Have you ever found something hidden in an antique?

[talesofthesevenseas]

Ooh! Metal detecting is FUN!!
I have a really junkie metal detector, I've only found one cool thing, but I still have fun with it.

We have a ghost town that is in the bottom of a nearby reservoir here. Recently they drained it for a pipeline project. The foundations of the old town, which was flooded in 1952 were slowly coming up out of the muck, so I went down...

Here is the old road that used to run through Lexington:



Just above the current waterline is this slab foundation:



I decided to start at the waterline, just below the slab foundation and made my first sweep. Very quickly I got my first beep and was rewarded instantly with this 1951 Franklin half dollar! (not bad for less than a minute of hunting, eh?!)



Unfortunately, that was my best find of the day, the rest consisted of rusted bolts, nails, pipes, a railroad spike and other bits and pieces of old Lexington. Oh yeah... and a whole lot of beer cans! Here are my finds, you can get a better look at the reverse side of the Franklin coin here:



Wandering around the site was interesting, exploring the old building foundations:









This is someone elses photo of the bridge that is down there, just around the bend from the foundations:


All of this is underwater once again, for who knows how long this time. I've been meaning to hook up with a local metal detecting club here. I could use some coaching!

[luxetveritas]

I got really into it for a while, but never had the time to pursue this particular hobby. I can tell you one thing for sure, Tales, that spot is prime medal detecting right there  I bet with some practice you could find a nice little collection. It's actually sort of surprising, medal detecting isn't just a point and walk sort of thing, there are tons of factors that contribute to making the perfect find, including a bit of luck. When I first went out, I took an experienced friend with me. We went to a 19th century home and I starting detecting on the lawn under an apple tree. After about fifteen minutes of nothing, I moved on. My friend, on the other hand, who has been detecting for 10 years decided to scan the ground beneath the tree. In less than three minutes he had found 7 wheat pennies, a mercury dime, and a few other coins, in addition to several mis. items like an old tin of toothpaste and a pocket knife! I guess practice just makes perfect!

[talesofthesevenseas]

Wow- Sounds like I should hook up with the detecting club and learn a few things!!

[luxetveritas]

Absolutely! It's great fun and you may just find something spectacular! I got hooked by reading stories from people who went out hoping to find a silver coin and coming back with a pile of gold, so to speak I wish you luck! You already made some nice finds, keep it up!

[talesofthesevenseas]

I would love to metal detect someplace in Europe. I love the stories about people finding bags of coins, rings etc. buried by Roman soldiers who never made it back to dig them up again. That just amazes me, seeing things for the first time that have been hidden away for centuries! I did some volunteer mapping and drafting work on an archaeological site in Arizona a few years ago. Even on broken bits of pottery, it was just so awesome to see carefully painted designs on pottery sherds that had not been seen in 800 years! Loved it!!

[luxetveritas]

I'm planning to go to Bulgaria next summer for  dig, and can't wait! If you have some time in the summer, and save a few thousand dollars (I know, in this economy...), you can volunteer on digs even without any experience in almost every country in the world. I was most interested in volunteering in Cambodia, at a smaller temple outside of Angkor Watt, but it was a.) just too expensive and b.) I am not familiar with Southeast Asian dialects. So I settled for Europe, which is no great loss (The few thousand, btw, includes airfare thank god).

There's also a dig in Ukraine I wanted to do, and of course there is Italy, and Spain, and Greece, and Portugal, and France... ah, too much to experience! If only we had a money tree, Tales! But hey, maybe with your soon-to-be detecting finds you'll be able to do it! I also think there are trips organized by White's (the company that makes most detectors) every year to the UK and other parts of Europe. Only trouble is, if you do find a hoard you can't keep it!!

[talesofthesevenseas]

WAY cool Lux!  I volunteered with P.I.T. (Passport In Time) a program with the U.S. Forest Service. It was quite a while ago, in 1999. Here's a link to some photos and a little bit of write up on it: http://www.archaeologica.org/RoundyCrossing.htm I don't have a photo of the prize piece that came up that week, but it was a perfectly intact black on white pottery ladle, in pristine, museum quality condition.

