Amazing!
Where around the cellar hole did you find that ring? Was it inside? or far from the cellar hole? Just curious!
Great question!
I've pulled from this site alone, over a period of three seasons, seven large cents, (one a 1829 counterfeit) numerous buttons and shoe buckles, crotal bells and the usual do-dads from sites like this. All of which were hundreds, in some cases, one thousand + feet away from the actual cellar hole. Very rarely do you find the "good stuff" near the hole itself. It's where these farmers worked, took breaks on a rock, etc... do you find the "good stuff"
In this case, there was a clean, square break in a stone wall I was following where I crossed the road and started down an embankment that I've crossed three + times before. It was approximately 500 feet away from the cellar hole and about 25 feet from the road edge. The area kind of looks like a small rock waste pile where they were clearing pasture and where they were just chucking these small rocks and debris over the edge. I found the signal and made my usual 360 degree circle and decided to dig it as I thought for sure it would be a basic, low quality flat button. Wrong! Dug down, but only got around 4 to 5 inches due to some rocks and found that it was still in the hole. Got on my knees and swept it with the Pro Pointer, found the signal in the hole and scooped it out with my right hand. I found that one scoop moved it... Swept the scooped pile with the Pro Pointer and kicked the ring on edge and it looked as good as it went in. Stunning! Finding Gold never gets old!!! I looked at it and my first thought was , "Well, cool, gold, But I've found better!" I did a sweep with my finger inside the ring and saw the inscription. I tried to read it and mistakenly interpreted (Dyslexia) the word "Vinnie" for the word "Mine" for some reason. I threw it in my pouch and all I could keep thinking was the name "Vinnie"... "Why did some Italian guy loose a ring here in the 1820's? That bugged me for literally the whole afternoon until I realized what it actually said when I got home. Duh! And the rest is "History"... Now I'm on a quest to find out who John "Jonathan" Ball is.
If anyone has any info c/o John Ball, Pre Revolution silversmith in Boston, MA and Concord, MA who apprenticed under Captain Jacob Hurd in Boston 1737 to 1745, please do share!
Thanks again!
-Tim