the beach were fairly uneventful, always resulting in a bag full of fragments and such, and visits with Dickey. A couple of times Dickey took me out fishing on his boat. One time my family SUV blew a head gasket and Dickey arranged for his mechanic to fix it. I flew back down to Wilmington the following week and stayed with Dickey and his wife, Joyce. I had never been an overnight guest at their house before, and was treated to some Southern hospitality and charm. Joyce is a wonderful woman who provided me with a great ham dinner and an evening with some family. I left at sunrise the next morning for the drive back to New Jersey and as I was leaving, I found two beautiful ham sandwiches wrapped up on the table, ready for my trip.

Throughout the year I always maintained phone contact with Dickey. Eventually, however, a few weeks had passed when I hadn’t been able to reach him. I finally made contact with Joyce.

“Hi Joyce. How are you?” I asked.

“Well… okay,” she replied.

Something wasn’t right. I asked, “Are you guys okay?”

Joyce’s reply was, “Pete, Dickey’s sick.” I was shocked by *American Digger® stresses that disarming of any historical ordnance be done by those properly trained in the task. Improperly done, it can be a danger to all involved.

the words that followed. “He has cancer.” My chest tightened and my eyes filled up.

I was able to make it down to see him two months later. On this visit, he didn’t leave his recliner, in which he now took up much less space than before. We talked at length about many things. He said that he would try to get out with me and detect a bit, but that never happened. I spent the rest of the trip with my family and stopping in on Dickey. I didn’t detect much.

When back in New Jersey, I would call Dickey every few weeks to see how he was doing, hoping to hear of a change for the better. Most often I would reach him at home, but a few times I spoke with him at the hospital. Toward the end of spring, I had been trying to reach him or Joyce for a few weeks, without success. I decided to call a mutual friend who owned the Fort Fisher Trading Post.

I began the conversation with, “Hi, Red, it’s Dickey’s friend, Pete. I’ve been trying to reach Dickey…”

Red quietly interrupted. “Pete, Dickey died a few weeks back.” I didn’t have much to say after that. I thanked him and hung up.

I went down to Carolina Beach a few months later and stopped in to visit Joyce. She told me that Dickey hadn’t gone easy but she was happy that, toward the end, he’d been able take his truck to the north end of the island and watch the sun come up. And he’d gone fishing one last time.

I tried to detect a few times on that trip, but I just seemed to wander around like a zombie and didn’t find much. Something was gone for me.

A few years have passed now and we haven’t been to North Carolina for some time. I think about the times with Dickey, and how proud I am to have been his friend. He was one of a kind.

In January 1865 Fort Fisher succumbed to a second attack.

Within a month, Wilmington was captured and the Confederacy was pretty much finished. The campaign for Wilmington remains today the biggest case study in Civil War era ordnance. It would please Dickey to know that years from now his efforts will become part of the historic record, as his finds will by then have found their way into many collections and publications. His name will become part of the story and will live on with it.

As for me, I am lucky to have found just one of the 20,271 shells hurled at the fort by the U.S. Navy in the first bombardment and the 19,632 fired in the second. More importantly, I am lucky to have found it with such a good friend.

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 3 Click here to order single issues.

About The Author Pete Schichtel was born and raised in New Jersey where he now owns a custom woodworking business with his brother. Pete began his lifelong search for relics, bottles and Indian artifacts when he was only eight years old. He has been fortunate enough to have been able to relic hunt in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, in addition to his home state and the eastern coast of the U.S.A.

www.americandigger.com May-June, 2014 American Digger® www.americandigger.com

5729 57

Who Reads American Digger速 Magazine?

Leaders of men. Followers of tradition. Those not afraid to march into the future while honoring the past. Movers, shakers, and history makers. Those who give proper respect and those who humbly receive it. People like us. People like you.

American Digger速 Magazine For Diggers and Collectors PO Box 126 Acworth, GA 30101 770-362-8671

www.americandigger.com www.americandigger.com 58

2014 American Digger速 Magazine Sampler

$3595/One Year or $68/Two years Continental USA, prices higher elsewhere

www.americandigger.com

59

KNOW WHERE TO GO You can’t dig it if you can’t find it.

These proven research techniques will help you locate the early sites

By Bill Dancy Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 3 Click here to order single issues.

A

whole new world of detecting opened up for me long, slow process built on years of experience that eventually when I got bit by the colonial bug about 15 years ago. brought me to where I am today. Now, I certainly don’t consider Instead of longing to dig a Mercury dime in an old myself an expert researcher by any means, but I’ve enjoyed an schoolyard, I was now in for some real excitement by seeking to increasing amount of detecting success as I continue to add to recover relics and coins lost by some of our country’s earliest setmy personal arsenal of research tools. tlers. As a result of over 400 years of occupation, the opportunities Probably the single most productive reference source I’ve awaiting me in historic southeast found was one I stumbled across Virginia were absolutely endless. almost 10 years ago. While I couldn’t wait to get out and start browsing through the Library of making some amazing recoverVirginia website, I discovered the ies. But there was just one small huge Virginia Historical Inventoproblem: how in the world was I ry (VHI) database. Of particular going to discover the locations of interest were building survey rethese long-lost sites? ports, photographs and annotated My original efforts at remaps that documented a large search led me mostly to the number of pre-1860 homes for library and the internet, and I each county in the state. Howeventually became enamored ever, since this information was with studying and collecting old compiled back in the late 1930s, maps. But it didn’t take long to the maps and directions to sites realize that this technique was were often outdated, as many only good for identifying wellof the names and locations of known sites along the beaten the roads and landmarks had path. In order to shift my focus changed over the years. The into the “road less travelled,” I formation, therefore, was often needed to start thinking outside difficult to apply. But that was the box. I started becoming a not a major obstacle, and soon I little more innovative and slowwas able to use these materials to ly began to uncover a wealth of put myself onto a large number of Colonial silver coins the author has information that I never knew early homesites. I also used this found over the last 15 years, the result of existed. Success didn’t come data in conjunction with Civil overnight, though, as it was a War era and turn-of-the-century thorough research and a little luck.

46 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue®3

60

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Few would suspect that this 100-year-old house (above left) would be hiding treasures dating back 300 years earlier. However, a 1930s Virginia Historical Inventory (VHI) report (above right) revealed that this turn-of-the-century structure was actually resting on the original 1636 foundation. This stroke of luck resulted in the recovery of many colonial relics and coins from the site. topographic maps to confirm the precise locations for these sites. colony received 50 acres of land plus another 50 acres for each I can’t begin to tell you how many great sites the VHI has person whose way they paid. This generally resulted in the patenled me to, including a very early one where I found two scattered tee receiving a land grant for several hundred acres or more. The caches of hammered silver coins. Overall, the quantity as well as boundaries for these large parcels were described in terms of geoquality of my finds ramped up quickly as a result of utilizing this graphic features such as specific creeks, swamps, large trees, advaluable database. jacent patents, and other landmarks. Over the years, researchers Once you have a site pinpointed, the next step is to determine have studied the original patent documents and produced maps who the property owner is so that permission to search the area can showing the best approximation for the various patent boundaries. be obtained. The easiest way is to check out the county’s property However, it’s not an easy task to locate copies of these maps, and information website and pull up a map showing parcel boundaries sometimes a significant amount of web surfing or even a trip to for the area you’re interested in. These can usually be accessed in the library may be in order to find the specific patent maps you’re color aerial formats which are quite useful. The name and mailing seeking. address of the owner can be determined once you select the parcel I had an informative discussion last year with a local archaethat contains the site you’re looking for. If it’s a local address you ologist about land patents, and he stated it was common praccan speak with them in person, which is preferable, as it gives you tice for the patent owner to secure ownership of the property as the best chance for securing permission. However, if the owner quickly as possible by constructing and occupying a dwelling on lives out of town, you can either send a well-crafted letter with the site. I later determined it was also a requirement that each copies of any research material you may have, or find their phone settler build a house and plant crops within three years of when number through one of the many the patent was approved by the online look-up websites and give governor, or the land would rethem a call. vert back to the crown or state In the last year, I’ve also startfor reissue. That was valuable ed utilizing early land patent maps information as it opened up the as a means to put myself onto a possibility of finding many more potentially very early site. During early structures in my main huntthe first years of settlement in the ing area than I thought possible.

Virginia colony, the “patent” was With that in mind, I used the primary means by which land a modern topographic map to was transferred from the London locate the most likely spot for Company (and later the Crown) to a house within each local land an individual. The most common patent parcel. I was looking for method for executing this transfer the highest ground that was close was through the “headright” systo navigable water or a source Advertisements such as this one from 1776 tem. Under this system, any perof fresh water. Civil War era in the Virginia Gazette provide clues as to maps as well as current aerials son who qualified as a planter and paid for their own passage to the can also complement the process the location of early house sites.

May-June, 2014 American Digger®

www.americandigger.com

47

61

An 1806 map with an early home location sits beside the same area depicted on a modern topography map.

This 1806 chancery court plat map turned out to be quite accurate as compared to the modern topo, which made the location of the early house site easy to find.

of precisely locating the areas of highest potential for an early available online through Virginia Tech (my alma mater). This homesite. I’m just starting to use this technique and believe it will website allows you to search for huge trees either by species or pay big dividends next season. county. I prefer to select a county and bring up a long list of Another research asset that has led me to otherwise ungiant trees that have been recognized as an existing or fallen known and undocumented sites is early chancery court records. “champion.” The documentation provided for each tree includes Chancery courts, used extensively during colonial times, were a picture, a map showing its location, and sometimes even the used to administer justice according to fairness and common owner’s name and address. Utilizing this information, you can sense, as contrasted to utilizing the strictly formulated rules of cross-reference with old maps to help confirm an early site, or it common law. These records, which date back to the mid-1700s, might be a solid clue as to the whereabouts of an undocumented are available online for many counties in digitized form through homesite. the Library of Virginia. The records I’m most interested in inCemeteries are also obvious and usually reliable indicators volve land disputes which were a result of a person dying intesthat an old homesite was nearby. Numerous cemetery records tate, the contesting of a will, a divorce, or other disagreement can be found on the internet that are available by county, but these involving a property boundary. are generally public knowledge and it’s quite likely many before Some of the lengthy documentation for these cases includes you have used this information to locate and hunt these potena plat map, with some showing great detail. A few actually idential sites. To increase your chances for success, it’s necessary to tify the specific location of a house go the extra mile and utilize current on the disputed property or on adaerials (such as those available from jacent land. But the trick here, as Google Earth) to scan rural areas, is the case with land patent maps, looking for that small clump of is to be able to decipher the wherebrush or trees that stand out in the abouts of the parcel based on the middle or edge of a field. This can description provided in the narrabe a very reliable technique to identive and as shown on the plat map. tify an undocumented homesite, and In some cases, it is difficult to deI’ve proven this several times over termine the location based on the the last few years. One such site I geographic features provided, but located about four years ago proother times it becomes readily apduced over 200 early buttons and 15 parent after a little extra research. pieces of Spanish silver. If I hadn’t Most knowledgeable relic seen the out-of-place vegetation in hunters are always on the lookout the middle of a remote field on the for large trees which stand out in a aerial view, I would never have confield, yard, or even the middle of sidered hunting there. So don’t miss the woods as a sign that an early out on this opportunity to stay a step house once existed in the vicinity. ahead of your competition.

The author stands next to a champion However, that tactic only works if While on the subject of visual oak tree that was located through the you happen to drive by a site and clues, I’d like to expand on things Virginia Big Tree Database. It led to observe such a tree. But I’ve taken even further. Every once in a while, the discovery of a 17th century site things a step further by utilizing I like to turn off the computer and the Virginia Big Tree Database take a half day to make a scouting that produced many early artifacts.

48 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue® 3

62

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Quarterly. This is mostly a fee-based site, but free access can be obtained through some universities and libraries. You can also register for a free MyJSTOR account that will provide read-only, limited-use access to over 1200 historical journals. JSTOR can be an extremely valuable reference source to help you identify and locate early homesites and I strongly urge you take advantage of this opportunity.

Additionally, out-of-print historical books from the turn of the century can provide many interesting clues to help with your colonial research. You can find many of these in the local history section of your library, and some are available for free viewing or download on Google Books, archive.org, and other websites.

Hard copies of these and other old books can also be purchased at very reasonable prices from online vendors such as Addall Used Cleared areas without homes that show up on Books or Amazon. Over the years, I’ve created extensive digital and hardcopy reference libraries, and I frequently refer to these mid-1800s maps can be a good indicator of a materials to pick up that one small detail that may be all that’s much earlier occupation on the site. needed to finish solving the puzzle.

I’ve already touched on the use of maps, and there are extensive resources on the web to help you with that form of research. trip to get an idea of “the lay of the land” in an area I’ve been Some of my favorites include the Gilmer maps, the Office of Coast researching. I try to stay on or near the original colonial roads and Survey’s historical image collection, and the Library of Congress. look for fields that have a nice looking knoll or ridge that stands All of these sources are excellent references for identifying Civil out and also have a fresh water source nearby. I can’t put enough War period homesites, and the fact that many of these sites saw emphasis on using this technique, as I’ve had a very high rate of their original occupation during colonial times make these resuccess finding early homesites and military camps by using it sources quite useful. Aerials and topographic maps from differmyself. Almost all of the sites I’ve found by scouting are undocuent time periods can also complement your searches. Maptech mented and are ones that I might not otherwise have been willing has both recent and historical topographic maps available online, to check out. Two of the three highly productive sites I hunted last while Google Earth and Historic Aerials can help with both past season were found this way, as were several others over the last and present satellite images that can yield valuable information to three to four years. Undocumented sites are always going to be help in your quest to discover that long-lost homesite. among the most productive and should be what any relic hunter And don’t forget to chat with the locals, particularly the oldstrives to discover. timers, as they often have knowledge that will never be found in Another excellent source of information I’ve used on numerous any book or website, and that will soon be gone forever. Someoccasions is the online version of the Virginia Gazette. The times conversations with family, Gazette was a colonial newspaper friends, or acquaintances can pay published in Williamsburg during off in a big way, too. Folks at the the 1700s which contained local historical society may also large sections of advertisements have some unique documentation announcing properties for sale, lease that may be of value as well. I can or rent, auctions, and other notices certainly say from personal expethat made reference to old homes. rience that the rapport built from Many times the details included in personal interaction can go a long the ad will provide valuable clues way toward helping make new to help determine the location of an contacts and getting into new sites. early homesite and its owner. My The research path to finding article published in the May-June each site is usually different and 2013 issue of American Digger® unique, and can sometimes take demonstrated how an early site you down many unexpected roads was found with the help of details before the puzzle can finally be provided in a Gazette ad. solved. A good example of this There are plenty of other online is a site I found out about earlier opportunities to perform historithis year through a visit to the cal research, and one of the best is A Virginia Historical Inventory local museum. A few of the 17th JSTOR (short for “Journal Storreport led the author to the early century artifacts on display were age”). This site has a massive digicolonial site where he discovered discovered by accident during a tal library containing thousands of two scattered caches of hammered large construction project about 25 early academic journals including silver coins which date to the 1500s. years ago. The only information my favorite, the William and Mary May-June, 2014 American Digger® 49

www.americandigger.com

63

(Above left) This patent, dated 1639, is very difficult to read in the Old English style writing, and is better left for the historical researchers to decipher and convert to map form. Genealogical researchers painstakingly put together their best estimates (above right) for the boundaries of early land patents using historical documentation. provided was the name of the elderly lady who owned the the precise location of the site, which ended up being in a remote property at that time, and the fact that the site was discovered corner of an obscure field in a very rural area. Odds are this during excavation for the huge Lake Gaston pipeline project. area has never been searched, and I plan to hit it hard after the I utilized all my research options and still could not locate a soybeans are cut this fall. single clue as to the site’s whereabouts. Then I tried looking up Regardless of whether you are a seasoned researcher or the original owner’s name on the county’s property information someone just starting out, I hope some of the tips and tricks I’ve website, but could not find it, probably because she had long presented here will prove to be valuable assets to help in your since been deceased. I then tried an unusual tactic and started pursuit of that elusive hammered silver coin, black glass bottle, searching for her obituary, as I or whatever early treasure you’re figured it may include the names seeking. And don’t forget that of her other family members, the more obscure and off-the-wall and one of them just might be your research techniques are, the the current owner. I eventually better your chances are of landing located her obituary (from about yourself on a relic hunter’s dream 20 years ago) and determined that – an undocumented, unhunted, her husband was deceased as well, and very productive colonial site. although it did list the names of her four surviving sons. But the last Originally Published in name was fairly common, which Volume 10, Issue 3 made using the county Geographic Click here to order Information System (GIS) difficult. single issues.

