Neat Finds

This page will include a little bit of everything that I have found in my metal detecting and treasure hunting adventures. Artifacts, coins, collectibles, junk (that I like) and other odds & ends. 

Old heart shaped brass locket.

Vintage brass lipstick tube. Embossed design. A friend of mine let me detect the backyard of his old home. I uncoverd an old garbage pit and this was in it. Neat. UPDATE: I found out this was made by Revlon and is called the "Crimson Beauty". Not sure of the date yet.

Lid for a General Electric product. Dated 1897.

Silver thimble. I dug this thimble on an 1800's homestead in North Carolina. Remind me to clean the red clay out of it.

Sterling Silver Crucifix. One of my favorite recoveries. Park find.

Centennial Pin. Looks old. Hopefully it's the real thing.

This is a goergous Sterling Silver Bracelet. Made in Italy. Rope design that sparkles as it is turned in the light.

Nice close-up of the rope design bracelet to the left. Italy 925.

Old brass Girl Scout Pin. They made the same design for many years so not sure of it's age. However I did find this in an old lot next to my home and it was at least 5" deep so it has some age to it.

Brass dog whistle. Found this in an old house lot about 4" dep.

Boy, this was a surprise. I was hunting the front yard of an abandoned home up in North Carolina. Fun hunt. I first dug a silver quarter, then a war nickel followed by a silver Rosevelt dime. I was finding other artifacts and then all of a sudden dug this 1940 Nazi coin. You just never know.

Boy Scout whistle. 1950's era.

Sun Watch Pre 1920. Used by Boy Scouts and Outdoors-men.

1950 Commerative Brass Boy Scout Scarf Slide.

Boy Scout Camp ground Hunt...March 2, 2011

The 3 items above were part of one of my funnest hunts. I got permission to hunt an old Boy Scout camp that was owned by the Boy Scouts from 1910 til the 1950's. I was with 2 of my hunting buddies, George Case and Bill Green. Before the day long hunt I mentioned to my buddies that I would really like to find an old Boy Scout scarf slide. About an hour into the hunt my wish was granted with a neat brass commemorative scarf slide (top right) featuring George Washington, a Scout Master, 2 Boy Scouts and the Boy Scout logo. I was thrilled and would have been satisfied with only that find.

However a little later I dug a 1950's era Boy Scout whistle. That was a challenge. One of the deepest targets I have ever dug at better than 10" and I'm not kidding. It was hard ground and the whistle was right under a root which was the same diameter as the whistle. I could see the shiny rounded whistle sides under the root and it really had me puzzled as to what it was. I had to dig around the root, one finger scoop at a time but boy was it worth it. I love anything with the Boy Scout logo on it being a Boy Scout myself as a youngster.

Not long after finding the whistle I had another hit that was almost as deep and just 10 yards from the whistle location. I dug down to find a brass case that was closed but not snapped shut and it was very heavy. I was immediately excited about what might be inside. Before looking inside I called my friends over to witness the grand opening. A lot was going through my mind as to what might be inside specifically old coins. Once both guys arrived I opened the case and it was packed full of hard dirt. I carefully removed the dirt a little at a time. No coins but still an incredible find. Researching it on the internet I found that it was a handy pocket "Sun Watch" made by the Ansonia Company pre1920. It has a compass built in along with a sun dial. Inside is a metal plate with latitudes for various cities in the US. Also inside is a bar that pulls up that will cast a shadow of the sun to tell the time. They were carried by Boy Scouts and avid outdoors-men. According to the internet it is very rare as they were only made for a short time.
 

1898 Liberty V Nickel. Obverse. I dug this one at an early 1900's built home. Only 5" deep. December 23, 2011.

V Nickel back side. I didn't even know what this was until I used electrolysis to clean it.

This is another cool piece of jewelry. A silver necklace which needs identifying. Please help. It's all intact and must have just come unsnapped and lost.

14K Gold Bracelet. I was tecting with hunting buddy Bill Green in volleyball sand in the very hot summer. The reading was so low I thought it was foil so I just kicked the sand away. I saw a gold sparkle in the sun.....YES!

