Geologyhound
Well-known member
OK, at this point in time admittedly it’s more than two cents. I headed back to the site where I found an 1866 two cent piece in excellent condition, along with an 1831 large cent, an 1853 seated dime, a 1918 Merc, a 1919 wheat and a 1929 wheat.
My son came with me for one short trip (I’ve been trying to get him to come, and he finally consented this time). However, the bugs were bad and we didn’t have insect repellent so we didn’t stay out longer than about an hour.
With my old spectrum XLT, he found the ornate little brass knob. I didn’t find anything but a zinc penny that trip. But I went back for most of a day this week and just carefully combed over the area I had already hit.
This last trip, I focused more on mid range conductors, and dug quite a few ring pulls (and a few bullets/scrap lead). But, I was also rewarded with the one old ring. Probably junk, but I figure I will check the stones.
Right in the middle of the area where I found all the old coins I picked up a squirrelly but repeatable non-ferrous signal. It was reading about 77 on my Deus 2 from one direction, but changed to the mid 80s from the other direction. It also was tending to give me a slurred tone which would start high and go low swinging one way and start low and go high swinging the other way. It was also giving me some sporadic higher tones in the dime to quarter range (full tones). The important thing in my mind is that it was non-ferrous all the way around (as non-ferrous as anything can be in this bed of square nails). Still, I was not prepared to see a large cent pop out of the ground with a date easily visible!
Of course, the tax token (my first) and the watch winding key (also my first) were welcome finds. Numista shows this token is not particularly uncommon and was in use from 1936 to 1961. The watch winding key is a dark gray metal with red highlights. The beveled edges are not symmetrical, so I am thinking it’s all hand made. Does anybody have an idea of when this might date?
It’s been a little while since I have found a skeleton type key so I was happy to find that too. I don’t really know what the brass disc is. I’m wondering if it could’ve been some sort of reflector? However, it is convex on top and concave on back. There is no obvious attachment point, and no printing on it.
The other aluminum (?) disc may have been a token as well. There’s no embossed or stamped printing on it. But it appears something might’ve been printed in ink. The ink has worn off, but resulted in a lighter color in those areas. So there appears to be a D (possibly I or T) at the top and a P starts the second line.
Thanks for looking!
My son came with me for one short trip (I’ve been trying to get him to come, and he finally consented this time). However, the bugs were bad and we didn’t have insect repellent so we didn’t stay out longer than about an hour.
With my old spectrum XLT, he found the ornate little brass knob. I didn’t find anything but a zinc penny that trip. But I went back for most of a day this week and just carefully combed over the area I had already hit.
This last trip, I focused more on mid range conductors, and dug quite a few ring pulls (and a few bullets/scrap lead). But, I was also rewarded with the one old ring. Probably junk, but I figure I will check the stones.
Right in the middle of the area where I found all the old coins I picked up a squirrelly but repeatable non-ferrous signal. It was reading about 77 on my Deus 2 from one direction, but changed to the mid 80s from the other direction. It also was tending to give me a slurred tone which would start high and go low swinging one way and start low and go high swinging the other way. It was also giving me some sporadic higher tones in the dime to quarter range (full tones). The important thing in my mind is that it was non-ferrous all the way around (as non-ferrous as anything can be in this bed of square nails). Still, I was not prepared to see a large cent pop out of the ground with a date easily visible!
Of course, the tax token (my first) and the watch winding key (also my first) were welcome finds. Numista shows this token is not particularly uncommon and was in use from 1936 to 1961. The watch winding key is a dark gray metal with red highlights. The beveled edges are not symmetrical, so I am thinking it’s all hand made. Does anybody have an idea of when this might date?
It’s been a little while since I have found a skeleton type key so I was happy to find that too. I don’t really know what the brass disc is. I’m wondering if it could’ve been some sort of reflector? However, it is convex on top and concave on back. There is no obvious attachment point, and no printing on it.
The other aluminum (?) disc may have been a token as well. There’s no embossed or stamped printing on it. But it appears something might’ve been printed in ink. The ink has worn off, but resulted in a lighter color in those areas. So there appears to be a D (possibly I or T) at the top and a P starts the second line.
Thanks for looking!