At that point, I decided to see if I could find a detailed map showing the exact path of the pipeline.

About The Author Fortunately, I was able to do this by Bill Dancy spends most adding a layer on the county GIS of his free time researchmap that showed water utilities, ing and hunting colonial and that allowed me to observe sites and has been seriwhich land parcels the pipeline ously pursuing his pascut through. Although there were sion of recovering hisquite a few of them, I slowly and tory for over 15 years. methodically checked each one to He is among the most determine the current owner, and I was finally able to match the exact prolific freelance writers name of one of her sons with one for American Digger®. of the parcels. That info gave me 1822 chancery plat map.

50 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue ®3

64

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

www.americandigger.com

65

Return to Pea Ridge

Fresh from the dirt, a 3.67 caliber Hotchkiss bolt found b shown above, while elsewhere on this page is a Bormann fu Gordon McCain, Jr. Artillery-related finds were abundan iggers like Sandy Dolle (shown on the title page seconds af pounder Bormann fused cannonball) can atte _________________

By Stephen Burgess

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 4 Click here to order single issues.

or relic, and did not gi dge survey we did from 2001 to 2003. arly in 2013, I received a call from Sandy discovery, our diggin though retired, Doug wanted to help Dolle concerning metal detectorists who tobetake item away th the most recent dig at Pea Ridge. might interestedthe in assisting the NaAfter all the introductions and expla-tional Park Service Continuing on, I with a metal detector survey Ridge National (Louisiana) Battlefield Park lotions, Mr. De Vore wanted to know ifat the Peapelican b cated in Arkansas.

Having taken part in a simiy of us had any questions. As most of and give a rebel yell, w lar survey in 2001 through 2003, I was elated at ose present were old friends, I couldbeing ableit?”

Mr.again, De look to participate andV gotore right to t resist being a smart aleck. but, with aBy April smile, fin work locating other participants.

22nd, the first day of the survey, there were seven of us I spoke up and explained to him how phatically, “NOooo!” detector operators as ost of us detectorists, if hunting camptest (or ofamateur hisarchaeologists, authority, w we like to think of ourselves) plus Sandy. Some es on private property, would act uponcould onlyThe metal op participate for just thatdetector day, or a day ding a bona fide Confederate artifact.or two, butsist the park service a few, including me, intended to go the whole week.

That Monday morning, the Naxplained how if we were hunting with Jr., Stephen Burgess, tional Park Service archaeologist in charge of the partner and found a Confederate button Dorothy, Jack Fergus survey, Steven De Vore, met with all of us, along team andin the Nick with several other ParkMatt Service associates McCain Jr., and Jim park’s conference room.

Mr. DeScott Vore explained how state highway alsothe operated a that cut through the edge of the park was going to did several of the par change its route and finally be completely outside of at times. the park. He alsovarious explained how the approximately seven-mile-long parkThe tour roadNational was also going to Par change. Then he showed us the maps of thesingle four marked every different proposals for the park road changes, andothe assisted in many finally discussed how we needed to metal detect chaeological all of the proposed new routes, if possible,technic by the archaeologists Aman end of the week. After explaining what he expected of us, he introduced retired National Parkand Service inte bert LeBeau, archaeologist Doug Scott.

Mr. Scott, who is prob- help Chris Rowe. Also ably best known for his survey of the Little Bigtunity was John horn Battlefield, had also been in charge of the PeaScot

0

E

® ®® ® American Digger Vol. ol.

10, Issue Issue 4 4 American Digger V 10, 66 662014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

July-August, 2014 American Digger®®

39

visitor center, and between that buildin and the existing highway. It lay quite distance from most theNational serious theof Pea Ridge Battlefield fightin Park, of the battle, and we didn’t expect to fin and members of his local crew which inEads, Troy Banzhaf, Bethamuch. We had to cluded doKevin the survey, though ny Henry, Matt Fry, and Virginia Dyer.

Fi- pos as in the future the small field could nally, participating on behalf of the State sibly become a parking lot.

As Drexler expected of Arkansas was Dr. Carlson of it produced very few relics: aSurvey. couple o the Arkansas Archaeological Our first assignment to scan abulle dropped musket balls and a was fired field of a few acres, directly in front of the or two. That was about it. There was visitor center, and between that building modern silver St. and theChristopher existing highway. It lay quite meda a found, but otherwise was just distanceit from most of the seriousthe fighting usua

by Doug Scott is battle, and we didn’t expect to find pull tabs, Lincolnof the Memorial cents, an much.

We had to do the survey, though, use recovered by modern trash. After lunch, Mr. De Vor as in the future the small field could posnt at the site, as moved the group sibly upbecome three-quarters a parking lot. As expected, of mile north towards theveryElkhorn fter she dug a 12it produced few relics: a coupleTaver of dropped musket balls and a fired bullet and into the woods. est. or two.

That was artifacts! about it. There was a Onl Now we located more modern silver St. Christopher medal about a quarter mile south the tavern found, but otherwise itof was just the usual Fresh from the dirt, a 3.67 caliber Hotchkiss boltdetected found by Doug Scott is area we an that pull tabs, Lincolnsaw Memorialsome cents, and ser shown above, while elsewhere on this page is a Bormann fuse recovered by modern trash. After lunch, Mr. De ous fighting. It was within yards ofVore wher ive a rebel yell upon Gordon McCain, Jr. Artillery-related finds were abundant at the site, as moved the group up three-quarters of a Union Lt. Colonel Francis J. Herron, o ng bud had the right mile north towards the Elkhorn Tavern diggers like Sandy Dolle (shown on the title page seconds after she dug a 12the 9th Iowa Infantry, y from us. pounder Bormann fused cannonball) and into thewas woods. wounded an can attest. captured in an area that heavy actio I asked, “If I dig a Now we saw located more artifacts! Only _________________ about a quarter mileAs south of the tavern,as w on both days of the battle. soon button by the tavern, we detected an area that saw some seristepped out of our vehicles, nearly every will you let me keep ous fighting. It was within yards of where or relic, and did not give a rebel yell upon Ridge survey we did from 2001 to 2003. oneourstarted and ar ked aAlthough little wide-eyed Unionfired Lt. Colonelbullets Francis J. Herron, of retired, Doug wanted to help discovery, digging bud haddigging the right tillery shell nallywithsaid most emthe 9th IowaAlthough Infantry, was woundedusuall and to take the item away from us. fragments. the most recent dig at Pea Ridge. captured in an area that saw heavy action After all the introductions and explaContinuing on, I asked, “If I dig a the one cleaning up the pull tabs and sho ” After my facetious on both days of the battle.

As soon as we nations, Mr. De Vore wanted to know if pelican (Louisiana) button by the tavern, gun shells, I personally dug a couple o we were ready to go. stepped out of our vehicles, nearly everyany of us had any questions. As most of and give a rebel yell, will you let me keep fragments fired .69 perators ready to asone started and digging fired bullets and ar- cal those present were old friends, I could it?”12-pounder Mr. De Vore looked a little wide-eyed as we all moved up th were Tom Bowen, tillery shell fragments.

Although usually but,ber with a Miniés. smile, finally said Then, most emnot resist being a smart aleck. the one cleaning up the pull tabs and shotI spoke up and explained to him how phatically, “NOooo!”

After my facetious slight incline through the brush toward Sandy Dolle, Doug gun shells, Ito personally dug a couple of most of us detectorists, if hunting camptest of his authority, we were ready to go. the tavern, I managed become so fo son, father and son 12-pounder fragments and fired .69 calisites on private property, would act upon The metal detector operators ready to ason artifacts that Longwith, ber Miniés.

Then, as we all moved upItheneve finding a bona fide Gordon Confederate artifact. sistcused the park service weredetecting Tom Bowen, when I walked directly throug m Trammell.

Doug slight incline through the brush towards I explained how if we were hunting with Jr.,noticed Stephen Burgess, Sandy Dolle, Doug the tavern, I managed to become so foa partner and found a Confederateas button Dorothy, Ferguson, fatherof and son theJack middle a deer bed. Because th a metal detector, cused on detecting artifacts that I never team Matt and Nick Longwith, Gordon Pea Ridge National Battlefield Park i rk service personnel noticed when I walked directly through McCain Jr., and Jim Trammell. Doug 4,200 acres in assize, and wildlife withi the middle of a deer bed. Because the Scott also operated a metal detector, is totally protected, it isis fu rk Service crew that Pea Ridge National Battlefield Park didits severalconfines of the park service personnel acres in size, andhunting wildlife within sea at various times. of deer, especially4,200 when the find with GPS, and its confines is totally protected, it is full the The National Park Service crew that son approaches. They seem to know er ways included arof deer, especially when the hunting seamarked every single find with GPS, and are safe you They will cian Laura Bender, son approaches. seem often to know they driv assisted in many otherin waysthere, included ar- and past a field within nda Davey and Alare safe in there,dozen, and you will often drive chaeological technician Laurawith Bender, several past a field with several dozen,gazing within a archaeologists Amanda Davey Alfew yards ofand your vehicle, just a erns Sean Rapier and few yards of your vehicle, just gazing at bert LeBeau, and interns Sean Rapier and you like an old friend. Well, shortly afte ping at every opporyou like an old friend. Well, shortly after Chris Rowe. Also helping at every opporwalking through that deer bed, I bega tt, superintendent of walking through that deer bed, I began tunity was John Scott, superintendent of 40 American Digger®® Vol. 10, Issue 4

www.americandigger.com www.americandigger.com

67 67

Mainspring vice recovered by Matt Long. These tools were used to clamp and hold the mainspring of a Civil War era musket. This was necessary to disassemble or repair the weapon’s lock assembly. ___________ to feel creepy crawlies, and after pulling up one pant leg, discovered I had small seed ticks, by the hundreds, racing to see who could bite my best parts first! I ran, I rubbed, I clawed, I cursed myself for forgetting the bug spray, and finally got deeper in the woods so that I could pull down my pants. Just as I was telling myself my best parts might not be there anymore, I heard the other volunteers hollering something. It sounded like “A shell! A shell!”

It turns out, that while I was off to the side inspecting my bug ridden carcass, Sandy Dolle had moved just up the hill from our last stop. Near a large tree, she dug a completely intact 12-pounder Bormann fused shell! Of course, everyone had to stop and go inspect Sandy’s intact cannonball.

The shell’s location was a perfectly logical one. On March 8th, 1862, Union General Samuel Curtis directed General

Franz Sigel to position all his artillery for a bombardment. Sigel placed the majority of the Army of the Southwest’s artillery so that it was in position to shell the area around Elkhorn Tavern and the ridge to the west. According to contemporary reports, citizens in Fayetteville, Arkansas, almost 35 miles south, heard the guns. For two hours on the second day of the battle, Sigel shelled the Confederate and Missouri State Guard positions until Earl Van Dorn, the Confederate commander, decided to retire to the southeast.

Sandy was excited about her shell, but so was everybody else. We all began detecting with renewed enthusiasm, and I nearly forgot how eaten up I was from the waist down. The remainder of the day produced more shell fragments, fired bullets, and iron Confederate case shot balls.

Day two of the search began with

® ® 68 68 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

everyone excited. That morning, I covered myself in some industrial grade pesticide of questionable legality, so I knew I would be reasonably protected. This day, we moved into the woods again, just a bit further west of the Elkhorn Tavern. Once again, we were soon all locating good targets. These included shell fragments, fired bullets, case shot balls, and musket balls. As we worked along a strip of woods just below part of the current tour road, Nick Longwith moved into a small spot with multiple targets. There, he uncovered multiple case shot balls and shell fragments.

Finally, after Nick seemed to have located all the targets in his immediate area, we headed west, back towards our start point from that morning. As we moved to the right and up the slope, there were more targets. I recovered several shell fragments, and noticed other folks digging fragments, fired bullets, and even a few horseshoes. Doug Scott and Kevin Eads stopped just down the hill and it became obvious they were digging a largeMainspring hole. A few more minutesby and vice recovered Matt Lon their tools excitement peaked, and those of us were used to clamp and hold the ma closestofhad to goWar seeera themusket. reason. What a Civil This was nece a good reason it was, too!

Doug had lock a disassemble or repair the weapon’s detected a completely intact 3.67-inch ___________ Hotchkiss bolt (solid shot), with nose, sabot, and base cup still intact. It was in such goodcreepy condition that we once Fra to feel crawlies, andknew, after pulling it was cleaned it was for up one pant and leg, preserved, discoveredthat I had small going to be a beauty. ma seed ticks, by the hundreds, racing to group moved art seeAfter wholunch, could the bitewhole my best parts first! I to ran, the east side ofI Elkhorn the I rubbed, clawed, ITavern cursedwhere myself weforwere to detect potential tour rid forgetting theboth bug aspray, and finally road area, and along the old Huntsville got deeper in the woods so that I could po road. whatmy remained of the pullIn down pants. Just as afternoon, I was telling Ar the myself my best parts might not be there da anymore, I heard the other volunteers fed hollering something. It sounded like “A tio shell! A shell!”

It turns out, that while I was off to ate the side inspecting my bug ridden carsou cass, Sandy Dolle had moved just up the bu hill from our last stop. Near a large tree, ga she dug a completely intact 12-pounder an Bormann fused shell! Of course, everyone had to stop and go inspect Sandy’s fro the intact cannonball. fire The shell’s location was a perfectly Scarce two-ring Mississippi bullet sho logical one.

On March 8th, 1862, Union found authorCurtis Stephen Burgess.

GeneralbySamuel directed General July-August, 2014 2014 American American Digger Digger®® July-August,

41 41

everyone excited. That morning, I covered but not the iron Confederate examples. myself in some industrial grade pesticide After lunch, we moved again to the of questionable legality, so I knew I woods southeast of the tavern, and north would be reasonably protected. This day, of Ruddick’s field. There were a lot of we moved into the woods again, just a bit artifact signals remaining. In a small further west of the Elkhorn Tavern. Once spot not eight feet in diameter, under again, we were soon all locating good some fallen limbs, Gordon McCain, Jr. targets. These included shell fragments, detected the base cup to a 3.67 Hotchfired bullets, case shot balls, and musket kiss shell, a nearly perfect Bormann balls. As we worked along a strip of fuse, and a large shell fragment. Everywoods just below part of the current one detected and recovered artifacts. tour road, Nick Longwith moved into a I found the world’s most mashed Borsmall spot with multiple targets. There, mann fuse, and an early pattern Missishe uncovered multiple case shot balls and sippi Rifle bullet, as well as an unusual Above a canister ball that had just shellisfragments. three-ring Minié with super-thick cavity been recovered

by Stephen Burgess.

