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View Full Version : A bit of silver and some "what is it?"



MangoAve
09-24-2014, 10:39 AM
Last week wasn't too good for me. Thursday night I went to a local park. The fields were being used for baseball games but I was trying to check the wooded area for an old structure, or at least the depression where it once stood. That proved to be fruitless. It was a bit overgrown. I even put the machine to check for iron as the amount of iron dramatically increases the closer to a structure you are. At some point I decided to give up that place, for the day at least, and head to another park which is more of a honey hole for me. On the way back to the car, tho, a couple of kids were asking me about the detector. They kept asking me to check a few areas. They were fighting each other which can hold the pinpointer and which can hold the shovel. The park was pretty cleaned out, but they kept fighting for the old pull tabs I kept pulling up. Their older brothers were in the baseball game going on and yes their parents checked on them a few times. The only thing was I was the baby sitter, and unpaid at that. One saw my pocket knife tab and said his father has a better one. When I took it out to show him, his mind quickly changed. :lol:

The next day I tried to meet up with another person. I went through all the motions and even drove down that way but we never met up. There was no one detecting at the park I made it to and definitely no such vehicle in the lot. I decided to go to a place I noticed while driving a week or so ahead. I knew the large oaks near by were 100+ years old and I did look into the properties near there. Some foundations were filled, but I tried the school across the way on the corner. The building is newer than 1950, but it was on the property of a school older than 1868 and there was a lot of acreage to swing. Lucky I had the modifications to my detector to detect as late as I did. I only did a path near the fences, so maybe only 1/100th the area was checked but nothing much other than clad. Sunday was hot an humid but the on-and-off rain hindered things.

Yesterday Bama had invited me down to a place he knew about. It was kinda 'door knocking' as he met the person somewhere else and detecting was brought up. I picked him up and we went down to the house. I passed the property mostly because the numbering was way messed on opposite sides of the road and I only thought the house looked like early 1900's. I was wrong. Pulling up the driveway and right there is this ginormous maple. It still had the syrup tap in it. It was bigger than the keebler elf tree. I heard of mighty oaks getting over 200 years old, but not maples. I pointed out the old cluster of foundations sharing walls, right there in the center of the property. They must have been original barns, possibly for livestock, but were now gone. The barn standing there is much larger and only a bit newer. It still has dirt floors and the original wood on top. It would be amazing to move the planks (which were never secured) and swing. :daydream:

My first coin was a 2012 dime. We went around the back, the field, the side and there wasn't much pulled up beyond clad. I got a cybershot near the edge of the field. Luckily the laptop reads the Sony memory stick style. Yes there are some semi-nude photos on there. :lol: And some other strange photos. It wasn't owned by anyone living at that house now, but someone who rented out a section. We did get to see the basement as well. There was too much junk to swing and too much junk burried to get any good signals. I was the lucky one with the lights on my machine, but it also drew my attention to the display/coil area and not watching above me. It was a low ceiling.... no I didn't hit my head or anything else. We went out front. He got a 1916 wheat. There was a bit of a dryspell again. The second time we hit thr front yard he pulled up another wheat. The next one he said "oh you are gonna hate me". He dug up a 1911 barber half. It was a little worn, but omg. Those are hard to come by. I knew then and I told him not many have been found, and I verified last night. There have only been two barber halfs posted about this summer and only one last year (not date specific either). He pulled up a small silver ring. I think it was a child's ring but he thought a toe ring. At that point he said he was hoping I was gonna find something. He was feeling guilty/sorry. When I went over to him to see the ring I brought this cast brass piece. I see the casting mark. It looks like a pick, maybe for using to clean hooves. I invite any other guesses as to what it is.
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As I went back I was getting frustrated at lack of finds. I decided to be less stringent on what I was choosing to dig. I got a hit that was dissappearing a bit more than normal. And I once found an IH next to iron and once a copper next to iron where the signal was more discernable. First out was a nail. When I check again I finaly got some silver. A 1942-D Merc. It's in pretty good shape.

