The Jewelry Box (long And Lots Of Pics)

[F350Platinum]

I'm posting this in Coins and Relics because all the pieces of jewelry are relics. 😎 This isn't a beach hunt, I've done much worse there 😅

What seemed to be a "let's check this place out a little more and go somewhere else" hunt turned out to be a whole day in this little field, I invited Chase down for the day because it was going to be warm and I thought it might be worth the trip for him.

It's a small field, only a few acres, totally nondescript.

I got there a bit before Chase, walked back and forth along this part of the field, there is another huge farm next door. We think there was a house here, but nothing exists on any Topographic maps. By the end of the day we were sure of it.

First find was what may be a gold plated metal ring, no marks inside. Might have been a replacement or bargain wedding band:

It only weighs 2.6 grams, but it does ring when dropped. A 91 on the Deus 2. I'll probably take it to my jeweler who has an XRF gun to make sure, because it does weigh more than a similar size 14k band.

Next find was a 1944 war nickel:

Chase arrived , we walked all over and found some wheats and lots of junk. The place is stupid with crap, aluminum, bits of old brass and tons of iron everywhere. I was running Tekkna, and it did well for me.

We didn't find much more for quite a while, we were thinking of leaving, and then I found this mangled silver spoon:

Almost 16 grams of coin silver.

I then found this trunk plate, a Civil War era plate from a Washington DC trunk maker used until 1880.

I joked that I just found the jewelry box plate... 🙄 Who knew I would sorta be right...

Chase went off to check out the back of the field, he had been on top of a hill finding nothing but large pieces of aluminum and concertina reeds, and I walked back from where I found the spoon, and got one of my best finds of the day:

This massive 8.4g Sterling ring with probably a glass stone, it's purple and seems shattered.

I motioned for Chase to come over to this spot, and we just kept finding jewelry. He will probably add his finds later, it was an insane day. 🤪 Very difficult to find stuff in all that iron and trash, we both were using  D2s with the 9", anything bigger wouldn't have done as well.

Next I dug this Sterling pin:

 

It was taco'ed but I got it straight.

Here's the trash, lots of large brass, lead and aluminum. I didn't get much iron at all, Tekkna is great for this kind of challenge.

Here's the total haul, the best is yet to come:

Obviously finding a really old ring is a thrill but nothing could have prepared me for the last big find:

Apparently this is quite rare, researching it only found one other like it. It's a 1904 Republican National Committee badge for the Chicago Convention, where Theodore Roosevelt was selected. The Chairman had this 14k version made for him, but sadly passed away before the Convention:

His was 60 some odd grams, my piece is 35:

It may at least be plated. It's unbelievable it held up this good for 120 years. 🤔

I haven't had as productive a hunt as this in quite a while, we hope to go back and find more. It's very difficult going.

[Joe D.]

   Wasn't that long Bob, and I love the pics!👍

   Nice job "stumbling" into a very productive spot! Had to laugh at the small field reference! Remember, good things come in small packages, and apparently, small fields to!🍀👍👍

[F350Platinum]

11 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

   Wasn't that long Bob, and I love the pics!👍

   Nice job "stumbling" into a very productive spot! Had to laugh at the small field reference! Remember, good things come in small packages, and apparently, small fields to!🍀👍👍

Heh thanks Joe,

I'm just talking here about finding almost 30 things, heck some of them came from the same spot. You'd dig one target and find another right next to it, or not find one in the hole (falsing iron) you just dug and find one two inches away. 🤣 It was insane, probably the most difficult hunt I've ever done.

2024 is still rolling! 🥳

[ColonelDan]

What a day.  Nice finds .  Again, you live in a great area for this hobby.   👍🏻

[F350Platinum]

9 minutes ago, ColonelDan said:

What a day.  Nice finds .  Again, you live in a great area for this hobby.   👍🏻

Thanks Colonel,

I have another field like this that may well be worth exploring in the same way, all I found in that field so far was a Civil War eagle "I" button. I just crossed it a few times, I need to get back there too. 🤔 Maybe there's a "honey hole" there as well! 

Tekkna and modded Relic, both with reactivity at 2 (my preference) or 3 seem to really pull stuff out of trashy spots, personally I find Tekkna to be a little better with iron falsing. I tried both today. 

[JCR]

Very good hunting to find a spot like that. Makes you wonder if the house was suddenly destroyed somehow to find that kind of concentration of targets. Perhaps a tornado?   No signs of fire damage.

[F350Platinum]

2 minutes ago, JCR said:

Very good hunting to find a spot like that. Makes you wonder if the house was suddenly destroyed somehow to find that kind of concentration of targets. Perhaps a tornado?   No signs of fire damage.

That is a really interesting thought, I'll go back over weather for that area, might be a clue. 👍

The other more obvious one is that the people that own the land pushed the house in to the ravine nearby, a common practice. Not a lot of crime in this area, and the farmers really don't seem to care what they move off the land, which has made for some very fortunate discoveries where you'd think there was nothing.

The top of the hill has much more modern trash as does the driveway, but things get old on the sides and farther back. 🙂

[Valens Legacy]

Great hunting and it looks like you found where an old house used to be located. Was there any burned pieces of wood when you dug up some of the items?

Good luck on your next outing and stay safe out there.

[F350Platinum]

2 hours ago, Valens Legacy said:

Great hunting and it looks like you found where an old house used to be located. Was there any burned pieces of wood when you dug up some of the items?

Good luck on your next outing and stay safe out there.

Thanks VL,

We believe there were 2 houses on this small lot, one in the Victorian era (1820-1914) , and another later. There are relics and coins from the 1940s to 1960s on the top of the hill and along the remains of the driveway, further back it gets much older.

We can see some concrete and cinder block in the woods on the edge of a ravine. The older remains are probably long gone. We've found some molten metal in some spots, and there was evidence of fire as well.

What struck us both was the lack of silver coins despite the abundance of pennies and nickels, so far only a silver 1964 dime and a 1944 nickel have been found The pennies are all wheats .

The fact that we found so many silver items on this hunt tells us that the field has probably not been detected. If it was, it was done by people with much older machines that would have been overwhelmed by all the other metal debris.

There are also historical periods of coin hoarding which could be another reason, for sure this is a traditionally frugal area despite wealth, and people may have been very careful with their silver (and gold?) coins.

I'll have to talk to the owner who may know the history here, he knows the land he owns well, his family has farmed these spots for well over 100 years.

[strick]

Nice work 350..those old medallions are fun to find...looks like you have one of the other pieces there next to it in the first photo...It would be worth it to go back and look for the other pieces....

strick