Hit the detecting trail today with Hal Daves, my old dirt fishing buddy. He had learned of some sho-nuff 'secret' spots in and around Augusta, GA, so there was nuttin to do but hit 'em! Its just across the river from home and makes for a nice half day junk-et. Look up Aiken, SC on google and you'll see what I mean.
These secret "hot spots" of Hals turned out to be some reclamation lots that were littered with trash, as most such lots are. The scraping of the surface soil won't be done in earnest until next week, so we were a little too early. The pickings were pretty slim, in the middle of all the trash. But that is nothing new for us.
Here are the total gleanings on the day:
The Keepers -
[attachment 138211 DSCF0106.JPG]
Just an amalgam of the usual stuff. Some few interesting things here, like the little threaded tool handle down in front. I suspect it was a machinists pick handle or a dental tool - something like that. Marbles are always welcome and there were a few, along with some clock gears. A nice button surfaced and several strap buckles, too, along with the large spherical "thingie" in back.
After examining it, I'm stumped. It isn't iron, it has a hole through the center, and I'm thinking plumb weight, or net weight. But I really haven't a clue.
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After hitting the first trashy lot, we decided to head to lot #2. That's when we saw yet another, different lot in the midst of being freshly scraped. Well, Hal jumped from the truck almost before I had it stopped, to talk to the job foremen. The guy said to come on back in an hour, they'd be done and we could have at it. Since we were going to have to wait, what else would two dedicated dirt grubbers do but head on to the originally planned spot, old #2? Now calling this one "#3," we headed off as fast as my old truck would go (which 'aint none too fast).
#2 was also a scraped lot, rumored to have once been the site of an old home. Well, we did find some brick work back in the woods, leading us to think there was maybe ANOTHER old site, separate from the one we came to investigate. Or maybe the rumors had gotten the exact location wrong. Regardless, we weren't thrilled with the look of this lot, as "walking the the dirt" didn't eyeball much to get us excited. There is potential, though, as evidenced by this found tag:
The Tag
[attachment 138215 DSCF0114.JPG]
It's made of bronze and midranges, like a zinc cent. I find these often on early sites around the area. Tags like this often have holes, to be used as I.D. markers, the idea being to tack them on to the item to be marked with a small brad nail. Sometimes they have hanger loops for wiring them on to things, too. The lack of these fixture devices suggests this was a claim tag or perhaps a wage token.
Both are normally larger than this one, in my experience, this one being about the size of a quarter. But neither is out of the question. I personally like the wage token idea, so I'm sticking with that. But again, who knows?
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With little at lot #2 to hold us, we shot back to the #3 sight. Now, this was a different sort of challenge. It was obvious as soon as we set foot on it that it was once a coal yard. The ground was literally a mass of coal - not slag, but raw coal. Some places simply turned to crumbled coal beneath the dirt, when the shovel dug in. In other places you got as much coal as soil, or lumps of coil mixed with rocks... some of them the dreaded "hot rocks!"
It was also infested with iron trash, which is no surprise, as this was once the rail and industrial heart of old Augusta.
Poor old Hal was using a Whites Classic ID which, sadly, was falsing like mad with what this site was throwing at us. He ended up using, by backup detector. I tried his Classic, too, and I was feeling sympathetic for him after about 10 minutes of use! It was the first time I've ever felt out of sorts with a Whites detector.
But mixed in with the crap were these little goodies:
The Tokens
[attachment 138213 DSCF0112.JPG]
[attachment 138214 DSCF0113.JPG]
These are aluminum trade tokens. I found no less than 17 of them and Hal nearly that many. And we didn't grid the entire area.
There were two sizes: the first like this one, the size of a quarter. The other is the the size of a half dollar and carries the denomination of "25". They are marked with the legends:
"Good for XX in merchandise" on one side, and...
"Lucky-Dykes Coal Co," on the other.
Being aluminum, they are eaten up pretty good. This metal didn't come into use until the early 1900's and trade tokens of this type pretty much dried up about the time coal use did. I'd say these date somewhere between the 'teens-40's. In the center of one side there is also a swastika-like symbol. Most will know the swastika was a good luck symbol, until the Nazi's ruined that notion during WWII.
So, I would say that they do not post date that time - most likely they were used during the 20's and 30's.
So far I have been unable to find any reference to them, or the company. But it was a lot of fun finding them. It was as if a box of them had been scattered around the area. Maybe they were simply tossed out into the yard when they were no longer useful.
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And as always, there was the trash...
The Usual Suspects
[attachment 138212 DSCF0107.JPG]
I haven't done any detecting since last April, so today's time in the sun, wind and bugs took a good bit of steam out of me. But, I'm going back tomorrow! I had fun, and want more!