Finally, after Nick seemed to have walls.

Below, a deformed 6-pound canister located all the targets in his immediOn day four, we finished up in the base platewe found

by Jim Trammell . ate area, headed west, back towards woods, and began in the north edge of our start point from that morning. As we Ruddick’s field. Right off the bat, we moved to the right and up the slope, there detected the nearly golf ball size iron Hotchkiss base cup recovered by were more targets. I recovered several canister balls, several different types of Gordon McCain, Jr. in the woods shell fragments, and noticed other folks shell fragments, and fired bullets.

Movsoutheast of Elkhorn tavern. digging fragments, fired bullets, and ing across the field and into the woods __________ even a few horseshoes. Doug Scott and on the south side, Jim Trammel dug a Kevin Eads stopped just down the hill we found a few fired bullets and miscelreally neat and complete base plate to and it became obvious they were digging laneous lead. a 6-pound canister round. When it was a large hole. A few more minutes and vice recovered

by Mattcleaned Long. aThese On Mainspring day three, we traveled roughly bit the impression of the balls their excitement peaked, and those of us east down old track Huntsville in the plate became visible. Tom Bowtoolsthewere used of tothe clamp and hold the mainspring closest had to go see the reason. What Road, detecting the roadbed itself and en, Jr. detected a very unusual musket of a Civil War era musket. This was necessary to a good reason it was, too! Doug had severaldisassemble yards on either side of it, until ball, one that appeared to be covered or repair the weapon’s lock assembly. detected a completely intact 3.67-inch we came to the west edge of the historic ___________ with sprue marks – not the just the sinHotchkiss bolt (solid shot), with nose, Clemons field. Here, we turned south gle sprue mark you often see, but over a the future, and assist in finding the best sabot, and base cup still intact. It was in in the direction of one of the proposed dozen of them evenly spaced around the new route for the tour road. Everyone such good condition that we knew, once tourtoroutes.

Again, we detected Everyone and Sigel recovered to positionartifacts, all his artillery feel creepy crawlies, and afterfired pulling ball.Franz involved, including the National Park it was cleaned and preserved, that it was bullets, mostly conical .69 caliber threefour full daysSigel of searching a bombardment. placed the up one pant leg, discovered I had small afterfornearly Service folks, State of Arkansas, and going to be a beauty. ringseed Miniés. uncovered digging,of some of us were a the Army of thelagging Southwest’s ticks,Matt

by Longwith the hundreds, racing to andmajority citizen metal detector operators, had After lunch, the whole group moved a beautifully preserved mainspring in our stride. so that it was in position to shell see who could bite my best partsvice first! I littleartillery shown themselves to be enthusiastic to the east side of Elkhorn Tavern where for ran, muskets, which seemed Ilike an odd Onarea Friday, which was slated be the the around Elkhorn Taverntoand I rubbed, I clawed, cursed myself and genuinely interested in the history we were to detect both a potential tour thing find on athebattlefield, fifth and lastwest. day According of the survey, we to the to contemfortoforgetting bug spray,but andwho finally the ridge of the battle, making for a fun and sucroad area, and along the old Huntsville knows occurred in the lines during several hours for thunderstorms got what deeper in the woods so that I could waited porary reports, citizens in Fayetteville, cessful four days. road. In what remained of the afternoon, the actual hours the battle. dangerousalmost lightning to abate, but heard it pull down myofpants.

Just A aslittle I wasfurtelling andArkansas, 35 miles south, thermyself south, my I recovered of anot broken notguns. to be.For Looking at the two hours on weather the second best partshalf might be there wasthe Originally Published in Vol. 10, baseanymore, plate to Ia heard round the of 6-pound canradar, oneSigel stormshelled front the after daythere of thewas battle, Conother volunteers Issue 4. Click here to order. ister,hollering and again, numerous small iron andand justMissouri before noon were federate Statewe Guard posisomething.

It sounded like “A another, Confederate case shot balls. declared for the tions done until Earl Vanday.

Dorn, the Confedershell! A shell!”

I presume everyone knows what In the course ofdecided four days, we had It turns out, that while I was off to ate commander, to retire to the About the Author I’mthe talking about when I mention the detected, recovered, and pinpointed on side inspecting my bug ridden carsoutheast.

Confederate case shothad balls, but just up in the GPS units almost Civil Warher artiSandy was1,000 excited about shell, Stephen Burgess has been digging cass, Sandy Dolle moved casehill anyone unfamiliar I’lltree, facts, with the usualelse. wire,We nails, butalong so was everybody all be- and collecting Civil War relics for from isour last stop.with Nearthem, a large over 30 years, mostly in Arkansas explain.

Due to the shortage lead in horseshoes, pull with tabs,renewed shotgunenthusiasm, shells, gan detecting she dug a completely intactof12-pounder the Bormann South, Confederate shot artilother miscellaneous I nearly forgot howjunk. eaten Some up I was and Missouri. Through the week, fused shell!case Of course, every- andand leryone shells were often filled with small were recovered unexpected had to stop and go inspect Sandy’s items from the waist down.inThe remainder of he grinds corn at a water-powered gristmill, established in 1838, and caliber iron balls instead of the .69 lead areas, some areas extheand dayinproduced morewhere shell we fragments, intact cannonball. runs an online relic business, balls usually foundlocation in Union case shot pected find items, thereConfederate just weren’tcase firedtobullets, and iron The shell’s was a perfectly www.campsiteartifacts.com Scarce two-ring Mississippi bullet projectiles.

TheOn Union case balls Perhaps balls.the final results of our surlogical one.

March 8th,shot 1862, Union any.shot can General easily beSamuel mistaken for a musket ball, helptwo to interpret the battle found by author Stephen Burgess.

Curtis directed General vey willDay of the search beganinwith 42 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue 4

July-August, 2014 American American Digger Digger®®69 41 July-August, 2014 www.americandigger.com 6941 www.americandigger.com

Mastobaby!

Sometimes big things come in small packages.

By Glenn Harbour Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 4 Click here to order single issues.

October 2008: Big Brook Marlboro, New Jersey I had to hurry. It was almost twilight. The purpose of my end-of-the day run was realized. I’d fished up a beautiful argylite, archaic-aged spear point, but now it was time to move.

You don’t want to be hiking the ravine with no light. Double-timing past the gravel bars and through the shallows, I started to walk right past a very large vertebra stuck in the mud. I came to an immediate halt. Wow — that was the biggest cow vert I’d ever seen! I stepped back to have a closer look ...

T

March 27, 2013:

he “cow vert” from ‘08 turned out to be a mastodon vertebra and process bone from a large specimen. And it was a beauty! During the Ice Age, middle New Jersey was what I’ve come to refer to as “Paleo Central.” The reasons are mostly geographic.

The last of four major ice sheets was retreating north about 12,000 years ago, settling on what is now Manhattan Island. Central Jersey became tundra, providing vegetation on which animals could browse. The megafauna (large mammals) followed, and Paleo Indians followed the megafauna. Today, Pleistocene (Ice Age) fossils and Native American artifacts are often found here, and in the past 50 years some of these discoveries have been significant.

I received quite a bit of press and recognition after my 2008 find. I had officially entered the pantheon of important local contributors. However, the Pleistocene era in central New Jersey was not done with me yet. Not by a long shot. ® 44 70 American Digger Vol. Digger 10, Issue®4Magazine 2014 American

Sampler

That fateful day in the early spring of 2013 found me retracing my steps in Hop Brook in Holmdel, Monmouth County, New Jersey. Two weeks earlier, I’d made some excellent finds on the same run. These included a plesiosaur tail vertebra, an Archaic-age spear point and two big sharks’ teeth. But on March 27, I was finding only other hunters’ footprints and little else. Also, I was playing hooky from work, so after about an hour, I turned around to head out.

Just after executing my about-face, I noticed a jumble of bones to my left at the bottom of the embankment. It looked like another pile of butcher bone (which litter the creeks from our many historic farms in Monmouth County) but, due to the high occurrence of Ice Age materials in the area, I felt I had to investigate. I immediately identified the bone pile as pieces of some type of skull, but there was a lot of breakage and more mud than skull. I carefully lifted as much as possible and carried it to the water’s edge for washing.

I looked around as if the entire world were watching.

My mind began to race.

Who should I tell? Should I start making phone calls now? What would I do with it? Would the skull, as fragile as it was, survive and could I preserve it?

The general shape of the skull was that of an elephant and the teeth (which were slowly coming into view after several washes) also looked like some type of pachyderm. But the whole skull was very small.

I continued to clean. About where the maxilla (upper jaw) was located, there was a long bone protrusion with something loose inside. I carefully turned it upside down and gently shook it. Out fell a straight, short section of tusk.

Yes, it was a mastodon skull and, obviously, a baby at that. I had truly stumbled upon a magnificent find. I looked around as if the entire world were watching. My mind began to race. Who should I tell? Should I start making phone calls now? What would I do with it? Would the skull, as fragile as it was, survive and could I preserve it?

What happened next was nothing less than what New Englanders refer to as a “Nantucket sleigh ride.” If nothing else, I was about to learn a lesson and learn it well. When you find something noteworthy (such as my 2008 mastodon find), there are congratulations and best wishes all around.

When, however, you discover something truly fantastic, everyone who considers themselves more informed on the subject wants to own it, take credit for it, or severely criticize the finder. They say every find is an education. Well, I was about to get schooled.

And this piece was fantastic. As far as the museum people could ascertain, my find was one of the earliest, most complete mastodon skulls recorded. But the skull (broken largely along suture lines) was also very fragile, and this, along with several other reasons, was why I was leaning toward donation to a museum. I am a competent field restorationist, but the “Mastobaby” (as I began to call it) needed much more care. Of course, this meant an official donation, so I would be swimming in uncharted waters. Also, the public and future generations would benefit from meeting Mastobaby. I’m a hunter and collector, but I felt this particular find this should be shared with anyone interested, and I didn’t have a venue for that. My baby would have to go.

A local New Jersey paleontologist confirmed that my find was, in fact, an infant mastodon, although previously

Above: Hop Brook, located in Monmouth County, New Jersey, was the site of the juvenile mastodon skull find. On the title page, the skull is shown along with an 1801 sketch by Rembrandt Peale, “Working Sketch of the Mastodon.” _________________ (over the phone) he had incorrectly speculated that, because of the small size and the inclusion of a tusk, I had found a boar. My conversations with him were but the calm before the storm.

B

y week’s end, the phone calls started to come; first in a trickle, then a flood. Most of the comments concerning my find included some variation on “What I had to do,” “What I was obligated to do,” “What the responsible thing to do was,” and more moral guidance concerning my find. Everywhere I went, advice poured in, whether solicited or not. Other advice ranged from “Don’t donate it, the museum guys will steal it” to “Only take top dollar for it.” In short order, I was less happy than confused.

I had to decide the fate of this incredible find and the longer I waited, the more the pressure mounted. Then, by chance, a date and event on my calendar helped to guide July-August, 2014 American Digger® www.americandigger.com

45 71

The only thing left to do was sign the loan papers for the museum. A basic four-point plan was developed including: complete restoration of the skull (with a possible cast for my collection), radiocarbon dating, completion of a scientific write-up, and a permanent display at the State Museum with credit given to me for finding the skull. ______________

One of the many fossil recovery sites that the author has explored in Monmouth County, New Jersey. _________________ my hand. On the 21st of April I attended an annual event in Marlboro (where I had displayed my other mastodon bone in‘08) called “Dino Day.” I was in charge of the Paleolithic displays, which included my Paleo points and Ice Age fossils. Dave Parris (curator at the New Jersey State Museum in Trenton) attends every year, mainly to represent the museum. Dave is an old acquaintance and mentor and, most importantly, someone I could trust. A viable plan was coming into focus.

I would loan the skull to the state museum, giving it to Dave on Dino Day. But first, there was the all-important task of procuring provenance. This is the history of the find, not the artifact. For the sake of posterity, I needed to inform the local paper of record (in this case the Asbury Park Press) of the facts concerning how and when the skull was located. This was especially important, considering the gravity of this particular find. I was not going to let someone else get the credit. There was, however, one other problem: The scientific community was strongly advising against a local write-up. ® 46 72 American Digger Vol. Digger 10, Issue®4Magazine 2014 American

Sampler

A technical article by academics was planned by the museum and, supposedly, I would be the coauthor. They worried that any information that preceded their paper might confuse the facts. Also, with a find of this magnitude, reputations could be at stake. I had to come up with a compromise, and fast; Dino Day was less than a month away.

After conferring with the reporter from the Asbury Park Press, an agreement was reached: no pseudo scientific facts, no “X” marks the spot, no opinions. We would do it “Dragnet” style: “Just the facts.” If the reporter would pen a very general, topical piece, the paleontologists would be appeased and I’d have my vital provenance. Everyone would be happy. Hopefully.

The article that was published a week later exceeded my expectations. The only glitch was a video that accompanied the piece online that was erroneously titled: “Dino Skull Discovered.” I received several “I told you so” calls and had to arrange for an official correction. But provenance was achieved; in fact, one of the local weeklies picked up the article and it made the front page.

itself turned out to be more of a reception for the Mastoitself turned out be of reception for the Mastoitselfskull turned outato to be more more of aaThis reception for to thethe Mastobaby than fossil exhibit. was due timbaby skull than a fossil exhibit.

This was due to the timbaby skull than a fossil exhibit.

This was due to the timing of the release of the second article the day before the ing of the release of the second article the day before ing of the release of the second article the day before the the show.

It made for the best turnout in the show’s history. show.

It made for the best turnout in the show’s history. show. It made for the best turnout in the show’s history.

The attendees included not only reporters and a local caThe The attendees attendees included included not not only only reporters reporters and and aa local local cacable channel crew, but New Jersey Lieutenant Governor ble channel crew, but New Jersey Lieutenant Governor ble channel crew, but New Jersey Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno (who is from Monmouth County), a repKim Kim Guadagno Guadagno (who (who is is from from Monmouth Monmouth County), County), aa reprepresentative from the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural resentative from the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural resentative from the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, and many more VIPs. I’ve never shaken so many History, History, and and many many more more VIPs. VIPs. I’ve I’ve never never shaken shaken so so many many hands; so many, in fact, that II awoke the next morning hands; hands; so so many, many, in in fact, fact, that that I awoke awoke the the next next morning morning with a nasty cold. with with aa nasty nasty cold. cold.

But, of course, it was well worth every cough and But, But, of of course, course, itit was was well well worth worth every every cough cough and and sniffle and I was hugely grateful to all involved. sniffle and I was hugely grateful to all involved. sniffle and I was hugely grateful to all involved.

Fall, 2013 Fall, Fall, 2013 2013

It been months since Dino Day and events conItIt has has has been been months months since since Dino Dino Day Day and and events events conconcerning Mastobaby continue to develop.

Dave, from the cerning Mastobaby continue to develop.

Dave, from cerning Mastobaby continue to develop. Dave, from the the museum, arranged for a restoration expert to begin the museum, museum, arranged arranged for for aa restoration restoration expert expert to to begin begin the the conservation process and a grant was awarded to the muconservation conservation process process and and aa grant grant was was awarded awarded to to the the mumuseum seum for radiocarbon dating.

This is the key to determinseumfor forradiocarbon radiocarbondating. dating. This This is is the the key key to to determindetermining when these Ice Age giants were wandering ing when these Ice Age giants were wandering through ing when these Ice Age giants were wandering through through what are now our back yards.

