z118
04-25-2012, 09:04 PM
Couple of follow ups...
I brought the perfume locket I found (pics here: http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/index.php?topic=9395.0 ) to a jeweler in the area who is very interested in older items like this and does a lot of work with them. She was more excited than I would have expected. She confirmed the item is missing a cover that would have closed over the holed surface to keep the scent in when not in use. The front piece with holes is gold filled, which as the jeweler explained in this case meant two heavy layers of gold on either side of a brass center. We actually looked at it under a scope and in in a deeper nick could see the layers of gold with brass in between. The rim is silver. The back plate is silver with gold plate. The back plate was likely soldered on with lead. She recommended the piece NOT be repaired but wanted to be the one to do it if I opted to try. It was cool to see someone else as excited over this item as I was. She commented on the craftsmanship in such a piece and of course to be able to date it to 1810 is something else. It seemed like a fantastic dig to me, but since it didn't make the scrolling banner on the forum, I just wasn't sure... lol lol lol
As a follow up to the '43 class ring I found (pics here: http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/index.php?topic=9676.0) - which DID make the banner ( lol lol lol ) - I always struggle with the notion of returning something like this. If I knew I could find an owner or descendent and that this piece would mean as much or more to them as it does to me the I would return it in an instant. My fear is that I will track down an owner (or descendant), return it, and two days later they will sell it for scrap. At any rate, I did call the high school in question, and actually reached a very helpful woman who went out of her way to help. They did not have a yearbook from that year, but she did find a list of students from that year... and oddly, none of the names match the initials in the ring. The ONLY possible match would be if the person had used two letters from their last name with a prefix - for instance MMA for Mark McAndrew. So I'm not sure where to go with that. One way or another it's a fantastic item and if nothing else it has value to me.
Next up is an old bell that I pulled from my junk bucket when sifting through for scrap. It came out of the ground a big dirty blog and I assumed it was junk. But when sifting through the junk bucket it looked like copper maybe, and after whacking some dirt off I realized it was a bell. The center was filler with dirt and rust but I managed to get most out. Pics below. Any thoughts on type or age would be appreciated.
And lastly, somewhat out of nowhere I wound up buying a house last week, and now life is nothing but packing and sorting and cleaning and thinking about moving. So I doubt I will get any detecting in for a good month or so. Kind of a bummer given that I was having a pretty good year (for me) but of course moving is nice and our new house is a big improvement so me and the family are pretty excited. Sadly the new home does not present too much detecting potential (built in 1966) but you know the Mrs didn't really seem to think that should be a big factor in choosing a new home. Go figure!
Anyway, thanks for reading and hopefully I'll be back digging soon enough.
Happy hunting!
I brought the perfume locket I found (pics here: http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/index.php?topic=9395.0 ) to a jeweler in the area who is very interested in older items like this and does a lot of work with them. She was more excited than I would have expected. She confirmed the item is missing a cover that would have closed over the holed surface to keep the scent in when not in use. The front piece with holes is gold filled, which as the jeweler explained in this case meant two heavy layers of gold on either side of a brass center. We actually looked at it under a scope and in in a deeper nick could see the layers of gold with brass in between. The rim is silver. The back plate is silver with gold plate. The back plate was likely soldered on with lead. She recommended the piece NOT be repaired but wanted to be the one to do it if I opted to try. It was cool to see someone else as excited over this item as I was. She commented on the craftsmanship in such a piece and of course to be able to date it to 1810 is something else. It seemed like a fantastic dig to me, but since it didn't make the scrolling banner on the forum, I just wasn't sure... lol lol lol
As a follow up to the '43 class ring I found (pics here: http://www.americandetectorist.com/forum/index.php?topic=9676.0) - which DID make the banner ( lol lol lol ) - I always struggle with the notion of returning something like this. If I knew I could find an owner or descendent and that this piece would mean as much or more to them as it does to me the I would return it in an instant. My fear is that I will track down an owner (or descendant), return it, and two days later they will sell it for scrap. At any rate, I did call the high school in question, and actually reached a very helpful woman who went out of her way to help. They did not have a yearbook from that year, but she did find a list of students from that year... and oddly, none of the names match the initials in the ring. The ONLY possible match would be if the person had used two letters from their last name with a prefix - for instance MMA for Mark McAndrew. So I'm not sure where to go with that. One way or another it's a fantastic item and if nothing else it has value to me.
Next up is an old bell that I pulled from my junk bucket when sifting through for scrap. It came out of the ground a big dirty blog and I assumed it was junk. But when sifting through the junk bucket it looked like copper maybe, and after whacking some dirt off I realized it was a bell. The center was filler with dirt and rust but I managed to get most out. Pics below. Any thoughts on type or age would be appreciated.
And lastly, somewhat out of nowhere I wound up buying a house last week, and now life is nothing but packing and sorting and cleaning and thinking about moving. So I doubt I will get any detecting in for a good month or so. Kind of a bummer given that I was having a pretty good year (for me) but of course moving is nice and our new house is a big improvement so me and the family are pretty excited. Sadly the new home does not present too much detecting potential (built in 1966) but you know the Mrs didn't really seem to think that should be a big factor in choosing a new home. Go figure!
Anyway, thanks for reading and hopefully I'll be back digging soon enough.
Happy hunting!