Eastern Virginia hunt - 3/20 through 3/23, 2011



Bob Milburn, frank abel, and jim armstrong met in eastern virginia to relic hunt several fields for colonial and civil war artifacts.  on the first day of the hunt, warren newton joined bob milburn and jim armstrong to hunt an early colonial site.  in the past this site had produced several nice union army artifacts including a yankee sword belt plate and union buttons.  in another part of this huge field was an early home site dating to the late 1600's.  many silver coins had been found there.



Day 1 - we all found flat buttons on that day, but the find of the day was a cS tounge confederate sword belt plate found by warren newton.  warren also found a nice virginia half penny and a smashed flat maryland state button.  jim and bob both found several flat buttons, but the find of the day was the cs belt plate.  jim also found a 1898 seated liberty dime and a liberty dime.



day 2 - on day 2 frank abel arrived and we hunted a large field that had produced relics in the past.  a few flat buttons were found.  we also hunted an 1830's farm house that had been the home of a Doctor during the Civil War.  bob found a nice brass shoe heel plate of a design worn during the civil war.



Day 3 - on day 3 we drove north towards fredricksburg and met a friend of mine from my cg days, bill duval.  that day frank found a nice large cent near the rappahannock river.  later in the day we tried an 1874 farm house, but did not find much.



Day 4 - we hunted another old farm where we had found quite a few relics in the past.  Bob found a nice large cent and an early colonial buckle.  but jim hit the jackpot that day finding his first confedereate block a button.



pictures of some of our finds and from our hunt are below.  we all had a good time and agreed that we will try to get together again next year for a hunt in MASS with Bob.  (See pictures below)







KENTUCKY SATURDAY RELIC HUNTS - 5, 12 AND 18 FEBRUARY 2011


JIM WEAVER, DENO BARBOUR AND JIM ARMSTRONG GOT TOGEHTER FOR THREE STRATIGHT WEEKENDS TO HUNT SOME FIELDS NEAR SHELBYVILLE, KY.  THE THREE WEEKEND HUNTS PRODUCED NUMEROUS FLAT BUTTONS.  ON THE 5TH AND THE 12TH DENO FOUND A BARBER DIME ON EACH DAY.  BOTH WERE IN EXCELLENT CONDITION.  ALSO ON THE 5TH, JIM ARMSTRONG FOUND A DROPPED .577 CALIBER MINNIE BALL AT AN 1830S HOMESTED.  ON SATURDAY 12 FEBURARY WE LOCATED THE SITE OF AN EARLY HOMESTED IN THE MIDDLE OF A SOY BEAN FIELD.  USING OUR DETECTORS WE LOCATED APPROXIMATELY 10 FLAT BUTTONS THAT DAY.  WE DECIDED TO RETURN THE FOLLOWING WEEKEND, BECAUSE WE KNEW THERE HAD TO BE A COIN LAYING SOMEWHERE JUST BENEATH THE SURFACE.  sURE ENOUGH, ON THE FOLLOWING STAURDAY, fEBRUARY 18TH JIM ARMSTRONG FOUND A 1828 LARGE CENT THAT WAS WELL WORN, AND A SCOVIL AND WATERBURY BACKMARK UNON GENERAL STAFF BUTTON AND A FIRED MINNIE BALL.  jIM WAEVER FOUND AN EARLY PADLOCK AND SEVERAL FLAT BUTTONS AND DENO LOCATED A SMALL GIRLS RING AND SEVERAL FLAT BUTTONS.  IT WAS SOME COLD BUT EXCELLENT HUNTING.  pHOTOS OF THE SOME OF THE FINDS ARE BELOW IN THE SLIDE SHOWS.



Eastern Kentucky - November 2010



in the fall of 2010 chris armstrong, jim armstrong and ron cyrus hunted a site in eastern kentucky that was a site where john hunt morgan and his confederate troops attacked a union wagon train of supplies.  the relic hunting treo found hundreds of dropped and fired minnie balls and round balls at the site, many of the minnies were 69 caliber.  jim armstrong found a nice confederate spur at the site at a depth of close to 15" with his nautilus dmc IIB.