The age of Mastobaby what are now our back yards.

The age of Mastobaby was what are now our back yards. The age of Mastobaby was was confirmed at 12,470 (+/60) years), and it is now on disconfirmed confirmed at at 12,470 12,470 (+/(+/- 60) 60) years), years), and and it it is is now now on on disdisplay play at the New Jersey State Museum, located at at 205 205 West West playat atthe theNew NewJersey JerseyState StateMuseum, Museum, located State State Street in Trenton, New Jersey.

StateStreet Streetin inTrenton, Trenton,New New Jersey.

Jersey.

Mastobaby Mastobaby now rests safely at the Mastobaby now now rests rests safely safely at at the the New Jersey State Museum over 12,000 New Jersey State Museum over 12,000 New Jersey State Museum over 12,000 years years after her death. yearsafter afterher herdeath. death. _________________ _________________ _________________

T

he he only thing left totodo do was sign the loan papers heonly onlything thingleft leftto dowas wassign signthe theloan loanpapers papers for for the museum.

The museum and worked out forthe themuseum. museum.The Themuseum museumand andIIIworked workedout out aaafour-point plan which included complete resfour-point four-pointplan planwhich whichincluded includedcomplete complete resrestoration toration ofofthe the skull (with possible cast for my torationof theskull skull(with (withaaapossible possiblecast castfor formy my collection), collection), radiocarbon dating, completion of scientific collection),radiocarbon radiocarbondating, dating,completion completionof ofaaascientific scientific write-up, write-up, and permanent display of the skull atatthe the State write-up,and andaaapermanent permanentdisplay displayof ofthe theskull skullat theState State Museum with credit given to me for finding it.

Of course, Museum Museumwith withcredit creditgiven giventotome mefor forfinding findingit. it. Of Ofcourse, course, before beforethe thelast laststep, step,I’d I’dhave haveto give the thefossil fossilto tothe themumubefore the last step, I’d have totogive give the fossil to the museum seumoutright. outright. seum outright.

Dino DinoDay Daycame cameand andwent wentwithout withoutaaahitch. hitch.The Theshow show Dino Day came and went without hitch.

The show

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 4 Click here to order single issues.

About About The Author About The The Author

Glenn Glenn Harbour has been digging and studying studying Glenn Harbour Harbour has has been been digging digging and items of the past for most of his life items on both both items of of the the past past for for most most of his life on the west and the east U.S. coasts.

He considers the the west west and and the the east east U.S. U.S. coasts. He considers himself himself to be amateur scientist and treats treats his his himselfto to be be aaa amateur amateur scientist scientist and finds with a professional viewpoint, including finds finds with with aa professional professional viewpoint, including sharing sharingthe theinformation information via via published sharing the information via published articles. articles.

July-August, July-August,2014 2014 American American Digger Digger®®® July-August, 2014 American Digger www.americandigger.com

47 47 47

73

Pvt. Magliocchetti’s Mess Tin ___

After exhausting their ammunition during the Battle of the Bulge, the unit had to run for their lives, tossing aside any items that were slowing them down.

Now, approximately 70 years later, one of the soldiers is remembered, thanks to a find made by a Dutch relic hunter.

By Edwin van Engelen 30 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue ® 5

74

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 5 Click here to order single issues.

H

ello, fellow diggers and artifact collectors. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Edwin van Engelen, and I live in a small town called Soesterberg, in the center of Holland.

I have been interested in WWII history and the relics from that wartime period since I was a young boy. My passion for relic hunting and collecting can be pinpointed to when, at the age of ten, a school friend and I found fragmentary remains of a downed German bomber in the woods behind his parents’ house. A neighbor had shown us the spot where the plane had crashed during WWII. We started digging (without the help of a metal detector) and managed to locate small pieces from the plane. The Germans, in those days, cleared their crash sites right away but, of course, the smaller debris was still under the soil, waiting to be found. During the war, Soesterberg was an important German airfield, from which Luftwaffe bombers left for raids on England and other locations. Many of those planes, having been damaged

by Allied anti-aircraft guns or fighters, or suffering from mechanical failures, crashed when attempting their return landings at Soesterberg.

In 2003, I bought a metal detector that I still use: a White’s Classic III. From that time until now I have been searching the European battlefields of WWII. The majority of the time, I do my detecting around my hometown, where three friends and I formed a small historical foundation called Stichting Legerplaats Soesterberg 1939-1945, dedicated to studying and preserving our town’s WWII history. Once in a while, I do some digging in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. The places I occasionally visit in those nearby countries are the Hurtgen Forest (near Aachen) and the Schnee Eifel region (near Prüm). Both areas saw heavy fighting between American and German forces in late 1944.

My relic hunting often leads to interesting finds, like parts of airplanes at crash sites; or lost items like canteens, mess tins and other equipment that soldiers carried with them on the battlefields.

Discovering lost personal items sometimes leads to a different type of search altogether for their former owner or living descendents.

As you might well imagine, being able to finally return an item that has been lost for more than half a century gives me enormous satisfaction. It is the least I can do for those who risked or gave their lives for freedom. I feel I owe it to them.

On a weekend in September 2010, my good friend, Nick Trommelen, and I planned a weekend of battlefield searching, just like we always do. This involved taking our backpacks and small tents and driving to the Eifel region in Germany, a journey of about 180 miles which, because of traffic jams, took several hours. This region, near the borders of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany, was the frontline from September 1944 until, during and immediately after the Ardennes Offensive, better known as the Battle of the Bulge.

The weather was perfect that day. After we’d arrived at the forest, we made camp and built a small campfire. After enjoying a barbecue and downing a few beers we went to sleep beneath a clear sky, full of stars. Many falling stars lit up the sky on that pleasant evening.

The next morning we hiked to an area we had not hunted before, where a unit of the U.S. 28th Infantry Division had been posted. Unfortunately, we discovered we were not the first persons to search the area. Like so often before, we came across holes that other, careless diggers had left behind. Seeing these holes was disappointing, but we began to search anyway. I moved my detector’s search coil over a small slope on a hillside. A soft beep was all I could hear, but this was enough to justify digging; a lesson I’d learned during other trips. After digging through some of the rough, rocky soil, the sound from the detector became clearer. Soon I reached the soft soil and debris – tin cans – could be seen. Finding groups of cans is always a good sign, because their presence indicates a trash pit. After digging further down, a tube of U.S. Army shaving cream and a package of powdered coffee saw the light of day after being in the ground for more than 66 years. But this wasn’t all that was in the hole, because the above finds were followed by two razors, two toothbrushes,

www.americandigger.com September-October, 2014 American Digger®

75 31

A

fter cleaning the stainless steel mess plates he unearthed, the author noticed a name scratched on one, “Leonard Magliocchetti,” along with a service number. Armed with this information, Edwin van Engelen set out to discover this U.S. serviceman’s history. Below is a photo of the mess tin’s original owner, Leonard Magliocchetti.

a comb, and several small bottles and soap boxes. These simple, personal items help show what living conditions were like in the frontline positions.

We then decided to move to our last spot for the day. Unfortunately, soon after we started our search in this new area, a forester came up to us and informed us that metal detecting was prohibited in that forest area. Nick and I each received a fine and were permitted to leave. Our detecting over for the day, we found a nice spot to stay the night and make a new camp.

The next morning, we decided to return to the spot where we had successes the previous day. As good luck would have it, I located another trash pit. The good contents of this one included five U.S. Army stainless steel mess tins, what was left of two aluminium mess tins, a Garand bandoleer, a German gasmask, an ampoule containing water purifying powder, a broken wine bottle, a Goodyear shoe sole and a stainless steel U.S. M-1926 knife with Bakelite grip. I could make out what seemed to be writing or initials on some of the mess tins, but I would have to first clean them in order to clearly read what was written. This had been one of my more successful hunts for finding U.S. relics. With a smile on my face and a backpack full of items to clean, we returned to Holland.

At home the next day, I started cleaning the mess tins. While using warm soap and water on one of the stainless steel ones a name, Leonard Magliocchetti, became visible. His service number, 33934116, was also legible. By using the U.S. WWII military records website www.ww2f.com, I enlisted the help of an American friend, Steve Miller, who had earlier been of great assistance to me in locating the former owners or relatives of other items I’d found. This time he was able to locate the son of Mr. Magliocchetti, who, like his father, was also named Leonard. Mr. Magliocchetti, living in Colorado, seemed a bit cautious when I first contacted him, but after I’d explained my intention of presenting his father’s army mess tin to him, we established a warm

76

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

September-October, 2014 American Digger®

33

The Dalton Point which who would condemn us are everywhere. based on my finds. The first was you guessed it on coprolites, then others followed. I evenwas rejected for publiPostscript tually asked if he could help me with the long cation by the newspaIn 2010, I discovered an amazing 5.5 inch neglected Dalton piece. per’s archaeologist. stemmed Paleo point in Marlboro, New Jersey.

Don knew the antagonistic archaeologist and __________ It was perfect Paleo point number two and, of confided that he had a reputation for arrogance course, it had to be recorded. Unfortunately, I even among his peers. As for my Dalton point, went through many of the same problems I’d experienced almost he suggested we submit an article to the annual New Jersey half a decade earlier.

It was a bit depressing; it felt like I’d never Archaeology Bulletin. This periodical annually highlights the gone through the vetting process. Thankfully, a local commercial Garden State’s most significant finds and is highly prestigious in monthly picked it up and did a better than expected job on the scientific circles. One of Don’s closest friends was the managing article. chief editor and, ironically enough, the newspaper’s archaeologist More recently, my discovery of a partial mastodon skeleton also sat on the board of the magazine. The web that was being brought quite a bit more recognition. Finally! It only took woven around this single spear point was getting thick indeed! numerous phone calls, several interviews and the backing of three In the spring of 2006 (almost a year after my find), the bulletin people with Ph.D’s. But I had evolved. I now at least existed in arrived with an accurate, objective write-up, and photos of the their eyes and thus, the find could be properly documented. The Dalton point. It was late in coming, but there it was: a literal media giveth and the media taketh away. But it should never be exercise in persistence and luck. able to rob a find of its provenance.

The gravy on top of my ‘taters was the verbal dressing down

P

vt. Magliocchetti is shown in the above photo (second row, far left). His son long ago inked in “My Dad” with an arrow. Below, items found in the trash pit which produced Magliocchetti’s mess tin included soldiers’ grooming and mess items.

friendship which continues today.

To my regret, I learned that Mr. Magliocchetti Sr. had passed away ten years earlier of old age.

I wish I could have asked him what precisely had taken place in the Eifel on or about December 16, 1944, the day the Battle of the Bulge began.

Leonard informed me that his father had often spoken about his wartime experiences, to include the engagements in which he had participated.

Leonard related that one of the stories his father had recounted involved an experience in the winter of ’44, when 34 American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue 5

Leonard About The Author MagliocGlenn Harbour has been digging and collecting since c hhas e t ttraveled i, his teenage years and both the west and born in the east coast extensively in his pursuits of the past. w e in , archaeology, he takes Although his degreeS ist onot Pennsylhis hobby very seriously and considers himself to be a n i a ,from central New Jersey, an amateur scientist. vHailing wasauthor one and a local folk artist.

Glenn is also a prolific of four ® brothers, three Digger of whom served in29the November-December 2012 American Magazine war. By trade, he was a ladies full-fashion hosiery maker. Serving in Company K, 112th Infantry Regiment, 28th Infantry Division until the end of WWII, he returned to his family and continued in that vocation for many more years. He fathered three boys and a girl. Like many combat veterans, Magliocchetti was at first reluctant to share his wartime experiences, but later began to open up to his family. His son, Leonard, Jr., remembers After their ammunition had his father telling of some of the things he experienced, such as seeing numerous been exhausted, he and the bombed-out buildings and towns, and of rest of the unit had to run for the many dead soldiers along the way. their lives through the woods.

His son says, “Specifically, I do recall During their hasty retreat, him telling me of the the frigid, snowy they threw away any item that weather he went through during the was slowing them down. After Battle of the Bulge and how he had to a while, they reached their ‘run like hell’ when the Germans began own troops, and Magliocchetti the push. He further stated that he was and his comrades survived to knocked to the ground by indirect fire fight until the end of the war. and said he ‘threw his sh_t away to get out of there.’”

www.americandigger.com

77

A

bove: The landscape near the hunt site has changed very little since September 1944, when it was the front lines for the Battle of the Bulge. Right: Edwin van Engelen and the son of Leonard Magliocchetti visit the site where Edwin recovered the mess tin.

his unit had guarded a thin front line near the border with Belgium and Germany. Early one morning, his unit had been hammered with a heavy German artillery bombardment which, the elder Mr. Magliocchetti had told his son, inflicted many casualties and destroyed a large amount of equipment. After the barrage, they came under mortar fire, followed by a German infantry attack – supported by heavy machine gun fire – against their positions. After their ammunition had been exhausted, he and the rest of the unit had to run for their lives through the woods. During their hasty retreat, they tossed aside any items that were slowing them down.

After a while they reached their own troops, and Magliocchetti and his comrades continued to fight until the end of the war.

Is it possible that the woods in which I’d unearthed the mess tins is the same area where Magliocchetti and the rest of his unit had to hightail it in the face of an unexpected German assault? I am guessing that it is, but there is now no way of verifying this supposition.

In October of 2010, I was able to send the artifact, through secure shipping, to the Magliocchetti family. I would have preferred to present it to them in person, but a flight to the United States was something I could not afford. I stayed in contact with

78

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

the Magliocchetti family after they’d received my gift and in April 2013, Leonard and his wife, while on a vacation to Europe, made it a point to visit me in Holland. I invited them to my home where they stayed for the night. The next morning, I took them to the spot in the Eifel where I had found his father’s mess tin. This was a very special and emotional moment for all of us, and for me it is an experience I’ll never forget.

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 5 Click here to order single issues.

About The Author Edwin van Engelen lives in Holland/Netherlands. Now 39 years old, he has been interested in WWII history since he was 10 after investigating a bomber crash site near his hometown of Soesterberg. Later, he began searching WWII battlefields throughout Europe with a metal detector, a passion he enjoys to this day.

September-October, 2014 American Digger®

35

RELICS OF THE COASTAL EMPIRE: THE CIVIL WAR YEARS Experience the history of coastal Georgia and South Carolina through the artifacts recovered there in this long-anticipated book!

With over 1000 Civil War relics in full color, this work serves as both a reference and history book, and sets new standards in the collecting world. $59 + $5 shipping* *(in continental USA)

Available from American Digger Magazine (770) 362-8671 or email anita@americandigger.com P.O. Box 126 Acworth, GA 30101

www.americandigger.com

It’s Here!

The forum for people who don’t like forums!

Free & online now!

The American Digger® Forum!

For Diggers and Collectors No fuss! No muss! Just another way for you to interact with American Digger® magazine and other readers from around the globe.

www.americandiggerforum.com www.americandigger.com

79

LIVE ACTION

Relic hunting with the Turtleman Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 6 Click here to order single issues.

cold weekend afternoon this past January, my daughter On aBethany and I were watching one of her favorite shows

on TV. “C’mon daddy! Turtleman is going to be on all day today!” I found Animal Planet’s “Call of the Wildman” show entertaining but certainly not something I wanted to spend my entire day off watching.

However, any time spent with my 10-year-old daughter is definitely time well spent.

On one particular episode it was mentioned that when the Turtleman wasn’t catching critters he enjoyed metal detecting as a hobby.

