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View Full Version : Lonely IH, insurance fob, and a CW pic frame



MangoAve
10-31-2016, 01:58 PM
It's a much cooler time to get out lately but the days are often too short. Last Tues the wind drove the coldness through the layers of clothes. We were trying for a ring recovery but I have no idea why this small garden field has so much trash.

This weekend was much better for a long hike. It was about a mile and a half uphill to the first site. Fully I prob ended up hiking a total of 2.5 miles in a J shape path. I can't say whether it was bad or not that I moved from the first spot, which produced a lot of targets. I still found some intriguing items at the other places. One that I was looking for must be really hard to spot so I am sure it has to have some good finds.... If I could just seem to locate it.

The first spot I hit was the spot I pulled the engraved rifle butt plate. It definitely seems like there is this one area completely ignored, if anyone has ever been to it. I think the 5th or 6th hole I dug I scored an 1881 IH. Seems this date, although not high valued, is still a date collectors sought after. I kept pulling up harmonica reeds like crazy this time. Idk what it was. There was a pathway from the barn along this hill toward a field. I need to check the field when I return to this site. Along this path, however, was this fob. These are worn on the suspenders. I was just shocked to see a Telegraph number on the fob. I think the insurance company actually ended up in the Smithsonian records. I found one specific case in 1917 where the company was the defendant. I think 1972 was the last time that company name was used. Sure, tho, the fob was late 1800s when the first telegraph was 1844 and 1880s is when the telephone came about.
The watch case I learned was gold plated or filed. There is some gilt left in the pattern creases. Warranted 25 years means that the gold would not wear through to the brass within 25 years of usage.
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I do believe I also found another brass ring. Looks like there is a tread around the outside edge.
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The last thing I dug was one of those harmonica reeds before I moved. I am sure there was more to be found, but I wanted to find the next sites due to daylight. Well, the second site is still the one hidden so I bypassed it. The third site was actually it's own site. I had seen this road last time I was at the cellar I knew about. With five small barn footprints I figured this road was a path to the fields. I can see the field shape from the aerial now. Well, it turned out to be an even older site with a cellar on it. It was old because there was not much iron. It is way in so Idk who would have hit the place. All I managed was some sort of pewter piece (inside the pic frame in the panorama shot of the finds). The better finds actually were in the road. The brass fitting and the brass gas nozzle were in the road. Also, the pic frame. I cleaned up the frame to find it had a patent date and manufacturer. It says 'Spooner Bro's Patent July 11 1854". It was a 1/6 picture frame from the CW. The manufacturer was out of Springfield, MA up to 1864. Overall it was a lot of targets with some nice unique items.
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BTV Digger
10-31-2016, 04:14 PM
Very nice finds Jim. Definitely a successful hunt with the picture/daguerreotype brass matte plate and the insurance telegraph fob. Always killer to find things with writing on them, especially if they can link to the site. BTW, those picture frame/plates look really good in a display case if you place another small item inside it (coin, musket ball etc). Glad to see you hit the road in front of those sites. Those spots have often been overlooked through the years, and honestly I've found a few of my best finds on them. HH!

John

aloldstuff
10-31-2016, 04:52 PM
WTG Jim, great hunting. Love the ins fob and the civil war picture frame is fantastic. Fantastic pictures as usual. What's up with the pile of harmonica reeds????

OxShoeDrew
10-31-2016, 05:05 PM
Jim, I love that Equitable thing...how would that have been used as a fob? Could it have been attached to suspenders or a belt? It's a very nice piece!:clapping:
PS I HATE HARMONICA REEDS:lol:

MangoAve
11-01-2016, 12:39 PM
Very nice finds Jim. Definitely a successful hunt with the picture/daguerreotype brass matte plate and the insurance telegraph fob. Always killer to find things with writing on them, especially if they can link to the site. BTW, those picture frame/plates look really good in a display case if you place another small item inside it (coin, musket ball etc). Glad to see you hit the road in front of those sites. Those spots have often been overlooked through the years, and honestly I've found a few of my best finds on them. HH!

Thanks, John. Never thought about specifically having that frame in a case. Probably as a centerpiece. Yeah.. I sometimes hit the roads. With the hike in there, the first road was all resurfaced and leveled, but eventually there was the old road at normal level. Sometimes I don't bother until I get close to the spot I want, even tho I pass by a couple other hammered spots. I just knew the pathway at one site was the spot that gave up the most goodies. The spot where I found at a site I was invited to... then the inviter went super-speed around me bagging two LC, a two center, and half real.


WTG Jim, great hunting. Love the ins fob and the civil war picture frame is fantastic. Fantastic pictures as usual. What's up with the pile of harmonica reeds????

Thanks, Al. More unique items I can say I nabbed from the dirt. Idk... Two of those were inside the same hole with the wood still in between them. But it was frail. However 7 pieces are ridiculous. Someone said they were a musical family. Another said they prob disliked the tone and just threw it away. Or they were not careful with their harmonicas as they were with their coins...


Jim, I love that Equitable thing...how would that have been used as a fob? Could it have been attached to suspenders or a belt? It's a very nice piece!:clapping:
PS I HATE HARMONICA REEDS:lol:

Thanks, Druzy. It was a fob but I was told by someone who found a similar item that it was worn on the suspenders. I figure it has to be where the suspenders crisscrossed so that it doesn't slide anywhere. The only thing is that I thought that was the back. Only works well if you fall dead face down, otherwise they have to roll you over. You and me both on those reeds. Its like one of those things we find that those out west would love to find and we're here like wtf am I gonna do with this? Almost like an ox shoe. :lol:

OxShoeDrew
11-01-2016, 04:11 PM
Hey! don't you go knockin oxshoes! :pirate::lol:

Digger_O'Dell
11-01-2016, 06:36 PM
Great finds, I really like that insurance fob and picture frame! Could it be someplace that made harmonicas? That would explain a lot.

Lodge Scent
11-01-2016, 09:21 PM
Nice hunt Jim. I love finding overgrown paths like that. That must have been a musically inclined family :grin:

The Rebel
11-02-2016, 12:06 PM
WTG Jim on the finds. That fob is really cool!

MangoAve
11-03-2016, 12:40 PM
Hey! don't you go knockin oxshoes! :pirate::lol:

I'm gonna mail all my ox shoes to you. Let's see what you do with them. :rolleyes::lol:


Great finds, I really like that insurance fob and picture frame! Could it be someplace that made harmonicas? That would explain a lot.

Thanks, Chris. Idk. The closest shop was a cooper shop, which is surprising I can see old beams on the ground (unheard of at a cellar) but there are no barrel rings. The site where I pulled the almost fully plated early 1900s monster spoon around the time I got my FE cent had to have at least 50 of those darn rings. This site had a barn and one field. Prob just a self sustaining household. Idk. Could just be something they all did to pass the time. But you never know... It could be as you say.


Nice hunt Jim. I love finding overgrown paths like that. That must have been a musically inclined family :grin:

Thanks, Jeff. That was a driveway. Does not look like one, does it? I think there was a stream nearby so Idk why they didn't watch the raging waters to pass their time. Maybe they made toy boats and sailed them down and made the music to go along. :lol:


WTG Jim on the finds. That fob is really cool!

Thanks, Roger. It is def unique and surprising how good of shape it was out of the ground. I did use the diluted CLR but on the tabs I needed to use the fingernail to get that gunk off.

OxShoeDrew
11-03-2016, 03:17 PM
:lol: You know, one time I saw ox shoes being sold on ebay. I was like :shocked04: