2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler

American Digger

®

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

American Digger American Digger American Digger ®

®

2017 SAMPLER Vol. 11

Vol. 11

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

THE CIVIL WAR RELICS OF CULPEPER COUNTY

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

Issue 1

TRIFECTA

FIND RAREPINS VETERANS’ NAVYOR BUCKLE JUST STATE PRIDE? SURRENDER

GROWING UP IN ARROWHEAD COUNTRY

METAL DETECTING FOR WWII HISTORY IN TAIWAN

CAMPS OF THE RETURNING AN CONFEDERACY OLD SOLDIER’S MEMORABILIA

FIND OF GLASS EYE AT PRIVY PROVIDES WWII DOG LOOK INTOTAGS PAST PROVIDE LINKS TO AMERICAN HEROES

VARIED DETECTING FINDS ARE THE MISMATCHED SPICEPRESENT OF LIFE PAIRS

PLUS RECENT FINDS, IDENTIFICATIONS, & MUCH MORE!

MYSTERIES

American Digger Vol. 11

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors PLUS RECENT FINDS, IDENTIFICATIONS, & MUCH MORE!

www.americandigger.com

SILVER COINS OF THE COMMONWEALTH

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

MORE OF THE COLONIAL A LIFETIME OF RELIC TRIFECTA HUNTING: THE BOBBY RAMER COLLECTION RELIC HUNTING A CIVIL WAR CHICKAMAUGA USCT CAMP DUMP DIG YIELDS CANTEENS

DIGGERS

ARTIFACTS OF THE TEXAS MILITARY INSTITUTE

Issue 2

Vol. 11

BOTTLE BONANZA IN COMPLETING PENNSYLVANIA THE COLONIAL

Issue 3

BEYOND RARE: LORD BALTIMORE SILVER SIXPENCE RARE AGATE & STONE BLADE CREATE A BOND

AN AMERICAN DIGGER FINDS AN ENGLISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL TREASURE

AN I.D. STENCIL AND THE CONFEDERATE WHO OWNED IT

®

Issue 4

March-April, 2015 $6.95 USA

www.americandigger.com January-February, 2015 $6.95 USA

American Digger American Digger digital sampling CIVIL WAR CAMPS OF Vol. 11 CULPEPPER

®

May-June, 2015 $6.95 USA

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A ® of American Digger Magazine,Volume 13, Issue 1-6

THE SNAKES OF MILITARY HISTORY

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

SOCIAL MEDIA HELPS RETURN WWII KEEPSAKE

30 YEARS OF MISSISSIPPI RELIC MEMORIES WATER HUNTING FOR CIVIL WAR RELICS INITIALS LEAD TO AN INDIAN WAR SOLDIER

SHIP BUILDER’S LEGACY RECOVERED

A DETECTORIST ...Plus Recent Finds, GIVES BACK TO Relic Identification, HOMEOWNER and Much More!

WWII ARTIFACTS OF HURTGEN FOREST

Issue 5

Vol. 11

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

BUCKLES OF COLONIAL AMERICA YORKTOWN “CS” BUCKLE WORTH THE WAIT

IMPORTANCE OF THE RELIC: DUG VS. NON DUG

CHATTANOOGA NATIONAL BOTTLE SHOW

COUNTERFEIT COINS & UNREAL REALES

July-August, 2015 $6.95 USA

...Plus Recent Finds, Relic Identification, and Much More!

MYSTERI PETROGLY OF ST. VINC

EXPLORI AN EARLY B SCOUT CA

GOLD COIN CA FOUND IN A M UNUSUAL PL

...Plus Recent Finds, Relic Identification, and Much More!

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Issue

RARE COLONIAL SWORD & COIN SAVES THE SEASON

CIVIL WAR CAMP NO-TILL FARMING BRINGS FAMILY AND ARROWHEAD TOGETHER HUNTING

REVOLUTIONARY WAR FINDS ON BRADDOCK’S RD.

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Welcome to the 2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler ®

A note from the publisher Dear Reader, It's time share just a few of the highlights of American Digger® magazine from the previous year! 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 2017 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 particular 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. These advertisers have supported us by running continuous advertisements during all of the 2017 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 13, Issue 1-6 (January-December, 2017). 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®, 2017, in full color and free online. Whether you are a longtime reader (we are entering our 14th 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 regularly brings you the best in relics, bottles, coins, arrowheads, fossils, and more in high quality 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 2017 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 2017 there were well over 50 full length articles, 24 regular columns, and hundreds of recently found items.

Those shown in this sampler are but a small fraction. 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

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2017 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

We wish to thank the following advertisers for their support of American DiggerÂŽ magazine. Please visit their ads on the pages shown below: American Digger Events (pg 45) Anderson Detector Shafts (pg 61) Big Shanty (pg 10) Cold Harbor Detectors (pg 10) Depths of History (pg 60) Electroscope (pg 36) FMDAC (pg 65) Fisher/Teknetics (pg 70) Garrett (pg 2, pg 77) Greybird Publishers (pg 9, pg 38) Greybird Relics (pg 65) Ground EFX (pg 37) Joshua's Attic (pg 10) Kellyco (pg 27) Lookout Mountain Cave Guns book (61) Metal Detecting For Beginners book (pg 57) Mike Kent Shows (pg 61) Minelab (pg 33) My Treasure Spot (pg 61) Outdoor Outfitters (pg 3) Predator Tools (pg 9) Relic Hunter Supply (pg 65) Relic Recoverist (pg 61) Relic Record (pg 10) Relic Roundup (pg 26) Shiloh Relics (pg 9, pg 65) Southern Metal Detectors (pg 65) Stone's River (pg 10) White's Electronics (pg 45) XP Deus (pg 49) For information on advertising in any of the American DiggerÂŽ media venues (print, digital, radio, or internet) please visit us on page 67 of this issue, or call (770) 362-8671 to find out more. You may also email anita@americandigger.com

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continue to dig ! The basic method for digging down and remove the shallow privy is as follows. After you fill, placing it on the the pit, dig a test hole. I usually start by tarp or in the barrels. e-sized plug from the middle of the suspected t the grass out like a hunk of sod and put it Soon you will be down de. Remember to wet it so it does not dry in the hole enough to try and n.Now it is time to start diggingFor downDiggers into findand a wall; finding one wall Collectors e. will make it easier to locate the others. If the privy is the time the probe does not lie. If it burbrick or stone-lined then you d has a crunchy feel it is most likely a privy.

American Digger

®

“Summer Tree” flask.

2017 Sampler

Pg. 22

Getting Hammered In England Going to England to metal detect is on the bucket list of many American detectorists. Here’s one person’s experience the dug land of “old.”

Thesevisiting freshly

By Ed Stewart

sodas (left) will be cleaned (right) with bottle brushes and Privy Digging 101 “Krud Cutter®.” Squirt some The skill and knowledge needed to find and dig an old privy can be daunting inThis a bottle water for those unfamiliar with the task. premierwith bottle warm digger tells our readers and let it set for a few minutes. how to do it.

By Rick Weiner Increase the soaking time depending on the buildup. The A Token Comes Fullauthor Circlealso uses rock salt; pour The town of Bushnell, Northinto Carolina long gone, as iswarm the town’s mercantile theisbottle with water establishment, Fisher’s Store. But both still hold a place in this author’s heart. and shake vigorously.

By Mickey Stockton

A Golden Opportunity Want a fun prospector’s weekend getaway without the expense of a full-blown trip to distant gold fields? Look no farther than North Carolina.

By Jen Johnson American Digger Sparks a New Friendship The phone call was unexpected, but through it this author was able to find a new friend who had the same interest in WWII history as himself. Here’s what happened when they got together to metal detect a training site.

By Will Adams

Pg. 40

Pg. 48 Pg. 52 Sifting for gemstones provides a nice and relaxing diversion in between gold mining.

that doesn’t look like much in the flume could actually be a sapph a ruby. Some buckets contain a geode that can be sawed open to crystals inside. It’s a hands-on way to learn about minerals, semi-pre and precious stones. Buckets for kids are available as well. Those co a wide variety of tumbled rocks little hands can grab easily. A pa pile is an option for those who prefer a less rigorous hunt for gold a mound of dirt with a couple of panning troughs and gold pans instruction is available if needed. Panning is an important skill to no matter how far you take your prospecting. Learning how to pan works well since the pieces of gold can be seen easily with the nake Our freelance writers are the bestchoice in the Want toofwrite Another is to industry! purchase a loader bucket dirt and sit by the ® run your own for sluicewriter box or high banker. for American Digger ?andClick here guidelines.

Thermal City also has its own store that contains almost anythin

In 2017, we published over 40 feature articles like the ones seen here. This is just a sampling of what the year in American Digger® magazine offered.

2017 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

Pg. 34

® ®® March-April 2017 American Digger March-April 2017 American Digger 39 March-April 2017 American Digger39

Four Days in Paradise and a Lifetime of Adventure From Canada to Curacao to Oak Island, Steve Zazulyk talks about dive detecting, television, and a drunken iguana named Ed.

By M.A. Shafer

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Pg. 28

American Digger

®

The Magazine for Diggers and Collectors

American D-Mail……….8 Just Dug…………….......12 Q&A....……….….……..18 Stumpt.............................20 News-n-Views.................55 Product Reviews..............57 Dirt Diaries......................60 What’s The Point............64 The Hole Truth………....69

Founded in 2004 by those that love the hobby

Publisher Butch Holcombe Marketing Director Anita Holcombe Photographer/Consultant Charles S. Harris Senior Editor Bob Roach Copy Editors Bill Baab Eric Garland Teresa Harris Wylene Holcombe Editorial Assistant Will Adams Marketing Consultant M.A. Shafer Videographer Britain Lockhart Historical Consultants

James Cecil, Dennis Cox, Bill Dancy, William Leigh III, Pam Lynch, Jack Melton, Mike O’Donnell, Jim Roberson, Mike Singer, Pete Schitell, Bob Spratley, Jim Thomas, Don Troiani.

Our Mission:

“To promote the responsible excavation and collecting of all artifacts related to American Digger® (ISSN# 1551-5737)

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

(770) 362-8671.

Cover Photo

An assortment of 2017 covers of the magazine for diggers and collectors, American Digger®! In each and every issue you’ll find a wealth of artifacts recovered and collected by people just like you: arrowheads, military relics, colonial items, bottles, coins, fossils, meteorites, and much more.

We hope this complimentary online sampler gives you an idea of what we are all about. Call us at 770-3628671 or visit us online to never miss another issue!

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

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: American Digger® , P O Box 126, Acworth, GA 30101 We respect our readers’ privacy, and never sell, rent, or publicize subscribers’ names or addresses.

Yearly print subscriptions USA, $37.95 Canada, $57.95; Europe $77.95 Yearly digital subscriptions $19.95 Mail subscription payment to: American Digger® Magazine PO Box 126 Acworth, GA 30101 Or pay online at: www.americandigger.com Phone orders also welcome using most major credit cards: (770) 362-8671No part of this

magazine may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of the publisher. American Digger® has no affiliation with any hobby groups, entertainment venues, or websites other than our own. While we strive for accuracy, American Digger® cannot be held liable for inadvertent misrepresentation. Reader submissions are encouraged, and you may write or visit our website for guidelines. Emailed submissions should be sent to publisher@americandigger.com. We reserve the right to reprint photos and text as needed. Unless otherwise requested, all correspondence to American Digger® is subject to publication. We strongly oppose illegal recovery and wanton destruction of artifacts. Please dig responsibly. Our hobby depends on it!

© 2017

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American D-Mail

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

Be a part of our print and digital publication ...click here and send us a message!

Beepin ’

Steve Meinzer

Broken Detectors I just listened to the episode of Relic Roundup where Butch talked about the TSA damaging his detector. A simple fix to that is buy a blank starter pistol such as is used for track and field events. They are harmless and completely legal but have to be declared to the TSA. At that point, the TSA will get a special agent that is trained in firearms to assist you. They will inspect the starter pistol and mark it. Then they will require you to put it into a checked bag and then put a lock on it. Any lock will do, so I use a non TSA lock so they can’t open it without me. No other agents are allowed to open it. Put any valuables you want in this locked bag: cameras, jewelry, relics and detectors. In other words, anything you don’t want anyone to break or steal.

Wil Chapman Centralia, Washington Although we hesitate to recommend anyone pack any kind of firearm (even one that shoots only blanks) on an airplane, the fact is that many weapons are legally transported everyday via such methods. It makes sense to take advantage of the added security necessary for a firearm. It just never occurred to us we’d one day avoid detector damage by means of a pistol.-AD (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 1) Kudos to Petroglyph Layout and Charlie Harris Great layout job on my Caribbean article (“2016 Petroglyph Expedition to the West Indies,” American Digger® Vol. 12, Issue 6). The green background is a nice touch. I’m glad that Charles Harris is part of American Digger®. He was my model when I first started writing articles in the 1980s. His relic hunting articles in the treasure magazines of the time were just the perfect mix of good info and good photography.

Michael Chaplin Glen Cove, New York We are proud that Charlie is on our masthead, and has been since our first issue some 13 years ago. His selection was not accidental: we strive to staff American Digger® with the most knowledgable names in our hobby, and the name Charlie Harris certainly fits that bill.-AD (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 2)

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2017 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

“This guy’s following way too close. You’d better take some evasive maneuvers before we reach the hunt site.”

(Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 1)

The Arrowhead I was catching up on reading my favorite magazine and really enjoyed “The Arrowhead” article in the SeptemberOctober 2016 issue of American Digger®. Kuddos to author Peter Schichtel. It hit close to home for me, being a dirt scanner since I was a kid, and it got me a bit choked up.

Good stuff! Thanks for the great article!

Dan Centofanti Dawsonville, Georgia This well-received article is just one of several written by Peter Schichtel and published in American Digger®. You can also enjoy his regular column, “Talking Points,.” -AD (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 3) Thistle Button In April 2017 I excavated this early flat button that displays the worn picture of a thistle on its face. I was using a Garrett AT Pro detector. It was discovered near a previously

At last! A comprehensive book that doubles as both a how-to manual as well as a colonial artifact encyclopedia that will benefit not only the serious digger and collector of early artifacts, but also provide a valuable resource for metal detecting enthusiasts of all ages and interests.

Through his extensive field study of colonial Virginia sites, author Bill Dancy guides the reader through the equipment, tools and personal items utilized by the early settlers that helped forge a new nation.

Topics in this richly illustrated volume include: • Artifact identification • Research methods • Artifact recovery • Metal detecting tips • How to locate sites • Search strategies • Using a probe • Building and using a sifter • Cleaning and preservation • And more, including nearly 1,000 full color photographs ISBN 978-0-692-90129-8 Price $59 Greybird Publishers

A fascinating story and another example of how provenance is important. Many Scottish settled in the Appalachian region of the USA, including North Carolina. To them, a button with a thistle likely had much more meaning than mere decorative.AD (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 4)

Virginia’s Colonial Artifacts

DISCOVERING

Discovering

unknown colonial period cabin site in Stokes County, North Carolina among other early American artifacts. The VIRGINIA’S COLONIAL thistle plant has been the royal ARTIFACTS emblem of Scotland since the thirteenth century. A story passed down from that era told that invading Norsemen to [Scotland] tried to surprise sleeping Scottish clansmen by removing their footwear. Instead, they stepped into a patch of prickly thistles and alerted the defenders with their painful cries. Later in 1540 the “Order of the Thistle” was founded by King James V for his knights of the realm. Many Highland Scots settled in North Carolina and fought in the Revolutionary War. Robert Underwood Stoneville, North Carolina

Discovering

Virginia’s Colonial Artifacts

At last... the relic book you’ve been waiting for!

A Comprehensive Guide to Recovery, Identification and Preservation

Bill Dancy Bill Dancy

A valuable resource for any metal detectorist or artifact collector!

Four hundred pages of information and color photos of early American artifacts and how to find them. The best reference yet on colonial artifacts, including coins, buttons, bottles, buckles, household items, tools, and more!

Discovering

Virginia’s Colonial Artifacts

by Bill Dancy A Comprehensive Guide to Recovery, Identification and Preservation Available from the author (bdancy97@ charter.net) or call (770) 362-8671, email anita@ americandigger.com.

Order yours today! $59 + shipping

Wholesale inquiries welcome Greybird Publishers, LLC, 2017©

Organized Digs In the article on organized digs (American Digger®, Volume 13, Issue 3), there was mention of a dig focused on colonial artifacts. I’ve searched the web and come up short. Can you tell me what organized digs you are aware of other than DIV and Just Go Detecting?

Will Johnson Danville, California Most organized digs are focused on Civil War artifacts, although colonial pieces are often found due to the locations of the hunt areas. As to hunts considered strictly colonial, the only regularly held one we are aware of is the annual Best O’ North East (BONE) hunt held each spring in New Hampshire.

There are occasionally hunts put on by other groups, but these vary from year to year and are becoming more scarce.

As to hunts other than the two you mention, there are a few other annual Civil War organized digs, but these two seem to consistently produce the most artifacts.-AD (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 5) The Hole Truth Butch did a good job again on his column, “The Hole Truth.”

The one on detecting safety (American Digger® Vol. 13, Issue 4) reminded me of my own experiences. My story was years ago at Murfreesboro, relic hunting on a cold January morning, and I was bending over to dig a good reading on my detector. All of a sudden a black snake came flying by even though the temperature was in the 30s. I don’t remember if

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I dug that reading or not. Â I just remember the snake and it being cold.

Pat Cook Germantown, Tennessee Butch appreciates the kind words, and can relate to your experience. It should also serve as a warning to those who assume snakes are dormant in the cold. While that is usually true, there are exceptions, as you proved. On a positive note, such black snakes are considered harmless, although they can cause a person to severely injure themselves trying to get out of the way.-AD (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 6)

10

2017 American DiggerÂŽ Magazine Sampler

Highlights from the 2017 American Digger® Lowcountry Civil War & Artifact Show, January 6-7, Mt. Pleasant, SC Now my___ reputation was at stake and to add in-

that Dr. Dorfman delivered to the newspaper’s sult to injury, the point’s provenance was now archaeologist after the point was published. tainted. This so-called “professional” had gone The man was shamed and for good reason. out of his way to slam me and I had to react. My Perhaps in the future, this reckless professional redemption, however, was to come from an unwill take a few moments to acknowledge the usual and completely unexpected place. contributions of serious amateurs. Honestly, though, I wouldn’t take any bets on it.

Weeks passed as I allowed my anger to I summarize this weird and somewhat comidiminish and develop a viable plan C. One day, 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 hisare 75 million years old fish feces (you read that torically right have infected our society like an right) retrieved from the local creeks. out-of-control virus.

The gentleman, Don Dorfman, Ph.D was It is nowweather three times as hard toincollect, preDespite adverse conditions, head of the Marine Biology Department at the 2017 award winners (L-R): Rusty Hicks serve and report finds at a local level.

All the avcluding rain, freezing temperatures, and University of Monmouth (West Long Branch, - Most Educational; Bill Blackman erage citizen is supposed to do is visit even icy roads, the walk-in crowd re- museums New Jersey). Don had both serious academic Peoples' Choice & Best of Show; Dicky and brisk watch throughout the History Channel.

We, as Americredentials and an open minded attitude. Most mained the weekend, “Confederate Buckles” can citizens, still have the right Ferry - Best Artifact. importantly, he gladly acknowledged contri-- Peoples' Choice & Best of Show thanks to increased local promotions.to collect and Bill the Blackman dig, as long as we do it with permission and stay butions of amateurs to science and was fascinatwithin the bounds of the law. It is neither a right ed by my finds. After the Dalton point debacle, nor an obligation to follow in lock step behind Don became my ace in the hole. Professors pubthose who hold degrees. The margins, however, lish like a rabbit making bunnies and soon we are narrowing and the eyes (and voices) of those teamed up to publish a series of scientific articles 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 newspaper’s archaeologist Surgeon's Frock Coat” “Confederate Soldiers' History” enough, the“Confederate More recently, my discovery of a partial mastodon skeleton also sat- Most on theEducational board of the magazine.