Bethany quickly picked up on this and asked, “Daddy, why don’t you ask Turtleman to go metal detecting with you?”

I was taken aback by her request and told her, “Honey, Turtleman is a big star and probably has hundreds of requests daily to do things for fans, so I don’t think he would be able to come digging with us.”

“Well,” she said, “it wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it?” I thought the idea was pretty crazy but I had to give it a go to please my daughter.

Ernie Brown, Jr. (the Turtleman’s true identity), is inundated on a daily basis with a variety of fan requests. I had to come up with something different and unique to pique his interest. Twenty years of metal detecting has enabled me to establish numerous strong relationships with influential people in our great hobby. Maybe, just maybe, I could recruit some much-needed help to make this work!

After pondering over the situation for several days, I decided to approach Butch Holcombe, the publisher of American Digger® magazine, to inquire if an article on the Turtleman’s metal detecting adventures would be worthy of publication. Butch was very supportive

® ® 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 80 802014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

By Rodney Cox

and enthusiastic about the idea and gave me his approval to proceed.

With a plan in place, I went to the official Turtleman website and sent an email asking Ernie if he would be interested in metal detecting in Virginia for Civil War relics and perhaps doing an interview for American Digger®. I explained that American Digger® magazine catered to a wide variety of interests, ranging from metal detecting to Indian artifact and fossil hunting, privy digging and everything else in between. I also told him about myself, my family, my interests and profession in an effort to assure him I was not a psychopathic groupie or impersonator. A couple of weeks went by before I received a response. Ernie and his equally adventurous girlfriend, Julie, were very interested and wanted some more information about what I had in mind. Over the course of the next couple of months, the exchange of numerous emails, texts, and phone calls resulted in a date and location for our meeting.

I contacted several friends to see if they were willing to host the Turtleman for a day or two of relic hunting in the Culpeper area.

Two legends in the relic hunting world, Don Echols and Earl Keys, agreed to host a Saturday hunt. Tony Hochstetler and Mike Campbell volunteered to take us hunting Sunday. With plans set, my family and I waited for Ernie and Julie to arrive Friday night at the hotel.

Around 6 p.m., the “turtle truck” pulled up to the hotel room and Ernie jumped out in full Turtleman regalia. “YAYAYAYAYA! LIVE ACTION!” he yelled. We all introduced ourselves but then quickly retreated to our hotel rooms so we could get to know each other without the rush of other fans who might quickly realize who Ernie was. Ernie had also brought along Julie. She and my wife, Lora, quickly hit it off, while Bethany and I engaged in deep

conversation with Ernie about his adventures.

I had asked Ernie to bring a couple of his best finds with him so I could photograph them for the article. He did not disappoint.

Ernie said that one of his favorite sites to hunt is a cluster of old house sites. These flooded long ago, and the area is now a mudflat and generally inaccessible. However, certain dry periods create a window of time for him to metal detect the site. There, he has found numerous old coins, a cache of buffalo nickels, a WWI-era sword and a 1823 Harpers Ferry musket converted to percussion.

Many of these finds were buried in two feet of mud, and thus were in well-preserved condition. The wood and details on the musket are amazing. Being buried in the mud had preserved it well, and Ernie had both the sword and musket professionally restored.

We spent Friday night getting to know Ernie and Julie. After some quick take-out dinner, we decided to call it an early evening, as we had a very busy day planned for Saturday. Don and Earl would be meeting us at the hotel at 9 a.m. to take us to dig a Union campsite. Dreams of snapping turtles and Minié balls quickly overtook me.

Saturday brought a beautiful March morning and we all were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for some LIVE ACTION! Don and Earl gave us some history of the site we were headed to and what we could expect to possibly find. With a YAYAYAYAYA yell, the crew was on our way to adventure.

We traveled along a dirt road across fields, slowly making our way up to a hilly, wooded area. We came across several small downed trees blocking the road. We were able to pull them out of the way. A bit further up the road, we came to a tree and, despite

www.americandigger.com

81

Who Reads American ® Digger Magazine?

Those who know that the past can be fun, whether it “A bit further up the road,be weit in a centuries-old artifact or a decades old R&B song. came to a tree and, despite four grownWhether it is a 100-year-old coin or an all-butforgotten surf riff from 1964, these are the people men pushing on it, we could not move who it enough to let the vehicles get by. archive history and preserve it for all to enjoy.

The Woggles are teaching America to dance to a tune Ernie then pulled out his massive bowie knife (named Thunder)that and would otherwise be forgotten, and they’re having a wonderful time doing it. Three out of four Woggles proclaimed ‘Turtleman will take care of ® it! YAYAYAYAYA!’ Within aread few American Digger magazine...shouldn’t you? minutes, Turtleman and Thunder had ® hacked their way through the fallen tree enough that we could get our vehicles For Diggers and Collectors past the roadblock.”

American Digger

PO Box 126 Acworth, GA 30101 The Woggles are (from left to right) Mighty Manfred the Buzz Hagstrom, fourProfessor, grown men pushing on it,Flesh we could not move it enough to770-362-8671 After 30 minutes of digging in the rocky, red dirt, only more

Hammer, and Dan Elextro. For tour dates and let the vehicles get by. Ernie then pulled out his massive bowie ooking information, visit www.thewoggles.com.

knifeby(named THUNDER) Photos Dave and Lynn Hartman and proclaimed “Turtleman will take care of it! YAYAYAYAYA!” Within a few minutes, Turtleman and Thunder had hacked their way through the fallen tree enough that we could get our vehicles past the roadblock. We reached our destination after a short ride farther up the hill.

The group promptly geared up and headed out in different directions with the hopes of getting some keepers in our pouches, Although we were primarily surface hunting, we all had hopes that a target would lead us into a trash pit or hut site. After a few yards, Ernie was busy digging in the dirt, chasing after a signal his trusty Bounty Hunter Pilot metal detector was telling him was there. After pinpointing the target with a Garrett Pro-Pointer, a large square nail was freed from the red Culpeper dirt. Scanning the area around his initial hit, Ernie quickly confirmed that the nail was not alone.

“Doc, come over here and see what you are getting,” Ernie said. I scanned over the area with my detector, which was immediately overcome by numerous, blanking, ferrous signals. It could be a hut or trash pit and I figured it would be worth a shot to at least open it up a bit.

square nails and few shards of broken glass were uncovered. I $3695to/One Year got down on my knees peer into the hole to try to “read the dirt” and came toor the $69/Two conclusion that it had been dug previously, years *Continental USAof prices as there were no uniform layers soil, and the dirt appeared Contact us for other locations disturbed. With some disappointment, we filled in the hole and proceeded elsewhere. Neither Ernie nor I was hitting on good targets, but Don and Earl had found a hot spot and were about to share information on their honey hole.

Don met us by the vehicles and led us to an area where he had just dug a few Minié balls and numerous percussion caps.

“Give it a try here and let me know how you do,” he said.

Then he turned and proceeded deeper into the woods to look for other hot spots. As Ernie and I spread out over the area that Don had led us to, it only took a minute or two to hit a nice solid high tone. Scanning around the target it was clear that there were several more good signals in the general area. I called Ernie and Bethany over and we began to isolate and dig the individual targets.

“YAYAYAYAYA! LIVE ACTION!” Ernie yelled. I turned around and he was holding up our first good target of the day, a tiny brass percussion cap that he

www.americandigger.com

Finds made by hosts Don Echols and Earl Keys included a damaged Confederate staff officer’s button, shown in center photo. ® ® 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 82 822014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

Of all the memories made during the two days of relic hunting, it is hard to surpass those of young Bethany Cox, who was able to dig relics with her TV idol, Ernie “Turtleman” Brown, Jr. Ernie enjoys meeting his fans, especially the kids.

and Bethany had just unearthed. We spent a few more minutes in the area and were able to recover several more. But alas, all too soon the good signals ended and we were once again wandering in the woods, waiting to hear the next good target.

This time Earl was the one to get us on track. He was in an open field just on the far side of the tree line, a couple of hundred yards from us, and was digging numerous Minié balls.

We picked up Don on the way and headed to the low-cut grass field where Earl was awaiting.

“Anywhere through here should be good,” Earl said, “and you might be lucky enough to pick up a Confederate button in here, too,” he added. Excited, we spread out again and in just a matter of minutes I dug a Sharps carbine bullet.

We hunted the field for the next couple of hours, with all of us finding Sharps carbine and Colt pistol bullets. By now, Ernie and Bethany had become inseparable as they searched together across the field. It was an awesome sigh. As the sun began to descend, we decided to call it a day and head back to our vehicles to see what we had rescued from the red ground.

When we arrived at the vehicles, we emptied our pouches and compared finds. Don and Earl led the day with the number and quality of recoveries. This was to be expected, as we were on their home turf. Don had scored the relic of the day: a droopwinged eagle Confederate officer’s button that, unfortunately, had a small hole in the center. Ernie and I ended the day with several percussion caps and Minié balls. It was a fun day that wouldn’t have been possible without our gracious hosts.

Who Reads American ® Digger Magazine?

Those who know that the past can be fun, whether it be it in a centuries-old artifact or a decades old R&B song. Whether it is a 100-year-old coin or an all-butforgotten surf riff from 1964, these are the people who archive history and preserve it for all to enjoy.

The Woggles are teaching America to dance to a tune that would otherwise be forgotten, and they’re having a wonderful time doing it. Three out of four Woggles read American Digger® magazine...shouldn’t you?

American Digger

®

For Diggers and Collectors

The Woggles are (from left to right) Mighty Manfred the Professor, Buzz Hagstrom, Flesh Hammer, and Dan Elextro. For tour dates and booking information, visit www.thewoggles.com.

PO Box 126 Acworth, GA 30101 770-362-8671

Photos by Dave and Lynn Hartman

www.americandigger.com

$3695/One Year or $69/Two years *Continental USA prices Contact us for other locations

www.americandigger.com

83

An interview with The Turtleman: When did you start detecting?

In 2004 I bought a detector to find a knife that I lost in the woods. The detector found my knife and I started liking it.

(L-R) Tony Hochstetler, Ernie Brown, Jr., and Mike Campbell prepare to relic hunt.

Arriving back at the hotel, we cleaned up and talked about the next item of importance, food! I called a local establishment and was able to arrange a private dining room for us in which we would be able to eat without hoards of fans interrupting us. We were able to enjoy a great meal but, as we exited, at least 20 fans quickly swarmed around us. It was clear that Ernie loves his fans and we did not leave the restaurant lobby until every fan had had the opportunity to greet him, take pictures, and get an autograph. When we finally made it back to our rooms, I fell asleep knowing that our newfound friend was not only the Turtleman but a true Southern gentleman.

Sunday, day two, started considerably colder than the day before. Nevertheless, we were all excited to start the day anew. Our hosts for the day, Tony Hochstetler and Mike Campbell, met us in the hotel parking lot and introduced themselves to Ernie and Julie. Just before our departure, Don and Earl arrived with a wooden display case filled with relics they had found the day before to present to Ernie as a gift.

Ernie was clearly touched by their generosity and reciprocated the gesture by signing autographs and taking pictures with Earl’s two boys, who are huge Turtleman fans. With last farewells said, we headed to our next adventure.

Tony took us to a Union campsite on the far side of Culpeper that held the potential for some great relics. Upon arriving at our destination, we all bundled up to fight off the bitter wind and cold. Despite the weather, it did not take long for us to get warmed up. Three-ring Minié balls and Williams Cleaner bullets were being found with enough frequency to keep us all excited. After a couple of hours of detecting, Ernie had to leave, as he had another obligation.

After some long and heartfelt goodbyes, the Turtleman and his companion headed out with a sincere promise that we would all get together again sometime soon.

Although no animals were rescued by Ernie during our dig, he undoubtedly saved a few four-wheeler tires from an untimely death due to square nails. In the end, it was all good, as relic hunting — and critter saving — usually are.

Originally Published in Volume 10, Issue 6 Click here to order single issues. ® ® 2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler 84 842014 American Digger Magazine Sampler

What’s your best find?

The musket I found in three feet of mud. After 51 buckets of dirt and 7 hours I pulled out a 1823 Harpers Ferry musket. The signal was so strong I suspected it was a piece of rebar but I just didn’t know so I kept on... I believe if you are not muddy and dirty by the time you are done treasure hunting you are not doing it right. Just like turtle hunting.

That day I guess I was doing it right. I was caked in mud from my nose to my toes. The musket was so encased in mud and dirt I didn’t think it could be restored. The wood was very soft.

Ever run into hostile critters while detecting?

I‘ve run into an occasional rattlesnake and copperhead which is no problem. It is the tiny dot ticks that are the worst.

How did you start catching turtles?

My grandma and grandpa always told me you gotta find your talent to find your way in life. When I was 7 my Uncle Phillip took me turtle hunting for food. From then on Turtle Mom could count on me to bring in supper. I had found my talent.

Tell us about the youtube video that led to your fame.

Kentucky Channel 27 news put me on TV catching a 40 lb. snapping turtle. Kentucky Afield thought it was fake and came out to investigate. They filmed the video which is their Kentucky Afield number-one rated video.

Turtleman Video Since your TV show , do people recognize you?

I am spotted in less than a minute anywhere I go. It don’t matter if it is in Kentucky, Washington DC, Oregon, or Delaware; everyone knows The Turtleman.

Have you ever been hurt by a turtle?

In 43 years of turtle hunting I have been bitten 34 times.

One year I was bit six times by the same turtle.

Any advice you can give detectorists?

Never give up. You never know what the next beep beep will lead you to.

About The Author Dr. Rodney Cox, Medical Director of the Beckley, West Virginia, VAMC Emergency Department (and Medical Team Director for Diggin’ in Virginia events), has been metal detecting for Civil War relics for over 20 years.

American Digger Mart ®

Gettysburg Battlefield Relics & Souvenirs

Relics of the Coastal Empire: Civil War Years.

300 pages of full color photos of relic document South Carolina and Georgia coastal history.

Hard cover. $59 (+ $4 shipping)

By Mike O’Donnell. Lots of photos, perhaps the best Civil War relic book in years.

Hardcover. $35 (+ $4 shipping)

US Army & Militia Canteens 1775-1910

Confederate Coal Torpedo

By Mike O’Donnell. This comprehensive book is truly the encyclopedia of US canteens.

Hardcover. $38.50 (+ $4 shipping)

By Joseph & Thomas Thatcher. Comprehensive study on a fascinating sabotage weapon.

Softcover. $19.95 (+$3 shipping)

Round Ball to Rimfire: Part Four

Civil War Artifacts: A Guide for the Historian

By Dean Thomas. New and much needed volume on Confederate ammunition.

Hardcover. $50 (+ $4 shipping)

By Howard Crouch. Comprehensive guide to Civil War artifacts, over 1700 artifacts shown.

Hardcover. $45.95 (+ $4 shipping)

Confederate Bowie Knives

Interpreting History From Relics Found in Civil War Campsites

By Dave Poche Associates. Learn what artifacts tell us! Softcover. $13.95 (+$2.50 shipping)

By Melton, Phillips & Sexton. Has 856 color photos and extensive info on Confederate knives. Hardcover $69.99 ($4 Shipping)

Finding Civil War Camps in Rural Areas

Plates, Belts & Swords of GAR & SUV

by Douglas Roussin. A must for anyone with an interest in Civil War US Veteran items.

Hardcover. $34.95 (+ $4 shipping)

By Dave Poche Associates. Updated edition with many tips for locating Civil War camps.

Softcover. $12.95 (+$2.50 Shipping)

Civil War Ordnance

American Military Headgear Insignia

By Robert Gregory. Covers Small Arms, Artillery, Ammunition, and Packing Boxes.