Neat little Silver Bracelet.

14K Hallmark for my heart bracelet above.

Stainless Steel Bracelet. Lake find, waist deep.

Old Sterling Silver Elephant Charm.

Sterling Silver Earring.

Sterling Silver Charm/Pendant.

14K Gold St. Christopher's medallion. This was a lake find that kept slipping through my scoop. I almost gave up on it but was persistant.

Very old Brass Locket with a nice embossed design.

I was with hunting buddies Chuck Hosbein and Alan James when I dug this neat locket. Alan and I both had already found Mercury Head dimes before I uncovered this beauty about 4" to 5" deep. July 30, 2011.

Sterling Silver religious medallion-backside.

Frontside. Park find just 2" deep.

10K Gold religious medallion. Notice the 10K at the very bottom.

Neat little find. It reads "Key to My Heart". It has heart shapes at both ends. Not sure of it's origin.

No idea what the heck this is. It's about the size if a shirt button. It appears to be a disc with a lot of junk stuck to the back. I found it on an 1800's homestead in North Carolina. Please help me identify it. CaliforniaGail says "The Big Ben looks to me like a rivet from a pair of overalls."

Nice detailed Sterling Silver Earring.

Earring backside. 925

Sterling Silver Pendant. Heavy! This was a screamer.

Backside. Sterling hallmark. Neat verse.

24" Silver necklace. I found this one in a local park only about 1" deep. It was entangled in the grass roots and seemed like it would never end as I was pulling it up.

Broach. 925 Mexican Silver. Backside.

Broach frontside.

Military button. Great Seal Button (General Service), and it was used from 1902 through WW2. Thank you to CaliforniaJim for the identification.

Religious pendant.

925 Silver with color stones. No idea what it is.

Pair of old Silver rings with purple stones.

These were actually hooked together when I found them

Big solid silver earring.

Earring backside. Mexico Silver.

April 12, 2010. 1951 Silver Washington Quarter. I found this one in the front yard of an old home in Robbinsville North Carolina.

April 29, 2011.1945 Silver Washington Quarter. Recovered in downtown Sanford Florida when they were tearing up the sidewalks.

4-H Pin

I went back to the Boy Scout camp with the goal of pulling out another item with a logo. I actually found the logo-this pin.

Assorted scout items.

May 29, 2011. 1888 Indian Head Penny. Sanford Florida, This was so corroded I did not know what it was. Electrolysis cleaning did an incredible job.

October 20, 2010. 1901 V Nickel. I dug this one in an old park in Deltona, Florida. Hunting buddy Bill Green was with me and he pulled out 2 very old incredible rings.

Neat Cross Earring. I am assuming they are not real diamonds. Beach find.

Old broach.

Pewter charm I guess. This is pretty bulky.

1942 Mercury Head Dime. Front yard find, 1950s' home. May 22, 2010.

1923 Mercury Head Dime. Found this in a flower garden. Orlando Florida. May 11, 2011.

1939 Mercury Head Dime. Another Sanford Florida find. I was with hunting buddies Alan James and Chuck Hosbein. July 30, 2011.

Silver Trolly car charm

Very heavy elephant pendant

Pewter Cross pendant

Old Snoopy watch. Park find.

Neat skull. This is awesome but I have no idea what it is for. Park find.

Silver Crucifix

I found these lead bullets in North Carolina on an 1800's homestead

Old Swiss made key

1860's Saw Medallion. Another one of my favorite finds and this one was with my Ace250. It was better than 6" deep. It is from the 1860's. It has a threaded stud on the back and the hand saw makers would router out a circle on their saw handle and place this medallion in the handle.

This is a weird piece of jewelry. The chain is spring loaded and is supposed to wind up inside. Anyone have any ideas?

1945 Silver War Nickel. April 12, 2010

Assorted Dollar coins I have found

1952 Silver Roosevelt Dime. February 6, 2010

Assorted keys

Lead weights

Costume jewelry

JUNK. But I like it. Whenever I find this stuff, which is quite often I just throw it in a jar. I find keys and costume jewelry just about every where, in parks, home sites and the beach. Almost all the lead weights are found at the beach. If I put all the pop tops I have found on here I would need another page.