The & web that Ferry was being Dicky Teresa - Best Artifact Rusty Hicks 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 at had I nowincluded at least existed in arrived with an accurate, objective write-up, and photos of the Door prizes theevolved.

2017 show their eyes and thus, the find could be properly documented. The ithDalton over 180 vendor and display tables, and walk-in traffic of nearly 1,000 point. It was late in coming, but there it was: a literal several metal detectors donated by Garmedia giveth and the media taketh away.

But it should never be despite rain and near-freezing temperatures, the 2017 American Digger® exercise in persistence and luck. rett, Minelab, and Teknetics/First Texable to rob a find of its provenance.

Lowcountry The Show & Sale was success Increased gravy on top of amy ‘taters by wasall thestandards. verbal dressing down advertising as, as well as local tours. brought in collectors and dealers from across the country, and increased local promotions assured a good walk-in attendance. The event is expected to be even larger next year. Dates for next year's show have already been announced for January 7-8, 2018. For more information or advanced reservations, call 770-362-8671 or email anita@americandigger.com.

About The Author Glenn Harbour has been digging and collecting since his teenage years and has traveled both the 11 west and www.americandigger.com the east coast extensively in his pursuits of the past.

W

:

Here’s what our readers are finding...

Joshua Thomson was detecting along an old river road in Louisiana and found this belt plate. According to consultant Mike O’Donnell, it is an 1850s-60s French Army “flaming bomb” plate. A limited number of these were imported at the start of the American Civil War by one of New Orleans’ elite independent companies that professed a French heritage. Possibilities include the French Legion, New Orleans City Guard, New Orleans Battalion of Artillery, and a few others. At least one of these units also had matching buttons also imported from France. These buckles were already affixed to the belts as part of a complete accoutrement set.

Joshua made the find in October 2016 while using an XP Deus.

Brandon Stewart was searching a hayfield in Swanzey, New Hampshire and recovered this 1782 silver half reale turned into a “sweetheart pin.” Most of these have the face smoothed and engraved, but this one used the entire coin as is.

It is assumed the date had a great significance to the original owner.

Brandon notes the coin was about seven inches deep and had a nail in the same hole. He made the find in August 2016 while using a Garrett AT Pro. Photos by Brandon Stewart

Photos by Joshua Thomson

® ® 12 122015 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler

ISSUE 1

Just Dug

Anthony Taylor was searching a location near Resacca, Georgia and recovered these two Civil War projectiles. The Bormann-fused cannonball is for a 12-pounder field howitzer, while the other is a 30-pound Parrott solid shot “bolt.” Anthony made the finds on Labor Day, 2016 while using a Garrett AT Pro. Photo by Anthony Taylor

Every issue of American Digger is packed full of recent finds from across the world, and of all kinds. These are just a small fraction of the almost 1,000 Recent artifact recoveries that

Photos by James Martin

ISSUE 2

James Martin was digging at a transcontinental railroad town this past year and found himself in the middle of an old Chinese settlement.

The Chinese traveled from California with the Central Pacific Rail Road in 1869 to work the railroad.

Among his finds were a pre-1880s “LEA & PERRIN / WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE” bottle, a complete glazed Chinese pot, and a ceramic ginger beer bottle. Additional finds included a “CPRR OF CAL.” Central Pacific Railroad padlock body.

James made the finds while probing for trash pits and metal detecting with an XP Deus and Teknetics G2.

Enzo DeLorenzo was detecting a site near Niagara Falls, Ontario and recovered this Canadian relic. The baggage tag is stamped “CHIPPAWA & TORONTO/ E&O RR/42.” The Erie & Ontario Railroad was the first railroad in Canada, receiving a government charter on April 16, 1835, and operating under that name until 1869. Enzo dug the item at only three inches deep in October 2016. Photo by Enzo DeLorenzo

Over 800 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2017 issues! Click here to see more.

John Chapman was relic hunting in the lower Shenandoah Valley and recovered this 19th century campaign button. These were made for William H. Harrison’s presidential run of 1840 as a Whig candidate. Harrison, a war hero, easily defeated incumbent President Martin Van Buren. The button is backmarked “BENEDICT & BURNHAM/EXTRA” and retains almost all of its original gilt finish. John made the find in November 2016 while using an XP Deus. Photos by John Chapman

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mons, Cold Harbor Metal Detectors

ISSUE 3

Bill Burnett was hunting an old homesite in Charles City County, Virginia and found these Confederate relics. The Virginia sword belt plate is one of an estimated 4,000 made by Emerson Gaylord of Chicopee, Massachusetts and shipped to Virginia on the eve of the Civil War. Also found were four Confederate “I” infantry buttons. All were dug in the same cultivated area and show plow damage. Bill made the finds in January 2017. Photo by Jerry Sim-

Steve Zazulyk and Ryan Fazekas took a trip to Curacao, diving and detecting for one week in January 2017. Searching in front of the most popular resorts to the most secluded hotels, they did all their detecting in the water and recovered 47 Rings and over 400 coins, not to mention other odds and ends including a set of false teeth. 17 of the rings were gold and the rest silver. Several heavy gold and silver chains were also found. They made the finds with Minelab Excaliburs and CTX 3030s fitted with Anderson Detector Shafts. Photos by Steve Zazulyk

Over 800 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2017 issues! Click here to see more.

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Nate Long was digging an old privy in southeast Pennsylvania and, among other bottles, found this “silver medal” soda water.

It is embossed “E. ROUSSELL/ PHILLAD.” and “DYOTTVILLE GLASS WORKS.” A facsimile of the medal also appears on the glass.

Eugene Roussell was awarded a silver medal in 1847 for his products.

Nate made the find in February 2017. Photos by Nate Long

Photos courtesy of Nick Brainard

ISSUE 4

Nick Brainard was detecting a Confederate camp in southeast Arkansas and dug this early war Confederate weaponry. Such massive Bowie knives, often called “Arkansas toothpicks,” accompanied many Southern soldiers to war. But instead of the effective and fearsome weapon envisioned by most, it was quickly discovered that such pieces, many which weighed a pound or more, were more of a burden than a boon.

Most are found in early war sites, as they were soon discarded. Nick made the find on February 1, 2017.

Danny Clairmont was searching a Civil War camp in Prince William County, Virginia and dug these coins. The centerpiece is an 1854 2½ dollar gold coin. Also shown is an 1854 half dime, 1835 half dime, and two 1853 trimes.

Danny made the finds in March 2017 with an White’s MX Sport.

Photo by Danny Clairmont

These are just a random sampling of the over 100 Just Dug entries found in EACH issue!

Zachariah Metzger was detecting a WWII training camp in Cooke County, Texas and recovered this scarce silver badge. Camp Howze was in operation from 1941 to 1946 and was one of the largest army training centers in the U.S. during World War II. Zachariah made the find in March 2017 while using a Minelab E-Trac.

Photo by Zachariah Metzger

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ISSUE 5

Ralph Field was detecting a site near Beaufort, South Carolina and recovered this artifact from the Revolutionary War. The cartridge box plate was used by the 71st British Regiment of Foot, also known as Fraser's Highlanders, part of “The Order of the Thistle.” The Latin motto on the plate translates into “What must be done, will be endured.” The 71st participated in the siege of nearby Charleston in 1776. Ralph recovered the artifact in June 2017.

Photo by Dennis Cox

Robert Devilbiss was searching a location in southern Maryland and found this political relic.

These were given out at rallies held by the Republican Party as a means to entice voters to elect their 1908 presidential ticket of William Taft (for president) and James Sherman (vice president). Although Taft served his full term, Sherman died in office in 1912 from complications caused by Bright’s disease. Robert made the find in May 2017 while using a White’s DFX. Photo by Robert Devilbiss

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Mike Speiser was searching a field where an Ohio town was once located in the mid-1800s and made this find. The 2½ dollar gold coin is dated 1853 and exhibits exceptional detail.

There were 1,404,668 of these coins minted. Mike made the find in June 2017 while using an XP Deus metal detector.

Photos by Mike Speiser

Over 500 Just Dug artifacts appeared in our 2014 issues! Click here to see more.

Photos by Steven Andrews

ISSUE 6

Steven Andrews was searching a site in Virginia and found both colonial and Civil War artifacts. However, the most exciting find was this gold signet ring with an eagle on it. These were used to seal documents in wax with each design signifying who the stamp represented.

The inset photo shows the proof marks inside the ring. It is thought to date no later than the very early 1800s. Steven made the find In July 2017 with a Minelab Excalibur.

Gus Seretis was walking along a river next to a farm field in Greenbrook, New Jersey and spotted this stone age tool lying in the soil. The full groove Archaic Period stone axe head is between 3,000 and 8,000 years old. Gus first thought it was just an unusual stone until he cleaned it off and realized what it was. It is the first Native American artifact he has ever recovered. He made the find in August 2017.

Photo by Gus Seretis

Trey Todd was water hunting a location near Culpeper, Virginia and recovered these three Civil War-era Schenkl artillery projectiles. Fired from a 3-inch ordnance rifle, these originally had a papier-mâché’ sabot. Only one brass percussion fuse remains in the three shells and is marked “J.P. SCHENKL PAT. OCT. 16, 1861.” They are shown here after being cleaned, disarmed, and preserved. Trey found all three in August 2017 while using a Garrett AT Pro detector.

Photo by Trey Todd

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Q&A With Charles Harris

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found this on private property at the Kernstown,Virginia battlefield about 15 years ago. I think it might be linked to New York or New Jersey troops because the same eagle with shield are on some buttons of these troops.

Darr Johnson The item itself is a variant of a suspender buckle patented in 1850, although they must not have worked very well because they are not nearly as common a find as standard buckle type adjusters. Almost all have a patriotic motif. As to the design on this one. I wasn’t sure about state affiliation so I asked consultant and photographer Mike O’Donnell, who tells us more: “Stan Phillips, author of Excavated Artifacts from Battle Fields and Campsites of the Civil War, was correct when he labeled that particular eagle with the ‘Hail Columbia’ motto as a popular patriotic emblem of the Civil War period. The song ‘Hail Columbia’ was an unofficial national anthem

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Examples of the eagle holding a shield. Clockwise from top left: This thin stamped brass ornament has “Hail Columbia” above the eagle and was found

by Dick Hammond in a northern Virginia Civil War site. Frequently called a sutler's item, a chain of these were linked together for decorative purposes; A flying eagle with a shield in its beak adorns this 1860s New Jersey Militia button worn by their First Regiment, known as the National Guard. These have been found in Civil War sites. Group of New York unit buttons worn by the 7th Regiment “National Guard” during the 1850s through 1862 when the entire state force was called the National Guard; This onepiece brass button presents an early example of the flying eagle holding a shield. It was made for artillerymen belonging to New York City's elite 7th Regiment known as the “National Guard.” It’s “Robinson & Johnson” backmark dates production to 1828-34.

Photos and information courtesy of Mike O’Donnell

2017 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

until ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ was selected in 1931. The music was composed for George Washington’s 1789 inauguration with lyrics added in 1798. During the mid19th century, mention of this song title must have stirred the hearts of patriotic Americans.

“The flying eagle with a shield in its beak had no association with ‘Hail Columbia’ when first displayed as a military insignia around 1830.

It was a stylish interpretation of the Great Seal eagle adopted in 1782. I strongly suspect the design originated in Europe, whose craftsmen took liberties with creating attractive variations of the evolving forms of the U.S. eagle. By the late 1830s, American die sinkers were marketing versions on buttons for independent companies.

While most were associated with New York’s many uniformed militia units, the same eagle-and-shield emblem was employed by a few organizations in other states. The greatest quantity of buttons displaying this distinctive eagle was manufactured for the New York National Guard in the years following its 1862 formation. However, without state affiliation included within the design, i.e. ‘NJM National Guard,’ these design must be considered a patriotic device only.

“The combination of this eagleand-shield with ‘Hail Columbia,’ as seen on Darr Johnson’s relic, seems to have begun during the 1846-48 Mexican War and increased through the Civil War period. In addition to buttons, it was displayed on commercial belt plates and ornaments. After the war, its primary use was by political campaigns continuing into the early 20th century.”

(American Digger Vol. 13, Issue 1)

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hen I found this brass nose cap in mid 2016, I thought it was from an Enfield rifle.

But the serial number threw me off.

Now some people are telling me it may be from a Cook & Brothers musket. Can you confirm this and what can you tell me about the company?

Heath Jones

That brass “Enfield” nose cap is the basis for a fantastic history of Southern manufacturers trying to help arm the Confederacy. What sets this piece apart from similar Enfield brass nose caps is the serial number on it, 4419. That (and a few other very minor differences) confirms it is from a Cook & Brother (not “Brothers”) Confederate rifle. I believe that they are the only Southern longarm manufacturer that ever serial numbered their rifles or the parts on them.

Brothers Ferdinand, Frederick, and Francis Cook were born as Englishmen and they and their parents emigrated to New York in early 1833. It was in New York that Ferdinand and Francis received their training in metal working and engineering at the Novelty Iron Works, a large and well-established engineering and industrial company in that city.

In the early 1840s, Ferdinand visited New Orleans as a sales agent before permanently moving there in 1845, and then marrying in 1849. In 1856, the brothers corresponded with U.S. Secretary of War Jeff Davis about the possibility of manufacturing military arms in New Orleans, Louisiana. Frederick gave up his position as sales manager for the Novelty Iron Works and, along with his two brothers,

began the Nashua Iron Company for the production of arms.

According to the Cook brothers, the firm was established to prove “that rifles could be made here as well as in Yankee land or in Europe.” Soon thereafter they renamed the company Cook & Brother.

In the New Orleans facility, only about 1,000-2,000 rifles were produced before New Orleans was taken over by the Union army.

This necessitated an emergency move in April 1862. As much machinery as possible, along with all finished parts and raw materials, were loaded onto a riverboat and taken to Vicksburg, Mississippi, then sent by wagon to Selma, Alabama, and finally on to Athens, Georgia where they set up their shops again. The Confederacy then contracted Cook & Brother to make 50,000 stands of arms.

All of the arms they produced were copied from Model 1853, 1856, or 1858 .577 caliber British Enfield patterns in rifles, musketoons, and carbines. The model copied is still up in the air, depending on the author or researcher.

Cook never came close to filling the 50,000-stand contract. The final count of weapons produced at the two locations is about 8,000. All parts are serial numbered: the lock, nose cap, butt plate, barrel, trigger guard and even most of the screw heads.

The serial number on your nose cap most likely dates it to late 1863 manufacture in the Athens facility, which was located at East Broad Street at Trail Creek, just across the bridge spanning the North Oconee River. I believe the building still stands.

While the numbered parts are fairly easy to trace to their origin of manufacture, the accompanying lock plates leave no doubt. The New Orleans lock plates are marked “Cook & Brother, N.O. 1861” with a small Confederate First National flag stamped in front of the hammer. The Athens weapons are stamped “Cook & Brother, Athens GA” with a serial number over the year. The Confederate First National flag is at the rear of the lockplate and has a definite wrinkle in it as if it were waving.

(American Digger Vol. 13, Issue 3)

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an you give me any information about this button I found? It is a slightly convex one-piece button and extremely small. The backmark is “EXTRA RICH.” I have contacted everyone in the country, it seems, who deals in military buttons, and have had no success.

I was hoping you could shed some light on it for me.

Brent Beville From what I can see, it is one of what is normally referred to by relic hunters as a “flower button.” Properly called Golden Age buttons, these are fancy civilian buttons popular from the early 1800s into the Civil War era. The later ones are two-piece, while those like yours are one-piece and were predominate in the 1830s and ‘40s.

All have some kind of ornamental design on the face, often flowers. Others used geometric designs. There are hundreds of different designs that fall into this category.

All were heavily gilted, and the “EXTRA RICH” backmark was a rather generic way of confirming this. The small size is not unusual; these usually were grouped to adorn the cuffs of a coat. Although civilian in nature, some were used in a pinch as replacement uniform buttons by Confederates. Still, the vast majority were civilian used, and that is who they were marketed to.

(American Digger Vol. 13, Issue 4)

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

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Sam Stephenson found these pieces while metal detecting a site near Chickamauga, Georgia. They are 1.85 and 2.25 inches long respectively and look to have nickel or chrome plating over a lead alloy. The circular “eye” of each has traces of red paint. Our initial thought was that they may be part of a fishing lure, but there are no visible signs of a place to attach a line or hook. As always, if you can offer insight on these, we’ll share the information.

(Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 1)

We don’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

Loren Good found what appears to be part of a military horse bit, but we have not been able to find any information on this style. It is made of cast brass and was found near Chickamauga, Georgia. This type of eagle was in use from the Civil War through the early 1900s, which coincides with the military heyday of the area. (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 5)

Vince Hirtz dug this cast copper/brass piece in a farm field in Suffolk, Virginia in March 2017 and is seeking its identity. The piece looks like a horned creature (perhaps a goat) that may be holding a snake in its mouth.

It seems to have been bent by a plow. Suffolk had active Revolutionary War and Civil War action, although the item may not be militarily associated. There are two small drilled lug fasteners on the back. Any information from our readers would be greatly appreciated. (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 6)

Brian Harvey found this “U.S.” embossed bucket at a Civil War skirmish site in central Virginia, but is it connected to that great struggle or something that was lost later? Also, does it have military connections? Any help from our readers would be appreciated.

(Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 3)

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Jerry Morgan recovered this suspender adjuster buckle in Ringgold, Georgia, close to where Civil War-era coins were found. He wonders if the star is of a military nature or merely a civilian decoration? We are hoping our readers can tell us more about it. (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 2)

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Got a find that no one can identify? Ask our readers in “Stumpt!”

SOL VED FEEDBACK Tom Moss contacted us concerning the two “Stumpt” items shown in our last issue (and also above): “The knight’s bust is part of a sword belt regalia from Knights Pythias Templar.

It attached to a leather belt along with other insignia of this order.

The stone artifact is most likely a Chinese printing block with the kansi symbol. This is my guess.”

Both sound very plausible, and we are hoping for even more input from readers so we can call these pieces’s identity “Solved.”

(Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 3)

Solved!

The piece dug by Britain Lockhart and shown in a previous Stumpt column has tentatively been identified by Bob Spratley, who says it is the throwout bearing fork for a 1940’s automobile. Although the photo Bob sent (above right) is not an exact match— there are a multitude of variants of this automotive part— there are enough similarities to make us agree with this identification. Now, to find the exact make and model that this piece fits. (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 1)

Wayne Austin found this twopiece button at an old house site that was also a Civil War campsite in Madison County, Virginia. At the same site he also dug a Confederate lined block “A” button and the back to a North Carolina button. As of yet, no one has come up with a positive identification of it. It is cuff size, and although it has a backmark, it is illegible.

Can you help us learn more about this find? If so, contact us!

(Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 6)

SOLVED! The piece found by D’Ann McCord and shown in our last issue has positively been identified as a 1939 Davey Adams Shipmates Club decoder badge, thanks to readers Mitch King (Treasure Coast Archeological Society Vice President) and Roger Waddell. These premiums were offered

by Lava Soap, who sponsored the radio adventure series. (Originally pub-

lished in Volume 13, Issue 4)

Solved!

David Glover contacted us with the identity of the item sent in by Chris Ingram in our last issue. Far from a military or veteran piece that some had suggested, the piece is actually a watch fob advertising “Walk Over Shoes” with the top loop broken off. A quick internet search turned up a photo of a non dug specimen, confirming the identity. Although we are uncertain of the age, we would expect these advertising pieces to date to around the turn of the 20th century. (Originally published in Volume 13, Issue 5)

"Stumpt!" Appears in each issue of American Digger® magazine, and by asking our readers' input, many previously unidentified items now have been identified. Click here to subscribe and help solve mysteries like these! You are also encouraged to send your own items for identification.

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Getting Hammered in England Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 1.

Click here to order single issues.

Hammered coins occasionally turn up in the USA, but if you really want to find them, head to England.

