I’m very lucky to live here on the East coast of the USA... Even more lucky to live in Southern NJ right near Philadelphia, PA. I get to detect literally in dirt that our founding fathers really may have walked on. It’s fantastic. I regularly detect a field along the Delaware River across from Philly, where a colonial market place existed since the early 18th century, and has produced some great finds.
I’ve pulled dozens of colonial flat buttons , William and Mary's , KG's , Nags Head cents and the list goes on and on.
On this particular day I decided to work the 12 foot high berm, which separated the River from this field... looking for Iron targets ,specifically as I had pulled a few pieces of colonial naval shot there before , I was scanning the side of the hill when I got the familiar signal of iron ,at a depth of about 12 inches.
I started plugging my hole and had dug beyond the 10 inch mark ... assumed I had hit a large piece of junk which was throwing off the depth gauge, but continued to dig ,taking the hole to approx. 14 inches.
As I cleared the dirt from the target ...I let out a scream that could be heard 2 counties over. There in the dirt was the outline of a beautiful cap and ball Boot pistol... I couldn't believe my eyes , but little did I know that my day was going to get even better.
After securing that incredible artifact, I continued to dig. A few short yards further down the slope I hit a nice 12:45 coin signal on the CTX3030. Without missing a beat I dropped to one knee and started to pop out the target. Only 4 inches down, I pulled what appeared to be a large cent or maybe another KG, and then I turned it Over.
There I saw the unmistakable 13 link chain of a FUGIO cent... Not in the Greatest of condition but in one day I pulled a post-colonial pistol and a 1787 FUGIO across the River from the birthplace of our nation. This great digging site was Absolutely amazing that day.
Detect America – New Jersey, USA