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Back around to the field again we didn't get much hits. We didnt understand it. They don't fill a field area. Bama said in an arial view the field does get turned even tho it is used for hay. I pointed out this pathway which I knew to be where the farm equipment and cattle went through to enter the field. He agreed. I pulled up a 1956 license plate with the registration tag still on it. My neighbor works in law enforcement so Idk if possible to find out who owned it and what it went on. Maybe the year sticks in my mind for Studebaker. Possibly packard :dontknow:. Just a little ways later I got a pin like item. This is another what is it. He saw the back and said it seemed like a ribbon went through it. I know it's not a pin item as the back piece is molded to it on both sides, and it's angled to one side for some reason. The farm was not a cattle farm, i.e. no best in class ribbons.
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I found some ceramic item. It's pretty thin. And then an iron loop item. It is due for some electrolosys. Maybe someone knows what it went to. Not sure if it was part of horse reigns. Back up near where I found the modern dime I got another stange hit. And just like the last one I pulled out iron in the hole and then found the item. Now this is my oldest merc at 1919. First I was pulling up hotrocks. It's a little worn. The last item I pulled up was some slag. It looks like hot iron was hot and then thrown into dirt. It sets off the detector and pinpointer.
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aloldstuff
09-24-2014, 03:17 PM
That last site seems like a real good one. Was the soil dry? :congrats:on all your keepers and especially the 2 mercs.

wisconsin digger
09-24-2014, 03:37 PM
If it is hollow I would say it is used to draw sap for Maple Syrup. WD

MangoAve
09-24-2014, 07:37 PM
Al, yes even tho it was work to get the finds, it was much better of a site. The soil was wet tho. The area where I got the first merc and like the 1/4 acre between house and barn and included the driveway was just all compact and filled with rocks. So the digging wasn't easy there. As soon as we got out front and I found something to try and dig (which wasn't a good find), I just pushed down thinking it was gonna be hard digging. The ground nearly swallowed my new trowel. Lol

WD, the pick like piece isn't hollow but you do have a good idea with it. It would work if it was driven into trunk pointed downward to keep bucket on. There's no lip. But wouldn't a stake to draw sap need to be pointed upward so gravity draws it out?

MIKE54
09-24-2014, 10:01 PM
Nice finds, Jim. I'm glad the silver is poppin up for you !

Beartoe
09-25-2014, 07:35 AM
Nice Diggs!

As much as like silvers, that rusty iron spike thing really intrigues me. My first impression was tent stake. But it obviously had purpose as a tool. I thought the bent tip was from being driven into ground , but it's length is too short for tent spike.

So perhaps you are right about a scrapper for the horse hooves.

I hope you figure what it is.

MangoAve
09-28-2014, 09:52 AM
Mike, thanks. Hope u got out lately for some hunting. I happened to drive by the park where they were digging up last time. There's still work going on but it looks mostly filled back in.

Bear, I think the item you are talking about is brass. Bama thought tent stake at first too. I am unsure if it became bent at one point but was once a straight spike.

MangoAve
09-28-2014, 10:00 AM
I thought I would add a pic of the ribbon badge after cleaning further. This time I tried vinegar instead of peroxode. I think it cleans some items better and works quicker. Just don't leave items in too long.
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And I thought I'd add pics of another place. Just hard to believe these came from the same hole and I gave up at some point. There were still nails coming out after the first 100 I pulled out and more in the hole. The lock is from an old school building and takes the skeleton style key. Too bad it's really broke.
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del
09-28-2014, 09:44 PM
Jim , the "ribbon badge" is half of a woman's sash buckle these were very popular from victorian times to about the second decade of the 1900's .it cleaned up nice , these were usually gold or silver gilted and used with a lacey or satin type cloth belt.

MangoAve
09-29-2014, 06:28 AM
Dan,
I have no idea why I never bother to think of the sash, even when I found that small sash buckle that was very plain. This one did clean up nicely, thanks. Most things I get have this stubborn brown layer on them and even with peroxide it stays brown. That flower thing I found a while back I tried it on too and it became more silver in color. Guessing it too was victorian design. I did search after I saw your reply and bam, there was one with the back loop about as thick, and there were others just as intricate (but nothing matched exactly). Yeah, I see they usually come with two "identical" pieces that fit together.

Digger Don
09-29-2014, 07:34 AM
Congrats on a great bunch of finds. Finding Mercs is always a good thing, but your relics are really cool. Great Job

MangoAve
09-29-2014, 08:44 AM
Congrats on a great bunch of finds. Finding Mercs is always a good thing, but your relics are really cool. Great Job

Yeah it's still silver and I would much rather have it than not have it, but I would like some different silver to pop out too. Idk but for a while I was finding quarters (99% were clad tho) at a rate of 4:1 to any other coin. Now it's like 3:1 for dimes to anything else, including quarters.

I do love that sash buckle once I took that cleaned up pic. I gotta clean up the license plate a bit and it will be perfect for the bar downstairs. There is an Iowa plate that was there when I moved in, but It ain't no 1956.