Quarters-13 lbs. Dimes-7 lbs. Nickels-7 lbs. Pennies-26 lbs.

I was cleaning these with a tumbler but it is very time consuming. I'll do the rest in the future!

Like many detectorists, I have a goal of finding a gold coin. The chances of finding one are very very slim. In January 2010  I decided to save every coin I found towards buying that gold coin. That way I would indirectly have that gold coin from metal detecting. I probably have enough right now (July 4, 2012) to purchase a small gold coin but I do not want to pull the trigger yet as I still prefer to uncover one. I'm trying hard.

I found this Tiffany & Co. sterling silver earring at Daytona Beach in knee deep water in a cut. It appears to have been there for a while.

Neat whistle made in England.

Heavy brass heart pendant.

Heavy brass dice. Not sure what it was used for.

Old brass door plate.

Old trunk fastener.

Old rowing medallion.

1940's golf club. "Midget Putter" made by the Rollin Wilson Co Memphis Tennessee.

Putter front side.

Assorted dog tags I have found.

These are pennies that are placed in machines that are placed in various tourist attractions such as Gatorland. The machine smashes the penny leaving it's logo or message. I have found these 4 in the last 2 years. July 4, 2012.

Assorted tokens I have found.

Knives are also found quite often. I have thrown others away but kept these 3 for some odd reason?

Same as knives, I have found multiple locks but threw most away. These are older and different. I found the "City of Daytona" lock in a Daytona Beach park.

This is a cool brass lighter and fairly small.

Bottom side of this brass lighter reads "Continental".

Various bullets I have found over the past 2 years (July 4, 2012)

I always throw my Wheat Ear pennies (Wheaties) in a separate jar. These are all Wheaties that I have found.

This is an old brass Civitan belt buckle. Found it in an old lot downtown Orlando.

Buckle backside.

Mystery item. I have several people helping me try to identify this. Could be a fishing weight?

The wording on this says "Barracuda" on one one side and has a number "2" on the other side. It has a small hole going through it from top to bottom. The white circle is identical on both sides. Please help with the identification.

Mystery Item Identified...Trolling Jig

Hunting buddy Jim Fielding posted my find on the popular blog site "The Treasure Beaches Report from Florida's Treasure Coast, Metal Detecting for You." In just a couple days one of the subscribers sent in this photo.

Here is what the host, TG writes after the identification: It  seems there is consensus and some very good information on yesterday's mystery  find.  Just after posting yesterday's post, it occurred to me that it looked a  lot like a jig head.   "Barracuda" already made me think of vintage fishing  equipment because I had found some
Barracuda fishing items in the past.  

I  was a little afraid that mentioning that
information in the blog might influence  other people and didn't know if I should have done that.  It seems now that it  didn't matter. I  received the following  photo from Michael T. Here is the photo sent in by Michael T.  Good  match, wouldn't you say?      Thanks  Michael.
 
Thanks  also to David S. and all of you who responded with information on this item.   Putting it all together makes me confident that we have the true identity.....TG

This Jig was made by the company 'Florida Fishing Tackle Mfg Company of St. Petersburg. They made the Barracuda line of fishing tackle and lures beginning in the 1920's. Not sure yet of the age on my find? It appears to be old. Stay tuned.
 

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Beach, park and home site finds. Toy cars, trucks. fire engines and planes.

I found the site of a very old railroad that ran through SE Orlando. It is just a path through the woods now. I spent a couple hours just following the path and managed to find these 3 very old RR spikes.

Tough Jefferson Nickel to find. 1939.

1916. My oldest Lincoln penny find. (Amended-found a 1910 on October 13, 2012.) Pictured below.

Brass figurines.

I found both of these at an old flea market. Obviously lost by a dealer.

No idea?

July 3, 2012. My first experience at panning for gold yielded these gold flakes. Hunting buddy Jim Hooks (NC Jim) is an old pro at panning for gold. We went to Georgia to pan and he showed me the ropes. I had a ball.