Hardcover $49.95 (+ $4 shipping)

By J. Duncan Campbell and Michael O’Donnell.

Must-have book for identifying insignia of the 1800s. Hardcover. $39.95 (+$4 shipping)

Relic Hunter

Historic American Spurs

By Howard Crouch. Civilian, US, CS, Western & others with retail values and photos.

Softcover. $19.95 (+$3 shipping

By Howard Crouch. 5th printing of legendary book containing field accounts of relic hunting. Softcover. $25.95 (+$3 shipping)

Record of American Uniform and Historical Buttons By Alphaeus S.

Relic Quest by Stephen L. Moore Full color, 532 pages, over 1000 photos. Covers almost every facet of relic hunting, relics, and equipment. Softcover. $22.95 (+ $4 shipping)

American Military Button Makers and Dealers- Their Backmarks and Dates by

The American Digger® CD Archives

Albert. Most accepted button reference of all. Hardcover. $45 (+$3 shipping)

Each disc has three issues reproduced as an Adobe PDF. $9.95/disc (+$2.50 shipping)

McGuinn & Bazelon. A must for button collectors. Hardcover. $24.99 (+$3 shipping)

American Digger® Subscriptions

Never miss another issue of America’s premier magazine for diggers and collectors! $34.95/one year or $67/two years.

Giving as a gift? Ask us to mail a gift card!

Combine items to save shipping $$!

Call us to first to find out exact s hipping charges on multiple items.

Three Easy Ways To Place Your Order!

Phone in your order at 770-362-8671 Order online at americandigger.com Or mail payment to: ® American Digger , PO Box 126, Acworth, GA 30101

Click here to order these titles and more online!

www.americandigger.com

85

News-N-Views

Reports and Commentaries on Issues That Affect the Hobby

by Mark Schuessler

A Layman’s Guide to Reading a Bill

E

ach and every year the hobby of metal detecting and collecting is on the receiving end of attacks, with new attempts at passing laws to inhibit this enjoyable pastime. Such attacks, via bills or ordinances, are launched by various levels of government, from the smallest town councils all the way to the state legislative level. When such bills are brought to light, we must read and analyze them regarding the effect they might have on the hobby. It sounds like it should be a simple task to decipher them. Wrong!

Reading and understanding these bills is almost an art. It is not something you just simply do, but rather a learned undertaking. After stepping into the legislative position for the FMDAC over a decade ago, I found out just how difficult and frustrating it can be. What you initially believe you are reading may not be even close to the documents' actual intent.

Laws passed at the local level are usually not a problem to understand, as they are generally written in an easy-to-understand format in ordinary, everyday language. On a county or city level, you are often dealing with those who are not “professional” politicians.

However, once you jump to a state level, the whole game changes. Here is where each word of the bill must be carefully considered.

Many people will read a bill and have no idea what it actually says. They cannot get by the legal wording, the twisted ramblings, or the conflicting statements.

Here is a little secret: it is intentionally written that way. Sadly, those writing the bill do not want the layperson to understand it. The old saying, “Knowledge is power,” applies here. It is my hope I can share what I’ve learned and impart some of that knowledge — and power — to you.

The first step in reading any bill is to be suspicious... very, very suspicious! Pay attention to every comma and especially to the words “or” and “if,” and to every preposition. When strategically placed, such seemingly innocent words can completely change the meaning of a sentence or hide something inside it that could be quite damaging. The Kentucky Heritage Council used this trick to try to insert their “permit bill” inside an-

86

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler ®

other one dealing with Native American burial sites.

If you didn’t pay attention to a specific comma, you would have passed it by without a second thought.

Thankfully, several knowledgeable, concerned individuals were watching, and caught it. Such bills are not penned by ordinary people, but are written by professionals whose job it is to manipulate words.

Do not stop at reading a bill once or twice. You must read and reread it again and again, all the while thinking of what alternate meaning could be hidden within. Ask yourself if it could be interpreted in different ways. Take no wording for granted. If it can be interpreted differently than what first meets the eye, then there is a better than average chance that not only will it be misinterpreted, but was probably intended to be.

Be aware of one very important part of a bill that is often missed and can be a major game changer.

The first section of most bills will be titled “definitions.” Do not bypass this. You will see words you are familiar with, such as “archaeological site,” “historical site,” or “artifact.” We all have our own definition of these, which is likely in line with most dictionary definitions. These are not necessarily the definitions that will be listed in the bill’s “definition” section, and many may not even resemble what you, I, or even Webster’s give as the definition.

You must read the definitions as defined within the bill. These are the meanings of the words as used in that specific bill and only that specific bill, and override any other definitions. If you read through a bill and think to yourself that there is nothing wrong with it, that it doesn’t affect you or the hobby, and you haven’t read the definitions, then you have made a grave error.

When reading through the bill, you must recite the definition every time you encounter a word defined within that bill. For example, if your understanding of the word “artifact” conjures up something quite old or of archaeological significance, then it will change the whole picture if it is defined within as “anything man-made no matter what the age.” Although I made up that example to illustrate a point, I have read definitions in bills that are not far off from that one.

Here is an example from an actual bill (I am paraphrasing slightly): “An ‘archaeological site’ is any place that people have been or any building or building location past or present, including all presently occupied buildings.” The last five words are exactly as it was written. Definitions like that put a whole new perspective on the bill and could lay jurisdictional claim Keep up with legal issues, subscribe and read the News-n-Views column in every issue!

to every building and property in existence.

In another instance, the term “burial object” was defined in such a way that it could include virtually any object. Further in the bill, it was stated that it is the accused’s responsibility to prove that the item did not come from a grave. In other words, guilty until proven innocent. It doesn’t matter what you found or where you found it; if a similar item has ever been found in a grave, your item can be confiscated unless you can prove it was not from a burial site.

Here is the definition of archaeological sites per the Arizona State Museum Site Definition Policy.

While not a bill per se, it shows how broad definitions can be, in this case, “archaeological sites:” All sites should contain: Physical remains of past human activity that are at least 50 years old.

Additionally, sites should consist of at least one of the following: 30+ artifacts of a single class (i.e., 30 sherds, 30 lithics, 30 tin cans) within an area 15 meters (50 feet) in diameter, except when all pieces appear to originate from a single source (i.e., one ceramic pot, one core, one glass bottle).

20+ artifacts which include at least 2 classes of artifact types (i.e., sherds, groundstone, nails, glass) within an area 15 meters (50 feet) in diameter, One or more archaeological features in temporal association with any number of artifacts.

Two or more temporally associated archaeological features without artifacts.

Non-linear, isolated features without associated artifacts may be recorded at the discretion of the archaeologist. An “isolated feature” is defined as a feature that does not have any other features within a 100 meter (325 feet) diameter. This might include isolated rock piles, mine shafts, prospecting pits or unidentified depressions without artifact associations.

Once a bill is passed, then the regulations and enforcement aspect can be taken to extremes. Think about how far the current laws are stretched; even well-meaning laws are sometimes twisted to ensnare people that they were never intended to. In actuality, the Kentucky “permit bill” had gained the ire of the home building industry, as they would have had to obtain a permit and hire an archaeologist every time they dug a foundation to build a house. While it was not intended to directly harm their livelihood, it did. We cannot let those who write such bills get a bigger foot in the door of our hobby than they already have. Only we can prevent the door from opening any wider.

Even after reading some bills many times, the layman may still not be clear as to what they are saying.

That is reason enough to be cautious and to work for its defeat. If it cannot be easily understood, then something is amiss.

If you decide to search on the internet for bills that would affect the hobby, here are a few words to key on.

The obvious are, of course, “metal detector” and “metal detecting,” but add to it the words “archaeological,” “archaeologist,” and “archaeology.” Make sure to also add the alternate spelling of each by leaving out the second “a.” Pay special attention to any bills dealing with burial sites or cemeteries. Those who would outlaw or severely limit detecting or collecting often find it convenient to hide things in such well-intentioned bills, hoping to sneak them through. After all, who would not oppose desecrating a cemetery? Yet such bills can be, and have been, used to hide anti-detecting legislation. It’s all a matter of definitions and wording.

The bottom line is that many bills are a twisted web of deceit. It is up to the public to unravel that web and stop it before it becomes law. Hopefully, you are now a little better armed to do just that. Just remember: in legislative bills, few things are as they seem.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 1)

A PAS in USA?

In July of 2013 the Russian government decided that a citizen using a metal detector was not in that country's best interests. So they came up with a new law that virtually outlawed the use of a metal detector. It doesn’t stop there, as the simple act of eyeballing an item and picking it up can result in a heavy fine and jail time. This is, of course, in the name of preserving cultural heritage.

They have set the limit at 100 years. Anything older is deemed archaeologically significant, and thus, illegal for “amateurs” (i.e., metal detectorists and collectors) to dig. It does appear that one can locate items under 100 years, but what happens if the item found is older? I have not seen any guidance or details concerning this issue. Are you immediately in violation of the law if you accidently dig something over the magic 100-year mark? Likewise, I could find no mention of whether this includes private property.

In order to use a detector to locate older items, one must obtain a permit. In order to obtain the permit, one must be a certified archaeologist. Thus, the thousands of detectorists in Russia now find their hobby pretty much outlawed. The interesting part of this law is that the penalties for using a metal detector are far

www.americandigger.com

87

greater than what can be levied for non-metal detecting violations. I was told by a reliable source that the penalty in Russia for using a metal detector to dig up anything past the century mark is up to one million rubles and six years in prison.

Let’s look at it realistically. Just like the trend in the U.S., instead of working with our hobby to benefit the whole culture, the misinformed people behind such laws have instead made criminals out of a lot of people. They have also guaranteed a lot of “night hawking” – not that I am advocating breaking the law. Making something illegal does not mean that everyone will stop doing it. In addition, how will they enforce the law effectively? Russia is a huge country, with many remote, hard-to-access areas.

Add to that the massive inconsistencies within a government that seems to run on the bribery system, and we have another ridiculously conceived law.

Not far behind Russia is the country of Bulgaria.

Bulgarians have to register their detectors. Failure to do so is a crime. In Bulgaria, everything “archaeological” in the ground belongs to the state. I am unsure what their definition of archaeological is. Nor do I know if this includes private property, but my understanding is that it does.

The Bulgarian detectorists have organized a national federation that is working to get this reversed.

They have been getting some assistance from some concerns from both England and the United States.

The outcome remains to be seen.

A couple of decades ago in England, the professional archaeological community was on the warpath against detectorists. Peace came when the two sides in that country took steps to form a working relationship. Both sides realized that the results of a ban would mean that many detectorists would simply go underground and the perceived problems would not go away, but probably escalate.

What England has now is an evolving system that is tweaked as necessary. The finds are reported, the finders rewarded, the archaeologists are allowed to study the finds, and museums can acquire them for fair value. This system is based on a trust and fairness doctrine which is paramount to its success.

The formation of the National Council of Metal Detecting was a result of this process. Many tens of thousands of items have been reported through this system. The information and important artifacts that have come to light is astonishing.

Where is the United States in this evolution? I believe we are at a junction where our country must decide what path to choose. Will it be as in the first two examples given in this column, or the latter? We

88

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

are seeing a rash of attempts to shut down local areas.

We are seeing more and more attacks by the archaeological elite on our hobby, and virtually every law or ban has such an elitist behind it.

On the other hand, we are making inroads in working with more open-minded archaeologists. Every year, a few more are realizing the value of a metal detector in the hands of an experienced user can greatly assist their efforts. We have seen individuals, clubs, and manufacturers forge working relationships with professional archaeologists. Some may be tenuous and some have evolved. Both camps are beginning to learn the other’s methods. This is one of the most important parts of the solution, in my opinion.

Only with an understanding of the archaeologists’ point of view, and their understanding of ours, will we be successful in the end.

We must work to increase the numbers of archaeologists who do not see us as the essence of evil.

We must convince them that the English method of sharing information will benefit everyone as a whole.

One small step is to follow a code of ethics. There are a number of variations of the code out, there but all are pretty much the same in nature. The bottom line is that we all know what is right and wrong, and what is ethical, and we must abide by it.

What will it take to accomplish these lofty goals?

A unified effort of the metal detecting community is what it took in England. The result was the Treasure Act of 1996, along with the PAS (Portable Antiquities Scheme). There are detractors on both sides, but it is far better then the alternative. Most people in both camps realized that working together is far better then a constant fight. All of the potential detector bans that pop up every year and take a lot of effort to fight could go away with a concerted, cooperative national effort.

It will take an effort of the majority of detectorists along with the manufacturers, magazines, internet concerns, clubs, and present national groups. All must work together to begin a multi-pronged, unified approach. This must involve the education of those within the hobby, the general public, legislators, and archaeologists.

As in England, there will have to be a give and take on all sides. The detecting community must realize that some finds belong in museums and that some sites should be off limits. The archaeologists have to understand that they can’t dig it all. The government must realize that the laws must be fair and evenly applied. The finders must be compensated in some manner in order to encourage the detecting community to abide by the laws. Strong-arming the detecting com-

munity will doom any effort to failure and continue the confrontational situation we have today.

A short time ago, one of the architects of the English system was attending a gathering in the U.S. On short notice, an invitation was extended for representatives of the metal detecting community to attend a presentation by him in Chicago. The basic tenants of the English system were covered, followed by a short discussion of where we should go from here. How do we get to the point of mutual cooperation and trust in order to end the confrontational attitudes?

Hopefully, this meeting was the first of many that will bring the detecting community together once again as it was in the early years of the FMDAC. This could put us on a path to an end of having to constantly battle ill-conceived bans on our hobby.

The biggest stumbling block I see is with the difference between England and the U.S.A. concerning the separation of powers, and jurisdiction between the federal and state governments. In other words, a U.S. federal law in this matter would only have jurisdiction on federal property. The Archaeological Resources Protection Act is a perfect example of this problem. It covers federal property only; each state makes its own laws pertaining to non-federal property within its boundaries.

Our system was set up this way to limit the power of the federal government but, in this case, it is a roadblock. Getting each state, with all the politics, to agree to the same terms or agreeing to abide by a federal statute would be akin to putting a man on Pluto by the end of the year. However, we must start somewhere and any progress made is far better then where we are now.

My question for the detecting community is simple. When the time comes, will you support a system similar to the Portable Antiquities Scheme?

Massachusetts Parks Detecting Revision In the last issue (American Digger® Vol. 10, Issue 4), we reported on the situation in Massachusetts concerning that state’s Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). To recap, there was a rewrite of the parks department regulations. In the process, some wording was changed which effectively prohibited metal detecting except to search for specific lost property. Even in those cases special permission would be required. A Massachusetts man, Roger Barbrick, initiated an online petition against the new wording. In addition, he contacted the DCR and spoke with an official. After a number of phone calls and a chain of emails, the end result was that the DCR has clarified their position.

The DCR now says that metal detecting will be allowed on beach areas, and no permission is necessary.

This is a change from the previous policy where permission was required. Just prior to this announcement, a Massachusetts attorney with connections to a state legislator had sent out emails stating that he was working this issue from the legislative end.

Did the DCR change their position to correct an honest error or an oversight in the way the new policy was written? Or was it a combination of Mr. Barbrick’s efforts, accompanied by the contacts made from the detecting community, along with some political pressure?

The important thing is that the new policy was reversed.

