October finds

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Zot
Zot Posts: 825 ✭✭✭
in Metal Detecting

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!

Minelab: GPX 5000, Excalibur II, Explorer SE. White's: MXT, PI Pro

Comments

  • zippcity
    zippcity Posts: 1,328 ✭✭✭✭
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    quite the haul, nice variety.

    Save our Country. Positive BST: Collectorcoins- Mariner020648- profharoldhill- coppertoning- agentjim007- cucamongacoin- ElKevo- mercurydimeguy- Utahcoin-AJAAN-AUandAG- surfinxhi- ZoidMeister- TwoSides2acoin- JimTyler-
  • ricko
    ricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Nice month's haul.... That cartridge head is interesting. I know Vhitavouri made gunpowder, but did not know they also made cartridges.... Cheers, RickO

  • pcgs69
    pcgs69 Posts: 4,406 ✭✭✭✭
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    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?

  • Zot
    Zot Posts: 825 ✭✭✭
    edited October 27, 2016 10:31AM
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    @ricko said:
    Nice month's haul.... That cartridge head is interesting. I know Vhitavouri made gunpowder, but did not know they also made cartridges.... Cheers, RickO

    Ha! Very observant of you. Yes, gunpowder is what they're known for.

    @pcgs69 said:
    WHAT? No multiple gold days over there?

    Hmph! Me and my big mouth.

    @pcgs69 said:
    Were there any silver coins?

    Nope. With 1800s coppers found, there was a chance for silver. It usually takes around 10 of those coppers per 1 silver.

    @pcgs69 said:
    How is the weather over there now? Are you able to detect all winter?

    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.

    @pcgs69 said:
    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?

    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.

    Minelab: GPX 5000, Excalibur II, Explorer SE. White's: MXT, PI Pro
  • johnny9434
    johnny9434 Posts: 34,117 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    i like the sterling ring.

  • muffins
    muffins Posts: 469 ✭✭✭
    edited November 1, 2016 9:30PM
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    "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?

  • ricko
    ricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    @muffins.... "the monopoly car?"... excellent guess.... Cheers, RickO

  • Zot
    Zot Posts: 825 ✭✭✭
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    @muffins said:
    the monopoly car?

    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. :/

    Minelab: GPX 5000, Excalibur II, Explorer SE. White's: MXT, PI Pro
  • lordmarcovan
    lordmarcovan Posts: 45,340 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    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.

    Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.

  • lordmarcovan
    lordmarcovan Posts: 45,340 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    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.

    Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.

  • muffins
    muffins Posts: 469 ✭✭✭
    edited February 25, 2017 1:21PM
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    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

  • Zot
    Zot Posts: 825 ✭✭✭
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    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.

    Minelab: GPX 5000, Excalibur II, Explorer SE. White's: MXT, PI Pro
  • muffins
    muffins Posts: 469 ✭✭✭
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    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...

  • Zot
    Zot Posts: 825 ✭✭✭
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    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.

    Minelab: GPX 5000, Excalibur II, Explorer SE. White's: MXT, PI Pro

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