A Few Finds (Pic)

[Critterhunter]

Below you'll see a few finds I've got over the last few hunts at one of my favorite spots. Digging low conductors I always seem to pull some cool stuff out of this site, and of course silver and other old coins too, but I'm always willing to dig the low/mid range stuff at this place based on the keepers I've got in the past.

The knife and two aluminum-like tokens I dug the other day there. Haven't cleaned them yet to read but I've dug many of these here in the past. The knife read as a nickel 143 #, which is surprising as old knives usually read as an iffy coin hit for me.

The two lead-like (they are heavy) buttons I dug today on a short hunt there...I *think* somebody told me once a button a friend dug very similar to these below was civil war era, as he also dug an infantry civil war button when he dug the other button that looks like these. I'm not suspecting they are, but just the same worth researching to find the age.

I've dug a good many buttons at this site over the years. Several that I've been told are probably WWI era but I have yet to research those hard yet either. The two buttons are heavy and look to be mainly made of lead (just like my friend's before), but I suspect they are mixed with some other metal as well due to them reading smack dab in the middle of the pull tab range.

Saw a massive buck rub on a large tree at this site. Never saw a buck rub on a large tree like that. Usually they are on saplings or trees not bigger than say your forearm perhaps. This big boy must be a monster. I can see his antler channels in the wood so I know it was a buck and not from some other issue. In all my years deer hunting I've never seen a rub like it. Pretty high off the ground too.

Also saw 10 turkeys when walking to the site to detect this morning. Couldn't get my camera out in time to snap a picture of them though.

 

[AustinEd]

I believe those may be window sash weights. I have fould a number of them before.

 

[Critterhunter]

If they are I don't know how they would have got to this site. It's never have a building on it, at least that my research shows, and it's surrounded by a lot of woods with no nearby homes. Stranger things have happened though...

 

[GunnarMN]

Critter , intresting finds, seems like a good spot in my book , remember junk in those days that got thrown out may have been really nice things to us, maybe they disided to clean out the barn in 1920 well who knows how long stuff sat in that barn then got thrown out later , maybe you will find another mint standing liberty qurter againe that find is awsome ,

 

[dewcon4414]

Yes those are curtain weights..... but back in the 1800s they also used them as buttons.... especially farmers.

Dew

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Critter, interesting finds.Thanks For Sharing HH Ron

 

[deepdiger60]

Nice finds Critter those lead weights are normally sewed in uniform hem,s to keep the jackets straight mid 1800,s style . Good hunt Jim

 

[Critterhunter]

Thanks for the info guys. Yep, I'm hearing sash weights or to weight down clothes, but good to know they also used them as buttons too. What's the best guess on age? 1800's?

Got another site planned for a hunt today. Just noticed a tall grass/brush area that the power company just mowed down to maintain access to high tension line-of-ways. That spot has been brush/grass for decades that I can remember. Never seen it cut down. It happens to be right in the back yard of a very old house they tore down about 7 years ago, so I'm hoping it might have some old coins laying around back there, being used by that house long before power lines took claim to it. Also, it's right up against some railroad tracks on a very old road that borders to small old communities, so I'm *hoping* maybe I'll get lucky and it was also the site of train pick ups of passengers back in the day (1800's). Many spots along railroad tracks never had an official depot, yet they'd stop and pick up people in small towns. This spot is ideally located between the borders of two towns, along one of the oldest roads in the area, so I'm suspecting if people got picked up that's the spot they'd be waiting at. Update later today maybe after I hunt it...

PS- Because it's right under high tension lines, I'm hoping either noise band on my GT or running in Auto if I have to will cancel out EMI. If it's unhuntable with the GT I'll have to borrow a friend's Explorer to work the spot, since the FBS units will noise cancel and adjust specifically to present EMI...

 

[Maxwedge]

Nice finds Critter. Did the knife have brass pins holding the blades? I've found some just by having those pins. Keep on hunting there. Good stuff. HH-Mark

 

[Critterhunter]

Ain't cleaned up the knife yet to look at it. Hoping it's got a name or something to date it with. Always curious when I find a knife how old it is. I think (?) even some rare knives are worth a good chunk of change to collectors, even in bad shape pulled out of the ground. Some day I'm going to look into that on the net, as I have a boat load of knives I've dug over the years.

Thanks for the info on the "buttons". I'm hearing used as weights for both men's curtails and women's dresses, as well as used as buttons sometimes. Just trying to figure out when the last years were those were used, as it will further date the site for me. I have a good idea of this site's age due to research, but I suspect it goes back even older than what I think based on some finds over the years from there.