F5 finds old copper and tiny silver

[dfmike]

I was out detecting for the first time this season in a new place that a work colleague told me about. There is the remains of a house foundation deep into the woods. It's been abandoned for a long time since vegetation has almost completely taken over which makes it hard to swing the detector. I was surprised to find a 1912 Canadian nickel pop out of my second hole ! These were made out of .925 silver in those days. The Canadian mint switched to nickel in 1921. It's smaller in diameter than a dime and much thinner. When you have it in hand, it feels totally insubstantial. These things must have been so easy to lose. There was a square nail on top of it and slightly forward giving strange numbers on the VDI. I had the typical 80 of rusted iron which would then move to the upper 50's or 60's and then real low with the occasional iron grunt but on a few swings the detector would give me a stable reading on both swings in the high seventies (the silver nickel). It's a good thing I dug it. I could have shrugged it off as rubbish because of the jumping numbers. Like many others have mentioned, if in doubt, dig it !

I also found 2 Canadian pennies. One dating back to 1912 (very heavily oxidized on both sides) and the other one with the young version of queen Vic dating back to 1881 (this one has the other side almost totally faded). The Canadian mint had done 4 versions of queen Victoria profiles making her look slightly older in each version.

I also found the usual square nails, 3 identical items next to each other (no idea what these are) and a few rusty bottle caps. If somebody knows what these things are, please reply.

I'm going back there soon. I'll try my small Detech SEF coil this time.

 

[jim tn]

Ah, you got a fish scale. Great find and so are the coppers. Good job. HH jim tn

 

[dfmike]

Thanks Jim. Fish scale ? You mean the little cylindrical thingies ?

 

[jim tn]

The little 5 cent silver coin. They call them fish scales. Small and thin. HH jim tn

 

[After-1-]

The three thingies, my guess is bond leather together,they look like a hammered rivet ----Nice Hunt -----------after1---------

 

[big-ears]

Same here, old coveralls had those type of rivets in them.

 

[jim tn]

From the picture the "thingies" look heavy enough to be horse tack rivets. Fairly common on Civil war and older house sites. Often they have a nice green patina. HH jim tn

 

[still looking 52]

DFMIKE, this is some unusual stuff non of which I've ever seen or heard of before. Anytime you can find something that old it makes them come to life again and you start wondering what it was like back in those days.

 

[dfmike]

DFMIKE, this is some unusual stuff non of which I've ever seen or heard of before. Anytime you can find something that old it makes them come to life again and you start wondering what it was like back in those days.

You nailed it ! This is why most of us do what we do I think. It's not monetary value, it's historic value, it's discovery. To me it's almost like paying homage to the ones who came before me, the pioneers who led a life much harder than anything I will ever encounter. They are all long gone but they left some stuff underground so that we can remember.

 

[dfmike]

Thanks to everyone for the explanation of the unknown objects.

 

[always diggin 2]

Congratulations! awesome recoveries

 

[dfmike]

Congratulations! awesome recoveries

Thanks. Can't wait to go back.