I'm Sure This Fish Stinks From The Head Down, But Hey You Never Know...(Pics)

[Critterhunter]

Found this one a while back at a very old park, right up against an old oak tree. I thought nothing of it since it appears to be some kind of junk metal and so figured the "gem" in the middle was just red glass, but back then a friend mentioned that it might be an amethyst maybe. Probably just glass I'm sure, but it does look old and ornate enough that I figured today I'm going to take it somewhere and get the final word on that.

You can see I never did clean it well as it still has dirt clinging to it, along with the remnants of what looks like white paint it was once painted with. The camera does not do the "stone" justice in terms of it's color. What what looks like imperfections on it are just dirt. If I hold it up to a light it's got a nice rich red color to it but can be seen through somewhat. I should have taken some pictures of the backside because the "stone" is bigger than it appears to be from the front. The last picture makes the pendant look bigger than it actually is...
[attachment 260416 IMG_2089.jpg][attachment 260417 IMG_2092.jpg][attachment 260418 IMG_2098.jpg]

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Critter,interesting piece of jewelry.Let us know the verdict,hopefully a pleasant surprise.Thanks Ron

 

[Critterhunter]

Welp, my gold smith friend looked over the fish and said that the red stone is indeed an Amethyst. That's the good news. The bad news is they are pretty much worthless. I always had thought they had some decent value but he said he's got a whole drawer full of them.

Oh well, at least it ain't glass. I still think it's one of my favorite finds over the years in terms of something that I suspect is very old, based on it's ornate construction and where I found it. I'm going to probably paint it and then give it to a niece as a gift she can wear on a necklace.

Speaking of her, I had given her a nice antique looking silver ring a year or two back I hand found detecting, and the other day I asked if I could borrow it so I could take a picture of it to add to my collection of things. Her young son came up and remarked that he had taken it to school a few months back for I would assume show and tell, and that when he was running with it in the snow in front of the school to her car being picked up to go home, he slipped in the snow and lost it.

Turns out it was in snow over grass, and she saw him fall and lose it, and so I asked him if he remembers where he fell. He said yes, and that it was near a large tree, so he's going to draw me a little map to the best of his (and her) recolection of where he fell and I'm going to see if I can find the ring for her.

Since it's silver, it'll read right up in the coin range, and since it was only dropped a few months ago, I plan to lower the sensitivity all the way down on my GT and swing the coil a decent height off the ground along with increasing discrimination all the way up, to avoid anything but a high conductor that is laying right in the grass or very top 1" or so of soil.

If and when I find the ring I'll take some pics to post, of a ring that was found twice. The idea and thought of that is pretty neat in a way...

 

[deepdiger60]

You got gold fish tank with gold fish ? put it in there Jim

 

[Critterhunter]

No, I'd rather give it to my Niece if she wants it to wear on occasion, but I do have something I do plan to put in a future fish tank if I ever get one. It's an old model T like car about the size of a pack of smokes or a bit bigger, that is very detailed and looks very old, which I found at an old house site. It has damage just like it had been in a real car wreck, and I think it would look perfect at the bottom of a fish tank one day. I've been meaning to research that thing for eons to see if it would have had any worth in decent shape, and who knows if it's rare enough it might be worth something to a collector of such things.

Matter of fact, think I'll research that thing right now here. Here's a pic I just pulled up on the net of one...
[attachment 262752 FishTankCar.jpg]

Turns out not as old as I thought it was by Binging what I could see of the name through the dirt crud on the bottom. 1962 by the looks of when it was made, but still has decent detail like it was made back in the early 1900's or something. Mine is missing the canopy and seats and is either dark brown, green, or black in color with various damage to make it look like it's been in a real wreck. Still think it looks pretty cool and old with the spoked wheels and all, so one day it might end up at the bottom of a fish tank.