1740s Farm Hunt in Rhode Island

Yup, I missed the boat on that hunt. Sold out before I got around to buying a ticket. I will be going to the May 21st hunt in Coventry, though. Should be fun.

I checked the RI Relics FB page and nothing posted there regarding the Richmond hunt. You would think that someone found something decent and posted it somewhere! They sold 60 tickets, so that's a lot of holes dug! Need some info on that hunt, guys!
 
Great questions!

I'm the guy behind Dirt Fishing Adventures so I can partially answer your questions.

The field dated to 1680 and was tough in that it contained a lot of iron and was hard on the less experienced hunters. I only got on it for about an hour myself but certainly dug my share of nails. That being the case, I can tell you what finds people made me aware of.

The oldest coin was a French 1 Liard (1655-58)

There was a William & Mary half-penny (1689-1694)

A William III half-penny (1694-1702)

A few KGii's and KGIII's came out of the ground as well.

There were a number of beat to death farm field coppers that may or may not have been British in nature and a couple of crusty US coppers.

There wasn't much silver, but I was shown a Seated Half-Dime, a Barber quarter, and some Roosies and a shield nickel.


There were flat buttons from the 1800's and 1700's and a "U" button from the 1600's that Stefdigs identified for us.

Speaking of which, we had Quarter Hoarder and Dog Tag Doug there as well as Stefdigs of YouTube fame. We had a few smaller channels there as well such as Wicked Digger, Maine Dirt Sweepahs, and a few others.
 
People really paying 80 bucks to hunt an old farm? Is there something else included for that 80 bucks?
 
Their last event sold out at $90 a shot. Well worth the price if you find a 1652 tree shilling or maybe a 1700's silver shoe buckle. Rhode Island is loaded with colonial era coins and relics. Most public spots have been detected to death, so it's worth the price to be able to hunt over 100 acres of private property that's virgin ground. I may not find jack squat, but you never know...
 
Brian, if you could ever use an extra hand for any event in the future, let me know! I would donate a few hours free of charge. I also had a few idea's that I would like to bounce off of you. I hope to make one of your hunts in the future, the last one looked like a blast!
 
People really paying 80 bucks to hunt an old farm? Is there something else included for that 80 bucks?

Yes tpmetal, people pay $80 and a lot more depending on the venue.


Since you asked, the $80 entry gets the purchaser access to 120+ acres of a VIRGIN farm with history back to at least 1741. Very sketchy info puts it back to the 1680's but I'm quite sure on the 1741 minimum date. The property also had a school on it from at least 1851 to 1938, how much earlier or later is unclear.

The land has been in the same family since the 1950s and has never been detected, not even by the one guy with permission to do so, me.

Also included is coffee, water, snacks, raffles, a seeded area, and swag bags for the first 25 who bought tickets, and a port a potty.

You also get to meet Stefdigs and possibly be in her video of the hunt. At our last hunt in Richmond, RI videos of the hunt were made by Quarter Hoarder, Stefdigs, and Wickid Digger and plenty of participants ended up in those videos which is fun.


Then there is the camaraderie that comes along with a group hunt and the chance to meet others in the hobby and make new friends.

Not everyone likes group hunts, but plenty of people do.

For instance, B.O.N.E. charges $100-$150/day for a natural hunt or $400 for 5 days.

Digstock's next event is $175 for the day with a t-shirt and lunch.

And Nugget Noggin's event a couple of weeks ago was $397 for a one day seeded hunt.

I may be bias, but I think $80 for this hunt is pretty reasonable.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].

And yes, tickets are still available!
 
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Yes tpmetal, people pay $80 and a lot more depending on the venue.


Since you asked, the $80 entry gets the purchaser access to 120+ acres of a VIRGIN farm with history back to at least 1741. Very sketchy info puts it back to the 1680's but I'm quite sure on the 1741 minimum date. The property also had a school on it from at least 1851 to 1938, how much earlier or later is unclear.

