Pondering the Past

Pondering the Past AKA on Instagram! Hi! My name is Isaac and I enjoy discovering the stories of our past with my metal detector.
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Follow along and watch as history comes to life, one relic at a time!

📍🇺🇸
Based in New England ♦️🌲
Originally from VA ⚔️🏛️

08/24/2026

Sam and I scored permission to metal detect the grounds surrounding this 1830s Greek Revival style home in hopes of finding something someone lost nearly 200 years ago. This place went on to produce several intriguing relics and coins, including an unusual token from 1908 with a fascinating backstory!

After a long day of nothing, my Uncle and I went back to that park/school yard I mentioned in a previous post, and I som...
08/23/2026

After a long day of nothing, my Uncle and I went back to that park/school yard I mentioned in a previous post, and I somehow unearthed a 1700s silver coin!

Last time, he found an early 1800s Draped Bust large cent there, so I had hopes of at least finding something older to redeem ourselves from a tough day. I started hunting and got a 1940 nickel and a couple of wheat cents, but then I got a very crisp 86 signal on the XP Deus II at about 5 inches deep. I told my uncle this was going to be a wheat cent…but I was wrong - and I’m glad I was.

I saw a small, thin silver disc in the dirt clog. After removing the dirt, I realized it was a Spanish Half Real from 1779. These were coins used in everyday transactions in the early days of the United States, as we did not have many silver coins of our own in circulation, and they were accepted as legal tender until 1857.

This is my first whole Spanish half real for the year and it was a complete surprise. This is New England, but was still shocking as I personally never found anything quite old at that site. The school yard dates to the early 1900s, but the land around it is centuries old, and was likely former agricultural fields before the school was built. Very glad to have found this little needle in the haystack!

Ended up with a really interesting handful of relics after metal detecting at an 1869 house. This was a small front yard...
08/23/2026

Ended up with a really interesting handful of relics after metal detecting at an 1869 house. This was a small front yard along a busy street that also used to be the main thoroughfare for the area. I managed to find quite a bit of silver and some other interesting relics in the yard!

Highlights below include a 3 different rings, a kid’s Junior Fire Marshall ring, a brass Victorian-era costume jewelry ring, and a beautiful early-1900s Sterling ring with a design featuring bells and flowers. As for the other silver, I managed only one coin, a lone 1941 Mercury dime in a sea of Wheat Cents.

As mentioned in a previous post, I found the handle to a silver spoon marked “Seymour,” which was likely made by silversmith Oliver Seymour of Hartford, CT in the mid-1800s. It’s unusual for me to find even fragments of real silverware, so this was a very welcome find for me!

The small hollow piece marked Sterling appears to have wrapped around another object, perhaps a perfume bottle? Let me know your thoughts on this one! The other two relics are an 1870s brass suspender clip with a hatched pattern, and an 1830s flat coat or vest button.

Overall, not bad for a couple of hours playing in the dirt in the front yard of an old house! I’m always grateful for property owners to allow me to search their yards and land to see if I can find any trinkets like these lost long ago!

Really pleased to have found one of my best examples of a lead musket ball yesterday. This is a .75 cal musket ball that...
08/23/2026

Really pleased to have found one of my best examples of a lead musket ball yesterday. This is a .75 cal musket ball that would’ve been fired from a British Brown Bess musket back in the mid-late 1700s. Interestingly enough, this was found only a couple hundred feet from where my friend Sam dug a 42nd Regiment of Foot button with me several years ago.

This example still has the sprue up top, meaning it was never trimmed to be loaded and fired. Up top, I included a picture of what several lead cast .75 cal musket balls on their sprue would’ve looked like fresh from a bullet mold. They would’ve needed to be trimmed off before being used. On my example, you can tell it was a cast example due to the prominent mold seam separating the two halves of lead. Another piece of history for the collection!

Had a great find yesterday with this fragment from the end of a silver spoon! The hallmark indicates this was made by a ...
08/22/2026

Had a great find yesterday with this fragment from the end of a silver spoon! The hallmark indicates this was made by a silversmith named Oliver Seymour out of Hartford, Connecticut. He was in business from the 1840s to the 1860s and specialized in making these fiddleback type of spoons.

It appears to have been cut rather than broken, perhaps used for its silver value? This was during a time when silver was scarcely found in circulation, so it’s a possibility. It’s pretty uncommon to find even a fragment of a silver spoon, and to get an idea of the maker and age makes this piece even more special! Very happy with this little piece of history!