By Ed Stewart

M

etal detecting in England is a thrill that is hard to imagine. The country has metal artifacts dating back to 2000 BC. That’s 4,000 years— and many of these relics are still buried just inches in the ground, waiting to be found! The names and portraits on the coins that pop up are right out of a course in world history: Constantine I, King John, Henry VIII. It is almost magical holding one of these items after discovery and thinking, “if only it could talk.” The group I participate in (Discovery Tours) is in its 25th year of conducting metal detecting tours in England. I knew this anniversary would attract a lot of detectorists so I wasn’t surprised when I heard that there were 30 people signed up for the main tour.

The tour is broken into two parts: The main eight-day tour and a four day “add-on.” My vacation budget and available days off work have only permitted me to detect for eight days. This year I had a work commitment that wouldn’t allow me to leave in time for the start of the main tour. Thanks to extra efforts made by the group, arrangements were made for me to attend the last four days of the main tour plus the four days of the add-on, so I would have my full eight days of detecting.

There was no price difference for my “custom” tour, and I actually saved money as I would require one less night’s stay in London. An additional advantage is that fewer people stay for the add-on. While there would be 29 people detecting with me on the first four days, there would only be 14 for that last four days. The only disadvantage was that I would miss the tour’s bus from London and would have to 32 American Digger® Vol. 13, Issue 1 ®

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2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler

make my own way the 100 miles to Norwich.

I had made my airline reservations and paid for my spot on the tour months before. I had checked and double checked all my gear. After what seemed like forever, my departure day of August 21 finally came. After eight years I had my packing down to a science.

I fit everything I needed, right down to my digging shovel, into one checked bag, one carry-on and one personal item (a small backpack).

My wife Kelly dropped me at the airport and I caught my first flight to Dallas where I would connect with the London flight. I arrived in Dallas a little after 4:00 PM. Based on past travel experience I always build in plenty of time between my connecting flights and even more for international flights. My London flight didn’t leave until 8:00 PM so I had time to find my gate and then grab a little late afternoon snack.

My London flight boarded on time and I found my window seat on the big Boeing 777. My seat was just behind the wing and after settling in it I turned and looked out. My window formed a perfect frame around the flaperon on the trailing edge of the wing.

My thoughts immediately ran to the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which was also a 777. The flaperon looked exactly like the one that had washed up on Reunion Island, which was kind of sobering.

My flaperon remained firmly attached, though, and I turned my mind to more pleasant thoughts. My flight arrived early and British Customs actually let me into the country with a stained tee shirt and a scribbly landing card. I considered it a major testimony to the

Day 1: John or Henry III short cross cut quarter penny __________ cordial state of US/UK relations.

As I’ve mentioned, since I was not arriving at the start of the tour there was no tour bus to take me from London to Norwich.

So I purchased a ticket to ride the National Express bus from the Heathrow airport to Norwich. With all of the stops, the 100-mile trip took a little over four hours. Even though I was coming in alone and on a different day than everyone else, Mark, one of the tour hosts, was waiting for me when I stepped off the bus in Norwich. We got to the hotel in time for dinner with the rest of the group. It was fun to catch up and hear about their day’s adventures. After dinner I reassembled my metal detector and turned it on. I always hold my breath, visualizing the kind of treatment my bag was subjected to riding in the belly of the plane. I breathed a sigh of relief when it came on and checked out fine. I went down to the finds room and looked at all of the great coins and artifacts found that day.

It really got me fired up and ready for my first shot at the fields the next day. Thankfully, I was seriously jetlagged, or I would have been too excited to sleep.

I was up early the next morning and gave my gear a double-check, then met the rest of the group in the hotel restaurant for breakfast. Although there were a variety of choices, I had my favorite, the full English breakfast which I would have with only slight variations the rest of the tour. A full English breakfast consists of sausage, bacon, fried egg, mushrooms, and pork-and-beans. During my stay I would usually throw in a bowl of oatmeal (the locals called it “porridge”) and some fruit to have at least some healthy items.

The day was mostly clear and the highs would only be in the low 70s. That was perfect detecting weather. Based on the forecast, this was the temperature range we could expect for all eight days of detecting.

Heavy rain was forecast for a couple of the days, but not today.

The bus was waiting in front of the hotel, and by 8:00 we were on our way to the day’s fields. After a short ride we were dropped off at our first field of the day. As the tour provides us with chairs and lunch, these were unloaded and a little base camp set up. Our tour hosts showed us exactly what fields we would be hunting, and then we were off. For those not familiar with artifact hunting in fields, there is a lot of walking involved. On previous trips, we had often speculated about how far we actually walked in a day. This year my roommate brought a pedometer, so we were going to find out.

There is potential for finding a large variety of fantastic artifacts when detecting in England, from Bronze Age through medieval.

Despite this, almost every hunter, even the local English detectorists, measure their success by the number of hammered silver coins they find. These coins are very thin and were produced between 780 and 1660. They were handmade by hammering a silver disk (planchet) between two dies (a trussell and a pile).

After 1660, English coins were made by machines and are referred to as “milled” coins.

My first day was pretty slow in the way of recordable finds. Recordable finds are artifacts over 300 years old that are important enough to record in a national database that is used for research purposes. Certain common artifacts over 300 years old, such as lead loom weights, are not recorded. Also, badly damaged artifacts over 300 years old are usually not recorded unless they are very old or very rare.

My only recordable find on the first day was a hammered silver John or Henry III cut quarter penny that dated from 1205-1242.

The original coin had been cut into four even pieces, called farthings, to make change.

Most of these cut coins were actually cut in the mints that produced them. Some were cut later by merchants. Only one recordable find didn’t mean I wasn’t digging a lot of targets. I dug 97 targets the first day. These included buttons and copper coins from the 1700s that aren’t old enough to record, but are still fun to find.

On my second day, we were back in the fields again. The day was going to be another nice one. We headed to a huge farm that we had hunted before and which had produced an amazing array of great finds over the years.

The morning field was the most interesting as a couple of the hunters ran into a scatter of Roman bronze coins up in one corner of the field. Most of the other detectorists keep an eye on the activity in a field and when

Day 2: Constantius II nummus __________ they see someone slowing down and staying in one particular area, they tend to gravitate that way. It wasn’t long before that corner of the field was pretty crowded, and then shortly after, pretty picked over. I, of course, was on the other side of the large field at the time, and by the time I worked my way over, most of the coins were gone. I did find a Constantius II nummus from 330-335 AD and another Roman bronze nummus whose emperor was illegible, but that dated from 275-401 AD. A “nummus” generically refers to a small bronze Roman coin. In all, 44 Roman coins were found in that one area. We were told it was likely a small temple site where coins were left as offerings.

My other recordable finds for the day included a 14th-16th century copper alloy strap-end with rivet holes, a 14th century one-piece strap end, and a 14th century bar mount. I was happy that my recorded finds count went from one the first day to five, even if I didn’t find any hammered silver coins.

Our third day we travelled to a little village north of Norwich where we have done

Day 3: Anglo-Saxon mount __________

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very well year after year. There was a huge amount of activity in this area in medieval times and even back to Roman times. I knew it would produce well, and I wasn’t disappointed. I found a 15th-16th century domed mount, an interesting forgery of a James I or Charles I copper farthing from 1614-1636, a 17th century spectacle buckle, a very nice Anglo-Saxon decorative mount, a 14th century decorated strap end, two 16251649 Charles I copper farthings, and a 13th century gilded buckle plate. No hammereds, though.

My fourth day was the last day of the regular eight-day tour. In the previous eight years, this had been my last day, too, so it felt good knowing I had five more days of detecting. One thing I did know still applied

Day 4: Elizabeth I threepence __________ was that we would all come off the field an hour early in order to give those who were leaving time to pack and get back to London.

I put my rain gear on before we left the hotel, as did most everyone. The tour leader told us that we were going to a new location that he had researched. Based on the information that he found the site had good potential for medieval artifacts. Everyone hit the field and fanned out, hoping for that good target.

The morning was pretty slow for me, as it was for everyone. I did find a recordable 1667 Norwich farthing. Late in the morning it started to rain. I pulled up my hood, checked that all my detector covers were in place, and returned to swinging. I got a good signal, dug it up and found myself holding a muddy 1567 Elizabeth I threepence. Finally, my second hammered silver. It rained pretty hard up until lunch time and then mercifully the rain stopped.

The rain came back with a vengeance in the afternoon. Fortunately, I was pretty waterproof. Some of the other weren’t as

prepared. My only recordable find in the afternoon was a bronze Roman Emperor Constans nummus from 337-350AD. Nobody complained about having to leave the field an hour early. Everyone was wet and the finds had been pretty few. I felt really sorry for the fifteen people who were leaving for London after dinner. They would have to pack wet gear that would be pretty ripe smelling by the time they got home. I knew this from firsthand experience.

A nice dinner was held to mark the last day for those leaving. The guest speaker was from the Norwich Castle Museum where many finds made by tour members over the years are on display. Awards were also given to the top two detectorists. Since this was the 25th anniversary, the cook at the hotel made a special cake with a metal detecting theme.

It was sad to wave goodbye to friends as the bus departed, but it was a lot better waving from the outside of the bus for a change.

Day five was cloudy but there was no rain in the forecast. It also felt much more relaxed with only fifteen hunters now in the group. I had never had the chance to experience this before. After my standard English breakfast, I climbed onto a much emptier bus and we headed for the fields. We were back on some fields that normally produce very well. There were two nice Roman brooches found and some nice coins. My only recordable find was a hammered silver 1583 Elizabeth I sixpence that was rolled up like a megaphone. Hey, hammered is hammered, and I now had three.

Day number six dawned with a lot nicer weather. That, and the fact that we were heading for an area that always produced well, had me feeling pretty good. Normally we are out in the middle of the countryside in a field where no trace of human activity remains, where it is hard to imagine that any settlement had been there hundreds of years before.

Our first field of the day was actually in the center of a little old village filled with ancient looking-stone houses. It was too small for thirty detectorists, but just right for fifteen.

The little field was surrounded by a stone wall that had been there since the middle ages. I could easily visualize a colorful medieval fair with lords and ladies sporting shiny rings and jewelry, and merchants pedaling their wares and counting their coins. I could almost smell those coins and artifacts in the ground in front of me. My first two finds were a Nuremberg jetton, Field of Fleurs, that dated between 1480 and 1500 and a Hans Schultes III Nuremberg jetton dating from 1608-1612.

Jetons are coin-like counting tokens produced

® ® 1 3424American Vol.Digger 13, Issue 2017Digger American Magazine

Sampler

Day 6: Vespasian “as” __________ and used across Europe from the 13th through the 17th centuries. They were produced as counters for use in calculation on a lined board that functioned similarly to an abacus.

My next signal turned out to be a hammered silver Henry VIII penny from the Durham mint, dating from 1526-1544. It was in really good condition and was the first penny of this type that I had found. I next found a rose or orb jeton from 1550-1584 and a 16th century shell design button. I finished up the morning with an Edward I penny from the London mint that dated from 1280-1289.

I now had five hammered silvers.

The afternoon field was a little slower but I did find a bronze Roman Vespasian “as” with an eagle and globe on the reverse, dating from a 69-79AD. It was larger than the nummus coins I had found. It is about the diameter of a quarter but much thicker. I also found two copper alloy 13 or 14th century strap loops.

Day seven dawned and I was down to my penultimate day. I sure wanted to make the most of it. After a short drive we arrived at the morning field and set up our base camp.

As soon as I had my detector on and groundbalanced, I headed towards a promising looking part of the field. The day was very nice and the area we were hunting was quite picturesque. Since I would be going home soon,

Day 7: Edward III groat __________

Among the author’s finds on day eight were (L-R) a Domitian Denarius, a Henry III VLC penny, and a Dupondius. __________ I was tempted to stop and just soak it all in.

The lure of incredibly old artifacts under my feet kept me swinging, though.

As my search patterns took me past the other detectorists, I learned that several hammered silver coins, along with some other nice artifacts, had been found. My morning was very slow and I hadn’t found any recordable finds. I was on my way back for lunch when I got a good signal, but assumed it would be another little piece of lead. After a little digging, I uncovered not a piece of lead but a hammered silver Charles I half groat (twopence) dating from 1625-1649. This was the first silver coin of Charles I that I had found.

After lunch we moved to a huge field that we had never been on before. It has always puzzled me why, when there is so much area to detect, many people tend to cluster together in sort of a roving herd.

Everything else being equal, I prefer to have some room around me so that my feet may follow where my instincts lead.

I was sure glad I followed this strategy on this day. I was hunting in an area of the field that I had pretty much to myself when I got a very loud signal and the numeric readout was higher than lead. I carefully cut a circle of dirt out and turned it over.

My pinpointer quickly located the target in the loose dirt and I found myself holding a beautiful hammered silver Edward III groat that dated from 1356-1361. A groat is four pence and during the reign of Edward III was a very large coin, nearly the diameter of a half dollar. There are usually one or two of these lovely big coins found on the tour, but this was my first in nine years.

I had only found two recordable finds for the day, but they were good ones, and my hammered coin count was now up to seven. The last day of the tour arrived all too soon. The rain also chose this day 36 American Digger® Vol. 13, Issue 1

to return. The good news was that the weatherman was only calling for periodic light showers. Additional good news came when the day’s destination was announced.

We were going to be detecting a new field on a farm that has produced some fantastic finds over the years. This was the same farm where I had found a Edward III hammered gold coin in 2014.

We set up our base camp in an empty barn so at least we could get out of the rain if it got bad, and to have a dry space for lunch and for our extra gear. The sky didn’t look too bad right after we arrived, so I decided to chance it and leave my rain gear in the barn. By mid-morning I had no recordable finds and it was starting to sprinkle. I walked back to the barn in a light rain and put on my rain gear. By the time I got back to the field it had stopped raining. I kept my my rain suit on, though, and it wasn’t long before I was rewarded with an Edward I penny dating from 1272-1307. This was my second Edward I penny and my eighth hammered silver for the trip.

Right before I went in for lunch I found a nice Henry III Long Cross penny from 1216-1272. The Henry III I had found the first day was only a cut quarter of a penny. Now I was holding a complete example. And this was my ninth hammered silver! I ate lunch in the dry barn and compared notes with the other detectorists. A nice Anglo-Saxon brooch and a very rare Viking harness piece had been found.

We had a choice of fields after lunch and I chose a closely cropped clover field.

Even though the rain had stopped, I was afraid the plowed fields would be pretty muddy. I really didn’t want to have to pack a bunch of muddy gear. Most of the other hunters headed back to the plowed fields.

The clover had been cropped close by grazing cattle, and as a result the ground was

packed down hard. After getting my first signal, I found that the digging was very difficult. The two other detectorists who had opted for the clover field soon left, leaving me alone in the field.

I continued finding targets, even if they were hard to dig and weren’t recordable. I was tempted to give up and go somewhere else, but a little voice told me to stay.

Thankfully, the rain held off. I had been working the low part of the field and decided to work my way up to the higher side.

I was about two-thirds of the way across the field when I got another signal.

I expected another less-than-stellar find, but still carefully cut a large plug around the target. I finally got the plug out and then scooped out the loose dirt. My pinpointer indicated that I had the target out of the hole. I swept some dirt away and saw a shiny silver disk sitting there. At first I thought it was a button, but as soon as I picked it up I knew what I had. It was a silver Roman Denarius of Domitian that dated to 80AD while he held the title of “Caesar” under his father, Emperor Titus.

This was my first denarius in nine years of detecting in England! The word “denarius” means “containing ten,” and it was originally worth ten of the “as” coins such as the example I had found two days before.

By the time my coin was minted, though, it was worth sixteen of the “as” coins. A denarius would have been the ordinary pay for a day’s labor, so this coin was likely very much missed. My coin was in great shape despite being almost 2,000 years old. I had to sit there and admire it for a few minutes before putting it safely in my pocket.

My last recordable find for the day was another Roman coin from the clover field.

It was a bronze dupondius or “as” that dated between 208-270 AD. A dupondius is a

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Participants from day eight prepare to say their good byes before a long flight home. Although finds are of the upmost importance, a lot of long-lasting friendships are also formed on these trips abroad. __________ big thick coin worth two of the “as” coins.

The last day’s hunt was also an hour shorter to give us more time to pack and get back to London. When the bus arrived at the barn we took our last trip back to the hotel. I enjoyed a hearty dinner with the rest of the group, then rushed back to my room to pack. I was lucky that my gear was not very wet. I had experienced another great time detecting in this ancient land. I ended up with nine hammered silver coins which was second only to the eleven I found in 2014. Over my first seven tours I averaged just five hammereds per year.

This time, I found a total of six Roman coins, including my

No matter where you go...

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2017 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

first-ever Roman silver. I also found a total of 34 recordable finds, which was ten more than my average from the previous trips. What’s more, I will be able to keep all of my finds from this trip after they are inspected. My roommate’s pedometer indicated that we walked an average of eight miles a day, or over 60 miles for the tour! So I had got in some pretty good exercise, too. More importantly though, I had a chance to pursue a hobby I love, in a beautiful country with some good friends. It is always hard to say goodbye to friends you have known for nine years, yet see only once a year. At the same time, I was ready to go.

Like we say in Kansas, “there’s no place like home.”

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 1.

Click here to order single issues.

About The Author Ed Stewart bought his first metal detector with money earned from mowing lawns in high school over 40 years ago. In addition to being an active detectorist, he is also a privy digger with over 1000 dug bottles to his credit.

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Privy Digging g 101: How to get the Glass s

By Rick Weiner

B R

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 2.

Click here to order single issues.

I

To fully learn the art you have to use a probe th fully lear n have been involved with the art ofT bottleo to locate a pit in so to locate a pit in someone’s yard or a construction digging since I was 14 years old, and I am now half th lot, because half the challenge is first finding where 56. My love for old glasslot, started in a 1930sbecause to dig .

Without a to dig. Without a probe you will have a really hard p dump that my grandmother would take me to on the time finding those time finding those hidden outhouse holes. It would weekends. It was located in the Pocono Mountains of be more like a gu be more like a guessing game than a calculated Pennsylvania where she ran her antique business. I find.

Probes privy find. Probes can be made from spring steel guess antiques and bottles got into myprivy blood from the used in automo used in automobile trunks and obtained at a get-go. There were not too many gaps in my local junkyard local junkyard. To make a probe you must life where I stopped digging for long stretches have have access to aaccess welding machine. Thus, of time. It was pretty much a continuous ride through history, digging up old glass and having fun doing it. I have slowed down a bit these days due to some aches and pains but, luckily, I have two partners who are a lot younger than me. I will stay in the bottle digging game as long as I possibly can. One day the time will come when I can no longer sink a shovel into that soft ash, but if necessary I will end up being on the dig sites in a wheelchair. I am sure I will be some kind of help; heck, I balt can clean off the bottles as they come A cobalt e (above); up out of the pit. Every digger needs squat bottle (above); of the sun a bottle cleaner. keeping out of the sun brella.

There is a lot to learnNote about digwith an umbrella. Note 55 gallon ging privies.

Though it is not rocket the plastic 55 gallon ners. science, there are a few important containers. things to know before you get in over most most people buy theirs. peopl There are a few your head (pun intended). A friend and I sites online that sites online that sell good quality probes; I have a kind of winged it on our first privy dig, a bricklink on my webpage that link on my webpage that can help. lined pit. My buddy stumbled upon it while arrowhead Besides probe, every hunting. I got a call one Saturday to come and help him. I a Besides a probe, every privy digger uses slightly different style tools.

Everyone need remember that day well. At the time we knew nothing about style tools. Everyone needs a shovel and a small, handheld scraper .

I use a fiberglassprivy digging. We had heard about the hobby via the inscraper. I use a fiberglass-handled spade shovel for digging out fill ternet and read aboutthe it a little in books,majority but we had never out the majority of the of fill from these the pits. They are strong and the handle not attempted to dig one ourselves.

Since that memorable day and the handle will will not split over time from hard use. For s the handheld scraper som 11 years ago we have been successfully digging up and prethe handheld scraper, some diggers use plastic,scratchers and others use a broom serving the past in the form of old bottles and other artifacts and others use a broom stick or a sharpened wooden dowel. reason for th from these unintended time capsules. The dowel.

