Relic Season has begun - Racer or Bust, please be Seated for the Barber

Did a road trip with a detecting buddy to check out some new sites we researched, and detect some old sites we've done well at in the past.

The fist stop was an old c.1800 Spanish outpost site that I finally figured out where it was. Given it's current location we didn't have much hope that modern influence (it's in Los Angeles) would have it erased from history. We started detecting and my first target was a musket ball, then a nice flat button. Not much iron, which was odd given that this site was in use for about 60 years, but then after a while, I got a nice coin signal, solid lock on 84. Dug down a couple of inches and unearthed a silver coin, but I wasn't sure what it was, and figured it was a foreign coin. I called my buddy over and he took one look at it and said I had dug a bust dime! It's rough, cannot get a date off of it, but now that I compare it to PCGS pics of bust dimes, there's no doubt about it that's what it is. I passed a signal next to a bush, just was broken and not sounding like anything, and my friend went over it and called me over to compare signals with his Explorer. I said I could hear it, but it was really broken up and I had passed on it. he dug it and it turned out to be a 1779 one reale....grrr. It seemed that at this site most of the somewhat deeper signals were sounding bad, something funky with the ground there I guess. Dug a few more relics and my friend nabbed an 1847 seated half dime that had two sides of it cut off.

That rectangular piece next to the hand tooled copper nail is a hand cast, hand finished hinge. Next to the rim fire shells are two pewter spoon (?) handles, one has a decorative heart on it.



Next site was one that we've been to several times, another Spanish outpost and Indian trading site. Very remote but I've done pretty well there in the past, but conductive signals were getting few and far between (although there's no shortage of iron!). I didn't get any coins, but my buddy got a nice silver quarter reale, a tiny, tiny coin about the diameter of a No. 2 pencil eraser. I did get a cool relic, and it was deep, I was sure it was going to be a piece of iron, but it sounded so sweet, I kept digging and to my surprise it was a hand cast, hand tooled lock plate! That flattened out musket ball at the top looks to be a gaming chip.


Got six rim fire Henery shells and one large gun shell I've never seen before. Any idea what kind of shell it is?






Our next site was one we've hammered, but it keeps giving up the goods, although it's getting very stingy. I managed to get a nice Civil War era eagle cuff button and the sweetest signal I dug. It sounded super sweet, just a nice pure, round sounding signal that I was sure was going to be a silver dime. I wish I'd taken a video of the dig, as indeed it did turn out to be a silver dime, an 1862S seated dime to be exact! I was surprised when I checked it on PCGS that it could be a $500-$1000 dime!

I'm not sure what the big round thing is with the hole in the center? Also can anyone tell me what the three ringer bullet is?





I also picked up a 1900 Barber quarter, believe it or not from a beach hunt from an old California city that's having some erosion events and has removed enough sand to get to the oldies. I was amazed at how good of a beach machine the Racer was. I used the 10" coil and I could hear, 95% of the signals my friend with his Explorer2 could, but he did have a 12" coil on so there were a few signals that I just got a barely audible iron tick on that he had an iffy coin signal on. I suspect with the 11" DD or the BIG 15.5" DD it'll be a formable beach detector, IMHO it was every bit as good as my CZ70 at the beach.

I did encounter an odd issue one hunt with the trigger switch on my Racer. When moved forward to ground balance it worked fine, but when pulled back to pinpoint, nothing. I thought the switch had gone bad, tried rebooting the machine to no avail, but oddly it worked fine on the next hunt, but I'll probably look into sending it in to get it checked out....but right now is prime relic hunting season out here.

Happy hunting,
Brian

Outstanding digs Brian><. Tom (?) is quite a relic hunter.

Some nice finds you have there....
Congrats

Nice digs!

Great to see some finds starting to hit the forums now = it's been a slow/boring summer around here!

Looks like you guys had fun.
The values of some of those old seated dimes are very good.
Great hunt!

That's some pretty nice digs, Brian! Good job on the coins and relic's. HH jim tn

A long day well spent, Congratz!

Great post, Brian. Congrats on the sweet finds.

Wow, very well done!!!!! Congrats!!!!

Nice bunch of goodies...even a couple coin hunters would kill for..Congrats for sure...

WTG Brian,

Extremely good productive hunts, and thanks for the detail hunts think I may have been to two of these sites years ago.

Congrats!
Paul

nice

LowBoy

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If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Nice finds ..Congrats.

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

That silver Bust has been heavily exposed to salt (or uric acid).

Lotta good stuff Brian....congrats!

Aaron

Nice hunt. Love finding those Seateds

Thanks everyone for taking a look and all the great comments.

Tom D. there's no salt in the particular area I found the bust dime, but uric acid (aka cow urine) is very possible.

Paul I don't think you've been to these sites (perhaps the beach site), as they're all deep socal sites, except for the Barber quarter from the beach.


Does anyone have any info on that three ringer in the 6th photo?

Thanks and happy hunting!
Brian

That seated dime does look good. Been a while since I’ve pulled any seated coins.

Congrats.

Detecting since Feb, 2010
E-trac with 18"x15" SEF, 13" Ultimate coil, Pro coil, Minelab 8" coil, 4.5"x7" SEF, Sunray target probe
CTX3030 with 17"x13" DD coil, 11" DD coil

Thats a Ringtail sharps bullet.. Tie base...

Cavalry piece..popular in the 1850s and also in Civil war cavalry sites ..

the cartridge paper tied to the bullet around the fin with a piece of string..Hence the word Tie base..we call them Ringtails..I love digging them here...When I dig them in late war sites its usually Confederate cavalry...Texas Cavalry use them alot in my neck of the woods...

Good western bullet out your way..(DRAGOON)

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Keith thanks for the details on the bullet, it's bringing history to life. That makes sense as there were troops off and on at the site I dug it from between the 1850's thru the civil war. It was also an emigrant stopping spot, so it could've come from either side I guess.

Thanks again!
Brian