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How Many Of These Have You Dug Over The Years?


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  I always question weather or not to remove an artifact from it's resting place. If I leave it the next guy will take it and if I take it, it has less meaning than if left in it's historical setting but it can be shared with others.

  I found three axe eye pick heads and an octagon crow bar in a pile one day. I bragged to everyone that I found "three pickers and a solid gold bar" - No one believed me---again. 

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G'day,

Unearthing relics when detecting is nearly as much fun as getting the yellow from the ground.

Picks are commonly found here in New Zealand (Godzone). I got this one in among some tailings in Otago a few years back ... which I left in place. 

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One mine on NZs West Coast has this collection of old timers picks ...

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And the mine also has these ...

Ajc4iU.jpg

 

Regards,

Rob (RKC)

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On 2016-3-25 at 3:43 AM, LipCa said:

Bob, if all could talk, what a book they could write...

G'day LipCa,

But ... uncovered relic's can talk, and can often tell you a lot of what may turn out to be very useful! 

q6sbbt.png

A couple of years back I uncover this when detecting one perfect summers day in Godzone. It was fully buried and well out of sight, but only had a couple of inches of dirt over it. What it told me was that there was the high probability there was a smelter close by. And after digging around I found some fire bricks which confirmed for me that the area was used by the old timers for smelting gold. 

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This was an interesting find from another area. It was not buried but was placed at the base of a tree, easily seen. Its obviously a bolt from a gold stamper battery which attaches the iron part of the battery to its solid wooden base. But the baffling part is that I found it at least a kilometre from where  the closest battery had operated. That was a find that did not tell me anything much ... but was interesting nevertheless.

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Battery part.

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Bottles are always interesting to uncover.

Regards,

Rob (RKC)

 

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G'day,

ZL7omc.png

Nails, and a gadd (a small rock wedge or chisel ) used for working a quartz vein.

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Battery parts.

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Tools used in hard rock mining.

Regards,

Rob (RKC)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have found about 5 of thee in the year even a cool double sided one ,and I have also refurbish a few of them cleaning them up sharpening them and still using them to this day. A reason i think they discarded them and threw them away is probably the handles broke on them or they just lost them .

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In the USA if you're on Federal public land (such as BLM or National Forest) you're better off leaving them there.  A fine, equipment confiscation (or possibly worse) isn't worth the risk, IMO.

 

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