The reason for this is that wood or plastic will not ® ® ® ® Digger 28 2017 American Magazine Sampler 28 2017 American Digger Sampler 36 American American Digger Vol. 13, Issue 2 36 Digger Vol. 13, Issue 2 Magazine

By Using A Probe In natural ground, aWeiner probe shows Rick noticeable resistance whether inserting or removing it from the soil; it also has a “suction” feel when you pull it out. In a privy it will be fairly easy on the downward push and give a crunchy feel from the fill and ash in the pit. Also check the recessed area behind tip of the probe.

If it hits a privy, there will be ash and other foreign material on it. Natural earth will leave clay.

If there is a power source nearby, an electric fan can help in ventilating the hole when digging out a privy.

he art you have to use a p omeone’s yard or a constru he scratch challenge first w glass. However, I personally use a four-prong is This necessitated afinding better method to get those heavy probe you will have really handheld metal cultivator because it’s stronger and I buckets up to the top, a and a pulley is the ticket for hidden outhouse w can feel the progress as I’m digging into the ash. You that. I use aholes. big heavy-duty “barn pulley.” AIt metal uessing game than calcu just have to be a little more careful when digging out tripod is needed to set ita up. Alternatively, you can s can be made from spring a bottle with this tool. use two small wooden sawhorses or a 10-foot steel obile trunks and obtained There are other tools and accessories that bar set across two filled barrels. The tripod and d. are a T make a probe must ino privy digging.

One of them is pulley method works best for theyou majority of to abucket. welding machine.

T a 5-gallon plastic It is always good people who attempt to dig a deep pit. These to have several on hand in case the handle tripods can be made or bought online. breaks while pulling it up from the pit. Always When the privies go deep you will need be alert when you are the one in the pit while a section of aluminum ladder or, in some the bucket is being pulled up. Five gallons cases, a complete 24-foot ladder to get in of dirt is heavy! A 15-foot section of strong and out of the hole. There are also rollup chain ladders available. Chances are you’ll not need anything beyond a short ladder, though, as most people never encounter a privy that goes deeper than 10 feet.

You should also keep the dig site clean and organized. Large plastic tarps are needed to keep the fill from the privy in one place, preferably around the dug pit. It is a simple process. The contents of Above, a scarce 1850 the privy are shoveled onto the Philadelphia medicine bottle. A tarp and then shoveled back view into an exceptionally deep brickle buy theirs.

There a in when theare job is done. lined privy shows several of theprobes; needed sell good quality I h We also use plastic 55-galtools: a ladder, rope, bucket, and lights. can help. lon barrels for the contents.

The digger has removed his hard rope is also needed for bucket pulling.

The barrels I use fit inside y privy digger uses slightly diff hat for the photo.

We use tree-climbing rope because of each other for easyhan transport ds a shovel and a small, its tensile strength. Another useful item is in the back offor the truck. Thedi -handled spade shovel a tripod and pulley. Sometimes you will come reason for using these are is that there l from these pits.

They s across a privy that goes deeper than the normal six to is even less mess left in the yard.

The barrels plit over time from hard us eight feet, diggers and brute strength will not be enoughuse to pull are placed around the hole and filled with the privy conme plastic scrat buckets up from the depths. or tents. The only disadvantage is they get extremely heavy. m stick a shar pened wo Although rare, we have dug pits up to 30 feet deep.

It sometimes takes two guys to dump it back into the privy. his is that wood or plastic wi ® ® March-April 37 37 March-April2017 2017American AmericanDigger Digger

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Artifacts other than glass are also prevalent in privies (below), but require a sharper eye to find.

Privies Check the loose dirtare with a metal occasionally found detector (left) or by sifting (right). under concrete slabs or asphalt. Be prepared for getting beneath these hindrances by using the Next look for breaker signs such as old pieces will be a heavy breaker bar, a sledgeproper tools.will be a we heavy bar, a ofsledg brick, and glass sherds.hammer, When these an hammer, a medium-size hammer, and hammer, a coal, medium-size items start to pop out we Safety know that aglasses husome brute strength. Safety glasses some brute strength.

Sometimes on overcast days, or even We have been doing it this man put this stuff there.

That gives us the aren’t a bad idea, either. aren’t a bad idea, either. when the privy gets deep, it is hard to see what you are way for a long time, so we have a sysYou have to use common sense lightto to use dig deeper.

You green have common sense digging. I recommend you use a strap-on headlamp. tem that makes it look easy.

Once up you determine that you are while busting up the mass. There while busting the mass.

There They work great and it is all-hands, free action when they an outhouse hole you need to widen will be a gap between the blacktop will be a in gap between the blacktop are in use. A handheld flashlight will come in handy for ut the most important it up. and Estimate the hole. size of the pit and or concrete and the hole. The ash or concrete the The ash certain angles in the privy. Gloves are a given; protruding thing in privy digging cutto more continues to sink and the black top continues sink grass and the black top is safety. Beware of soft out of every wall is glass that can cut you. plugs from out. The usually sags from this occurrence. usually sags this occurrence.

If you dig privies year-round like we do, you will be dirt walls, and only pursue the objective to easier to bust This will make it easier to bust This will makeis it out in the elements. The blistering sun and heat are a big deeper pits if they are brickthrough. Once you have the hole the yard through.keep Once you have the hole deterrence. I have a large beach umbrella that I use; I lined or if a secure shoring systhe best opened, chop it out enough so you opened,inchop it out enough so you stick it in one of the 55-gallon drums that are filled with tem has been put into place. c o n d i t i o n can get down in the privy when the can get down in the privy when the A hard hat is also a must bedirt and, from then on, it’s like a day at the beach. Well, you postime comes to do so. time comes to do so. almost. The shade from the umbrella is priceless on those cause a brick or stone falling can.point, you are ready At that point, you are ready to At sibly that and hitting your head from kinds of days. Without that comfort of shade there were Once actual you start the actual digging process. Once start the digging process. On many pits that we would not have been able to finish. I any height will put a hurting get the hole or concrete is remove the blacktop or concrete is removed, it the blacktop on you. It is always better to also have a big square pop-up canopy-type tent. That a bit wider,as usual; dig down an is business as usual; dig down and find is business item is mostly for rainy days, but we have also used it just be safe than sorry. You will also continue to dig The basic method fo some bottles! The basic method for digging some bottles! for shade from the blistering sun. want to have a first-aid kit down remove the shallow privy is as foll out aAn typical shallow privy is as follows. After you outand a typical 1850s on hand. Broken glass and Occasionally you will find a privy that is hidden unfill, placing it on the the pit, dig a test ho have located the pit, dig a test hole.

I usually start by have located embossed der an old blacktop, concrete slab, or sidewalk. In these human skin don’t like each tarp or in the barrels. cutting a nice-sized plug from the middle of the suspected cutting a nice-sized plug from the mi squat bottle after other very well. cases there will sometimes be a sunken spot visSoon you will be down privy.

We cut the grass out like a hunk of sod and put it privy. We cut the grass out like a hu cleaning. ible in the middle. These pits need a difinoff the hole try and Remember to wet off to the side. Remember to wet it so it does not dry to enough the to side. ferent approach. The tools needed find a wall; one wall out in the sun.Now it is time to start digging down into out in finding the sun.Now it is time to sta the open hole. will make it easier to locate the open hole.

“Summer Most of the time the probe does not lie. If it burthe others.

If theof privy is time Most the the probe do Tree” flask. ies easily and has a crunchy feel it is most likely a privy. brick stone-lined then you iesoreasily and has a crunchy feel it i

B

These freshly dug sodas (left) will be cleaned (right) with bottle brushes and “Krud Cutter®.” Squirt some inStone-lined a bottle with(left) warm water and let it set for a few minutes. or brick-lined (above) Increase the soaking time privies are generally more depending on the buildup. stable and safer than wood-The author also uses rock lined holes (right).salt; pour into the bottle with warm water and shake vigorously. ®®®

38 American American AmericanDigger Digger Digger Vol. Vol. Vol. 13,13, Issue 38 13, Issue 2®2 2 ®Issue 30 2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler 30 2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler

® ®® March-April 2017 American Digger March-April 2017 American Digger 39 March-April 2017 American Digger39 39

Artifacts other Artifacts other than glass are also than glass are also prevalent in privies (below), prevalent in privies (below), but require a sharper eye to but find. require a sharper eye to find.

Check the loose dirt with aCheck metal the loose dirt with a metal detector (left) or by sifting detector (right). (left) or by sifting (right).

Next we lookNext for we signs lookwill for be signs such suchas as old old pieces pieces will be a heavy breaker bar, a sledgea heavy breaker bar, aof sledge brick, coal, brick, andcoal, glass and glass sherds. sherds. When When these the hammer, a medium-size hammer, and hammer, a medium-size hammer, and some brute strength. Safety glasses items start to items pop start some to out popbrute we out we strength. know know that Safety that a huglasses a h man put this man stuff put this there. stuff there.

That That gives gives us theus th aren’t a bad idea, either. aren’t a bad idea, either.

You have to use common sense green light green to dig light deeper. toYou dig have deeper. to use common sense Once you Once determine you busting determine that thatmass. youyou are a while busting up the mass. There while up the There in an outhouse in an outhouse hole you you need needthe to blacktop widen to wide will be a gap between the blacktop will be ahole gap between it up. Estimate it up. Estimate the size the and sizeof of the the pitThe and pit or concrete and the hole. The ash or concrete the hole. ash an cut morecut grass more grassto sink and the black top continues to sink and the black top continues plugs out.plugsThe out.

The usually sags from this occurrence. usually sags from this occurrence. objective objective is to is will to make it easier to bust This will make it easier to bust This through. Once you have the hole keep the yard keep thethrough. yard Once you have the hole in the best in the best opened, chop it out enough so you opened, chop it out enough so you c o n d i t i o n c o n d i t i o ncan get down in the privy when the e can get down in the privy when the you pos- you pos- time comes to do so. time comes to do so. sibly can. sibly can. to At that point, you are ready to At that point, you are ready to Once you Once you start the actual digging process. Onc nce start the actual digging process. Once get the hole get the hole the blacktop or concrete is removed ed, it the blacktop or concrete is removed, it bit wider,a bit wider, is business as usual; dig down and nd findis business as usual; dig down and find a continue to dig continue to dig some bottles! The basic method for or digging some bottles! The basic method for digging and downthe and remove the out a typical shallow privy is as follow lows. After out a typical you shallow privy is asdown follows. After you remove fill, it on fill, placing the it on the have located the pit, dig a test hole ole. I usually have located start the pit, by dig a test hole. Iplacing usually start by tarp insuspected the barrels. tarp or in the barrels. cutting a nice-sized plug from the mid iddle ofcutting the asuspected nice-sized plug from the middleor of the Soon you be Soon down you will be down unk of privy. sod We and cut the put grass itout like a hunk of sod and put will it privy. We cut the grass out like a hun t it so itoffdoes to the side. not Remember dry toin wetthe it so ithole does not enough dry in the tohole try enough andto tryoffand to the side. Remember to wet i art digging out in down the sun.Now into it is time to find start digging a wall; down into finding find aone wall; finding wall oneout wall in the sun.Now it is time to start will make it easier will to makelocate it easier to locate the open hole. the open hole.

“Summer “Summer the the others. privyIf is the privy isMost oes not lie.

MostIfof it the burtime the probe does others. not lie. If it If bur- the of the time the probe doe Tree” Tree” flask. flask. brick orlikely stone-lined brickthen or stone-lined you thenies youeasily and has a crunchy feel it is is most ies likely easily and a has privy. a crunchy feel it is most a privy.

gend s

These freshly dug These freshly dug sodas (left) will be cleaned sodas (left) will be cleaned (right) with bottle brushes (right) and with bottle brushes and ® “Krud Cutter .” Squirt some “Krud Cutter®.” Squirt some in a bottle with warm water in a bottle with warm water and let it set for a few minutes. and let it set for a few minutes.

Increase the soaking time Increase the soaking time depending on the buildup. depending The on the buildup. The author also uses rock salt; author pour also uses rock salt; pour into the bottle with warminto water the bottle with warm water and shake vigorously. and shake vigorously. ® ®® ® ® ® March-April 2017 March-April American 2017 American Digger Digger March-April March-April 2017 American 2017 American Digger Digger 39 39 March-April March-April 2017 American 2017 American Digger Digger39 3939 39 www.americandigger.com 31

Artifacts other than glass are also prevalent in privies (below), but require a sharper eye to find.

Check the loose dirt with a metal detector (left) or by sifting (right).

Next we look for signs such as old pieces of will be a heavy breaker bar, a sledgebrick, coal, and glass sherds. When these medium-size hammer, and will hammer, have an aeasier time finditems start to pop out we know that a husomewalls, bruteasstrength. ing the these doSafety not glasses man put this Embossed stuff there. That gives us the aren’t a bad idea, either.

(Left) rot like wood. Once you get Youtypes have of to use common green toS. digLAWALL,” deeper. a bottlelight of”J. into those liner then sense Once you whilehave busting up down the mass. local druggist (left)determine and also athat “DRyou are you just to dig and There in an outhouse hole you need to widen will be a gap between the blacktop MOORE’S VENEREAL ANTISEPTIC” pray there are bottles at the up. all Estimate the sizethey of the pit and or concrete and the The ash bottle.itLike in this article, were bottom.

If no bottles arehole. found continues to sink therealblack top found cut by themore author grass while privy digging. you will discover theand grim plugsright, out.he The sags from this occurrence.

At above holds a soda bottle ity ofusually this hobby: not every privy objective is to This will make it easier to bust he had just plucked from a is productive. Sometimes you just Once you have the hole keep the yard privy. shallow havethrough. to move to the next one. Quitin the best opened, chop it out enough ters do not fare well in the hobbysoofyou c ondition can get down in the privy when the bottle digging. up mound and when it does settle it will you postime acomes to do so.

With wood-lined privy it is tougher be sibly level with can. the existing grass. When the point, yourots are over ready to so to locateAtthethat walls.

Wood time hole is all taken Once you care of it’s time to rake up start the actual digging process.

Once you have to use your probing knowledge to and put the tools away.

Then on to the next outhouse get the hole blacktop concrete is removed, it in and feel find the hard clay or walls.

Just push the probe adventure. a bit wider, is business usual; find dead and for clay.

Once theasprobe hitsdig thedown clay, itand will stop There you havetoit: that continue dig is pretty much what it takes some bottles!

The basic method for digging be very hard to push in any further. When that happens, to dig an outhouse from the past in different situations. down and remove the out a typical shallow privy is as follows.

After you you need to start digging towards that spot. Soon you This is the way I dig privies. fill, placing it on the I am sure there are other locatedbits theand pit, pieces dig a test hole. Iwood. usuallyThen start by will have be finding of rotted methods.

Take what you need from my Privy 101 lesson tarp or in the barrels. cutting a nice-sized plug theamiddle of the suspected you have verification that it from is truly wood-lined privy. and dig on!

Good luck and be safe.

Soon you will be down privy.

We cut the grass out like a hunk of sod and put it Continue to do the same for the other walls. Once you in the hole enough to try and to theallside.

Remember wet to it dig so itdown! does not have off located four clay walls it’stotime As dry find a wall; finding one wall out in thedownward, sun.Now itlook is time to startofdigging down you proceed for layers ash and dirt into the open hole. will make it easier to locate fill. You will see these layers as plain as day. Always dig Originally Volume 13,“Summer Issue 2.

Most timeclay thewalls probe notMost lie. If it burthe others.

If Published the privyin is the ash and fillofoffthe of the fordoes safety. caveTree” flask.

Click here to order single issues. ies easily has aleave crunchy it isover most likely a privy. brick or stone-lined then you ins occur whenand people a lot feel of fill their heads.

If you see the layers then you know the privy was not dug previously by another bottle hunter.

Occasionally we will come across a privy that has freshly dug These already been dug by someone else. In this case, the contents sodas (left) will be cleaned About the Author in the pit are all mixed up (no layers) and sometimes you bottle brushes and (right) with Rick Weiner lives in Allentown, Pennsylvania will find bottle sherds mixed in at the top. This“Krud is because Cutter®.” Squirt some with his wife, Amy. He has been digging and when the previous diggers filled the privy back the with warm water in ain, bottle collecting bottles since he was 14 and credits contents got mixed. and let it set for a few his minutes. grandmother for passing that wonderful gift The hardest work is done. Hopefully you have some the soaking time Increase on to him. He invites interested readbottles for all your hard work. Now it is time to fill theon the buildup. The depending ers to visit his website and blog at privy back in and place the grass sod back over the also hole.uses rock salt; pour author www.19thcenturybottlediggers.com.

We usually build it up a little with fill because allbottle of with warm water into the this will settle in time. Place the sod back on the andbuiltshake vigorously. ®®

40 American AmericanDigger Digger Vol. Vol. 40 13,13, Issue 2® 2 ®Issue 32 2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler 32 2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler

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A Token Comes Full Circle The town of Bushnell, North Carolina is long gone, as is the town’s mercantile, establishment, Fisher’s Store. But both still hold a place near to the author’s heart.

By Mickey Stockton

O

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 4.

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Photos by Charlie Harris

ver the last 10 years or so, I have found four toof contemporary coinage; nickel size for the 5-cent denomikens from Fisher’s Store, which was in operanation and a dime size for the 10-cent. tion from the late 1800s until the early 1940s in The coins we have found at the first site were all “teenagBushnell, North Carolina. All of the tokens were found at old ers,” i.e., dating to the nineteen-teens. These included Buffalo homesites in the Needmore area, along an old road that runs nickels, a Barber dime, a Mercury dime (1917, just one year for 10 miles or so in Macon and Swain counties, North Carooff from the rare 1916-D) and a few Wheat pennies from the lina. I found two 50-cent tokens which are holed and have era. All the coins and the tokens showed very little wear. I wire running through the holes. These were probably wired think they were lost early after minting, helping me to date the period they were last used together so they could be carried on a ring or another wire as being in the 1920s. so as not to be lost. Although Bushnell was located where the wire had broken, I found the Little Tennessee River and these two in the same hole. the Tuckasegee River came At the same house site sevtogether. The Little Tennessee eral years later I found a 10River headwaters are located cent Fisher’s Store token. I then in Rabun County, Georgia, found a 5-cent token at anothnorth of the Eastern Contier house site about 200 yards nental Divide, making the from the first site. Of special Little Tennessee River flow north. The Tuckasegee River interest is that the 5-cent token is larger than the 10-cent toheadwaters are located in JackFive and ten-cent tokens from Fisher’s Store. Such son County above Cullowhee, ken. This is because the token tokens were often given out as change by stores, encouraging the recipient to spend them there. manufacturer copied the sizes North Carolina, also above the 36 American Digger® Vol. 13, Issue ® 4

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a 450-million-year-old fossil.

By Adam Brenner

The town of Bushnell, North Carolina is shown on this 1921 map (note the arrow). The location is now deep under Fontana Lake. Relic hunting there is strictly forbidden by the Tennessee Valley Authority, who regulate the lake.

Eastern Divide, making the Tuckasegee flow to the northalso the postmaster of Bushnell, and he and Nannie had six west. Bushnell was one of several small towns, including children: Daniel (1906-1981) Edgar, (1908-2001), Ernest Procter and Japan, which were later (1912-1995), Gladys (1915-2000), covered by Fontana Lake. Fontana Edith (1920-2012), and Elizabeth Dam was started in 1942 and com(for whom I can’t find a birth and pleted in 1944. death year).

Fontana Dam is the highest dam In fact, I cannot find much ineast of the Rocky Mountains at 480 formation on most of the children feet high and 2,365 feet wide, on the except Ernest, who went to Bushright side of which is the Great Smoky nell Elementary School and later Mountains National Park. Fontana Andrews High School, where he Dam was the structure Harrison graduated as valedictorian. He atFord’s character jumped from in the tended Western Carolina University movie “The Fugitive.” and graduated from the University The store’s founder, Daniel G. of North Carolina Medical School Fisher, was born in 1870 and died with a Bachelor of Science degree in medicine. He received his MD dein 1929. He was married to Nannie Conley, who was born in 1878 and gree from the Medical College of the died in 1927. She grew up in the State of South Carolina at CharlesObverse of a 10-cent token. The one on ton, South Carolina, graduating with Cartoogechaye community of Macon the title page is a 5-cent version. The token County, North Carolina near where honors. He served his internship sizes were modeled from the U.S. coin sizes at Watts Hospital, Durham, North I live. “D. G.,” as he was known, was of the values the tokens represented.