1943 Mercury Head Dime. Found this at an old school yard in Clifton Forge Virginia on July 28, 2012.

Found the car wash token at the same old High School as the Merc. This car wash has been gone for a long while but have not been able to find out exactly when it closed up.

1944 Canadian Penny.......................Very special find.

This may be my very best find.................very special meaning anyway. Let me explain. In July 2012 I visited my hometown in Clifton Forge Virginia with a plan to visit relatives and of course metal detect. I was staying with my Aunt who lives in the home that my Grandfather built in the 1920's. My mother and father built their own home too, right in the back yard of my grandfathers home. My father who was from Canada, was a tail gunner on a Lancaster and fought in WWII. When the war ended in 1945, my father headed back to Clifton Forge where my parents would continue on with life. My father flew many sucessful missions in the war only to come home and get killed in an automobile accident in 1957. I was only 4 years old so I never really knew my father that well. I was detecting in the front yard of where my parents' home was. The home is gone and is just a slab now. I dug a few goodies including 1927, 1942 and 1945 wheat ear pennies. I also dug this 1944 Canadian penny that got me thinking. How in the world did this older Canadian penny get way out here in the wilderness. Then it hit me. It must have belonged to my father. I spoke with my mother about it and she confirmed that he spent a lot of time out in the yard working in that same area where I had found the penny. He had arrived back in Clifton Forge in 1945 from Canada and the odds are that he had that penny in his pocket before losing it in his front yard. That is the most logical explanation. It would have been a new penny at the time my dad had lost it. Obviously there is no way to prove it either way but the odds are it was his and now it has been passed down to me in a very unusual way.

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August 11, 2012. Found this neat bracelet watch at Cocoa Beach about 4" deep in the hard pack sand. Still works perfectly.

August 11, 2012. Found this nice condition knife along with the watch to the left at Cocoa Beach. I also found 3 rings on this same hunt. It was a fun day!

Unidentified brass item. I found this under a very old bridge in Sanford Florida. It is smashed in somewhat. Has a rounded pin at one end.

Sanford Florida lead Railroad Seal.

Pendant. Lakeside find in Clermont Florida.

"I'm a registered Seminole County Florida Voter" Old button badge found at Melon Park in Sanford. Buried about 4" deep.

I found this old artifact in a lake in Clermont, Florida. Obviously it is a stencil but I didn't know any details. I think it is made out of thin brass. It's in extremely good shape for being in the water for 100 years! One of my hunting buddies, Jim Fielding is very good at researching. He sent me a picture of the post card below along with a little history. The H.C. Beekley Company was in business in the late 1800's and early 1900's so I consider this an outstanding find......Jim, thank you for your time and effort in identifying this find.

H.C. Beekley & Company
Produce Crate stencil above.
Company postcard below.

I also attached a picture of  H.C. Beekley's, what was known in the late
  19th Century as an "Advertising Cover," sort of a postcard with the company's
  little ad or slogan on it, picture of a rail car listing all the fruits and
  vegetables they freighted all over the country. I don't know if Beekley
actually  grew the crops it shipped, but I would venture to say that the
artifact you  found was used to stencil shipping information on crates of
produce.
 
Cheers!
 
Jim

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.925 Sterling Silver charm

Religious charm

pewter turtle earring

Pretty stone filled earring

Partial chain bracelet

.925 Sterling Silver-moon shape earring

Inside of moon shape earring

Another .925 earring

October 13, 2012. Hunting buddy Chuck Hosbein and I found a couple vacant lots where homes used to be. I dug this ratty Buffalo Nickel and also 3 Wheat ear Pennies, a 1926, a 1944 and this 1910 which is the oldest Lincoln penny I have ever dug.

November 22, 2012. Mercury Head Dime 1919-D. Worn thin.

Hunting in an old local park in Orlando.

December 15. 2012. Wow, just 3 weeks after finding the 1919-D Mercury Head Dime I banged out my oldest Merc yet, a 1917. This was also a local park find but a different park. I guess these things come in spurts.

Live Video Merc Dime Find

You know I am consumed with treasure hunting when my brother's Christmas card to me is a hand drawn envelope with Santa using a metal detector.