What I liked about PIT was that I could volunteer and my son could be involved too, he was 12 at the time and really into it. They were very good about involving a few older kids and encouraging them. At one point he moved slightly out of the area everyone else was working in, and discovered a whole wall, which was kind of a little shaded cabana type work area! It was a really neat experience for both of us!

I would love to see some photos of your dig when you get back!

[luxetveritas]

That is so cool! I am going to look into it! Nice photos too-- that ladle must have been amazing to see. I'm so excited for the dig in Bulgaria, I have looked into them, but I haven't ever really done a big, formal one. A little bit here, a little bit there, nothing quite like this time- or PIT for that matter. I actually think I heard of PIT once in some research, I'm going to definitely check it out. I'm not doing a whole lot this summer, so maybe there's an opportunity there!

One of my favorite things to do as a kid in California was walk through the vineyards and look for artifacts from Native Americans. A friend of my grandfather's owned a ranch and I'd go with him and ride the tractor in the field all day and we would find obsidian spear heads like you wouldn't believe. There were also other stone tools, but the blades were by far the coolest. Nothing like pulling out a nice piece of pristine carved obsidian! Last summer I searched for a few hours too, but only came up with a bi-point that was about half an inch. Lots of broken pieces from the tilling. I'd really love to excavate that ranch though... there was an Indian burial on it too I think.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Sounds awesome! I've only found one very crude arrow point at home, that would be way cool to find them like you did! Here is the Web site for PIT:

http://www.passportintime.com/

[jondar]

Luxetveritas asked: "I wonder why they were scattered all around the neighborhood."

He told me they were all in a twelve foot circle, probably hidden in the wall and were knocked out on the ground.         

Stay with searching with your detector, sooner or later you will luck into something.  When my kids were in grade school they were studying the Indian Wars and we decided to go on vacation and visit a few of the battle sites.  One was famous, not the REEEEAL famous one but famous.  The country was desolate and only a monument just off the highway telling the story. At that time all I had was an old cut-down WW2 mine detector I had bought for $50.  We looked all day and I hadn't found anything, the kids found some arrow points and scrapers. As we loaded to leave I guess I looked glum.  My wife said, "why don't you try down there by that grove of trees?"  I said because there's nothing there.  She said, "Well why don't you try anyway." I said OK I'll just show you that you don't know anything about metal detecting."
We hadn't been there three minutes, got a clear loud signal, and there was a 1858 Belt Model Remington Navy cap and ball revolver.  Never discount what your wife tells you.  How did she know that?  Your guess is as good as mine.

[luxetveritas]

That's a cool story, Jondar! I have to say, the wife always knows best!

[KC]

My inlaws were REALLY into metal detecting and they would find all kinds of items (several diamond rings, old pendants, money, bullets, etc.)   But, they did say if there was an old area of trees versus a field....that the tree area would generally prove more gain.  Why?  Because people like shade and a place to rest out of the sun whether it was in the older days or newer ones!  When relaxed and doing whatever under the shade, people are more apt to lose things than all packed up out in the open!

Just food for thought!

[talesofthesevenseas]

...and pockets can become horizontal to the ground and much more likely to spill there contents! A paper I read on our little ghost town indicated that just before the town was razed for the reservoir, that there was a bar with slot machines in back. I have often wondered if my 50 cent piece was one that slipped through the cracks in a floorboard or something.

[talesofthesevenseas]

Another unexpected find came when I sent my son under our house, which was built in 1935. He found an old book titled "Things a Boy Should Know About Electricity" from 1900. The current Abe Books prices on these range from $65 for fair condition to $125, mine would be only fair condition. 

He also found a funny, partial set of flat wrenches. By flat I mean ones that look like they were cut from a sheet of metal, that have hanging hooks on the ends of them.