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Carolina where he met his wife-to-be, Mary Crutchfield. They were married in November 1943. After his internship, he was inducted into the U.S. Army, serving as battalion surgeon with the 4th Armored Division, and regimental surgeon with the U.S. Army Ground Forces Replacement Depot #1 at Fort Meade Maryland, with the rank of major.

After WWII, Dr. Fisher returned to North Carolina and in 1946 opened his office for the practice of medicine in Franklin, North Carolina. He received many awards over his career. During the presentation of one of them, Both sides of a 50-cent Fisher’s Store token recovered by the the mayor of Franklin stated, “There is no man in Macon author. Note the wire remnants.

County more respected than Dr. Ernest Fisher.”

Late in the evening on February 4, 1949, Dr. Fisher was summoned to a house located in the North Skeenah section of Macon County, N.C. There, assisted by midwife About the Author Lexie Sanders, he delivered a boy, estimated to weigh from Mickey Stockton was born in 1949 in Frank11 to 12 pounds. That boy, who is now 6-foot 8-inches tall lin, North Carolina and continues to live and writing this, discovered who Dr. Fisher’s family was and there in the same house he grew up in. He where he came from, about nine years after finding those served a stint in Vietnam, where he first two 50-cent tokens. Somehow, a circle had been completed. used a metal detector to locate weapon and ammo caches. Twenty-two years ago, he discovered the hobby of metal detectOriginally Published in Volume 13, Issue 4. ing and has been at it ever since.

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Four Days in Paradise and a Lifetime of Adventure

From Canada to Curacao to Oak Island, Steve Zazulyk talks about dive detecting, TV, and a drunken iguana named Ed.

By M.A. Shafer

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 4 Click here to order single issues.

S

teve Zazulyk (pronounced zah-ZOO-lick) is your quintessential Canadian: friendly, warm, and personable. He loves people and he loves to talk. Often that talk turns to his life’s passion: underwater metal detecting, otherwise known as “dive detecting.” He’s not sure where that particular phrase came from, but several of his friends believe Steve coined the term.

Though Steve, like most of us, first learned to metal detect on dry land, he quickly graduated to dive detecting. The practice itself isn’t new. Dive detecting started back in the 1970s, when treasure hunters such as Mel Fisher started doing it to locate sunken treasure ships off the coast of Florida. However, as far as Steve knows, none of them called it dive detecting.

There are two types of wet detecting: • Water hunting, in which detectorists operate in water up to their chests or higher, but without using scuba gear. They mainly remain where their feet touch the bottom of whatever water body they’re hunting. Less than 10 percent of detectorists water hunt.

• Dive detecting, with snorkel and mask or full scuba gear in water sometimes very deep, which less than 1 percent of detectorists do.

that had been missing since after World War II. As he scanned the wreck, the light glinted off something.

When he went to inspect it, he found dozens of large, green glass bottles. Turns out, the ship had been carrying a load of German beer, and the cargo hold was full of the ceramic-stoppered bottles, many left undamaged.

That night, when he came home, his whole truck bed was covered with those bottles. He told his son that he and his crew had drunk beer from them after their shift: the cold, deep waters of Lake Huron had kept it from going skunky!

Steve knew then and there that diving for treasure was something he wanted to do. He just didn’t know about metal detecting yet.

Around 18 years of age, he got his dive certificate and started diving pretty regularly. Then he got married, started his business, and kids came along. He stopped diving for years, dedicating

Steve also land and beach hunts near his hometown of Oakville, Ontario for lost rings and modern coins (Canada has strict rules against recovering antiquities).

An Early Start Steve’s dad, Mytro (Pete) Zazulyk, was the first Fire Rescue scuba diver for the Sarnia, Ontario Fire Department in 1966.

He led the team for 22 years, performing rescue and recovery operations. Steve looked up to him as a hero, and still does.

When Steve was about nine years old, Pete came home and told him a story of that night’s adventure. Pete’s crew had been searching for a missing swimmer, presumed drowned. While Pete was on the bottom, he came up against something blacker than the water, and solid. He turned his dive light on the dark hulk looming before him, and it illuminated the wreck of a German cargo ship

(L-R) Ryan Fazekas and Steve Zazulyk take in the Caribbean sun before donning their dive gear and detectors.

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himself to his work and family until his two daughters were old enough to leave home.

Life-Changing Encounter In 2011, Steve took his wife and kids on vacation in Florida.

The three women sunbathed on the beach, but Steve was too fidgety and opted to fish. One day, he saw a guy come down the beach with a metal detector. As so many of us are used to hearing, he asked the guy if he had ever really found anything of value.

“Yep,” the man replied with a German accent. “I’m a professional treasure hunter.”

Steve laughed. “Yeah, right. Wouldn’t it be cool if there really was such a thing?”

The guy didn’t laugh. “I’m serious,” he said. “That really is what I do.”

Steve stopped laughing, but was still skeptical. “Well, what does that look like?”

“I’m based here in Florida,” the guy said, “but 8-9 months of the year, I travel around the world looking for treasure, and I’ve found some significant things.”

The guy could see Steve wasn’t buying his claim, so he invited Steve over to his house to see some of his collection of recovered items. Steve’s wife, Kelly, said the guy didn’t strike her as a serial killer or anything, and thought he should go if he wanted to.

The guy met Steve at the door, and when they walked into the guy’s dining room, the table was covered with a blanket. The man removed it, and Steve was flabbergasted to see four or five Viking swords and a bunch of Nazi Swastika rings.

Steve is at home in the water, whether it is ankle deep as shown above, or deep below the sea, as pictured on the opposite page.

Cleaning the equipment and finds from a single dive.

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The guy explained that he traveled to Bulgaria, Poland, and the Ukraine. He had found the Viking swords in Bulgaria. He said the Nazi rings had been recovered from the woods outside Oswieçim, Poland, next to the Auschwitz death camp. When the Allies overran the camp, he explained, the guards—not wanting to be identified as Germans—stripped off their uniforms, identification tags and jewelry, and dumped it all in the woods there. They then donned civilian clothes, trying to blend in with the surrounding townsfolk.

He showed Steve shelves of coins and axes and breastplates.

There was a shelf containing thick, gold, hammered coins the guy had excavated from an ancient ruin. Then he showed Steve some other, clearly ancient relics, and that was it. Steve was hooked.

“I went home and told Kelly about this,” he recalls. “And she told me no one would ever believe my story. But I know what I saw, and the guy explained to me about the black market in artifacts. I have no interest in doing anything illegal like that, but the thought of finding old historic artifacts got me excited.”

As soon as he got back home, he went online to find a metal detector of his own. He bought one from a guy named Richard, and ended up receiving an intense, six-month master course in relic hunting from the former firefighter, who then died of lung cancer resulting from on-the-job smoke inhalation.

“That moment (when Richard died) was just wicked on me” Steve recalls, fighting a lump in his throat. “But (the emotional importance) really embedded itself in me…not just about metal detecting, but about people and what they can be in other people’s lives.”

Moving On “I was just crushed after losing my friend and mentor for a while, but realized I had to do something with that knowledge,” Steve remembers. His wife, Kelly, noticed that he was a bit depressed, and told him he needed to get back into the mainstream of life. He realized she was right, and that— now that his business was well-established and the girls were getting ready to fly the nest—it was time for him to pursue this new passion of his.

That’s when he met Ryan Fazekas, an accomplished diver, a dedicated metal detectorist, and one of the co-founders, with Pete Andersen, of Anderson Detector Shafts. This was about a year after he started land detecting under Richard’s tutelage. He’d been having issues with his machine, and had heard there were a couple local guys creating aftermarket products for detectors. He decided to go out and see them.

“Ryan was very quiet, but the kind of guy who could take anything apart and put it back together better than it was in the first place,” Steve recalls. “He builds most of the things we use—including the detector shafts and accessories—and all of the boat equipment. He invited me out on his boat and it just took off from there. Ryan did every kind of detecting— land, water, diving—and introduced me to that.”

Ryan invited Steve to renew his dive certificate, which he did within a week. Ryan is at home in the water, and helped Steve learn how to move smoothly without kicking up a bunch of sediment off the bottom, and how to handle himself well as a diver.

Warming Up To The Caribbean In early January, 2016, Steve asked his friend John Scarfo, who doesn’t detect, to go on a trip, just to hang out and relax. John’s wife found an affordable hotel for them to stay in at Willemsted, Curaçao.

“John’s not a detectorist, but I brought my Minelab CTX with me,” Steve says. “My battery housing flooded out due to a poor gasket seal after a few swings, but not before I found a platinum diamond ring. There was no more detecting that trip, but I realized it would be a great spot to go to with Ryan.”

So off they went for a week at the end of January, 2017.

Willemsted is a perfect spot for dive detecting, offering everything you need for the perfect dive

Sometimes the recovered gold is of a religious nature, as shown by these pieces found by Steve Zazulyk.

S

Living The Good Life pecializing in dive detecting has led to many interesting adventures for Steve Zazulyk. Through a relationship he developed in the metal detecting hobby, he was asked in 2013 to participate as a dive detectorist on a then-new reality TV show about the infamous Oak Island. He was sometimes on camera as he exercised his skills, in the fourth and fifth episodes of the first season. He was told that the 1652 Spanish piece of eight he found in the process was not only the oldest item found on the island, but also the thing that saved the show for a second season.

After he appeared on the Oak Island show, people began asking him to hunt with them, and to do speaking engagements.

“I love speaking,” he says. “I tell all kinds of stories. At the end, people come up and show me their finds, and they’re so excited about what they’ve found. And I love when kids come. They’re Right, one of the beaches of Curacao.

Below, Ed the Iguana.

so excited about finding treasure! It makes me feel like when I was a little kid, out in the woods with my shovel, looking for pirate treasure.”

He’s only been detecting about six years, and still believes he has lots to learn. But he admits that the intensive six months of learning with Richard and an equally rich learning experience with Ryan have left him feeling confident in his skills on both land and water.

Many times, when he talks with the owners of dive centers and they find out what he does, Steve is asked to teach dive detecting classes to their customers. He hasn’t done so yet, but is planning to start soon .

And there’s no denying the romance and adventure of traveling the world over to indulge in his hobby. “I’ve spent probably $40,000 in the past year, just traveling,” he says.”My choice of any body of water would be a calm, freshwater lake, maybe because of where I live. There are hundreds of thousands of lakes, where people lose things and the diving is fantastic. But going south into that warm saltwater, I’m just like a kid at the beach. I can’t wait to get in. I just love to be in the water.”

It doesn’t hurt that he gets to meet such exotic acquaintances as Ed the Iguana, who frequently showed up poolside in Curaçao, knocking over their mojitos as Steve and Ryan were in the hotel pool. “He would lap those things up and stagger away, drunk as could be!” Steve says.

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A four-day Caribbean dive trip yielded these gold rings to Steve and Ryan. A total of 47 were found by the pair.

detecting trip. Steve emphasizes the importance of planning every trip.

“You need to know you can get air tanks and have them filled, calm water where you know people have been, and hopefully no other detectorists there before you. You have to be really good at talking with people who can give you air, weights, tanks, and anything else you may need. You have to plan ahead and even then, they may not help you.” Often, beachfront dive shops won’t provide air without detectorists buying a whole day trip, so Steve sweet-talks them.

Also, Steve says, “You’ve got to get really bold. If you walk through a resort toward the beach, don’t stop. Walk purposefully, straight to the beach, then get in and go, like you belong there.”

Steve stresses the importance of knowing all federal, state and

local laws regarding excavation and removal of any found objects wherever you choose to hunt. Otherwise, what might have been a rousing week’s adventure could turn into a long nightmare in a foreign jail.

“Good” rings from just one day of the Caribbean dive trip.

Scoping Out Prospects Steve suspected no other metal detectorists had been to Willemstad (the capital city of Curaçao) before, but wanted to make sure. During his trip with John, he approached a security guard at the beach, held up his metal detector, and asked if the man had ever seen one before. He hadn’t, and Steve knew they’d hit the jackpot.

The water there is wavy enough to toss people around enough to lose jewelry, but not so rough that it’s an obstacle to dive detecting.

The night they arrived, they cruised Google Earth online, finding a bunch of abandoned resorts. There had been a lot of water activity up until recently, but their beaches were now devoid of people in the water. The next day when they dived, one such spot had a bunch of Dutch guilder coins, and from then on, Steve and Ryan pulled a bounty of rings, bracelets, and necklaces from what had appeared to be poor spots.

They avoided the busy areas and instead opted for small beaches where the locals go, and that’s where they found the most booty.

By the end of the trip, they’d amassed 47 gold and silver rings between them, plus masses of other jewelry.

That’s what they’re looking for in such locales, jewelry dropped by tourists. They do sometimes find relics, but in many locations, such as the Dominican Republic, you can’t remove antiquities.

It’s illegal to even remove them from the water, so once found, they’re admired, photographed, then left where they are. But there’s certainly no letdown when “all” they can take home is the shiny

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“When you go on one of these trips,” Steve says, “you’re happy with four, five, maybe six rings. Six rings are awesome. But 47? It was so bizarre!”

swag they find.

“When you go on one of these trips,” Steve says, “you’re happy with four, five, maybe six rings. Six rings are awesome. But 47? It was so bizarre!”

He can’t explain their good fortune during that trip. Despite his talk with the security guard, he had previously encountered a local guy in the Dominican Republic hitting a sandbar with a detector, where tourists take party barges. The guy had just pulled up a ring Steve describes as “a big knuckle-buster,” so it’s possible that’s also happening in Curacao. That could explain why there’s not much to find on the active beaches. So hitting the less-obvious places was a strategy that clearly paid off.

“Every day of that trip was magical, really,” says Steve. “You dream about going detecting in a different country and finding things, but when you’re actually doing it, you pinch yourself.”

Dangers of Dive Detecting But there’s always another side to everything, and dive detecting has its risks. Other than the obvious water safety rules, you have to exercise situational awareness at all times. The potential presence of large, hungry sea creatures may be the first thing you think of, but Steve says he rarely even sees those. He’s always most concerned with speedboats and jet skis.

“You really have to keep a keen ear for the sound of motorized watercraft. From far away, it sounds like hissing when you’re underwater. Sound travels much faster through water, so if you’re listening, you can hear it from far away.” He keeps his detector’s sensitivity threshold down, because it would drown out those important sounds.

He’s also found that kids playing in the water will jump on you, just for fun. He’s found himself unable to get kids to stop, and ended up explaining that divers always carry dive knives and may accidentally hurt them, thinking they’re being attacked by a wild animal. It’s effective, but he doesn’t want to appear threatening, so he quickly changes the subject by showing the kids some of his less-valuable finds and how to work the detector, distracting them for a while until he can get back to hunting.

“You’re always an ambassador for the hobby, no matter who you’re talking to, no matter where you are; on the beach, in the

Some dive hazards are obvious. This cross was found beneath a venomous lionfish. While not overly aggressive, these colorful fish can deliver a very painful and dangerous sting. water, in the hotel,” he says. “You have to expect that people will ask questions, and you need to be polite and patient.”

He’s witnessed other water hunters being rude to bystanders who ask them questions, and it always makes him angry. “It’s just a hobby,” he says. “No one’s so important that they have an excuse for being a jerk.”

Not to mention the perks to being kind and accommodating of those you may run into while dive detecting.

“We’ve often been invited to dinner with people, and to other beaches,” Steve says. “It always pays you back to be nice.”

About the Author American Digger® staff member M.A. Shafer is a full-time writer who started metal detecting in 2004. She is the author of the quick-start guide, “Metal Detecting for Beginners: 101 Things I Wish I’d Known When I Started.” She also hosts her own Facebook digger page, “Metal Detecting and Treasure Hunting,” at facebook.com/MetalDetectingAndTreasureHunting, and blogs at Detecting101.com.

Although deep water ocean diving has plenty of hazards, so does freshwater. In the photo above, the author takes pains not to cloud his visibility by disturbing the silt.

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 4 Click here to order single issues.

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by way of the Windward Islands. The earliest of these coins appeared here in the 1720s through entry into various Tidewater ports. Their basic shield and cross design displays various Spanish heraldry, a full date, and mint and assayers marks.

Each mint appointed assayers whose responsibility was to assure the purity of the silver and accuracy of each coin’s weight.

The assayers’ initials appear on each coin near the mint mark.

These marks can be of great help in determining the precise age of a coin when the date has been obliterated or removed through cutting or clipping.

Very few whole pistareens are found except at the earliest sites, and almost all I have recovered were cut into halves or quarters. Cutting pistareens into “bits” was a very common practice that provided the small denominations needed for everyday purchases or making change, and these were widely used in Virginia. They were almost always cut along the lines of the cross on the reverse, which caused the date to be split in half. Cut pieces and other small silver coins were sometimes holed and worn around the neck or sewn to the inside of a jacket or pocket for safekeeping. But these tiny coins were still easily lost, which explains why I find so many at the sites I hunt. And most of these are found at small, remote house sites which are more likely to contain the smaller denominations that cut coins provide. Over the last 15 years I’ve recovered over 80 cut pieces of silver, with 32 of those coming in just the last three years.

The Southern colonies, and especially Virginia, preferred cut silver for everyday use, while the North tended to utilize coppers. The reason for this is unclear, but it’s likely related to the large amount of mercantile and related commercial activities taking place at the many coastal ports which required larger denominations of coinage for purchasing goods and making change.

While pistareens were still being produced in Spain, a new design emerged from the New World mints, most of which were located in Mexico. These coins were referred to as the milled pillar type and were machine-struck from 1732 to 1772.

They had the Pillars of Hercules on the obverse and a coat of arms on the reverse side. For some reason very few of this style seem to show up at colonial sites here in eastern Virginia, as demonstrated by the small number I’ve recovered. These were followed by the milled bust type which was minted well into the early 1800s, and these are much more commonly found. These coins also had the pillars on one side, but depicted the reigning monarch’s bust on the other. More whole coins of this type are found in my hunting area than any other variety of Spanish silver. It’s quite rare to find these in the form of cut coins as that practice essentially ended with the pistareen era.

However, I have recovered a few of these, including a pair of cut one reales that surprisingly matched up – they came from the same coin. That was quite an amazing find.

The last variety of colonial silver coin to be produced was the half “disme.” In 1791 legislation was drafted to provide for a national coinage as well as to adopt a decimal system, based on the dollar being divided into tenths and cents. In 1792

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Drilling o and sec practice us The pract

the mint was g ing with the h amount of min ver. It is belie ed about $100 silverware, fo production of of years later) In spite o reens were nev as legal tender disappeared, a mid-1800s. I well-worn cut survived that l melted down. forests, and al by those who s important role

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45

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY Want a fun prospector’s weekend getaway without the expense of a full-blown trip to distant gold fields? Look no farther than North Carolina.

By Jen Johnson

It’s

a trip I look forward to every year. Thermal City Gold Mine in Union Mills, North Carolina offers even a beginning prospector the chance to find gold. Some folks go and stay the whole season looking for the rare, yellow metal.

All along the creek you can see high bankers and sluices set up, lawn chairs and five-gallon buckets full of dirt manned by folks looking for the same thing I am.

I found out about Thermal City through my local chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America. For a fee, I would be able to run a trommel with other gold seekers for a weekend, and then whatever gold we found would be fairly divided. It’s quite an experience to be able to run a piece of equipment like those seen on gold-prospecting TV shows.

Sitting on the couch and watching machinery run is different than being there in person. The shows don’t adequately convey the amount of noise.

The weekend starts with an early Saturday morning safety meeting and everyone gets a name tag. The equipment is dangerous and if you put your hands in the wrong place, you might not get them back. All rules are covered, which include such things as staying out of the way of the loader at

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 5.

Click here to order single issues.

all times, that only staff can adjust anything on the trommel, and punctuality is a must. Then the group is divided in half and halves again. There are two trommels available, a red one and a yellow one. One group works a morning shift of four hours, then the other group comes in for the afternoon. Shifts are switched for Sunday, in that if you worked a morning on Saturday, you work the afternoon Sunday. That allows people to enjoy other treasure hunting activities available on site.

