A Little SIlver and a Whole Lotta Lead

[William-NM]

Well, I've been trying to get myself to post last weeks finds for a few days, but life keeps happening. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and ate less than I did! It's a pleasant time to get out around here - temps in the 60s, just right for me, and we got a little rain, so nice damp and less dusty soil.
Still cleaning up the old ruins, found a little silver monogrammed belt buckle and a cool silver pendant. Also, an aluminum religious medallion and a couple of pins and copper belt parts.

I was following a dry wash below where I found the silver buckle when a signal blew my eardrums out. Once my hearing returned, I went to move a rock that I thought was over the target and found it to be a 5# lead ingot. Now, if I can just figure out how to date and sell the old lead... I've read that pre-1940s lead can be worth as much as silver...

Some favorites: I found a few tokens and coins, and one of my favorite categories - a local giveaway brass knife/ruler from a plumber/heating/sheet metal guy; D.B. Robertson, 508 N. Bullard, Silver City, NM, Phone: 181. Love that local stuff! I also snagged a 1934 Chicago (my home town!) World's Fair souvenir match safe that I was pleased to find. I didn't expect to find the British large cent from 1913-- it likely came home in the pocket of a serviceman after WWI. Other finds include another horse & horseshoe fob (loop is broken off), a Missouri tax token, a 1915 Chihuahua, Mexico 5 centavos, a play nickel with cowboy theme (sorry, can't see in photo), a tiny mystery object- maybe an old tax token, a round brass object - maybe a bell??

Here's a WWII Combat Medic's Pin, a couple of 'Great Seal' Buttons and a Navy button, a pocket knife, and a couple of brass discs, one of which has been shot. I've found one other like these - they are dimpled in the middle with a slight curve to them - maybe gambling markers or ????

I must admit that I am enjoying the little figurines that have come out of this site. This week I found a little fish, a fine lady, and the three monkeys; see no evil, speak no evil, and hear no evil, heh. Also, a Jell-O embossed mold, junk flatware and the usual suspects.

Added a few marbles to the collection, including a couple of shooters. The little football figure is light green and wearing the # 26 on his jersey.

Found a few more copper & lead printing plates - a couple of ladies calling cards, an ad for one of those vibrating massagers that you strap on your hand, a porcelain #5 that made me think "train", and a nice porcelain enamel on copper emblem for the "Metropolitan Automobile Association Inc. of California".

They were mighty hard on their clocks & locks!!

Always plenty of old iron-- I especially like the old toy car, pistol, and padlock.

Still hittin' the bottle

Found this old canteen buried along the abandoned railroad tracks, and a few more license plates.

And the rest:

When I started turning up some interesting finds in this area, I slowed down and really scrubbed the ground with the coil and picked up a bunch of metal trash. It gave up some more keepers, and I'm going to dig the bottle dump in hopes of finding some from the local soda and beer bottlers that operated within a couple blocks of this spot.

Thanks for looking and best of luck in your hunts - hope you're all using the long weekend productively

 

[rustydog]

Really nice finds ,do you use at pro or gold most of the time???

 

[mudpuppy]

William! You always do such a great job with your photos! Really fantastic posts! Cant wait to see what you find next, hope its the Dutchman's cache!
Mud

 

[broadestpower]

Pretty amazing stuff this is like a years worth of loot!
Nice illustrations along with your text.

 

[William-NM]

Thanks, guys!!
Rustydog: I've been using the AT Gold with the 5x8 because it's so good at picking through the iron junk that this site is loaded with.
Mud: I'd settle for the lost Adams diggings or a cache of Spanish silver!!

 

[hotrodzincoln]

All I can say is...wow. Great finds, love those old dumps. The photo of what looks like a bird pin above the silver belt buckle - is that a dove? Is the bird metal or only the backing? I also had a thought about the #5 porcelain sign. I wonder if maybe it was associated with one of the named national highways that pre-dated the U.S. highway system. Maybe a mile marker sign. I don't know what named highway might have gone through your area, if any - maybe the Ocean-to-Ocean Highway?

 

[senda]

Hey Mr William, I have no words (or the fucking translator) to tell you that your post is wonderful, a lot of trash you create an authentic museum of other times
thanks for show it

 

[William-NM]

Thanks, Senda & hotrod!
Hotrod: Yes, I believe the white bird is a dove. It's all metal, enamel with pinback. Has a couple chips. If you're wanting it, pm me your mailing address and I'll send it , no charge. The "5" sign - I could only find a couple of route 5's - both north/south routes, one on the west coast, one on the east coast. couldn't find a reference to an old 5 in NM, but who knows?

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Awesome story and pics! Thanks!

 

[dlh]

Cool finds. I have to ask......Did you clean all these finds or are they in as found condition?!

Denis

 

[William-NM]

Are you kidding? I start with a jackhammer and go from there
Seriously, finds usually soak overnight in soapy water, then get a scrubbing / brushing. When dry, they go back to the workbench where I do my best to straighten them out and get the major crud off and give them a light polish or oiling without overdoing it (which I still do sometimes). Rarely do finds come out of the ground clean where I hunt - most have layers of lime/calcium and / or a hard, glassy glaze because they've been through a fire - in some cases it appears that demolished buildings were dumped in the old landfill area (lots of old red brick mixed in) and it also appears that the landfill and ruins burned at least twice. When digging, I find a layer of grey ash a few inches down and then 18" - 24" inches down, an older layer of black ash.
That was a $1 answer to your question, huh?

 

[dlh]

I know it sounded like a dumb question...lol....but that looks like an awful lot of cleaning and a darn good job of it in a weeks time....

Denis

 

[broadestpower]

You locate a find and because you know your surroundings you just keep on escavating
find after find. Your not done by just by locating said object you continue until you run out
of arm.

 

[William-NM]

Denis: Not a dumb question at all - I struggle with the desire to go out and detect vs. taking time to clean up and post finds. Like today - sunny, 60s -- I think I'll be out there swinging- the cleanup can wait!!

broadestpower: Thanks! The other day I started making finds in an area that was so iron infested that I went and found a 5 gallon bucket and some 1/4" hardware cloth laying around and sifted a 5' by 10' area like an archaeologist would, heh. Kind of fun, and I found a few keepers, belt buckle, marbles, pins, etc.