Until the rewrite is done and enacted, we cannot be 100% certain the effort was successful. Until the rewrite, detecting is prohibited and, although the ban is not currently being enforced, it could be at any time. A change in administration could trigger the enforcement. We will be optimistically watching for the rewrite to take place and, if necessary, will do a little prodding. Thank you to all who contacted the DCR to voice your concerns.

Opinions and research expressed in this freelance column are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Digger®.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 3)

Keep up with legal issues, subscribe and read the News-n-Views column in every issue!

Federation of Metal Detector and Archaeological Clubs Inc. Promoting and protecting the metal detecting hobby since 1984 Join us - The hobby you save will be your own!

Visit us at FMDAC.org and on Facebook.

Mark Schuessler – National President kesmas@localnet.com or call (585) 591-0010

www.americandigger.com

89

®

Product & Book Reviews

Garrett ATX Pulse Induction Metal Detector MSRP $2,495 (USA) Manufactured by Garrett Metal Detectors 1881 W. State St. Garland, TX 75042 Telephone: 972-494-6151 www.garrett.com/ Available from selected dealers.

Publisher’s note: Traditionally, we have not published metal detector reviews in American Digger® magazine. The reasons include our belief that it is impossible to fully learn a machine in the short period necessary to publish a review within a suitable timeframe. However, due to numerous reader requests for detector reviews, we have opted to give our first impressions of models offered for review by manufacturers. This is not intended to be an in-depth technical review, but rather an overall opinion based on an out-of-the box field test of only a few days.

T

he new age of pulse induction (PI) metal detectors, as many detectorists have discovered, has opened up sites that were previously almost unhuntable due to high ground mineralization.

Even in good ground, there are benefits, as the pulse units tend to go deeper regardless of the soil.

90

The bad news is that pulse induction detectors are heavy, offer little iron discrimination, and are expensive (roughly $1,700-$5,000). In addition, most are not waterproof, meaning care must be taken to avoid ruining your substantial investment in a sudden downpour. Enter Garrett, who has tried to tackle most of these and other problems inherent to PI machines with their new ATX. I was immediately impressed by the portability and toughness of the detector. It collapses into a small carrying bag that is perfect for trips and, on a flight, should fit easily as carry-on. This should make anyone rejoice who has had a detector damaged through rough handling by baggage crews.

The toughness is also readily apparent.

The detector has a military look because it is designed to meet military specs. According to Steve Moore, Garrett’s marketing communications manager, “The ATX is built on the same chassis as our military version Recon Pro. But nothing about the electronics inside it or its DD search coil is the same as the Recon (it’s not just a repackage job). The ATX includes much more electronic technology for finding relics and small gold. But the shafts and control housing, etc., were built to military grade standards.”

Also, Garrett has incorporated two features that all detectors should have: It is waterproof (to 10 feet) and has an external speaker. An ATX user will never have to worry about it shorting out in the rain, nor will broken headphones cut the hunt short.

The midrange price is also a plus, making it more affordable to those of average means. Also, while no pulse unit has yet come up with a perfect iron reject feature,

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

American Digger regularly brings our readers reviews on both new products and books related to the hobby of digging and collecting.

the ATX does have a button that, when depressed, emits a “grunt” sound on iron.

Although not foolproof, it is certainly better than having to dig every target in areas infested with a lot of iron “junk.” The pinpoint feature is also a welcome relief in the PI world.

Like most pulse induction detectors, the weight is substantial, but by utilizing the included shoulder strap, the 6.9-pound detector becomes much easier to handle.

As I am already accustomed to the substantial weight of PI detectors, I was more concerned about how well the weight was distributed, which is favorable on the ATX. It is not an uncomfortable unit, only heavy.

In typical relic hunting, the full coverage skid plate tended to collect dirt and debris because of its design. However, no sticks or vines became stuck in the openings, as happens with other open search coils. According to Steve: “The closed coil cover is more for people who do fine gold hunting. It slides across rough, rocky terrain well. They also use it to find tiny gold pieces that their pinpointers don’t pick up well [by] dumping the dirt on the bottom of the coil cover and pushing it around with their fingers until they find the tiny nugget that makes noise.

That said, there is a new open-face cover that is coming in the near future.”

Two other experienced detectorists used our test model to give their impressions. In one case, it was used in the relatively stable forests of north Georgia, and in the other in very hot soil during bad weather (including rain and snow). First, the Georgia user: “I found the ATX to be on the heavy side but well balanced. There is a learning curve but anyone that has had much ‘trigger time’ on detectors will adapt quickly.

Once you get used to the varying sounds, the ATX will not disappoint. I found it to be a ‘brass magnet.’

“I recommend using the sling that is provided, as arm fatigue was an issue after several hours without it. With this detector I highly, and I stress highly, advise taking time to read the instruction manual. Target pinpointing was challenging for me but made much easier with the aid of a Gar-

rett Pro-Pointer. All in all, Garrett has produced a great machine in the ATX. It will be a welcome addition for anyone looking for a tough waterproof PI unit.”

Here is the report from the other tester, who used it in extremely “hot” Virginia soil, in a spectrum of conditions that included rain and snow: “I first used the ATX after a malfunction in my own PI detector (a different brand). After only a three-minute tutorial on its use, I was on my own with the ATX. I soon discovered that the machine was not a magic wand and I needed some time to learn what the machine was telling me.

“It took me a full two days to really get the hang of what the detector was telling me. On the third day, I was becoming much more comfortable with its operation. As a bonus, it rained steadily that day, yet (because it is waterproof) I was able to forgo the hassle of shrouding the control box with plastic bags. By end of the day, I ended up with four bullets, a knapsack hook, some camp lead, four poncho grommets, a percussion cap, two brass rivets, two trouser buttons, two buckshot, a portion of a colonial shoe buckle, and a general service eagle button. My deepest target was an unidentified iron piece that was 14-16 inches deep.

“The pinpoint function of this machine is spot on and equal to a VLF machine. One of the things I noticed is that if, after pinpointing with the ATX, the signal seemed to wander from the original point, the target was typically iron even if the signal was a good high tone.

“I also noticed that even with the discrimination set to four and the sensitivity set to 13, I was still getting small bits of nail that were giving nice high tones. But the machine seemed to hang onto the tones longer than it would for a positive target.

After making this observation, I was soon calling the good targets from the nail bits, but I still was digging most targets just to confirm my findings.

“This machine is heavier than any detectors I’ve used in the past, but I was able to swing the machine all day without a problem. Much of the weight is because the ATX chassis is made to military specifications. I cannot imagine what it would take to break this machine. I was quite happy with the performance of the ATX.” (Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 4)

One of the physical differences between the Eurotek (above right) and Eurotek Pro (above left) is the use of a heavier search coil cable and more secure screw-on connector. _______________

Eurotek Metal Detector MSRP $159.00

Eurotek Pro Detector

MSRP $219.00 Manufactured by Teknetics Metal Detectors Available from selected dealers For more information, visit www.tekneticst2.com

W

hen we received two models of Teknetics’ Eurotek to evaluate, I was a bit puzzled. My thoughts were that the Eurotek was marketed as an entry level detector by Teknetics, and it made no sense to offer two versions. But after testing both, I now understand that, while the basic Eurotek is a good “turn on and go” detector, the Eurotek Pro is even better. Still, a budding detectorist on a budget can save an extra $60 and still get a serious detector by opting for the less expensive model.

Neither unit is a toy; far from it. Designed as a simple and affordable detector that could still handle the challenging hunting conditions of Europe where iron abounds, it was quickly discovered that either detector will work well as a multipurpose machine. Both are serious detectors that, while lacking whistles and bells, still perform well in a variety of conditions.

Simplicity is as important as price in an entry level detector, and that was our first test. I arranged to have a beginner test the units under my guidance, and also gave both machines a whirl myself.

I handed each detector to the novice, giving them no instructions at all. Within seconds, this person had already found the power button and, because of the default mode already having the machine adjusted to a good usable level, was swinging the coil within a minute and already noticing the difference in “good” targets (high tone, high numbers) and the iron “junk” (low numbers and low tone). In fact, the only advice I had to give the tester was to keep the coil close to the ground and impart some movement into the swing, because this is a motion-operated detector.

The discrimination worked as it should, although I preferred the difference in tones and display numbers in my decision of whether to dig or not.

In air tests, I found that all coins (penny, dime, quarter) could be picked up easily at 6-8 inches. Ground tests resulted in about the same sensitivity. Although neither detector is set up to handle overly hot soil, which requires a manual ground balance, they had no problems in the moderately mineralized north Georgia soil where we tested them.

In field test of buried targets, I was impressed by both models’ performance.

Although more elaborate (and expensive) detectors will handle a wider variety of soil conditions and achieve greater depths, either model Eurotek will find its share of items in the six-to-eight-inch range, and even deeper with the 11-inch DD coil offered as an option for the Pro. Both units have simple turn-on-and-go three-button operation, variable iron discrimination, fast recovery speed, motion

www.americandigger.com

91

discrimination, good target separation, tone identification, onscreen continuous depth readout and battery indicator, sensitivity and discrimination adjustment, 7 Khz operating frequency, ¼ inch headphone jack, and come with an 8½ inch concentric coil.

The Pro also has a three-tone target ID, a volume adjustment (with iron null), a pinpoint button, a headphone socket dust cover, and a heavier wire and connector for the search coil. Also, the readings can be displayed in centimeters or inches.

In addition to being simple and efficient, I suspect these machines will be utilized by a lot of people for whom detector weight is an issue. The units each weigh about two and a half pounds, are well balanced, and should be able to be used for long periods with no undue arm fatigue.

All in all, I am sold. The Euroteks are perfect for those who want to own a decent and dependable detector for a very affordable price. Add to this the five-year limited warranty, and it’s hard to go wrong with these machines.

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 3)

®

American Digger regularly brings our readers reviews on both new products and books related to the hobby of digging and collecting.

92

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

www.americandigger.com

93

Detecting and Collecting Clubs Mid Florida Historical Research & Recovery Association, Ocala, Fl. Meets 3rd Thursday each month (Oct.-May) 6 PM at United Way, 1401 NE 2nd St., Email mfhrra@hotmail.com.

West KY Treasure Preservation Society meets 1st Thursday, 7 pm at Jim’s Metal Detectors, Marilyn’s Medical Freedom Bldg, 4860 Old Mayfield Rd., Paducah, KY. Contact Jim, 270-519-0697.

Hanover Metal Detector Club meets the 1st Wednesday each month at the Ashland Volunteer Rescue Squad Building.

Contact D. Yates at 804-241-9541.

North Georgia Relic Hunters Association meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 PM, at F.O.P. Lodge, 2350 Austell Rd., Marietta, GA, 30008. www.ngrha.com.

Middle Tennessee Metal Detecting Club meets in Nashville the 1st Friday of every month. See our website for information about the club and meetings. www.mtmdc.com

Palmetto Relic Hunters Club meets 7 PM, 2nd Tuesday of each month at the Cayce Museum, 1800 12th St, Cayce, SC, 29033.

Contact Rudy Reeves at 803-665-6457, rreeves@sc.rr.com.

Georgia Research and Recovery Club meets the 2nd Thursday of each month at 7 PM, Delkwood Grill, 2769 Delk Road Southeast, Marietta, GA, 30067. For more info visit www.garrc.com.

Pelican Relic & Recovery Assoc., Baton Rouge, LA Meets 3rd Tues. of each month at 7 PM, Kung Fu Buffet, 1823 S. Sherwood Forrest Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA. Info, dbrown7711@cox.net.

Central VA Civil War Collectors Assoc. 4th Tuesday of each month (except December) 7:15 PM, Glen Allen American Legion Hall, 2522 Indale Rd, Richmond. Visit www.cvcwca.com for info.

Silver City Treasure Seekers, Taunton, MA, 1st Fri. ea. month except July/August, 6:30, Bristol Plymouth Reg HS cafeteria, 940 Co. St. (Rt. 140), Taunton, MA. www.silvercitytreasureseekers.net.

Northern Virginia Relic Hunter Association meets 7:30 PM, the first Tuesday of each month at the NRA building, Fairfax, VA. For more info, visit www.nvrha.com

Tri-State Coin & Relic Hunter’s Club serves MS, AL, & TN. Iuka MS Public Library. Meetings rotate monthly 2nd Sat.(9 AM) & 2nd Thurs.

(7 PM). Virgil Robinson 662-728-2798, virrob@dixie-net.com.

Coastal Empire History Hunters Association. Meets in Savannah, GA. For more information, contact Rick Phillips at 912-663-2382 or visit www.cehha.com.

Tri-State Relic Recovery Club meets 7 PM 2nd Tuesday of each month, Lawrence Center, 71 Edison Circle, Menlo, GA. Phone 706-862-6221 or email muscles_73@hotmail.com.

Dixie Relic Recovery Club, 1st Monday/ every month, 7 PM, Old Stone Church, Ringgold, GA. Visit www. dixierelicclubcom for more information.

Eureka! Treasure Hunters Club meets 2nd Friday of each month at 7:30 PM at the Clement Community Center in Lakewood, Colorado.

See website at EurekaTHC.com for more information.

Tidewater Coin & Relic Club, 2nd Tuesday, 6:30 PM, Mary Pretlow Library, 111 W. Oceanview Ave, Norfolk, VA. 757-6790467, email sanddigger@charter.net or visit www.tc-rc.com.

417 Relic Hunters meets the 1st Tuesday of each month at 7 PM, Springfield Missouri Library, 4653 S. Campbell, Mo. For info, visit www.417relichunters.com.

E.A.R.T.H. Metal Detecting Club meets last Monday of every month, Dunham Library, 76 Main St., Whitesboro, NY. Email dlofgren@mandiacorp.com or visit www.earthclubcny.com.

Northern Kentucky Treasure Hunters, meets last Monday of each month, 7 PM at Boone County High School Library. For info, contact nkyfinds@gmail.com, or visit www.nkthc.com.

Want to find out how to get your club listed here, as well as in each issue of American Digger® magazine? Call 770-362-8671 or email anita@americandigger.com to find out how!

94

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

What’s The Point?

An issue-by-issue guide to the ancient stone artifacts of North America.

By Jim Roberson

L

The Lake Erie Point

ake Erie points are Archaic Period tools that were used roughly between 5,000 and 9,000 years ago. They served the purpose of spear tips, and perhaps even knives in certain circumstances. These triangular, wing-shaped tools were crafted relatively small in size and, in many cases, are extremely thin.

Some examples display fractures on the outer edges of their bifurcated stems.

Lake Erie points can easily be confused with the larger MacCorkle type that are also found in the same areas. They also closely resemble, and very well may be related to, the Fox Valley type, often discovered in Illinois and Wisconsin. The Lake Erie point pictured here is in above-average condition and only suffered slight ancient damage to one of its wings.

Unfortunately, the only history to report about this artifact is that it was discovered somewhere in northern Ohio. Its finder hunted a broad area of Ohio and neglected to properly keep detailed records of his discoveries. Or perhaps he did record its provenience, but this important

information was lost as this artifact changed hands throughout the years. The importance of documenting and preserving any artifact’s history and keeping it with the item can never be overemphasized.

This tool was crafted from a nicely colored piece of Coshocton flint. This material, which is also commonly referred to as Upper Mercer flint, occurs in Coshocton County, Ohio. In Archaic times, this was the most heavily utilized lithic material in what is now Ohio. Tools made from this material will often contain a combination of colors. Many are jet black with blue and dark gray hues.

Occasionally, they will also contain white jagged quartz lines, referred to by collectors as “lightning strikes.”