Loader buckets of dirt are brought to each trommel and dumped into a holding bin called the hopper. The dirt originates on site near the creek and is stockpiled near the trommels. The trommels are switched on by a staff member and work begins. Rocks bigger than your fist are removed and tossed aside. A garden hose set to a particular pressure is used to turn the dirt into a mud slurry, which moves down the hopper and into the drum of the trommel. The drum rotates and has holes that allow small rocks and gold to fall onto a sluice box, where the gold will settle into heavy carpeting.

Gold is 19.3 times heavier than water, so the gold particles, garnet pieces, and any other ”heavies” quickly

The contrast between a babbling gold-bearing creek (above) and the noisy equipment (left) needed to bring it out are drastic.

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No one ever said finding gold was easy. At right, weekend prospectors pan a pile of tailings, which can be backbreaking work. become buried in the carpeting. Fine sand is removed via a worm screw and piled just outside of each settling pond. That pile is then shoveled clear to prevent blockages. Rocks that have been ejected by the trommel drum slide down a metal ramp into a wheelbarrow that must be dumped periodically.

It’s noisy and physically demanding work, even with a full crew.

After each shift, the sluice box is cleaned out, and that event draws a crowd. Water is worked through the carpeting and the concentrates left behind contain fine blond and black sand as well as gold. The staff is always patient when washing this into a bucket, as the people that have worked are eager to see the gold for the first time. It tends to be found in the last bit of sands transferred to the bucket, and gold pieces stand out. Staff members then further refine the concentrates in preparation for the split.

When the work is over, the division of spoils begins.

All pickers (a piece of gold big enough to pick up with your fingers) are sorted by size. The largest piece goes into #1 draw, the second largest into #2 draw and so on down the line for as many participants. For instance, if there are 12

participants, #12 will have the least gold by weight, whereas #1 will be the heaviest. The fine flour gold is divided evenly among all draws. Also the black sands left over are equally divided into a separate bag for each digger. Some will want to refine it further and get even the most microscopic particles of gold from these bags. Each participant’s name tag is drawn at random and they pick a number out of a hat. That number is the draw received. It’s exciting to see #1 drawn!

During time not running a trommel, other activities are waiting to be enjoyed. There is a gem flume where a rock hound can spend time sifting a bucket of dirt for raw stones of all kinds. Identification of stones is part of the fun. A stone

A timeline of sluicing: From left, washing away the debris, gold peeks through the concentrates, a close up view of the end results shows gold ready to be extracted.

44 American Digger® Vol. 13, Issue 5

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A nugget of any size spotted in the sluice is always an exciting time.

Sifting for gemstones provides a nice and relaxing diversion in between gold mining. that doesn’t look like much in the flume could actually be a sapphire or a ruby. Some buckets contain a geode that can be sawed open to reveal crystals inside. It’s a hands-on way to learn about minerals, semi-precious and precious stones. Buckets for kids are available as well. Those contain a wide variety of tumbled rocks little hands can grab easily. A panning pile is an option for those who prefer a less rigorous hunt for gold. It is a mound of dirt with a couple of panning troughs and gold pans, and instruction is available if needed. Panning is an important skill to learn no matter how far you take your prospecting. Learning how to pan here works well since the pieces of gold can be seen easily with the naked eye.

Another choice is to purchase a loader bucket of dirt and sit by the creek and run your own sluice box or high banker.

Thermal City also has its own store that contains almost anything you might need for finding your own gold. There are gold pans of all kinds, snuffer bottles for sucking gold out of your pan, glass and plastic vials to

Above, dividing the gold among the team; right, the author’s take of the gold. ® ® 48 482017 American Digger Magazine Sampler 2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler

keep your gold in, replacement dredge parts, and gold wheels for separating gold from black sands.

Even magnets are available for drawing black sand away from gold without all the panning.

It’s a family-friendly place to learn how to pan for gold for the first time or to add to your gold vial for those who have done it before. There are places similar to this that may be located near you. A quick search online will reveal some sites that will explain what equipment is allowed and what can be found beside gold, if camping or cabins are available and other pertinent information. Places or events like this are a wonderful way to meet other people that have the same interest and have traveled a distance to dig. Evenings generally consist of camp fires and treasure-seeking stories that contain varying amounts of truth. There is a lot to learn about gold prospecting and connecting with others is a good way to understand how it’s done.

If you’re looking for vacation ideas for the whole family or you just need to get away for a weekend and treasure hunt, places like this are ideal. Moreover, it provides an educational experience and an opportunity to network with like-minded hunters. The best souvenir is a vial of gold you’ve worked for.

For most of her life Jen Johnson has looked down to find things folks have dropped or objects Mother Nature has offered up.

She belongs to the Buckeye Chapter of the Gold Prospectors Association of America, the Tri-County Metal Detecting Club as well as the Atwater, Ohio Historical Society. She has an obsession for eyeballing finds and loves to hunt waterways for fishing lures.

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 5.

Click here to2017 orderAmerican single issues.

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49

American Digger Sparks a New Friendship How a mutual love of WW2 history and an unexpected phone call led to a relic hunt with a new-found friend.

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 6 Click here to order single issues.

By Will Adams

Bill Jones (left) and author Will Adams (right), pose with several inert WW2 artillery shells they recovered during the hunt.

Slowly crawling north on I-75, away from the concrete jungle of Atlanta, my phone rang. I looked at the caller I.D., but didn’t recognize the number. Thinking it was a telemarketer, I decided to answer so I could enjoy one of my favorite rush hour pastimes: pretending that I’m a telemarketer from a rival company just to see if I can get the caller to buy from me—timeshares, home security, cruise packages, doesn’t matter. “Hello,” I answered. “Is this Will?” the voice on the other end asked. Not wanting to reveal too much, I responded simply “Yes.” To my surprise, the caller said, “I enjoyed your WW2 article in the magazine.” I thought to myself, “Man, this sales guy is gooooood!”

It

was a year ago that Bill Jones called to congratulate me on the article I wrote for American Digger® magazine, Volume 12, Issue 3, titled: “World War II Action in Tennessee.” Our initial conversation centered on WW2 history and our many adventures in recovering relics lost or discarded by soldiers training throughout middle Tennessee. Before we hung up, we swapped contact information and agreed to stay in touch.

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2017 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

Over the course of the next year, we communicated frequently via email and phone. I always enjoyed seeing a new message with Bill’s name attached to it in my inbox. On the occasions we spoke by phone, it sure made my commute home much more enjoyable. We often exchanged the names of reference books we had researched, pictures of recently recovered relics, and colorful stories of past escapades in the field.

Bill, 36 years my senior, never ran short on stories, interesting tidbits of historical trivia, or advice on just about anything. I would just ask questions, shut up, listen and learn.

Bill liked telling stories and I liked listening to them! In fact, if you’re a subscriber to this great magazine, chances are you’ve also had the privilege to learn from Bill just as I have. His latest contribution came in Volume 13, Issue 2: “Relics & Recollections of the Greatest Generation.”

We often ended our conversations with notions of meeting one another for a day in the field, searching for WW2 relics. As a retiree, Bill’s schedule was always more flexible than mine. I was the issue. Being gainfully employed, launching a new business

(RelicRecord.com), tending to my lovely bride’s never-ending honey-do list, and chasing after my two beautiful little girls, the opportunities for metal detecting were slim.

Just as I began to resign myself to the fact that meeting Bill for a hunt wasn’t going to happen, my wife started making plans for a spring break “girl’s trip.” Reinforcing what a brilliant and sweet idea she had, I strongly encouraged her to follow through on her plans. I told her not to worry about me; although I would miss them terribly, I would find something to keep me busy. As soon as she locked in her travel plans, I fired an email to Bill: Subject—The Eagle has left the nest!

Our calendars were set, or so I thought. When I called Bill a week before our scheduled meetup to confirm we were still on, he confessed that he had been irate with me just the week before.

Startled and perplexed, I cautiously asked why. Come to find out, he wrote down the wrong meetup date and when I didn’t show up or bother to call and cancel, he got steaming mad! It wasn’t until Bill was telling a friend about how I had mistreated him that he was reminded that our meetup was actually the following weekend. Although Bill didn’t ask for my forgiveness for such false slandering of my character, I did the noble thing and forgave him anyway. After a few laughs, we continued talking about our planned day out. Having shared with Bill in previous conversations how much my dad enjoyed tagging along with me, he was gracious enough to invite us both to his place. Bill also informed me that his good friend “Mountain Man” would be joining us for the day. A fun and interesting trip was starting

to take shape!

Traveling from opposite directions, my father and I arrived at Bill’s home bright and early one Saturday morning. Actually, I made it a point to get there about 15 minutes late just to irritate Bill and to have him question his calendaring skills once again.

After the customary exchanges of manly handshakes and backslaps, Bill invited us to join him for a tour of his workshop and museum room. In his workshop, Bill had mountains of fossils, rocks, and relics for us to ogle over. He then handed me a box and said “this is for you and your dad.” I peeled apart the cardboard to see two WWII 75mm artillery shells—one for me and one for Dad! Bill had recovered the inert shells from a nearby location, cleaned them up, and set them aside just for us. When you’re on the receiving end of such thoughtfulness and generosity, you can’t help but feel like a little kid on Christmas morning.

Bill then motioned for us to step inside his museum room.

Once inside, I nearly went into shock from a little known medical condition called RSO: Relic Sensory Overload! From floor to ceiling, there were objects ranging from pre-historic fossils and Native American artifacts to relics from every American military conflict ever waged. Like a seasoned museum curator, Bill skillfully guided us through every inch of his collection.

On several occasions, he stopped to quiz us on an object and, when we were stumped, would proceed to tell us what it was we were looking at. My father especially enjoyed looking through Bill’s arrowhead collection—all of which were recovered by Bill himself. It was during this museum stop that we learned about

A few of the many artifacts in Bill Jones’ museum. Clockwise from upper left): Several cases of arrowheads, two complete 75mm artillery shells, a large fossil, gun parts, an assortment of Revolutionary War buttons, and Civil War buckles, all recovered by Bill Jones.

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Bill Jones found the first 75mm shell recovered during the day’s hunt.

Below, the shell dug by the author’s dad, Ronnie Adams, sees the light of day for the first time in almost eighty years.

Bill’s research work in helping locate and map large portions of the “Trail of Tears”—the land on which much of the Cherokee nation was forced to travel as they migrated to present-day Oklahoma.

As we were concluding our tour, we heard a gentle tap on the door. It was Mountain Man! As he walked through the door, I immediately knew why Bill affectionately referred to his friend by that nickname. A kind and inquisitive country gentleman, Emmett Bear wore the Mountain Man moniker well! He was a great addition to the day’s team.

Bill abruptly ended the tour with a stern command: “Well, it’s time to go find some relics!” Not one to argue with such brilliant logic, I loaded our gear into my Jeep and we were off. Our destination was the same area that Bill recovered the two artillery shells that he had just given to me and my dad. Ever the optimist, Bill confidently predicted that we would find a few of our own.

After driving the Jeep through some mud, which made it very happy, we arrived to a wooded area well off the beaten path. As we were throwing our gear on, Bill pointed to a few areas that he suggested we start with. Ten feet away from the Jeep, and no less than two minutes into our hunt, Bill looked up from a freshly dug hole and said with a devilish grin, “I got a shell.”

Sure enough, Bill had recovered the first 75mm shell of the day. Thirty minutes later, as I was fighting with thick underbrush, my dad asked for me to scan an area with my Garrett AT-Pro coil.

“What do you hear?” he asked. After taking a few swings over the target, I responded, “Something big.” My dad, who likes to think he’s funny, said “Well, I didn’t call you over here to tell me that something is in the ground. I already knew that. I called you over here to dig it out and give it me!”

Being the good son that I am, I humored him and began to dig. After removing several shovelfuls of wet, white clay, I began to see the rusted side of a large, cylinder-type object—another 75mm shell!

Sore back and all, I pulled the shell loose and gave it to Dad, much to his delight.

52

2017 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

Over the next hour or so, I recovered a satchel full of lead case-shot from exploded 75mm shells, but no artillery shells. I decided to move to another location about 50 yards from where Bill and my dad had found their shells. Within a few minutes, I got one big, deep, juicy tone! You know the tone I’m talking about. It’s the kind that you keep passing over, over, and over again, just to register it in your memory for future enjoyment.

After what seemed like an hour of digging, I removed one last plug of clay to reveal what had become a familiar sight—the rusted side of a 75mm artillery shell!

With a shell apiece, we decided to take a break, refuel, and formulate a game plan for the rest of the day. Bill suggested we move to an area where he believed we would find some .50 caliber brass casings and bullets. I liked the way he was thinking —it was time to diversify the day’s recoveries!

Sure enough, within a few minutes at the new location, we were pulling gobs of .50 caliber shells, bullets, and chainbelts out of the ground. Becoming conditioned by the tones of the aforementioned targets, I was suddenly jolted awake by a screaming signal. With one deep shovel scoop, out popped a 37mm shell that was fired from an M1916! Bill was quite

The author finally found a 75mm shell. (Left) The shell shown still in the ground.

(Right) The “Just Dug” shell, now free from its dirt restraints, leans against a nearby tree trunk.

impressed with the recovery, stating that it was one of the nicest he’d ever seen. As he handed me back the shell, he calmly said, “By the way, although it’s been fired, you should probably handle that one with care, it’s live.” Having served as an artillerist in the Korean War, Bill was much more comfortable handling the shell than I was. Bill went on to explain that as a practice round, the 37mm shell only contained a small charge of black powder (and graphite for filler) and could be disarmed by those trained in the process. By the way, disarming a projectile is NOT a DIY project!

We all dug a few more targets before Bill signaled the end of the hunt—he was whipped. I’m just thankful he cried uncle when he did because I was ready to drop dead of exhaustion.

I learned something else about my friend that day—the old paratrooper is tough as nails! When we got back to Bill’s place, we divided up the day’s finds and cleaned up our gear. Before we said goodbye, we posed for a few pictures and I left Bill with two gifts. One was a Riker case with several WW2 relics that I had recovered on the site referenced in the American Digger® article that initiated our friendship. The other gift was what I believed to be a post-Civil War navy button that was recovered outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. I asked Bill to research the button some more and let me know what he found out.

I also assured him that no matter its value, it was his to keep.

A few weeks later, Bill shot me an email with cleaning instructions for the artillery shells.

He also informed me that he had come to a conclusion on the identity of the button I had so proudly given him weeks before as a token of our friendship. It was an old civilian button for

a sports blazer! It’s a good thing Bill has a sense of humor and that he doesn’t associate the value of our friendship with the gifts I’ve given him! I conclude with a heartfelt thank you to Butch, Anita, and American Digger® magazine for sparking a new, and what I hope to be long-lasting friendship between Bill and me.

American Digger®, your blazer button is in the mail!

Important: All of the artillery shells referenced in this article were completely inert with the exception of the 37mm practice round.

Any WW2 shells that are charged with explosives can be extremely dangerous. Never attempt to recover or disarm such shells yourself.

Will Adams, avid collector and history hunter, is the co-founder of RelicRecord.com—a secure, online collectible archiving tool for metal detectorists and collectors of all stripes.

Visit RelicRecord.com/AmericanDigger to save 50% on your first month’s subscription!

The total day’s recoveries made by the author, Will Adams. The author’s dad let him borrow his 75mm shell for the photo. Note the 37mm practice round in the center of the picture.

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 6 Click here to order single issues.

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53

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News-N-Views

Reports and Commentaries on Issues That Affect the Hobby

by Mark Schuessler

Calm, Ignorance, and a Silver Lining

January 2017: As of this writing, all is quiet on the front as far as new metal detecting laws and restrictions. At least to my knowledge it is quiet, because without reports of such actions against our hobby I have no way of knowing and addressing them. Perhaps after years of attacks from the archeological academia, we are experiencing a new calm from that arena because of expected changes by the incoming presidential administration. No one knows for sure; only time will tell. But that doesn’t mean the attacks against history have lessoned. If anything, they have strengthened in recent months.

In 1895 a monument was erected to honor the Confederate soldiers from the state of Kentucky. The 70-foot tall granite monument was paid for by the Kentucky Women’s Confederate Monument Association at a cost of $12,000.

Erected near the present University of Louisville campus, the monument consists of three bronze statues of Confederate soldiers. One is representing artillery, one for cavalry and the third on the top is an infantryman. Inscriptions read, “Tribute to the rank and file of the armies of the south by the Ky. Women’s Confederate Monument Association” and “To our Confederate dead 1861-1865.”

The monument is no longer there. The rewriters of history and the PC crowd had their way. Another monument has been removed from where it was erected. Why? Because there are many people out there, including elected officials, who are extremely ignorant of history. This latest attack on history started when a mentally ill mass murderer and avowed racist, Dylann Roof (who killed nine innocents) posed for a photo with a Confederate battle flag. Somehow the flag has been held responsible for the deaths, although a Gold’s Gym t-shirt he was wearing has been declared innocent. Absurd?

Yes, except to those who don’t understand history.

The mayor of Louisville, Greg Fischer, and former University president James Ramsey had been working for months to have the monument removed. They finally succeeded in late 2016, announcing it at a press conference with the monument in the background. Think about that: It is so offensive that it must be removed but it’s fine for a photo opportunity?

There was a restraining order to halt removal pending a court challenge filed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The case was ruled in favor of the city and they lost no time in removing the monument. One of their reasons for the removal is the need to make more room for traffic created by the university’s newly renovated 60 million dollar speed art museum. Although I cannot fathom what a speed art museum is and why it is worthy of 60 million dollars, to some it is obviously much more important than honoring war dead.

Why not relocate the monument on the campus where

it could continue to be a teaching tool to remind everyone of the horrors of war and to honor those who fought?

The answer is simple. Political correctness, which always trumps historical facts, deems that the cause of the war was slavery and anyone who fought for the south was fighting to preserve slavery. Debates will rage forever over why the war was fought and where the slavery issue fits into that. The monument’s intent is clear, though: to honor “... the rank and file of the armies of the south.”

One professor has been complaining about the monument since sometime in the 1990s when he arrived there.

You would think that a college professor would actually use his resources to expand (and teach) the truth about that terrible war’s causes. Instead, he has been quoted as saying, “Let’s see the Confederacy for what it is, not some lost cause, it was a war about slavery, and that is fundamentally inhumane, so if that’s a part of Kentucky history, place it in a part of Kentucky where people still have those beliefs.”

The professor was not the only one to utter this standard rhetoric. Here are comments from the mayor: “I recognize that some people say this monument should stay here because it is part of history, but I also appreciate that we can make our own history.” So if you don’t like history then just erase it and start anew?

Also from the mayor: “The stain of slavery and racism that this monument represents for many, many people has no place in a compassionate, forward-leaning city.” According to the inscription, that monument represents the war dead, i.e., the ancestors of people who voted him in — the same people he dishonored by saying their ancestors are racists and have no place being honored in “his” city.

In a classic bit of political double speak, the former university president James Ramsey said this in relation to the women who paid for the monuments construction: “I don’t believe the women were making a political statement but were honoring those loved ones who died. As a result, it’s time for us to move this monument to a more appropriate place.” This is the same person who removed the name “Confederate Hall” from a building and renamed the area where the monument stood in order to honor civil rights leaders. While I am not arguing that those in the civil rights movement shouldn’t be honored, it should not be at the expense of the war dead.

The acting president of the university, Neville Pinto, has this to say: “While we do not wish to erase history, the University of Louisville is looking to a future that embraces and promotes diversity and inclusion for all our faculty, students and staff.” Why is it that when the politically correct talk about diversity and inclusion, it is when they are excluding someone or something they do not agree with?