Had some obligations yesterday, but my Uncle and Aunt were around and decided to try their luck at a park/school yard I’...
08/17/2026

Had some obligations yesterday, but my Uncle and Aunt were around and decided to try their luck at a park/school yard I’ve done fairly well at over the years. I thought I completely hunted this spot out, but I was wrong!

They found ten old coins including a beautiful 1803 Draped Bust Large Cent, a 1916 Barber Dime, and 1940 Canadian cent. Glad to see that they had success and proved me wrong. It goes to show, no site is ever hunted out!

08/12/2026

I got exclusive permission to search the 1790 Lord’s Tavern with my metal detector, a historical site used as a tavern and inn for travelers and new settlers. I’ve been wanting to hunt this place for a long time, and finally took the drive there recently to see if I can uncover anything that ties back to the original family. I ended up finding several interesting items from the 1700s through the early 1900s so far, and only was able to hunt the front section! Stay tuned for a part 2, when I go back to try the former farm fields out back, where supposedly several outbuildings once stood!

I recently discovered this old Victorian era Match Safe while metal detecting an 1850s home. This one probably dates fro...
08/10/2026

I recently discovered this old Victorian era Match Safe while metal detecting an 1850s home. This one probably dates from the 1890s or so, when these became a popular fashion accessory and status symbol. Their true utilitarian purpose was to keep the matches inside safe from accidental ignition, and as a travel container to store them properly to prevent them from getting crushed.

Surprisingly, it actually retains some of the wood matches inside, despite the original cap being lost. This is because of the anaerobic properties of copper case laying on the matches, preserving the wood and preventing any decomposition. Pretty cool to know the science behind why those match sticks were still there after all those years under the soil.

Had a really fun metal detecting hunt at a new permission, an 1890 house built by a famous artist. He spent most of his ...
08/08/2026

Had a really fun metal detecting hunt at a new permission, an 1890 house built by a famous artist. He spent most of his time in the personal library, so there wasn’t a ton of finds dropped, but the finds that were dropped were certainly interesting! The highlights include:

-Pocket Knife w/ remains of Mother of Pearl inlay
-Decorative brass strap
-Small button with cloth over it
-Two Indian Head cents (one is 1897)
-Swiveling brass item- possible watch/clock piece?

And the biggest highlight of all:

-1912 Dresden Art Convention Souvenir

I highlighted the significance of this particular find in another post, but to summarize, this was brought back from a famous art convention in Dresden Germany back in August of 1912, just before WWI began. The owner of this house likely exhibited his art there and conversed with world famous artists. He would’ve had to sail the Atlantic Ocean to get there and back, where he purchased and subsequently lost his souvenir.

To find an item so personal to the original owner of the home, and to ponder the journey this piece made across the Atlantic, and for it to be lost and found again over 100+ years later, is absolutely mind blowing - to me anyway. This is truly saving history, connecting the puzzle pieces to those who aren’t alive to tell the story.

I just found something incredible today that completely blew me away. I got permission to metal detect an 1890 home buil...
08/06/2026

I just found something incredible today that completely blew me away.

I got permission to metal detect an 1890 home built by a famous architect, artist, and early pioneer in art education. I was struggling to find anything old other than big blobs of melted lead until I got a deep, high 88 signal on the XP Deus II metal detector. It sounded slightly more crisp than the lead, but had the same tone. I dug it up, and way down deep at over 8” down, I thought I had a suspender clip. I flipped it over and realized it was something way more significant, and saw that it was written in German with a date of 1912.

This turned out to be a souvenir from the 4th International Congress for Art Education, Drawing, and Art Applied to Industry (Vierter internationaler Kongress für Kunstunterricht, Zeichnen und angewandte Kunst) which took place in Dresden, Germany from August 4th-25th, 1912. It has two wire attachments on the back that would’ve likely held a ribbon, and I have to wonder what that would’ve said on it.

It gives me chills knowing that the man who originally built and owned this house traveled to that Art and Drawing Exhibit all the way in Germany back in 1912. He probably met with influential colleagues and peers who were involved in the arts from around the globe, and likely had his own exhibit showcasing his artwork. Then, he purchased that souvenir from the show, and brought it back home all the way to the U.S., where he wound up losing it forever in the backyard.

Then, over 100 years later, I manage to find that one “needle in the haystack” signal in a sea of trash, digging it up, and finding it, illustrating a part of the man’s life that isn’t mentioned in the history books. Truly an unreal 20th century find with an insane backstory, and it might just be one of the most interesting finds I’ve made all year.

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Yorktown, VA
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