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Every so often we will find a property corner that is monumented multiple times. This is often referred to as a “pincushion” corner. Property law and the law of boundaries demand that an existing monument that was originally set in order to represent a property corner be honored by all following land surveyors. By this definition, a land surveyor is either an original surveyor who is establishing new boundary lines and setting corners for the very first time, or the land surveyor is doing a retracement survey whose only duty is to “follow in the footsteps” of those who went before. Regardless, some surveyors routinely ignore this core principle and the pincushion corner is a direct result. 
Here are 2 monuments supposedly marking the same property corner. Only a licensed surveyor would be able to determine which is correct through a careful examination of written documents, and a thorough search for additional monumentation. A property owner needs to use great care if they are determined to “find” their own monuments without having a surveyor verify they are indeed correct. If the wrong monument is used to let’s say build a fence, the fence could wind up being over the property line.
The first instance it may not SEEM like that big of a deal as to which monument is held as the property corner, they are only off by a few tenths of a foot. Here is another example that is even more confusing. Not only can a situation like this lead to structures being built in the wrong location, but can also lead to additional monuments being set in the wrong location. It is important to have a licensed surveyor verify, or locate your boundary lines and property corners. Hiring a surveyor is nowhere near as expensive as you might think, and it is definitely less expensive than a court battle would be.
We can help you find where your corners and lot lines are! Contact us today at www.BosshardSurveying.com
Thoughts
I am very impressed with your series of articles. We will have to explore this topic further. This particular topic and the topic of overlaps and gaps seems to be one of the most misunderstood problems among Land Surveyors. Love to talk more about it.
Deward, Thanks for the comments, I'd like to offer this as additional information to a fellow professional, I am by NO means suggesting that every monument be held as the absolute corner, but when say in my first picture of the two pipes, the original survey called for the 1-1/2" iron pipe. Several years later a surveyor came along and set the 1" at the "true corner" (his words per his survey), showing the original 1-1/2" found 0.04' North, and 0.19' East of the "true corner". (BTW the 1-1/2" matched the remaining 4 other pipe found on the survey.)
This article was originally written to address "advice" given (by a non-surveyor) on a wedding forum asking for advice on what to do with the two pins they found at the front of their lot beacuse they were building a fence "this weekend". The advice giver said to use the nearest pin to the house to place the fence along because that was the most restrictive one.
My stance is that a Surveyor should be doing that work...people won't pull their own teeth, or take out their own appendix, but don't see anything wrong with surveying their own land :-( We are professionals for a reason, and if we don't "Toot our own horns" nobody else will. We are the ones who have the schooling, training and experience needed to weigh the evidence, and make an informed decision on what, where and when to hold, or discard "apparent evidence". I'd love to "chat" with you further on this matter!
Regards,
Dave
http://landsurveyorsunited.com/profiles/blogs/the-land-surveyor-and... Here is something I wrote that touches on this subject.
Well, I have a slightly different take but I appreciate you bringing this topic up. When I get some time I would love to engage you in a conversation regarding these matters.