Don’t be completely dismayed. There is a bit of good news. The silver lining is that the monument has been reerected in an area where the people care about history. It now resides in Brandenburg, Kentucky, a city that actually honors the military service of their ancestors. A unanimous vote by the city council to obtain the monument sealed the deal. It was placed in a riverfront park which already is home to several other Civil War monuments, including one honoring Confederate General John Morgan. This general is known best for Morgan’s Raiders, a 2,000-strong cavalry group he led through Kentucky and Ohio, causing havoc on the Union army. The mayor of Brandenburg has received

Keep up with legal issues, subscribe and read the News-n-Views column in every issue!

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a couple complaints but he said that most look at it as a tribute to veterans and history. The city is host to a biannual reenactment taking place in the park where the monument is now located. It is in a place where it is appreciated. The purpose of the reenactment there is to educate the public about the Civil War. Here is a suggestion. Maybe they should invite the Louisville officials responsible for removing the monument to the next reenactment where they can be exposed to the truth.

I wonder if the mayor, the university presidents and the professor have any relatives or ancestors who served in the armed forces? One wonders how they would feel if a monument to those military personnel was deemed offensive or inappropriate because of the politics of the times? Racism did not end with the Civil War and is still very much alive among certain elements of all races. Moving a monument will not change that.

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 2

Huge Cache of Cannonballs Unearthed

More Civil War ordnance has been uncovered en masse.

A construction crew working in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, unearthed the projectiles while digging to construct an apartment building. The area is very near the site of the Alleghany Arsenal, a Civil War-era munitions manufacturer. Digging was halted when a large number of cannonballs were uncovered. The crews were aware of the proximity of the site to the former arsenal, so they were on the lookout for possible ordnance. At least 20 and maybe over 30 cannonballs were unearthed. The police responded with the bomb squad but ended up deferring to the contractor who had a subcontractor experienced in the matter. The authorities actually stated that the cannonballs were “stable when left alone.” That is 180 degrees from what we have heard from law enforcement many times in the past. What makes the statement more interesting is that these are live cannonballs, as the videos and photos clearly show. The subcontractor will be removing the ordnance but I have not been able to find out what will happen to it—only that it will be “properly” disposed of. That sounds to me like they will destroy it.

The “recovery” is being conducted by Ordnance Holdings Inc., from Maryland. A check of their website shows them to be a private bomb disposal and cleanup group, and not a company that specializes in Civil Warera artillery shells.

Just as I finished writing this I received updated information. The contractor has just begun removing the ordnance. Instead of 20 or 30 cannonballs there are now over 300! Every scoop uncovers more. According to one report there are a variety of sizes. The digging will continue until no more are found. The balls are being placed in dumpsters lined with foam and will remain on the site for now.

A news report stated that the contractor is not sure if the cannonballs will be moved or “disposed of ” on the site.

That pretty much settles the question of what they are going to do with them. Setting aside the historical aspect we

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must wonder if there is any knowledge or interest in the monetary value they are intending to “dispose” of. With a low of $100 each (considering the various sizes), at this point in the process that’s $30,000! It would be really nice to hear that a collector or dealer with the financial means bought the entire lot, instead of them being destroyed. Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 4

One for the Win Column

In previous issues I told you about the detecting ban that was overturned in Youngstown, Ohio. This was at the Mill Creek Metroparks. The ban was decades old but had not been enforced until a new parks director took over and began doing so. A television news report alerted the hobbyists and the public to the situation, with the Tri-State Metal Detecting Club featured in the report.

The club contacted the director, Aaron Young, and asked for a meeting to discuss the ban. After assuring him that the club was not responsible for the news report, he became receptive to a discussion. Apparently there had been a number of “hit” pieces on him by the media. The club, however, had not contacted the media. The media initiated this one completely on their own when they found out about the ban. News story — yes — but you can understand why the director was a bit apprehensive.

After a number of meetings with him, a permit system was worked out with a reasonable set of rules. One of those meetings included an outing where he was shown what the hobby entails, including a demonstration of proper target recovery. He was shown our typical finds which included not just the good targets, but the miscellaneous trinkets and trash as well. The end result was the overturning of the ban by the park board. A permit is good for one year and lists a set of commonsense rules. Any item of historical significance or exhibits personal identification must be turned into the park office with the identity of the finder (although I would like to know what is then done with the historical items).

Target recovery is covered as well as off-limits areas which includes golf courses and some of the athletic field areas during the respective sports seasons. Headphones must be worn to eliminate anyone else hearing the sound. This is to be in compliance with a rule about not interfering or disturbing other park visitors. And all trash recovered must be properly disposed of. That means you do not rebury it or drop it back on the ground!

The thanks for this successful venture goes to the Tri-State Metal Detecting Club under the direction of President Ray Borosko. We also thank the park director Aaron Young for being open-minded and meeting with the club to work out the problem. This is exactly how it is supposed to work! Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 6 Keep up with legal issues, subscribe and read the News-n-Views column in every issue!

Product Reviews Reviewers for ® this issue:

American Digger regularly brings Eric Garland, Emily & our readers reviews on both new Shannon Copeland products and books related to the _____ hobby of digging and collecting.

White’s XVenture Metal Detector

for children eight and up, but we believe children as young as five could easily use this turn on and go machine.

The detector can be adjusted from 40” to 45” and White’s offers a shorter lower rod if it is needed. The display is very straightforward with five LED lights matched with simple icons, two sensitivity levels, and a pinpointing feature. It is also equipped with a headphone jack.

The only drawbacks we found are that there is no “low battery” indicator and the coil is permanently connected to the unit, but as discussed later the stock coil performs pretty well.

Emily went detecting with the XVenture six times in two weeks. We

MSRP $149.99 Manufactured by White’s Electronics 1011 Pleasant Valley Road Sweet Home, OR 97386 1-800-547-6911 www.whiteselectronics.com Available from selected dealers _____

W

hen White’s Electronics sent their new kid’s metal detector, the XVenture, for a field review, American Digger® magazine decided the best way to get an honest, accurate review was to put a new one in the hands of a kid. The person chosen for the review was Emily Copeland, A.K.A. “Little Dirt Digger.” Emily is six years old and has been detecting for two years.

To say she was excited was an understatement. Upon opening the box, the first thing she noticed was the eye-catching metallic green finish on the s-rod, and that the detector also came with a White’s pouch and digger. We pulled everything from the box and immediately realized that this was a very lightweight machine at 2.2 pounds. The detector is recommended

hunted in a couple playgrounds and a Civil War encampment. Her favorite things about the detector were the LED lights, the green color, and how light it was. She also liked the pinpoint feature because it helped her find targets faster and with more accuracy. This is a good thing to have for younger kids and new detectorists who would otherwise have a difficult time determining the location of a target with only the coil.

(Above) Emily’s finds with the White’s XVenture while hunting an old homesite (below center). _____ Speaking of the searchcoil, it is top notch, and much better than what one would expect on a detector in this price range. Shannon (Emily’s Dad) and Emily both dug targets as deep as eight inches with it on high sensitivity.

This was a pleasant surprise. White’s really did a good job with this.

Another thing to note is the discrimination of iron. We did an air test with several different objects and when we ran iron in front of the coil, the detector didn’t make a sound. Out of all the targets dug, only two were iron.

Overall, this machine is great for kids or beginner detectorists. It has a long battery life, is lightweight, and very easy to use. The pricing is perfect for everything you get. Emily enjoyed being able to give her review and is very thankful for the opportunity.

She has now nicknamed her detector “The Grasshopper” and you can see it in action on American Digger’s and Little Dirt Digger’s Youtube channels.

Originally Published in Volume 13, Issue 4

July-August 2017 American Digger® www.americandigger.com

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Garrett AT MAX Metal Detector MSRP: $849.95 Manufactured by Garrett Electronics, Inc. 1881 W. State St. Garland, TX 75042 (972) 494-6151 www.garrett.com Available from authorized Garrett detector dealers ____

W

hen first receiving the AT MAX I noticed that it resembled the AT Pro and AT Gold, with a lot of the same features. However, on the MAX some features we have wanted to see on the AT series of detectors were added.

The AT MAX features wireless MS-3 headphones, backlight display, volume adjustment, rubber non-absorbent grip, frequency adjustment to eliminate interference, adjustable threshold, and a 13.6khz operating frequency that provides excellent detection on a wide range of targets. Having accrued hundreds of hours on both the AT Pro and AT Gold, I found how the AT MAX would compare to those machines, under rigorous testing, to be very intriguing.

One of the tests performed was how the AT MAX would compare to the AT Pro and AT Gold on depth and target response in moderately to highly mineralized soil conditions. If a metal detector performs well in bad soil conditions then

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it’s going to perform even better in mild to moderate conditions. To keep this test fair, the AT Pro, Gold and MAX were all new and configured with similar settings, ground balanced to 85-87, and equipped with the 8.5 x 11-inch stock coil.

The first test was a silver quarter buried at eight inches which all three machines detected with no problem. A second test was the quarter buried at 11 inches which eliminated the AT Pro. I know some of you are saying “But my AT Pro found a silver quarters at a foot deep!” Yes, but remember this test was performed in mineralized soil which will decrease the detection depth. The AT Gold and AT MAX both passed this test.

However, due to the stronger consistency of detecting the target, the AT MAX prevailed. Other tests included a lead .58 Civil War bullet and a small brass button.

In all categories, the AT MAX outperformed the AT Pro and AT Gold. As expected, the AT MAX performed well on higher conductive metals because of the 13.6khz frequency. The AT MAX truly impressed me, detecting the button buried at seven inches; I could even raise the coil another four inches off the ground while consistently detecting the target.

I also wanted to see how well the detector reacted in sites with iron, as many good targets are only a few inches deep but hidden due to iron masking. Tests that we have seen for years consisted of people tossing nails next to coins/buttons to see how close they could be to a good target without only hearing the nail. However, in real life good targets are often below the iron. To simulate this, I have pieces of two-by-fours with block inserts so that I can set the good target lower than the iron. I then place two rusty square nails on either side of the coins. I realize there is no substitute for real inthe-ground tests because of halos and such, but it still gives a good idea of how certain machines react.

I used the stock 8.5 x 11-inch coil on both the AT MAX and AT PRO. Both would do better in iron with smaller coils, but this was an out-of-the-box test.

The first half of the test was with the iron next to the silver quarter/dime: Both machines performed well, with a

2017 American Digger Magazine Sampler ®

very slight advantage going to the AT MAX on the dime. The second half of the test, I lowered the coins 1.5 inches below the iron. The AT Pro responded to the quarter but I could clearly hear the iron creating less-than-perfect signals.

The dime was another story; it became very noticeable and sounded clearly every few passes.

With the AT MAX, the quarter was slightly clearer than the AT Pro, even with the effects of the iron. The dime, however, was where the real difference was noticed. It was also affected by the iron but was heard on every swing.

All Garrett AT machines remain great values, but the AT MAX is able to detect small targets such as dimes and cuff buttons more easily in iron. In the world of detecting, fractions of inches matter and the same can be said for the slightly faster recovery speed of the AT MAX. Is the AT MAX going to blow your AT Pro out of the water? That is up to you to decide. I saw the advantage on the small targets below iron and better performance in mineralized soil. Factoring in no longer being tied to my detector (wireless headphones), better ability to hunt in salt water, and a back light, it was clear to me that I would pick the AT MAX. Garrett has continued making progress with the AT series and I think the new AT MAX owners will be happy with their choice. Is the AT MAX better than the AT Pro and AT Gold? My answer is yes. As a legendary relic hunter once said, “Metal detecting is a game of inches.” This statement is very true because the extra quarter-inch or more of depth that you can detect could be the deciding factor for being able to find that gold coin or rare artifact.

Performance wise, the AT MAX surpasses the AT Pro and AT Gold. The added features such as the wireless headphones, backlight and combined settings of the AT Series metal detectors make the AT MAX a sure winner!

For a video of this review, visit American Digger’s Youtube channel or scan the QR code shown here: Originally Published in Vol. 13, Issue 6

Teknetics Patriot Metal Detector MSRP: $449.00 Manufactured by First Texas Products 1465-H Henry Brennan El Paso, Texas 79936 915-225-0333 www.tekneticsdirect.com Available from authorized Fisher and Teknetics detector dealers ____

R

ecently, I had the opportunity to field test the new Teknetics Patriot metal detector. It was designed to be a quality machine for someone just getting into the hobby without dropping a lot of money, yet suitable for the veteran digger needing another tool for their detecting arsenal.

I was soon to learn that this was much more than a basic detector. Anyone familiar with the Fisher F-70 will instantly recognize the Patriot. Sporting a patriotic motif on the control panel, it not only looks good but performs just as well. Weighing in at just 2 pounds, 15 ounces, with four AA batteries, this well-balanced powerhouse comes equipped with an 11-inch DD elliptical waterproof search coil. Keep in mind, however, that even though the coil is waterproof the control housing is not.

Speaking of power, you can expect

up to 40 hours of use with good quality alkaline batteries. Length can adjust from 43½ to 52½ inches, making it comfortable for just about anyone to use, although I have heard a few tall users state that they were planning to add a slightly longer shaft. The Patriot operates on a frequency of 13 kHz which is suitable for coins, relics, and gold prospecting. The front panel houses six multifunction controls in addition to the large easy-to-read display.

By pressing the Menu button you are given several options to choose from, many of which current users of Teknetics or Fisher detectors are already aware: DISC LEVEL–You can adjust the discrimination level up or down by using the + or – buttons. SPEED—With this you get to choose between dE (defaultfast) or SL (slow). I preferred the default setting for good all-around detecting.

SENSITIVITY—Again you can adjust the value of this setting with the + or – buttons. THRESHOLD—This adjusts the audio level for the background “buzz.” TONES—The Patriot has eight tone settings. NOTCH—This gives you the ability to select certain similar items to reject; for example you could set the notch to exclude pull tabs and iron. Everything else you would hear.

PINPOINT—You can determine the exact location of an object with zero coil movement. GG—Ground Grab, a.k.a. Ground Balance. Depress and hold the button while pumping the coil up and down over the ground and the detector will tune itself to the existing soil conditions. This is very quick and handy if you have soil that changes often. Hz—The Patriot has seven frequencies to choose from. If your detector is getting chatter from what you suspect is electronic interference such as from another metal detector, you can change the operating frequency to help eliminate this distraction. One important thing to remember is that if you switch frequencies you will need to ground balance it again. By shifting frequencies, you will alter the focus point that was previously set.

The machine has two preset factory programs. Program 1 is a discriminate

mode while Program 2 is an all-metals setup.

Two tools I found useful on the display were a “Dirt Meter” showing the mineralization level of the soil, and also a “Confidence Meter.” If all four bars are showing then the machine is more confident as to the target identification.

I enjoyed taking the Patriot into the field. Because it was so light I was not fatigued as I am with heavier machines.

Now let us get into how it performs.

Since it is difficult to get good data while detecting in the “wild” I opted for the tried and true air test.

I am a relic hunter at heart. I’ve been digging (mainly American Civil War relics) since 1980 so most of what I tested with are items I have personally dug.

For our test, I chose to use the factory recommend base settings. In the field I, of course, changed these settings, but for our purpose here I went with the default.

The items I air tested and their results: silver Seated Liberty dime, seven inches; 1847 large cent, nine inches; Confederate Script “I” button, nine inches; threering Minié ball, seven inches; percussion cap, two inches; and a gold wedding band, four inches As previously stated this test was conducted with the “quick start” settings.

I then went outside and played around with different setting combinations and got considerably more depth.

For example, I got over 12½ inches on the large cent after adjusting the sensitivity and the threshold.

With this machine Teknetics has hit a home run. The suggested retail price of $449 turns that home run into a game winner.

Originally Published in Vol. 13, Issue 6

For a video of this review, visit American Digger’s Youtube Chanel or scan the QR code shown here:

®

American Digger regularly brings our readers reviews on both new products and books related to the hobby of digging and collecting.

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DD irt

iaries:

Confessions of a compulsive digger

By Jocelyn Elizabeth

My

digging buddy, John, has perfected the art of permission-ing. There are no business cards, no pamphlets, no bar theory, no pockets full of show-n-tell. There are no gimmicks…. except for cookies. No one can turn down cookies… except diabetics, supermodels, and my neighbor with the gluten allergy.

A few weeks ago, John and his daughter whipped up a batch of snickerdoodles. They tucked the cookies into cutesy little baggies, walked down the street, and introduced themselves to a few of the neighbors. In between the exchange of cookies and formalities, John asked permission to return with his metal detector and his pink-haired sidekick. The cookie-method scored a few permissions.

One of those permissions happened to belong to the town crazy lady. (Apparently, she was particularly fond of snickerdoodles.) Despite her reputation, I wanted to believe that this woman was a misunderstood soul with a socially unacceptable number of cats. She would, however, live up to her reputation soon enough. John and I returned to her property a few days later. We knocked. She answered. We exchanged a few pleasantries and headed into the backyard.

We spent an hour there, pacing back and forth across the lawn. Our pouches were weighted down with iron, can slaw, and a sampling of square nails. The other permissions promised to be more glamorous. We needed to move along, so I gave the five-minute warning. We needed to jump permissions or risk being skunked.

The crazy lady emerged from her house as John knelt to cut his last plug. She pretended to poke around the woodpile, but watched intently as John plucked something round from the hole. It could have been a silver half dollar or a gold coin. It was not. It was an aluminum presidential token with chewed edges. John still showed her the prize.

She was unimpressed. We decided to try our luck elsewhere and moved along to the next permission.

A few weeks later, we were back in the area. We knocked on the door across the street from the crazy lady and a man with a large dog gave us permission to metal detect. We had been ogling this property for a while, but hadn’t been able to catch the gentleman at home. The house was old.

The yard was big. The place screamed silver and I couldn’t wait to put my coil to the soil. We pulled out our detectors and shared our excitement as we geared up. Before we even powered on our machines, the crazy lady came flying out

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of her house. The screen door slapping shut behind her caused quite the commotion. She shouted, “I’m not happy with you people!” Her aggressive tone caught me off-guard.

“You stole everything valuable from my yard and kept it for yourselves. You’re thieves! Thieves!” She hissed and stabbed her finger at us. She cursed and spat from a distance and finally retreated back into her house. While I tried to process the incident, John crossed the road and knocked on her door. She answered with a growl... more growl than the large dog had given us at the current permission. He started to explain the true nature of metal detecting in a calm voice, but the woman called him a lying you-knowwhat and slammed the door in his face.

The experience had the potential to ruin our entire day.

This woman honestly believed that we had discovered a Viking treasure hoard buried with the cats behind her shed.

In an attempt to put the incident behind us, we powered on our detectors and went to work. We were about four canning jar lids into the new permission when the crazy lady emerged again. She stood in the bushes, shouting obscenities and taking pictures of us with her phone. Even though we smiled and waved, I realized very quickly that there was no reasoning with this woman.

Her crazy was not measured by the number of cats lounging on her porch. She didn’t want to see the pile of rusted iron in the trunk of my car. She didn’t want to hear the pull tabs to rings ratio. She didn’t even want a cutesy bag of snickerdoodles to smooth things over. She was not a rational human being. She was the town crazy lady.

Fortunately, the crazies are far and few between. I’m friends with a number of property owners. I suppose it was only a matter of time until I met a crazy with a treasure hoard buried in her backyard.

Opinions and research expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Digger®.

Originally Published in Vol. 13, Issue 6

Subscribe and read Jocelyn Elizabeth’s column in every issue of American Digger!

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2017 American DiggerÂŽ Magazine Sampler

Detecting and Collecting Clubs Cowtown Treasure Hunter Club,7 PM, 3rd Thurs/mo., YMCA Camp Carter, 200 Sand Spgs. Rd., Ft. Worth,TX. Visit cowtowntreasurehuntersclub.org, or 817-992-789, cowtowntreasurehunters@gmail.com

Hanover Metal Detector Club meets the 1st Wednesday each month at the Ashland Volunteer Rescue Squad Building.

Contact D. Yates at 804-241-9541.

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

Deep Search Metal Detecting Club, Minnie B. Veal Cmty. Ctr., 1070 Grove Ave, Edison, NJ, 7 PM, Jan. & Feb., 4th Mon.; March-Dec., 3rd Mon. Donna@Moondoggiecoffee.com, www.DSMDC.org

Central VA Civil War Collectors Assoc. 4th Tuesday of each month (except December) 7:15 p.m., Glen Allen American Legion Hall, 2522 Indale Rd, Richmond, VA. Visit www.cvcwca.com for info.

