SteveP(NH)
New member
I spend most of my time relic hunting and so don't expect to find a lot of jewelry. I was hunting on a farm that was cleared in 1720 or so 2 weekends ago, about 1/2 a mile away from any existing buildings or roads and found this gold chain. I've spent the last couple of weeks researching the marks on it and they lead me to believe that it was made in or near Birmingham, England in 1773. I cut one of the links off and found the chain was hollow but the metal part was all gold so I am pretty sure it was jewelry that was just for show and not meant to take any stress, such as bridle chain from some fancy tack. Doesn't have any sign of a clasp or any other way to fasten it together on either end. Seems odd to find it in this field where I have only found farm working relics such as harness buckles, metal buttons, pieces of broken farm equipment, etc. I have found a couple British Georgian coins, some Indian cents, couple of merc, a few Rosies and a standing liberty quarter but mostly just working stuff.
The chain was 9 or 10 inches deep (showed all depth arrows lit up) and was a solid and consistent 14 on the meter in both search and pinpoint modes. It shows a fair amount of wear where the links rub on each other so I think it was used for a while before it was lost. The current landowner's family has held the land for about 80 years and they have no stories of anyone losing a gold chain in that field or any other on this 75 acre farm. BTW the picture of the whole chain still shows some dirt on the chain and so it looks kind of dull in places, I cleaned it up better after taking that picture and before the close up so the close up is a better picture of what the surface really looks like.
The chain was 9 or 10 inches deep (showed all depth arrows lit up) and was a solid and consistent 14 on the meter in both search and pinpoint modes. It shows a fair amount of wear where the links rub on each other so I think it was used for a while before it was lost. The current landowner's family has held the land for about 80 years and they have no stories of anyone losing a gold chain in that field or any other on this 75 acre farm. BTW the picture of the whole chain still shows some dirt on the chain and so it looks kind of dull in places, I cleaned it up better after taking that picture and before the close up so the close up is a better picture of what the surface really looks like.
