A silver weekend - rings, coins, spoon

I got in some good hunts this weekend. On Saturday morning the grass was soaked with dew, so because I don't like having wet shoes and feet I stuck to lots for a while. They were not very productive, but the first did give up a nice silver ring with a bible verse number on one side and seven crosses on the other. It is stamped .925. Around mid morning I gave up on the tot lots and headed for a grass lot that had yielded two silver coins my first hunt there. The E-trac seemed pretty cranky, and targets were few but after a while I pulled a '39 nickel, followed by a '19 wheat, and then a '41 nickel. It seemed like silver should have been there too. I got a lousy signal, but with a nice high tone at the end so I slowed down and worked on it for a few swings. It sounded like there could be a coin in there. I pulled a plug and was rewarded with the sorriest looking Merc I've ever found. I rescanned the area and maybe an inch away got a second, now clear tone - I pulled another plug and there was a shiny '44 war nickel.

Sunday morning I headed a few towns over to my farmer's property. I spent the morning helping with farm work and then a short time in the afternoon hunting the yard. The house was built around 1830. The conditions were not ideal, with long grass and some pretty dry dirt. The first targets were all older looking junk (a caster wheel, a door plate, etc) along with some sparse modern clad. I got a faint tone which proved to be a '44 wheat. Then I got a clear shallow quarter tone. But it wasn't a quarter - it was a sterling spoon only a few inches down. The back of the spoon reads Agnes '94 - I really don't think it means 1994 but if someone could confirm that would be great. I think this might be one of my better finds. I would guess that 1894 was Agnes' birth year? I only looked briefly but was not able to find anything about the maker. One way or another I'm pretty pleased. I'll certainly hit this spot again.

Total for the weekend was exactly 100 coins worth $8.47. This is pretty low for weekend for me, but given the silver ring, two silver coins, and the silver spoon I'm more than happy with it!

Happy hunting...

Re: A silver weekend

Congrats on the silver and rest of your finds :clapping: :clapping: :clapping:. WTG!!! I like that silver spoon :yes:. Good luck and HH. Mike

That's a great weekend Z. :clapping: Congrats on the Merc and War Nickel.
The silver spoon is awesome. :smitten: I'd love to find one someday. It has some great looking hallmarks. Plus, the inscription gives
it a touch of personal history. Really great find.

That is a nice couple of hunts eace: The silver alone is a sweet sight, but the spoon is a real nice find :clapping: I'm pretty sure it isn't 1994. I'm not much on hallmarks, but that type of lion stands for the term sterling silver. It may also be a London hallmark, but again, I'm not the guy to ask about that. The SS is either a date marking or a maker's mark. If it's a date stamp, it would give you the exact date it was manufactured. Your guess it was presented to Agnes in 1894 is a good one I think. I would put that site on my radar as a first place to return to when I get a chance lol

nice christian ring + other good finds,wtg.

Nice spoon! The one and only I found was plated and when I pulled it up to look at all of it started to flake off. lol

WTG thumbsup01 Very productive weekend, the silver is a sweet addition, especially the spoon, and many coins to fatten the pot.

Thanks for the comments all!

coinnut link=topic=6916.msg80769#msg80769 date=1314580160 said:

That is a nice couple of hunts eace: The silver alone is a sweet sight, but the spoon is a real nice find :clapping: I'm pretty sure it isn't 1994. I'm not much on hallmarks, but that type of lion stands for the term sterling silver. It may also be a London hallmark, but again, I'm not the guy to ask about that. The SS is either a date marking or a maker's mark. If it's a date stamp, it would give you the exact date it was manufactured. Your guess it was presented to Agnes in 1894 is a good one I think. I would put that site on my radar as a first place to return to when I get a chance lol

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Thanks Coinnut! The lion is definitely the British mark for sterling, but I'm not sure if it was ever used on silver made in other countries? I believe the year mark was always just one letter, and they changed the type ever time they had to start over with the letter A. I would have though that Hopkins was the maker but I can't find anything on them... There are more than a few makers who used SS as a mark but none that I saw looked exactly like what I see on the spoon. I wonder if Hopkins might have been Agnes' last name? I'll keep poking around. If anyone has any insight I sure would appreciate it. This is one of those finds that I keep getting more excited about the more I look at it and think about it. It would be great to be able to pin down the maker or even who Agnes was and when she lived.

Thanks!

Z118,

I was just speaking with a British friend of mine and a very good authority on the antique market over there and other places, that although the lion is a British mark, it is not English silver. I also passed him your pics. The Sterling stamp in letters and the pseudo SS mark gives it away. Most likely it was made to imitate English silver to compete with them in the US market. It could have been made in the US or some other country (imitating the US SS mark but most likely it was US).

However, at least it is Sterling, just not British. thumbsup01

Great finds, silver and a great looking spoon. Congrats

I'm just speechless at the amount of stuff that you are finding. When I come up for a visit, you better not take me detecting in your back yard again lol

Congrats on some really great hunts.

Z - that ring sure is neat. And the silverware piece is what makes detecting so interesting - finding out things on what we find. Good haul for you , Steve in so az

Congrats on all the silver.

Cool silver finds thumbsup01