Two Recent Finds

[DF in TX]

For the holiday weekend last week I was determined to get a little more time on my new Nox 800 despite the heat and humidity.  Most of my old permissions have changed hands now, so I headed to a bed and breakfast owned by my sister just to try to learn the new machine more.  I'd been there a few years ago without much success, but recently studied a map from 1872 and saw there had been a fairly large house across the street where they have one of their cottages now.

The door to the 1872 house appeared to be approximately where there is now a rock and gravel driveway.  Knowing I wouldn't last long in the heat even though it was the morning, I left the driveway for another day and moved to the grass under some trees near the ditch, hoping for some old coins.

Within a few seconds I got a solid (but elongated in one direction in pinpoint mode) repeatable tone in the lower to mid 20s.  In the bottom of the plug there was a partial old red brick, and the edges of two more bricks in the side of the hole.  I took this as good potential in terms of time period.  Anyway, I removed the brick from the bottom of the plug and found a square nail with the pinpointer.  Knowing that wasn't what I heard, I probed deeper in the plug and pulled out an intact skeleton key!  Didn't detect anymore because my brother-in-law came out and we visited for quite a while, and it was getting hotter by the minute.

The next morning I went back for some more.  About 4' from where I found the skeleton key I got a solid 24 signal that seemed to be shaped more like a coin.  This one had broken glass in the hole and plug.  I have to admit I was a bit disappointed when I pulled out what looked like jewelry with lots of rhinestones instead of a coin!

A little while later my sister came by and I showed her the piece of jewelry.   She took it inside and cleaned it, and brought it out on the porch while we tried to figure out what it was.  We finally decided it may be an old hat pin?

Anyway, my sister said that the rhinestones were a really good quality.  I took my pocket knife out and tried to scratch one, but it was too hard.  Hmm.  For the fun of it I got a piece of the broken glass I'd dug out of the hole and cleaned a small area on it.  Would the "rhinestones" scratch the glass?  They did!  I felt kind of sick for a while!

I know there are other things that can scratch glass besides diamonds, but just the thought that these might be real diamonds was pretty exciting.  But it looks like the metal was silver plated and not solid silver, so I'm thinking that real diamonds wouldn't have been set into cheaper material.  I plan on taking it to a jeweler to find out what the rocks really are, but that probably won't be very soon due to the current pandemic situation in my state.

Thanks for looking, and happy hunting!  Wow, just realized this was the length of a short novel--sorry!

[GB_Amateur]

Interesting finds, and I bet there's more where those came from.  That key is larger than the typical door key.  I wonder if it's for a garage or gate.  There are some pretty knowledgeable people here who may be able to better identify it, both its age and purpose.

Can't you get out eary in the morning?  That's my plan for the next few days as we're supposed to get some relief (early mornings in the 60's F, making it to 80 F by around 10 AM).  If I can get 3 hours for a day's hunt I'll be happy.  Starting midweek the H&H return.  I'm sure it's a lot hotter and more humid where you are.

 

[Tometusns]

Cool relics! 

[2Valen]

Great finds, and a nice pencil topper with only one piece missing.

On the back you have a rounded hole for the pencil to fit in it is what gave it away. Early 1930-1940 vintage piece.

Good luck on your next hunt!

[DF in TX]

Thanks guys!

GB - yes, mornings are the only possibility until the fall temps and lower humidity start to arrive.  I don't sweat much, which doesn't help.  This morning at sunrise it was cooler than usual at 78F and 93% humidity, but had other some other obligations.  Hoping to get out tomorrow morning - I agree there has to be more to find there!

2Valen, very interesting thought on the pencil topper!  I'll do some searching on the internet to look for some old examples.

Even though the map showed a house there in 1872 there may have been other houses built in later decades, so no telling when these relics were made or lost.  Too bad they're not dated like most coins!