The land has been in the same family since the 1950s and has never been detected, not even by the one guy with permission to do so, me.

Also included is coffee, water, snacks, raffles, a seeded area, and swag bags for the first 25 who bought tickets, and a port a potty.

You also get to meet Stefdigs and possibly be in her video of the hunt. At our last hunt in Richmond, RI videos of the hunt were made by Quarter Hoarder, Stefdigs, and Wickid Digger and plenty of participants ended up in those videos which is fun.


Then there is the camaraderie that comes along with a group hunt and the chance to meet others in the hobby and make new friends.

Not everyone likes group hunts, but plenty of people do.

For instance, B.O.N.E. charges $100-$150/day for a natural hunt or $400 for 5 days.

Digstock's next event is $175 for the day with a t-shirt and lunch.

And Nugget Noggin's event a couple of weeks ago was $397 for a one day seeded hunt.

I may be bias, but I think $80 for this hunt is pretty reasonable.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out to me at [email protected].

And yes, tickets are still available!

Interesting. Guess I should get out into civilization more often.
 
Interesting. Guess I should get out into civilization more often.

It all depends on whether or not you like civilization!

Like I said though, group hunts aren't for everyone.

Plenty of people enjoy the solitude of being out there with their machine, but a group hunt can be a lot of fun. And when the owner of a nice property is offered a good chunk of money to let people detect their land, it certainly helps with gaining permission.
 
It all depends on whether or not you like civilization!

Like I said though, group hunts aren't for everyone.

Plenty of people enjoy the solitude of being out there with their machine, but a group hunt can be a lot of fun. And when the owner of a nice property is offered a good chunk of money to let people detect their land, it certainly helps with gaining permission.

makes sense, I might consider doing one if it was closer. Got any planned in ny?
 
I've got my eyes on a spot in NY but I find it a lot harder tracking people down and getting permission when you can't just drive over and introduce yourself.

About last week's hunt, to my knowledge, the following things were found.

Large cents, Flying Eagle cents, V Nickels, Buffalo nickels, a gold ring, a complete knee buckle, the interior of a shoe buckle, a Capped Bust half dollar, a Morgan dollar, a seated quarter, a Seated half-dime, and counterfeit Pine Tree Schilling as well as the usual 20th century silver.
 
I have serious doubts regarding the capped bust half and the Morgan dollar finds. Found by the same guy, who only seems to find big silver or silver spills in his videos.

I did see a large cent found by a digger, but not much else. I didn't even find one clad coin in four hours of detecting, which makes me wonder if the place had been detected before. Of course, not letting anyone within 100 feet of the house or barn did make it tough to find anything good...
 
I hear you Tim.

The reason for the distance from the house is because it was what the owner allowed due to an invisible dog fence.

The house itself is modern, late 1990s, but it's pretty much the exact location of the original house. The land around the new house was bull-dozed around so who knows what's there or if anything good is three or more feet down....

As far as the other issue you mention with the Capped Half and Morgan Dollar, all I can say with certainty is that those coins are in very nice condition and they're pretty rare finds indeed. Not knowing the individual, I'm not going to pass judgement without solid evidence.
 
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all I can say with certainty is that those coins are in very nice condition and they're pretty rare finds indeed. Not knowing the individual, I'm not going to pass judgement without solid evidence.

Watch his videos and you'll have all the evidence you need. He finds big silver or a silver spill in almost every video, but rarely finds a large cent or anything else. And he usually shows the coins with dirt on them and not cleaned up. He keeps the dirt on them because he knows they're way to clean and shiny to have been in the ground for over 100 years.
 
As far as the other issue you mention with the Capped Half and Morgan Dollar, all I can say with certainty is that those coins are in very nice condition and they're pretty rare finds indeed. Not knowing the individual, I'm not going to pass judgement without solid evidence

He was busted for "digging" a silver buckle that he bought on eBay on June 26th. Confirms what I already knew. Most of his finds are planted.

Here's my thread showing his video and the buckle on eBay:

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?t=297736
 
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