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

Coastal Empire History Hunters Association. Meets in Savannah, GA. Information, John Carper, 912-210-3383

Dixie Relic Recovery Club, 1st Mon./ month, 7 p.m., Old Stone Church, Ringgold, GA.Visit facebook.com/DixieRelicRecoveryClub.com. [E]

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.

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.

Memphis Metal Detecting Club meets 3rd Thursday of month at 7 p.m. at OLPH Church, Germantown, TN. Phone 901-7526704 or email pwc1951@hotmail.com for more info 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!

South Carolina Dirt Diggers, meets every 2nd Saturday in Lexington, SC. Visit our Facebook page for more details or email jfready35@yahoo.com.

Saving History of Greater Cincinnati, 2nd Thurs. each month, 7 p.m., Ready Line Shooting Complex, 3761 Round Bottom Rd., Newtown, Ohio. Info: Rick Horsley, shofgc@gmail.com or find us on Facebook.

North Georgia Relic Hunters Association meets the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., Switzer Library, 266 Roswell Rd., Marietta, GA, 30008. www.ngrha.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.

Pelican Relic & Recovery Assoc. meets 3rd Tues. of each month at 7 p.m., King Buffet Chinese Grill, 6230 Bluebonnet Blvd., Baton Rouge, LA. Info, dbrown7711@cox.net

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.

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.

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.

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.

Murfreesboro Metal Detecting Club meets in Murfreesboro, TN Last Tuesday/each month. Visit our website borodiggers.wix.com/ mmdc or email borodiggers@gmail.com for more information.

Northern Kentucky Treasure Hunters meets every last Monday of each month at Boone County High School Media Center, Florence, KY, 7 pm-9 pm. NKYfinds@gmail.com.

South Carolina Metal Detector & Relic Association meets the 1st Tuesday of the month at 7:00 P.M. at the Oratory, 434 Charlotte Avenue, Rock Hill, SC. 29734, email bakerk@comporium.net

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TP

alking oints

Now my reputation was at stake and to add inthat Dr. Dorfman delivered to the newspaper’s sult to injury, the point’s provenance was now archaeologist after the point was published. tainted. This so-called “professional” had gone The man was shamed and for good reason. out of his way to slam me and I had to react. My Perhaps in the future, this reckless professional redemption, however, was to come from an unwill take a few moments to acknowledge the usual and completely unexpected place. contributions of serious amateurs. Honestly, though, I wouldn’t take any bets on it.

Weeks passed as I allowed my anger to I summarize this weird and somewhat comiinto American Indian diminishA andlook develop a viable plan C. One day, artifacts cal (but lately all too common) tale by asking at an auction, a rather distinguished looking and the cultures that used them. what should we, the nonprofessional collector, elderly gentleman strolledBy over to my table. He Pete Schichtel take away from it? Political correctness and an seemed very interested in my coprolites, which emotionally overcharged sense of what is hisare 75 million years old fish feces (you read that torically right have infected our society like an right) retrieved from the local creeks. out-of-control virus.

The gentleman, Don Dorfman, Ph.D was LATE ARCHAIC PERIOD It is now three times as hard to collect, prehead of the Marine Biology Department at the PERKIOMEN POINT STYLE serve and report finds at a local level. All the avUniversity of Monmouth (West Long Branch, erage citizen is supposed to do is visit museums New Jersey). Don had both serious academic was the mid-1970s and I was young, impulsive, and and watch the History Channel. We, as Americredentials and an open minded attitude. Most in love.

It wasn’t my first time.

I had already dabbled can citizens, still have the right to collect and importantly, he gladly acknowledged the contriPerkiomen knives a Levanna, even Kanawha, dig, as long as westyle do it with permission and stay butions ofwith amateurs to science andawas fascinat-but my first real and repurposed tools. love was a Perkiomen.

It hit me like an arrow through the within the bounds of the law.

It is neither a right ed by my finds. After the Dalton point debacle, nor an obligation to follow in lock step behind heart—that first time I made physical contact with a warm Don became my ace in the hole. Professors pubriod (Late Archaic, 700-2,900 BC) suchThe as the Bare however, Island and those who hold degrees. margins, Perkiomen lying in the summer sun.

I don’t know who saw lish like a rabbit making bunnies and soon we the Lackawaxen, also were used mostly as projectile points, are narrowing and the eyes (and voices) of those whom I soon madeofthat Perkiomen teamedfirst, up tobut publish a series scientific articlesmine. Never had whereas the Perkiomen were the main cutting tool of the pewho would condemn us are everywhere.

Ibased lovedon a knapped so was much. you At the time, I hadn’t known Point The Dalton which my finds. stone The first guessed riod.

Their blades are found mainly in Pennsylvania, New Jerit on then type otherswas, followed.

I evenwhat thecoprolites, “Perkiomen” just that I liked it.was Afterrejected a few for publisey, and New York, at the same sites as the Susquehanna broad Postscript tuallyvery askedsimilar if he could me with more pointshelp turned up atthe thelong same site, I wentby to the newspacation 2010, Irelationship. discovered an amazing 5.5 inch neglected piece. the booksDalton to learn more about this style that captured my archaeologist. at- points, indicating aInpossible per’s These Perkiomen pieces werein highly valued by the stemmed Paleo point Marlboro, New Jersey.

Don knew the antagonistic archaeologist and tention. __________ indigenous peoples who owned them.

There have been Late It was perfect Paleo point number two and, of confided thatallheabout had a reputation for arrogance It was the base—smallish compared to the course, it had to be recorded.

Unfortunately, I even among his and peers.side-notched As for my Dalton blade—narrow with point, straight, tapering-up- Archaic burials where extremely large Perkiomen blades through many of the same problems I’dinexperienced appear to have buried with remains, and a few casesalmost “killed” he suggested we Almost submit every an article theI found annual was Newmade Jerseyof went ward shoulders. one to that half a decade earlier.

It was a bit depressing; it felt like I’d never by ceremoniously breaking the tool into pieces.

Heartbreaking, Archaeology Thishad periodical annually highlights the I yellow or redBulletin. jasper that been heat-altered.

The more gone through the vetting process.

Thankfully, a local commercial but true nonetheless.

Garden significant and is were highlyvery prestigious read, theState’s moremost I learned thatfinds my finds typicalinof monthly picked it up and did a better than expected job on the Speaking of matters of the heart, I soon got over my scientific circles.

One of Don’s closest friends was the managing the Perkiomen type in general. I also found that almost all article. “crush” on these Perkiomen styles and what I had found so chief editor and, ironically enough, the newspaper’s archaeologist Perkiomen “points” were not points at all but, in fact, blades.

More recently, now my discovery a partial mastodon skeleton also sat on the board of the magazine. The web that was being many years reside in of frames in my personal museThis started my lifelong quest to correct the misnomer, “ar- brought quiteago a bit on more Finally!

It only woven around this single spear point was getting thick indeed! um. Sadly enough, coldrecognition. winter nights, my kids have took found rowheads.” numerous phone calls, several interviews and the backing oflook three in In the spring of 2006 (almost a year after my find), the bulletin me staring at my precious Perkiomens with a far-off The upper portion of the Perkiomen style varies due to the 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 my eyes. intended or unintended If found almost unused con- their eyes and thus, the find could be properly documented. The Dalton point.

It was late use. in coming, butinthere it was: a literal You can’t ever forget your first love. dition, the blades tend to be symmetrical due to the fact that media giveth and the media taketh away. But it should never be exercise in persistence and luck.

Opinions and research expressed in this column are those of theyThe were never re-sharpened, which would have caused an able to rob a find of itsandprovenance. the author not necessarily those of American Digger . gravy on top of my ‘taters was the verbal dressing down asymmetrical shape. If they were well-used, thus resharpened, (This column originally appeared in Vol. 13, Issue 4) they could almost have a drill-like appearance. If broken or snapped-off, they could have been re-purposed into a hafted scraper in form, or any other suitable tool. The Native American culture was never one to waste usable material.

Studies indicate that tools from other cultures of the peWe are about much more just metal detecting!

About Thethan Author ® There are stone artifacts in every and American Digger !

Glenn Harbour has been digging collecting since

It

®

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his teenage years and has traveled both the west and

Diggin’ It

by April Pedersan

“The ship’s gold should be right about here.”

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

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2017 Feature Article Index —To order a listed issue, click link here: Note some issues may be sold out, orders subject to availability.

Volume 13, Issue 1 (Jan-Feb 2017) MARY, DIG THAT SIGNAL... By Charlie Harris It started with an old-time detectorist passing a “junk” signal on to his wife. It ended years later with a rare restored relic.

Getting Hammered In England... By Ed Stewart Going to England to metal detect is on the bucket list of many American detectorists. Here’s one person’s experience.

Lee’s Indian Collection... By John Velke A chance meeting in the field leads to a locally recovered Native American artifact collection that deserves to be shared.

Most of the Most: DIV XXXV... An American Digger® Pictorial America’s longest-running organized Civil War relic hunt produces a new bounty of artifacts and newfound friendships.

Getting the most from the XP Deus... By Butch Holcombe No matter the detector you choose, proper training and good hands-on experience will result in more finds. This time, we learn more about the XP Deus and share some very special programs.

Know Where To Go... By M.A. Shafer No matter how excited you are about metal detecting, it will soon lose its appeal if you can’t find a suitable place to pursue your hobby. Here’s how to locate potential sites and get permission.

Icing on the cake... By Sid Witherington Civil War relics are a non-renewable resource, and the more that are recovered the less that remain under the ground.

Volume 13, Issue 2 (March-April 2017) Betting on Aquia Creek... By A. Taglianetti Aquia Creek and other nearby locations in Virginia have provided this author some unique relics, including multiple poker chips. a Guide for Pewter Button Preservation... By Ian “Mac” McAtee Pewter buttons require immediate care once exposed to the air. Here’s how to halt the damage.

Privy Digging 101: How to get the Glass... By Rick Weiner The skill and knowledge needed to find and dig an old privy can be daunting for those unfamiliar with the task. This premier bottle digger tells our readers how to do it.

Relics & Recollections of the Greatest Generation... By Bill Jones Before young GIs were tested under enemy fire in WWII, they were tested under friendly fire in the mock battles of Tennessee.

BULLET SPILLS & BUTTON THRILLS In Virginia... By Josh Tyree Before this trip, this out-of-state author had hoped to find at least one bullet spill in the Old Dominion state. As it happened, he dug several.

Searching for MontanA Gold: A Prospector Remembers... By Lawrence S. Heberle Gold has always drawn prospectors, and the prospectors of the past spent more time with their hands in cold water looking for the Big Yellow than documenting their life.

How A Hurricane Led to a Ring Return... By Larry Holland From the destruction and turmoil wrought by Hurricane Matthew came a godsend for a lost ring’s owner.

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Volume 13, Issue 3 (May-June 2017) The Dumb Luck Chronicles... By Dan Lombardo Nothing beats good research...except a bit of blind luck. A newbie to the hobby proves that.

Three Camps... By Bob Roach Four friends drive hundreds of miles in Sudan to search nineteenth-century military camps, only to discover that these had already been hunted. They carry out their searches anyway, and come away with numerous good relics.

Dispensary Creek... By Robert Bohrn At the turn of the century, South Carolina monopolized liquor sales. It is remembered through the bottles found.

The Forgotten Picket Post... By Richard Blake With persistence, research, and the courage to ask landowners for permission to search, one detectorist in Tennessee proves that there are still productive Civil War sites waiting to be discovered.

Is a Paid Hunt For You?... By Al Brown There are growing numbers of paid metal detecting “hunts” in the United States. Would one of these be a good fit for you?

Fossil Find... By Adam Brenner A short family vacation in Kentucky unexpectedly produces a 450-million-year-old fossil.

THE UNCANNY GRAPEVINE... By William Spedale A veteran relic hunter reminisces about the friendships made over several decades of searching for artifacts.

Searching for “D.L.M.”... By Gary Fishman The return of any ring can be a fascinating journey, but it can often be a challenge requiring the utmost in detective work.

Volume 13, Issue 4 (July-August 2017) Heritage, Iron & Friends... By Joe “Cannon” Goetz A nostalgic timeline of fun and friends can be had by remembering the relics that were found.

Picture This... A Photo Compilation Culpeper, Virginia was once again home to organized relic hunting. We show you some of the history recovered.

A Token Comes Full Circle... By Mickey Stockton The town of Bushnell, North Carolina is long gone, as is Fisher’s Store. But both still hold a place in this author’s heart.

Four Days in Paradise and a Lifetime of Adventure... By M.A. Shafer From Canada to Curacao to Oak Island, Steve Zazulyk talks about dive detecting, television, and a drunken iguana named Ed. Ironing It Out... By Matt Jones The author never dreamed he would unearth an entire Civil War musket. Then again, he hadn’t really expected to dig so many artillery projectiles from one area.

Who Were They?... By Butch Holcombe When a north Georgia forest was logged for pulpwood, an ancient culture came to light. But who were these ancient hunters?

All In The Family... By Kevin Walls Searching for relics can be a solo venture, but much more joy can be found in the hobby by including the family.

A Dog NAMED SUSIE Not all valuable finds can be measured in cash or rarity. Some must be considered treasures of the heart whose greatest value is in priceless memories.

By Bob Smith

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Volume 13, Issue 5 (Sept.-Oct. 2017) NOW I AM DUE!... By Meigs Brainard These words had been often repeated. That is, until a CS buckle showed up in the dirt of Arkansas.

New Hampshire Colonial Dig... By Glenn “Doc” Watson Although there are several Civil War site organized digs, few concentrate on colonial sites. One exception is the annual Best O’ North East event, which combines almost a week of digging with a show and banquet.

Many Happy Returns... By Josh Tyre There are many places that are said to be hunted out. But are they really?

A Golden Opportunity... By Jen Johnson Want a prospector’s weekend getaway without the expense of a trip to distant gold fields? Look no farther than North Carolina.

THE TREE THAT SAW IT ALL... By Michael Whitfield While the Battle of Bentonville raged, a pine stood in mute testimony to the bloodshed. Thanks to favorable ground conditions and a dedicated relic hunter, its secrets are now revealed.

Memories in Silver & Gold... By Kathy Riggan What is the best way to remember your favorite coin find? How about having a work of art created that you can wear with pride?

Don Hinks Interview... By M.A. Shafer After nearly half a century of searching for history and selling metal detectors, Gettysburg Electronics owners Don and Joan Hinks are ready to retire. But as this interview shows, theirs has been an interesting journey.

Volume 13, Issue 6 (Nov-Dec 2017) GEORGIA IN TENNESSEE... By Josh Tyree A gathering of friends on April Fool’s weekend for a Civil War relic hunt was a lot of fun, but what was found was no joking matter. It was, however, worthy of much celebration.

American Digger® on the Road: Ohio...By Butch Holcombe We took our detectors on the road once again, this time to visit the Buckeye State, Ohio. While there, we participated in an amateur archaeological dig, followed by a hunt at a classic street tear-out, meeting old friends and making new ones.

The Art of War...An American Digger® compilation Much of a Civil War soldier’s life on the front consisted of downtime, nervously awaiting a charge or just sweltering in the trenches or in camp. To pass the time, many soldiers carved, often on bullets designed for killing, not artwork.

A Detectorist’s Dilemma...By Allyson Cohen In the words of comedian Steven Wright, “You can’t have everything... Where would you put it?” In the life of a serious metal detectorist, that can be a challenge to even the most imaginative among us.

New Age Farming vs. Artifact Recover...By Quindy D. Robertson Native Americans once thrived here, although all that remains are their stone artifacts. Once common finds in plowed fields, new methods of farming are severely limiting surface finds of these stone artifacts.

By American Digger Sparks a New Friendship... By Will Adams The phone call was unexpected, but through it this author was able to find a new friend who had the same interest in WWII history as himself. Here’s what happened when they got together to metal detect a training site.

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2017 American Digger® Magazine Sampler

The Hole Truth...

The Publisher speaks... but will he ever shut up?

A

Photo by Bob Kish

new phrase has crept into our language: Artificial Intelno idea that backmarks really ligence (AI), and AI frightens me greatly. In most circles, don’t matter, and that “Scovill” AI is in reference to computers that are programed to actuand “Horstmann” in any font ally think and reason, and some fear they will one day take over or style means the button is not the world, enslaving the human race. Hogwash. That horse has only military, but never postalready left the station, and the train it was on has departed the dates the era you are seeking. barn, cheerfully mixing metaphors along the way. Need I say anyI’ve also learned that no one more than “Facebook” or “Smart Phone” to prove that humans ever visited these sites at a later as a whole have already been enslaved? Can I get an Amen? Just date, and if they did, they didn’t text me. lose any buttons.

No, our present dilemma is that many humans have been Here’s another Eureka moinfected with AI. I see them everywhere professing to be 100% ment shared with me through correct on subjects ranging from politics to the climate. It is my the curse of AI: artifact repairs hope we can one day pair those with opposite views together, thus are not consistent. In other words, even though I know I had that cancelling out both. But the ones I consider the most dangerous? buckle repaired when I owned it, the repair ceases to exist if an AI Those AI infected souls somehow know the identity of every says so. Conversely, I’ve learned it is possible that an item I dug item ever dug. Or so they think. What is amazing is that the less myself and never knowingly altered, has somehow been repaired time these people have been involved in the digging and collectwhile living in my display case. ing hobby, the more they profess to know. Yes, there are some old I have seen rocks called arrowheads and arrowheads called timers who have bouts of AI, but these are mild and non terminal. rocks. I have seen meteorwrongs declared with certainty to be mePlus it is harder to transmit the disease while sitting in front of teorites. I have seen cubic zirconium transformed into diamonds, one’s fireplace playing with one’s Minié balls while cursing the and diamonds transformed into cut glass. I know this is so because TV. It is when one is publicly pontificating that they become a those afflicted with Artificial Intelligence have deemed it so, and threat. Add the internet to the mix, and they become the Typhoid who am I to argue with someone that smart?

Mary of misinformation.

I like to think that, so far, I have not been infected with AI. I am Until I recognized this phenomenon, I had wondered how I rarely ever certain of anything and usually preface my comments had suddenly become so dumb on artifact identification. Perhaps with “I think.”

I had read too many relic identification books, thus spraining my “I think that is a reins guide, not a sword hanger.” brain? Or perhaps it was that almost half a century of my looking “I think that button backmark dates to the 20th century.” at crusty rusty stuff had finally short-circuited my frontal lobe. All “I think that bottle dates to the mid 1800s.”

I know is that, by recent reports, I didn’t really know what I know.

Even with things I am certain of, I still leave a bit of doubt so the person can research and discover things on their own: “I think For instance, in the last three years I’ve learned, via those with AI, that ore crushing balls are indeed transformed into Civil War the engraving on that sword was done with an electric vibrating engraver,” or even “I think electric vibrating engravers weren’t incannonballs after spending enough time in the ground or closet. vented until sometime after the Napoleonic Wars.”

By the same token, artillerymen of that conflict sometimes used So please know the dangers of AI. Too many historians of yesshotputs discarded by 20th century high school sport teams. teryear have spent too much time researching too much stuff to have Saddle shields are another thing I’ve had to relearn in the their information erased by too much AI. Read a relic book. Buy a last year or so. Even after we published a photo of monogrammed coin guide. Even do your own Google searches. But beware when radiator shields still in the package stating that they were someone claims to be certain; that’s a warning sign of AI. “Monogrammed Radiator Shields,” The AI’s insist that they are But then, what do I know?

Confederate saddle shields for either (depending on the letter) Cavalry, Artillery, Infantry, Riflemen, Dragoons, Engineers, and Happy Huntin’, Ya’ll! the list goes on through the alphabet. I suspect it’s only a matter of time before someone digs one for the “Zeppelin” corps. Or so the AI’s will declare.

Even buttons, a subject In each issue “The Whole Truth” brings a smile to I thought I had a good grasp our readers. Don’t miss out, click here to subscribe! on, have let me down. I had

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2017 American DiggerÂŽ Magazine Sampler

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