“The Archaic period spanned an incredible 7000 years of North American prehistory. It began 10,000 years before present, and ended at the beginning of the Woodland period, some 3,000 years ago. Because of this immense timeframe, most Native American artifacts discovered will be from Archaic times” J.R. (Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 2)

www.americandigger.com

95

Drills and Perforators

H

ole boring tools, or drills, can be found in any area where prehistoric Native Americans once thrived.

Their sizes and shapes vary widely in order to perform whatever task they were intended for. Some drills were created from scratch, but many others were refashioned into drill form from recognizable point types.

Drills were used to bore holes in wood, bone, shell, and even some softer stones. It has also been suggested that some drill forms may have been used for ornamental purposes. Other variations might also have been used for pinning clothing, personal grooming, and even tattooing, although bone would be the most likely material for these tasks.

The practice of drilling through certain materials such as soft stone would have been, without question, a painstakingly slow process during ancient times. The flint drill bit was hafted to a wooden shaft, and the shaft then would have been rotated rapidly back and forth by hand. In later times, as the cultures made technological advances, the bow drill made this work much easier and accelerated the process.

Pictured here are five variations of drill forms from the Midwest. Example (a) is what many collectors refer to as a paddle drill. It was discovered in Jackson County, Illinois, and is made from Hornstone chert. Example (b) is a perforator discovered in Lawrence County, Alabama. This tool was made of a flake of Fort Payne chert. Example (c) is a crude boring tool that was also discovered in Jackson County, Illinois. It is made from what appears to be Attica chert, also known as Indian Green chert. Example (d) is a drill that was most likely made from an exhausted or broken lanceolate point type. It is crafted from Cobden chert, a rare material from Union County, Illinois. Example (e) is a Uniface Paleo scraper or knife made from Fort Payne chert, and was discovered in Lawrence County, Alabama.

Its creator may have reworked this tool for the purpose of boring a hole into something. It may have also been created in this form from scratch as a multi-purpose tool.

96

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

“Native American artifacts that exhibit drill holes are incredibly rare. A relic hunter may search a lifetime without ever discovering an example. Because of their scarcity, authentic examples always command a premium when offered for sale. They are also frequently reproduced and offered for sale as genuine.” J.R. (Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 2) All photos provided by this column’s author. Opinions and research expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Digger®.

We are about much more than just metal detecting!

Don’t miss "What's The Point?", a column on stone artifacts, in every issue of American Digger®!

No matter where you go...

There we are!

Immediate WORLD WIDE Delivery 24 Hours A Day/ 7 Days A WeEk! American Digger速 is now available for digital download anywhere in the world. The latest issue is always at your fingertips! www.americandigger.com

www.americandigger.com

97

The Hole Truth...

The Publisher speaks... but will he ever shut up?

98

2014 American Digger Magazine Sampler ®

of chiggers that flanked my arm and then took residence there. No doubt there were more on my body than the aforementioned 87 chiggers who left bites, but I suspect the weaker ones left, having been crowded out by the bigger and hungrier chiggers who needed more grazing room on my bare arm.

I’m sure by now that many readers are asking themselves why I had not sprayed myself with one of the many products designed to make the avid outdoorsman repel pretty much anything that lives. It is because, while the weather was warm, I figured it was still too cool for nature, which just the week before had been wherever nature goes when it’s cold. I figured wrong.

On the previous weekend, we had dug Confederate relics under an abnormally frigid April sky. There was nary a bug to be seen and, on that day, I rested unmolested in this same clearing. But that was then, and this was now. Although we still rescued a few Civil War artifacts on the most recent trip, my now-pockmarked right arm looks like I played defense at a skeet-shooting competition, and my left arm has a couple of strange welts that weren’t there previously — probably an allergenic reaction to parson spider venom. And although I’ve yet to find a tick on me from that trip, the odds are good that the ticks are merely evolving in the creative process, and have now found bodily hiding places previously unknown or unspoken of by civilized man.

Bi-monthly publishing is sort of like time travel in reverse.

Several months may have elapsed by the time an article or column ends up in print. When this column is published, it will be in the heat of the summer, and those of us in the know will be wearing strong bug spray and grudgingly coexisting with nature’s little buddies, a.k.a. insects. At best, it will be a bit harder for them to ambush us, because we will expect them to be out in force. At worst, we will just have to put on more bug spray.

But until then?

They are bugs, plain and simple.

Happy Huntin’, Y’all!

Photo by Bob Kish

T

hey live amongst us. And with some dedicated diggers (myself included), they may even live on us. I’m not talking about microbes or funguses or even alien life forms.

I am talking about bugs, and not in a nice way. Although it may be much more politically correct and less offensive to call them insects, today I’m calling a bug a bug.

I know this will trigger some negative feedback from bug huggers. In addition to hearing from those who, on behalf of bugs everywhere, are offended at my lack of sensitivity, I expect to get some letters from the more scholarly among us declaring that “bug” is too vague a term; that our small, multi-legged neighbors should instead be broken down into species and organic genre. Others will speak of the benefits that certain bugs bring to the world by cleansing the earth of undesirable waste (not to be confused, I suppose, with desirable waste), or by eating other bugs. Sorry, but it takes more than interspecies cannibalism and questionable cleansing practices to impress me.

However, my judgment is perhaps clouded at the moment. I am currently suffering from 87 distinct chigger bites, two swollen welts of undetermined origin, and I’m still checking for ticks a week after my close encounter with nature. How did this happen? I went relic hunting on a warm spring day.

OK, I admit that I did tempt the Trombiculidae and Ixodidae (I hope the scholars and bug lovers are happy), whose main benefit is to serve, it seems, as a natural alternative to the classic medical miracle of bloodletting. It was a warm day, the sun was shining, I was tired, and I needed a break. There was a recently bush-hogged section in the field I was metal detecting, creating a virtual mattress filled with the wonders of nature, much of it living, hopping, and squirming.

I lay down to rest upon the chopped wheat straw and red dirt and, within a short time, experienced things that only the most studious or lazy would ever see. A recently hatched praying mantis not over ½ inch in length, maneuvered along a blade of grass just inches in front of my face. A new sprout of re-emerging greenery became a leafhopper, startling me when it suddenly decided to sail off to plants unknown. Several tiny white mealy bugs were setting up a homestead on another leafy plant. A parson spider showed up; although I later learned their bites are not lethal, their venom can cause allergic reactions in some people. A dragonfly darted with aerodynamic precision through the small clearing, while at the same time a lengthy convoy of common ants, moving as one, took a detour around my relaxed and outstretched body. Nature is amazing.

It is also sneaky.

In fact, I suspect that the only bugs I didn’t see was the herd

(Originally Published in Vol. 10, Issue 4)

In each issue “The Whole Truth” brings a smile to our readers. Don’t miss out, click here to subscribe!

2014 Feature Article Index —To order a listed issue, click link here: Note some issues may be sold out, orders subject to availability.

Volume 10, Issue 1 (Jan-Feb 2014)

Hard-Won Relics of the West ..... By Evan Alvord What happens when a die-hard relic hunter moves to a part of the West Coast where 19th century military finds are scarce? He does his homework and finds them anyway.

DIV XXIV: Picture Perfect ..... By Butch and Anita Holcombe When an organized hunt was held at a site detailed in Howard Crouch's legendary book, Relic Hunter, we decided a pictorial would be in order.

Déjà-Vu All Over Again: Part I ..... By Bill Dancy Even when a local newspaper editorial blasted relic hunting, this author managed to have a better detecting season than ever before. In the first of this two-part story, he shares some early American finds with us.

Don’t Get Your Signals Crossed ..... By Wayne Eubanks Sometimes you have to use unusual methods to make good finds. Have some laughs and learn some useful tips as we discover “Zen with a grin.”

New York Officer’s Shoulder Plate From the War of 1812 ..... By Mike O’Donnell Despite regulations to wear plates similar to enlisted men, officers often outfitted themselves with private purchases. Here are some examples.

A Hunt for History ..... By Robert Underwood How can an old cabin’s origins be confirmed, while simultaneously putting together a display of related artifacts? Simple, have a club hunt!

The Price of the Past ..... By Justin Gray The commercial marketing of artifacts has become a moral battleground for both professional and amateur diggers. Would our freedom and knowledge be limited by the prohibition of selling legally obtained artifacts? This author thinks so.

Volume 10, Issue 2 (March-April 2014)

My Texas ..... By James Savage When you can metal detect a mid-1800s community that was named for one of your direct ancestors, you know that you are living in the right state.

Sherds of Blue and Green ..... By Mike Wheless Ignoring fragments of china found on a site also means ignoring vital clues in dating the location. Read what this author has to say about the seemingly random old china sherds that we sometimes encounter.

Déjà-Vu All Over Again: Part II ..... By Bill Dancy As we discovered in the previous issue of American Digger®, 2013 was a year for the books as far as colonial and Civil War artifacts recovered by this digger. We conclude the tale with the second half of this two-part article.

Taking the Rust Out of Restoration ..... By Charlie Harris Over-cleaning an artifact can undo centuries of historical patina in the blink of an eye. But there comes a time when steps have to be taken to preserve what remains.

Soldiers No More: Mexican War Relics in the California Gold Fields ..... By Mike McKillop While researching a regimental history from the Mexican War, a California relic hunter discovers a story of gold fever and some unexpected military relics far from the battlefields.

Big Joe and Sweaty Bob in Mexico: The Trip That Went Very Wrong ..... By Bob Roach

Relic hunting remote areas can be an adventure under the best of circumstances. In less than ideal circumstances, it can turn into a case study of Murphy’s Law.

Hijacking the Swastika ..... By Foster W. Fleming

When a Coca Cola watch fob with a swastika was dug, the finder began a quest to learn just what this emblem meant before the Nazi Party adopted it in the 1920s.

www.americandigger.com

99

Volume 10, Issue 3 (May-June 2014) DICKEY WOLF AND THE CANNONBALL ..... By Peter Schichtel When a New Jersey metal detectorist decided he wanted to find a cannonball, he headed to North Carolina and looked up a legendary digger.

DEEP RIVER RELICS ..... By Jim Schaffner After a serious accident, the author figured his relic hunting days were over. That was before he discovered a new type of therapy.

THE U.S. ARMY’S 1848 PATTERN CANTEEN ..... By Mike O’Donnell Inspired by the recent finding of a rare “US” embossed canteen, this author explains these seldom-seen pieces of military history. ®

A REVOLUTIONARY RECOVERY .... By Anthony Conti When a club was asked to metal detect a farm established in 1709, old finds were expected. However, nobody expected a relic like this.

KNOW WHERE TO GO ..... By Bill Dancy You can’t dig it if you can’t find it, and research is the key. These proven techniques can help you locate those elusive early sites that can pay off big.

A GREAT RECOVERY & RETURN ..... By Charlie Harris & Johnny Stanley After losing his own ring many years ago, this detectorist had only one thing in mind after digging a high school ring: find the owner and return it.

AN EAGLE ON ITS SIDE ..... By John Langley When it seems like every signal is junk, sometimes you can’t tell it’s a relic until you pull it from the hole.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FUN ..... By Christina L. Cutler Sometimes the best way to have fun is to join a club and attend a seeded hunt. The 2013 International Coin Shooters’ Treasure Hunt was one such event, and created memories that will last forever.

Volume 10, Issue 4 (July-August 2014) EVIDENCE OF A NEW NATION ..... By Bob Painter The roots of the U.S.A. are not always found in designated historic areas. More often than not, they are hidden beneath farmlands, slated to be forgotten or eventually destroyed. At least, until the relic hunters arrive.

A DIGGER LOOKS AT DIGGIN’ IN VIRGINIA ..... By Randy Schuh As the Diggin’ In Virginia organized hunts celebrate their 10th anniversary, a participant gives his take on the event.

RETURN TO PEA RIDGE ..... By Stephen Burgess When road work was planned at an Arkansas National Battlefield Park, relic hunters teamed up with the National Park Service to conduct a very revealing metal detecting survey of what happened there.

MASTOBABY! ..... By Glenn Harbour Sometimes big things come in small packages. Although the mastodon skull this author found was small, it definitely wasn’t insignificant.

SCHOOL DAYS It was first a resort and then, in 1847, became the first home for the Kentucky Military Institute. It is now a private school, and what better way to explore its history than with a metal detector?

By Peggy Gould THE MYSTERIOUS “L” WAIST PLATE ..... By William Spedale No one knows the true story of who used these extremely rare belt plates, but this author and longtime relic hunter has some ideas.

MY FAVORITE FIND ..... By Hank Drews For many in our hobby, digging up an antique automobile part might not seem especially fun or significant. For one detectorist, however, doing so led to fond memories of his family.

100

2014 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

Volume 10, Issue 5 (September-October 2014) AN ISLAND LIKE NO OTHER ..... By Dennis A. Cox

Little is known about this coastal Carolina island, except that it was inhabited in the 18th and 19th centuries, and those inhabitants left their footprints via artifacts.

PVT. MAGLIOCCHETTI’S MESS TIN ..... By Edwin van Engelen

After finding a WWII mess tin while relic hunting in Germany, this digger had no idea it would lead to meeting the son of the soldier who lost it.

HOT TIPS FOR HOT DIRT ..... By Tony Stevenson

It’s difficult to detect in mineralized soil, and therefore many artifacts remain in it. Here’s how to get the best from your VLF machine in bad ground.

THE BEST SO FAR ..... By Britain Lockhart

Finding one’s first Civil War plate is always exciting. When that finder is an 8th-grade student, the excitement is almost immeasurable.

PREHISTORIC OHIO, Part I ..... By Gregory Dush

In the first of a two-part series, we look at stone blades and points, their manufacture, and the materials used to make them.

REBIRTH OF A CANNONBALL ..... By Charlie Harris

Reconstructing a ground-burst artillery projectile can be frustrating but historically rewarding. Here are some tips and tricks to make the task easier.

A FAMILY GOLD PROSPECTING VACATION ..... By Jim Roberson

The plan was to find gold, yet this family outing took a different direction when bits of prospecting history started turning up.

Volume 10, Issue 6 (November-December 2014) STONEMAN’S HILL .... By Jerald “Poochie” Cole

It was just a footnote in the Georgia campaign, barely garnering a mention in the Official Records of the Civil War. But when this author located it, he found the hill contained a wealth of history.

HAVE ALL THE BIG TREASURES BEEN FOUND? .... By William Leslie When a call from a distant relative begins with “I’ve got a problem,” good things are not generally expected. However, this call was the exception.

SNAKES IN THE GARDEN STATE .... By Butch Holcombe American Digger® On The Road takes it to New Jersey, where we discover a bonanza of snake buckles, buttons, and good hospitality.

LIVE ACTION: HUNTING WITH THE TURTLEMAN .... By Rodney Cox Even after millions of hits on Youtube, and his own TV show, Ernie “Turtleman” Brown, Jr. still loves to pursue relaxing pastimes, such as catching snapping turtles by hand and metal detecting for history.

WILLIAMS CLEANER CAMP .... By Quindy D. Robertson The Tennessee Civil War camp held more than its share of unfired William’s Cleaner bullets. As to why that was the case, the jury’s still out.

PREHISTORIC OHIO, PART II .... By Gregory Dush

People flourished in the area we now call Ohio for at least 16,000 years. In the conclusion of this two part article, we’ll shed more light on the tools of that region and those who used them.

FROM METAL DETECTING TO A NEW MUSEUM .... By Dan Sivilich

The Monmouth Battlefield museum is a world class venue detailing the actions at Monmouth during the Revolutionary War. It could never have achieved its current state without the dedicated actions of historians with metal detectors.

www.americandigger.com

101

102

2014 American Digger速 Magazine Sampler

www.americandigger.com

103