Virginia HUNT FEBRUARY 2010


bOB MILBURN AND CHRIS ARMSTRONG JOINED JIM ARMSTRONG IN EASTERN VIRGINIA TO RELIC HUNT SEVERAL COLONIAL HOME SITES.  DURING THE THREE DAY HUNT ALL THREE RELIC HUNTERS FUND SPAINISH SILVER.  CHRIS STRUCK FIRST WITH A NICE SPANISH COB DATING TO AROUND 1690.  JIM AND BOB EACH FOUND CUT SPANISH PISTERINES WITH EARLY 1700 DATES.  LATER IN THE HUNT BUBBA LEIGH JOINED IN ON THE HUNT AND FOUND A NICE VIRGINIA HALF PENNY WITH THE 1773 DATE (THE ONLY YEAR THESE WERE MADE).  IT WAS AN EXCELENT THREE DAY HUNT.


kENTUCKY - oLD CHIMMNEY SITE - DENO'S LUCKY DAY 30 jANUARY 2007


DENO BARBOUR WENT TO AN OLD CHIMMNEY SITE OUTSIDE OF LOUISVILLE ON JANUARY 30TH 2007 FOR A FEW HOURS OF RELIC HUNTING.  DENO'S HUNTING BUDDIES WEAVER AND ARMSTRONG DIDN'T WANT TO GET OU OF THE HOUSE ON THAT COLD JANUARY MORNING, SO DENO DECIDED TO GIVE IT A TRY BY HIMSELF FOR A FEW HOURS.  IT WAS A DREARY DAY AND DENO HAD HUNTED FOR A WHILE AND NOT FOUND MUCH OF ANYTHING.  SO DENO DECIDED TO GET IN HIS CAR AND HEAD HOME.  AS HE GOT INTO HIS CAR SOMETHING TOLD DENO THAT HE NEEDED TO GET BACK OUT OFTHE CAR AND GIVE IT ANOTHER 30 MINUTES OR SO.  WAS HE GLAD THAT HE DID.  WHILE DIGGING HIS SECOND HOLE AFTER GETTING BACK OUT OF THE CAR, DENO GOT A SIGNAL INDICATING A SHALLOW TARGET AND IT WAS READING A SOLID 50 cENT PIECE ON HIS WHITE LXT.  WHEN DENO FLIPPED OVER THE PLUG OF GROUND HE SAW SILVER.  WHEN HE CLEANED OFF SOME OF THE MUD HE WAS LOOKING AT A BEAUTIFUL EAGLE ON ONE SIDE AND A NICE BUST LADY LIBERTY ON THE OTHER SIDE.  HE COULDN'T BELIEVE HIS EYES WHEN HE READ THE DATE - 1806.  HE HAD FOUND A VERY FINE 1086 BUST HALF DOLLAR IN BEAUTIFUL CONDITION.  GREAT FIND!



Massachusetts Hunt - Day 3, April 19 2009



Jim and bob got up early and headed back to the old farm visited on Saturday, april 18th.  on our third and final day of relic hunting we found some great finds, which included a large cent (1820's), a large arabic copper coin, a 1905 "V" nickel, and a 1600's Spanish copper marevdi coin.  in addition, we found two nice 1830's one piece belgian buttons, an early enlish railroad button, a 1787 english naval button, a union general service button, and an interesting two piece button from a netherlnds steamship company.  We also found numerous glass buttons on the serfurce of the ground and we dug numerous suspender buckles and underware buttons.  This was a great way to end the trhee day hunt.  Jim is already making plans to visit Bob again this fall in Massachusetts.



See pictures below (on right) from all three days.



Massachusetts Hunt - Day 2, April 18 2009



Jim and bob took to the field on Saturday to several old farms.  day two at the first farm site produced several flat buttons, a round zouave button, and a few silver quarters (both 1964).   in the afternoon, jim and bob hit paydirt at another old farm site.  this site produced numerous buttons and several old coins.   we were only able to hunt this site for a few hours on day two, but decided that we had to return on sunday morning.


Massachusetts Hunt - Day 1, April 17 2009



In mid April Jim Armstrong traveled to visit Bob Milburn in massachusetts to relic hunt pre-revolutionary war farms.  on the first day of a four day relic hunt, bob and Jim both found some great relics.  Bob found a 1787 new york nova eborac copper coin, a nice german bale seal, and several nice flat buttons.  jim found a revolutionary war sword scabbard drag, a large flat button, a 1926 silver dime, a man's gold wedding band (which was returned to the property owner), a harness terret, and two lead bale seals.   in addtion, jim and bob both found several oxen shoes.


See pictures below on the right of the mass hunt


Virginia Hunt, Feb 2009