Metal Detecting and Time Travel

[Bell-Two]

Not sure where this short article should go so I posted it here. This was inspired by a find of a friend of mine who by research can "logically assume" the half reale he found was owned by a particular person.

Metal Detecting And Time Travel

A definition of time traveling is: Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects (or in some cases just information) backwards in time to some moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to experience the intervening period (at least not at the normal rate).

So how does time travel pertain to metal detecting? If we think of the article or coin that we dig up as having been forwarded to us from years and in some cases centuries ago to be presented to us today giving us a glimpse into the past. If we find a coin on an old home site and by research we determine who was living there at the time period it is almost as though they by

 

[EZrider]

That is the "Real" treasure of the finds we make. To many new comers to this hobby come in with a "What is it worth" mindset. Enjoy the time travel. I do.

 

[LabradorBob]

Yes,I lie awake at night after finding an old coin,wondering who it was that lost it!
A kid,or a grown up,and i wonder what life was like back then,I can imagine and dream.
What an old dime would buy back then.
And reading stories where the kids begged for a nickle to buy a soda pop.
I can imagine the old picnics and fairs.
These were major events back in the old days.
After living at home,working there,whether it be plowing the fields,planting crops,cutting hay with sickles.
Most of the time was spent at home,even for the women.
Washing clothes on an old washboard,feeding the family.
So if they got a chance to get away from home and go do something,it was like something wonderful!
Now we can just hop in the car and go.
Anyway,The thrill of finding an old coin takes you back in time,at least to the memories of old stories
and how life use to be.
Such as the coins we find will never be made again.
Neither will the old days,of a forgotten past!

LabradorBob

 

[filo]

I was just thinking about this very thing. I attached a picture of a place I've hunted recently that existed from the 1850's to the 1870's. I marked where I found an 1856 seated dime. It's crazy to me to think about the person that may have dropped that so many years ago. Metal detectors are definitely time travel machines.

 

[BigSkyCountry]

My signature line says it all......

 

[Barry NY]

I totally agree - doing the research on the identification of a find makes it so much more rich and brings it totally to life..the little things that confirm folklore like a spanish 8 reales that's been "shaved" on one edge or had a hole put in it to sew it into clothing for safekeeping OR a cut reales that explains the story of why they used the term "two bits" in the westerns when someone came into the general store to buy something and it was two pieces (or bits as they called them) of that 8 reales - what would be a quarter. I started the hobby detecting beaches and quickly realized that I was finding someone's "misery" (recently lost jewelry) as opposed to finding someone's "history" when I began digging in the dirt...

Filo - that spot of yours is a gold mine - you can spend a long time detecting there if that place no longer exists and it's not totally paved over or hunted out - looks like it was a real upscale resort spot - should be lots of old silver and possibly old jewelry still there...is that lake still there? is it a beach now or lawn?

 

[Bell-Two]

Yes,I lie awake at night after finding an old coin,wondering who it was that lost it!
A kid,or a grown up,and i wonder what life was like back then,I can imagine and dream.
What an old dime would buy back then.
And reading stories where the kids begged for a nickle to buy a soda pop.
I can imagine the old picnics and fairs.
These were major events back in the old days.
After living at home,working there,whether it be plowing the fields,planting crops,cutting hay with sickles.
Most of the time was spent at home,even for the women.
Washing clothes on an old washboard,feeding the family.
So if they got a chance to get away from home and go do something,it was like something wonderful!
Now we can just hop in the car and go.
Anyway,The thrill of finding an old coin takes you back in time,at least to the memories of old stories
and how life use to be.
Such as the coins we find will never be made again.
Neither will the old days,of a forgotten past!

LabradorBob

Put so well, when I was thinking about why I like metal detecting and why do I and many others do it I came to this conclusion:

Why We Search

Why do we swing the coil
As we walk along the grass
Back and fro as a pendulum
As we make our careful pass

Is it to find untold riches
To make our searching pay
Or simply to uncover things
Brought back to light of day

Our treasures are not of a kind
The world would seek to grasp
We seek only to enrich this day
By preserving things long past

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Yes !
Almost every time I find a coin or a relic I try to imagine who lost it, what they looked like, what they were doing when they lost it, etc.
I seem to do this with everything from a 1700's coin to a modern day costume jewelry ring.
This is one of - if not the greatest rewards of our hobby - metal detectors really are time machines !!!

HH --- Mark