Hey guys, thought I'd share one of my favourite finds with you. I found this in the dirt basement of a buddy's house. It cleaned up pretty nice and is made of copper, brass and iron. I'm assuming 1841 is the year it was made but have no idea what the G.J.L. Stands for. Probably someone's initials but I don't know who.
That's cool! Did you find it with a detector, or, just by chance?
Joe
The reverse side
(03-24-2014 06:00 PM)NjNyDigger Wrote: [ -> ]That's cool! Did you find it with a detector, or, just by chance?
Joe
Found it with my detector along with some 1800s pennies.
If it hasn't been paved over yet, I'd search that basement very carefully. Any idea on the age of the house/property?
Joe
(03-24-2014 06:22 PM)NjNyDigger Wrote: [ -> ]If it hasn't been paved over yet, I'd search that basement very carefully. Any idea on the age of the house/property?
Joe
The house was built in the 1860s. I thoroughly detected the whole basement on high and low sensitivity but the compass and a few pennies were all I found. I swept the front yard and came up with random bits and pieces but nothing worth mentioning. There is a lot of dirt basement houses still out here in the country where I live and I plan on trying to get permission to search those as well. Do you have any advise for searching 1800s farm houses?
Honestly, I've done two farms the entire time I've been in this hobby, although I wish it were WAY more
Always check the area under where the clothesline is. Ask the present owner, or try to find out if it was ever in a different area, and check there too. Obviously, pants hanging upside down with all sorts of goodies inside is a detectorists dream scenario. Gravity is great! Other hotspots to search...
Around the outhouse if there's one (or where one used to be)
Around the garden
Around the barn
Around the common areas (driveway, path leading up to the house, backyard, etc.)
And most importantly, the fields themselves AFTER they've been plowed/turned up
That should be enough to get you started, but, maybe others will chime in with further ideas
Joe
very nice find for sure, were probley the owners initials
Hey Eric!
That's a one of a kind find.
My first inclination, because they were found under the house, is they might be carpentry dividers to make repetitive cuts of a specific measurement and either stamped with the owners initials or the manufacturer (I doubt the manufacturer because nothing comes up for that unless it was a local Smithey). Or they're surveying dividers for mapping or they might also be used for nautical measurement.
Check the old records at the libraries around that house and see if you can find a carpenter or Smithey with those initials from that era.
Good luck! Real nice find!!!!
Ed
Now thats a great find!!!! awesome!!
Whoa!
Glass display case worthy!
Def get permisiion to search others in the area!!!
Coolest tip I've seen for detecting small dirt floor areas (or crawlspaces where you're sitting) is from that young guy NUGGETNOGGIN on youtube...
He had a small coil but just attached to his control box (ie no rod attached) and holding the puck coil just wax on wax off motions to detect.
Keep us posted!
-M