Redbud Relic Recovery

Got this 1945 India 1 pice coin. I almost threw it in my trash pocket thinking it was a washer. Found in the edge of the woods on a local farm. 1 pice is equal to 1/64 of a rupee. I wish I knew how it ended up there.

I was about to meet up with C.L. and do some detecting this morning when I got a call from my uncle. He proceeded to tell me that one of our friends had lost a ring and he needed me to come over and hunt for it. I waited on C.L. to get to my house and then headed over to see what we could do. The guy that lost his ring is a dear family friend named James Massey. When we got to the property we learned that it was his wedding band. This was devastating for James as he had just lost his wife to a battle with cancer last week.
James works with a local farmer along with my uncle and was running some equipment that got a bunch of debris on it. He stopped in the field and cleaned it up then figured out his ring was missing. This happened the day before I got the call. When we got there we located the spot in the field where he had stopped and began to detect. Within just a few minutes I located a signal. The signal was in a big pile of cotton stalks. I kicked the pile to spread it out and there it was! I couldn’t believe it! James was standing with me and we saw it at about the same time. I grabbed the ring then he grabbed me and gave me the biggest hug. He thanked me over and over again. I handed him the ring and he was beside himself to say the least.
I’m blessed to have been able to help out my friend James. It was a very emotional find and I will never forget it.

Found this really old crotel bell in a farm field. Crotel bells date back to the Bronze age This one is likely from the late 1800’s Im thinking it came off of some horse’s tack that was working the fields. It would have been on a belt with multiple bells for the “jingle”. From what I’ve researched this would let others hear the horse and buggy or sleigh coming in case they were traveling on a narrow road and needed to make plans to pass each other. They were mostly used on sleighs in the northern states.

We have been able to detect more now that the temps are cooler and the brush and overgrowth has started to die out. C.L. found this clock winding key today from a “Waterbury Clock Company” clock.
The Waterbury Clock Company began making clocks in 1857 and became the Timex Corporation in 1944. Based on the history of this property it would have probably been from the late the 1800’s to early 1900’s.

Found this chunk of wood the other day that showed up on my metal detector. I figured it was just a nail. After breaking it open I found this bullet! It looks like a 9mm so it not super old but still a really cool find.

My finds over the last week. Cool aluminum child’s ring with a horse on it, a small childs aluminum bracelet, a couple of instrument reeds, a 1928 wheat penny, a fancy belt buckle along with several other items.

I ran across this civil war limber lock the other day in my collection that has a unique story behind it.
Last year C.L. was digging with me at a family owned permission and he found this awesome U.S. marked padlock keyhole cover at the base of a tree that’s probably 200 years old. He searched around for the lock as well but didn’t have any luck. A few months later I was talking to my uncle and showed him a few photos of our finds. I had been doing some research on the keyhole cover and found a picture of what the lock it went to would have looked like. I showed him that picture as well and he said he had a lock just like it. I asked him where he got it and he said he had found it at the base of a tree some thirty years earlier on that same piece of property C.L. was digging. When he told me the location of the tree I was convinced it was the mate to the keyhole cover as it was the same tree. He brought the lock with him a few weeks later and wanted me to have it. I told C.L. my uncle had given me the lock and then he gave me the cover as well. Thats how I ended up with it in my collection. What are the odds of those two pieces coming back together after all those years? We still talk about finding the key for it one day. You never know. The last picture is the one I found on the internet.

Got out this afternoon for a quick hunt and grabbed this military button with the back marked D. EVANS & CO. ATTLEBORO FALLS.
Button identification research says with the markings and black coloring it’s likely WW1. It’s about the size of a half dollar making it the largest military button I have found so far.

Redbud Relic Recovery attended a local metal detecting event today. Great time hanging out and getting to know some fellow hobbyist. Our crew won some awesome prizes and found some really cool stuff. We found civil war bullets, buttons, watch winding key, key hole cover, foreign coins and several other items. C.L. also won a raffle that snagged him two ounces of silver!

This “holed” 1863 Indian head penny was dug at a permission that’s produced many civil war items in the past. It’s called a “Fatty Indian” as it’s much thicker and slightly larger in diameter than a regular Indian head penny. These Fatty Indian heads were minted between 1859-1864. My imagination would lead me to think it may have been dropped by a soldier at camp or on the march to thier next post. We often find older coins with holes in them. It would have been worn like a necklace or tied to clothing for safe keeping.