October finds
Zot
Posts: 825 ✭✭✭
I’ve still done a fair bit of water detecting this month. At around 42 F / 6 C, the water is getting pretty cold though.
Here’s a summary of water finds.
-Whole bunch of coins, including some slightly older ones. Oldest coin is 1866, followed by 1870
-Small sterling ring
-Some interesting lead items
-Copper nails, fishing spoons, bullets, etc. Also a few junk rings (not pictured)
These two blobs are actually coins.
I’ve seen this before. They’re 1970s aluminum coins that don’t fare too well in the water.
Given the insignificance of the coins, my cleaning method of choice was… a hammer.
Here are the “cleaned” coins. They still count towards my total for the year!
“Icarus & Daedalus” shell token.
I believe there’s 20 in a full set of these. I got a different one earlier this year.
I initially thought this was just a random piece of lead, but turns out it’s a little car.
It has me scratching my head, as it appears too small to be practical as a toy. It’s only as long as my thumbnail is wide.
The lead seals are quite interesting.
One is clearly a German WWII era with an eagle clutching a swastika. The back has HZA (Hauptzollamt, i.e. central customs office) at the top. The rest can only be partly read.
Another one appears to be Russian (two headed eagle on one side, and mostly unreadable Cyrillic on the other)
This ring is nice and has some age to it..
..but gold it is not. 
This ring is sterling silver, tiny, and is probably quite old (judging by its size and surface pitting).
It’s solid though, meaning it won’t keep shedding layers of skin like older silver items sometimes do.
It was a black crusty thing when found.
I’ve managed to do some detecting on dry land as well. No remarkable finds, but this is quite unusual:
36 coins in the same hole. Haven’t had that many in a long time.
It’s now the time of year when a freeze could come at any time.
I’m hoping to still manage some detecting on dry land before winter sets in!
Comments
quite the haul, nice variety.
Nice month's haul.... That cartridge head is interesting. I know Vhitavouri made gunpowder, but did not know they also made cartridges.... Cheers, RickO
WHAT? No multiple gold days over there?
Were there any silver coins? Nice save on that silver ring. Nothing more disappointing to have those old silvers you mentioned that just keep losing layers. Had many here where it looks clean and solid what is left, only to have another sheet come off.
How is the weather over there now? Are you able to detect all winter?
That ring is a heart stopper. Is it simply that muddy brass effect that at first glance looks like gold? Any chance it's gold?
Ha! Very observant of you. Yes, gunpowder is what they're known for.
Hmph! Me and my big mouth.
Nope. With 1800s coppers found, there was a chance for silver. It usually takes around 10 of those coppers per 1 silver.
Around 40 degrees F.
As for all winter: not a chance. I'm usually shut out about 5 months of the year, December to April.
I'll go as long as I can. Sometimes December has still been OK with the temp hovering right around the freezing point.
Zero. It's brass.
For a few seconds things were quite exciting. Older brass rings I find usually look worse than this.
It looks a bit deceptive, but with the ring in hand it's easy to tell.
i like the sterling ring.
"I initially thought this was just a random piece of lead, but turns out it’s a little car.
It has me scratching my head, as it appears too small to be practical as a toy. It’s only as long as my thumbnail is wide."
the monopoly car?
@muffins.... "the monopoly car?"... excellent guess.... Cheers, RickO
Great thinking! I didn't consider that.
By quickly googling pictures of monopoly cars it appears they normally look a bit different, but there is some variety.
Who knows.
I also thought it could have been part of a bigger toy, like a trailer with a few little cars on it.
I may have plenty of time to think about it: We have snow now, and unless the weather turns soon I could be shut out for 6 months or so.
You go, Secret Squirrel!
That little car brings to mind the one from Monopoly sets. It's not the same one, of course, but it makes me think it might've been a game token of some kind? The Monopoly ones don't exactly have functional, rolling wheels, either.
PS- the old lead Nazi seal is interesting. Old lead seals in general are interesting. On a colonial site near Charleston, SC, I once found a Dutch lead seal from Leyden that had been for wool blankets, which were likely imported for the Continental army during our Revolutionary War.
another possibility:
something similar to this and i bet it attached to said key ring/bracelet or necklace right on the front hood where the indention or hood ornament would be placed. and it has moving wheels!
http://m.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-STERLING-BRACELET-CHARM-40S-MOVING-PUFFY-CAR-A-GREAT-EXAMPLE-18-00-/371485492002?hash=item567e42c322:g:7y8AAOxyJX1TB7qt&_trkparms=pageci%3A32ba11cd-fb96-11e6-9eb5-005056b25496%7Cparentrq%3A76e3b79915a0a5e0b88aed46ffe9f05d%7Ciid%3A16
Interesting idea, I hadn't thought of that!
I had another look at the car, just in case. I very much doubt that it was jewelry, as:
1. It's definitely made of lead, which isn't exactly ideal for that purpose, even going some time back
2. It's a rather crude casting in general. Lack of detail, no moving wheels, mushy, seams, etc.
aha. thought i read previously that it had moving wheels. which struck me as odd simply by the looks of the wheel wells in the pic.
but anyways, still thinkin' on this one!
to be continued...
I think it was LordMinivan who mentioned something about moving wheels.
Personally, I'm leaning towards this being some sort of game token. "Monopoly car" was mentioned as a possility. It's usually modeled after a 1930s roadster and looks quite different, but I've found some other versions too. Nothing that quite matches this one though.
There's a bunch of car-themed vintage board games that could be candidates as well. I made a half-hearted attempt at googling images of some of them, but no luck.