CIVIL WAR DRUMMER'S INSIGNIA

I dug this one years ago at a local 1860s camp and at first couldn't figure out what it was. I finally found a similar piece in Harris' civil war relic book (page 209). There are apparently very few of these recovered.

POST-MORTEM PHOTOGRAPH NATCHEZ

This is a photo of a cased post-mortem daguerreotype that I bought from a gentleman several years ago. According to him, the young girl was the daughter of a family from Natchez who owned one of Natchez' old (antebellum) homes. He said the home was located just outside the Natchez city limits, but he did not know the name or the owner of the house.

Apparently, post-mortem photographs of young loved ones were common and acceptable in the 1850s, which is about the date of this one.

Collecting artifacts from the past is a never-ending source of surprise and gratification; an artifact like this one is a perfect example.

CANNON BALL DIGGIN' BACK IN THE GOOD OLE DAYS

These are some photos from years back when the "cannon ball digging" was really hot. Included is a photo of the first artillery shell my son and I ever dug in 1967 or 1968 - a 3.8" James type I. We didn't know what the heck we'd dug until a fellow digger identified it for us.

This is a photo of one day's dig back in 1979 while I was experimenting with long hair and a beard (ugh!). I remember I had a heck of a time carrying all those shells from the woods. The detector is an old Fisher Research with a 13" head.

I loved the wool jacket I was wearing in the last photo. It was made for me by the mother of one of my girlfriends back when I was single. Unfortunately, it burned during a house fire in 1982.