These secret "hot spots" of Hals turned out to be some reclamation lots that were littered with trash, as most such lots are. The scraping of the surface soil won't be done in earnest until next week, so we were a little too early. The pickings were pretty slim, in the middle of all the trash. But that is nothing new for us.
Here are the total gleanings on the day:
The Keepers -
[attachment 138211 DSCF0106.JPG]
Just an amalgam of the usual stuff. Some few interesting things here, like the little threaded tool handle down in front. I suspect it was a machinists pick handle or a dental tool - something like that. Marbles are always welcome and there were a few, along with some clock gears. A nice button surfaced and several strap buckles, too, along with the large spherical "thingie" in back.
After examining it, I'm stumped. It isn't iron, it has a hole through the center, and I'm thinking plumb weight, or net weight. But I really haven't a clue.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After hitting the first trashy lot, we decided to head to lot #2. That's when we saw yet another, different lot in the midst of being freshly scraped. Well, Hal jumped from the truck almost before I had it stopped, to talk to the job foremen. The guy said to come on back in an hour, they'd be done and we could have at it. Since we were going to have to wait, what else would two dedicated dirt grubbers do but head on to the originally planned spot, old #2? Now calling this one "#3," we headed off as fast as my old truck would go (which 'aint none too fast).
#2 was also a scraped lot, rumored to have once been the site of an old home. Well, we did find some brick work back in the woods, leading us to think there was maybe ANOTHER old site, separate from the one we came to investigate. Or maybe the rumors had gotten the exact location wrong. Regardless, we weren't thrilled with the look of this lot, as "walking the the dirt" didn't eyeball much to get us excited. There is potential, though, as evidenced by this found tag:
The Tag
[attachment 138215 DSCF0114.JPG]
It's made of bronze and midranges, like a zinc cent. I find these often on early sites around the area. Tags like this often have holes, to be used as I.D. markers, the idea being to tack them on to the item to be marked with a small brad nail. Sometimes they have hanger loops for wiring them on to things, too. The lack of these fixture devices suggests this was a claim tag or perhaps a wage token.
Both are normally larger than this one, in my experience, this one being about the size of a quarter. But neither is out of the question. I personally like the wage token idea, so I'm sticking with that. But again, who knows?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With little at lot #2 to hold us, we shot back to the #3 sight. Now, this was a different sort of challenge. It was obvious as soon as we set foot on it that it was once a coal yard. The ground was literally a mass of coal - not slag, but raw coal. Some places simply turned to crumbled coal beneath the dirt, when the shovel dug in. In other places you got as much coal as soil, or lumps of coil mixed with rocks... some of them the dreaded "hot rocks!"
It was also infested with iron trash, which is no surprise, as this was once the rail and industrial heart of old Augusta.
Poor old Hal was using a Whites Classic ID which, sadly, was falsing like mad with what this site was throwing at us. He ended up using, by backup detector. I tried his Classic, too, and I was feeling sympathetic for him after about 10 minutes of use! It was the first time I've ever felt out of sorts with a Whites detector.
But mixed in with the crap were these little goodies:
The Tokens
[attachment 138213 DSCF0112.JPG]
[attachment 138214 DSCF0113.JPG]
These are aluminum trade tokens. I found no less than 17 of them and Hal nearly that many. And we didn't grid the entire area.
There were two sizes: the first like this one, the size of a quarter. The other is the the size of a half dollar and carries the denomination of "25". They are marked with the legends:
"Good for XX in merchandise" on one side, and...
"Lucky-Dykes Coal Co," on the other.
Being aluminum, they are eaten up pretty good. This metal didn't come into use until the early 1900's and trade tokens of this type pretty much dried up about the time coal use did. I'd say these date somewhere between the 'teens-40's. In the center of one side there is also a swastika-like symbol. Most will know the swastika was a good luck symbol, until the Nazi's ruined that notion during WWII.
So, I would say that they do not post date that time - most likely they were used during the 20's and 30's.
So far I have been unable to find any reference to them, or the company. But it was a lot of fun finding them. It was as if a box of them had been scattered around the area. Maybe they were simply tossed out into the yard when they were no longer useful.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And as always, there was the trash...
The Usual Suspects
[attachment 138212 DSCF0107.JPG]
I haven't done any detecting since last April, so today's time in the sun, wind and bugs took a good bit of steam out of me. But, I'm going back tomorrow! I had fun, and want more!
i"m glad to see ya found plenty of goodies, that handle in the first pic is an old shaver handle i"v found a few over the years.