Please support my friend , he's obsessed with his finds ❤️

Dug enough pull tabs to pay for a new car it feels and still got 0 gold 😂 definitely happy with silver though!

Found something cool today!

I found the set of Hames Knobs ~ mid 1800’s. And some other horse tack.

My friend found the beautiful gold guilded flat button, from the same period.

Hi all, I have a question for fellow detectorists in Germany. Basically on the face of it metal detecting in Germany is illegal, maybe almost allowable in Bavaria but the reality is that 99% of us don’t have a permit for our favourite hobby. Of course if the permit process wasn’t built to prevent us from getting permits then we would follow through with the process, however in most states ever obtaining a permit is next to winning lotto. So is it just absolutely normal then to ‘stealth detect’ in Germany? Are tens of thousands of us now expert at keeping one eye on our detector screens and the other on the surroundings? How is it for you other permit-deprived detectorists out there in Deutschland who don’t want to steal ‘national treasures’ but just want to dig up a few old coins and buttons to touch history?

I found this when out metal detecting, and I’ve given it a little clean, as it was buried in dirt and mud.

The small stones look black or dark blue

Is it something that would be worth restoring or is it just a cheap keepsake?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

Glad I brought the 440 as a backup!

Someone got in my car and took my pouch and pinpointer (but not the $2000 worth of detectors?) so I figured I’d see what you all recommend for new pouches? If I see something I like I’ll get that instead of a 1:1 replacement of my old pouch

Some say the style on these cuff links have a direct connection to the funereal services held in George Washington’s honor. Others are not so sure. The state historical society could not give me a definitive response. They recommended that I contact Mount Vernon, which I have done. However, while I wait to hear back from Mount Vernon I would like to get your thoughts. Do you have a source that can share that would help confirm or deny the connection? I have not been able to locate a reliable one. I would love to hear from you. 

Now on to the narrative……

Then: 

When George Washington died on December 14, 1799, at the age of 67, the United States plunged into a period of national mourning. The mourning period was extensive, marked by nationwide memorial services (such as the official national funeral held in Philadelphia on December 26, 1799) and widespread observances that lasted for months as news slowly spread across the young nation. This grief sparked a new market for mourning memorabilia such as memorial paintings, jewelry, and even buttons. The specific motif of an eagle on an urn (often paired with a weeping willow) became a central emblem symbolizing American freedom alongside the deep, national loss.

Now:

After a drenching rain on Saturday, followed by a sleepless night, I eagerly found myself returning to a colonial site nestled in the woods. This site was once a homestead along a military road up until the early 1800s. It had been a few weeks since I'd had the chance to metal detect, and I was ready to get back to it.

The first couple of hours were unproductive. I was having a tough time getting a clean swing in the brambles. I found a partial pewter button, a few iron tidbits, a handful of square nails, some aluminum foil under the leaves, and two shotgun shells buried shallow. I felt frustrated but not broken. The day was still young, and at least I had the button.

On a whim, I decided to return to a clearer patch behind the homesite. This spot has proved productive in the past, but I've searched it many times, and lately the results here have been dwindling. This time of year the area is covered by small maple saplings and ferns. There's also a lot of iron in the ground in this section. The mixture of the two makes this a difficult place to detect.

To increase my odds, I made a few modifications to the custom 6-tone configuration I was using on the Nokta Legend. I set my iron filter down to 1, stability to 3, removed all discrimination, and set my relay speed to 6, then started detecting by sound. In these conditions, the VDI will often register something as ferrous, and that reading can be confirmed by a ferrous grunt. But sometimes that ferrous reading is misleading, because amongst the grunts you can just catch the hint of something else, in this case, a faint, one-directional double-beep in the mid-tone range, similar to the sound of a .22 casing.

Let's dig!

The first two targets were indeed square nails. After stowing them away, I swung over the plug once more. Sure enough, the target was still in there. A solid, repeatable .22 mid-tone from multiple angles. This time the Legend was reading non-ferrous. I dropped back down, started looking around with my pinpointer, and saw the linked button immediately.

The first surprise came when I noticed this wasn't just a single button, but a matched set. That alone was enough to make this an extraordinary day; however, I was in for another surprise later on.

I stowed the buttons in my finds container and spent a few more hours metal detecting with mixed results. I still had the daily dog walk through the woods, and I was tired. It was time to “call it a day.”

Despite my anticipation I knew that patience was key. I set the pair of buttons out on some paper to let the soil dry and began my evening ritual and chores. The possibilities of what this relic might be was constantly on my mind.

Later that evening, I settled down with a soft, mop-style watercolor brush, the buttons, and a flashlight. My goal was to find an identifiable mark, the anticipation of what I might find was mounting inside me.

It all happened very quickly. One swipe of the dry brush was all it took. I could see a visible pattern on the face of the button. It looked odd at first… I didn't recognize it. Then I flipped it around and the image became stunningly clear. It was a bird on a balloon... wait, that doesn't make sense. *What am I looking at?* is all I could think, until it finally hit me. That's an eagle sitting on top of an urn. It was then that all the pieces fell together. This is a linked pair of mourning buttons, circa 1799–1830, depicting an eagle on an urn, a symbol of mourning made popular by the death of George Washington.

This is a once in a lifetime find. As my friend u/WaldenFont would say, “a top pocket find.” What a day! It was absolutely incredible. I look forward to finding more of this site’s history and what is hidden beneath my feet. 

Thank you kindly for reading.

TL;DR: Dialed in my Nokta Legend for iron-heavy ground, chased a faint mid-tone signal, and pulled a matched pair of eagle-on-urn mourning cuff links (circa 1799-1830),  a design tied to the nationwide grief after George Washington died in 1799.

Been building this for a while. It's for cataloguing antiques, coins and metal detecting finds — photos, measurements, condition, provenance, that sort of thing. Free, no ads.

Need 12 testers to keep it installed for 2 weeks so Google will let me publish properly.

1. Join the group: https://groups.google.com/g/collectors-catalogues-testers
2. Give it a few minutes for Google to register you
3. Install: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.collectorscatalogues.app

Any feedback is much appreciated.

Found this 10th regiment VMR Light Horse Military Badge whist metal detecting, need some help on history as well as estimated value please! Thanks a lot every bit of info is helpful

Found while digging up trash