Found Attic Silver = Ace 350, Pro pointer

[Cool Hand Luke]

I'm new to MD ing, have no idea what I'm doing. I mean, how hard can this be right?? Swing this thing back and forth and dig up goodies. Lots of gold and silver right?? Easy.

I have always been a treasure / adventure seeker, looking for new areas of land to explore and places in charleston to find old bottles or the likes. After living in my house for 4 years, that was built in 1964, I was laying in bed one night after a long day and it hit me.... This house is so old... maybe there's something worth looking into in the attic. It was on my mind for days until I finally had a day off, and the wife was working, because she would think I'm crazy when she asks why I'm searching through the attic after 4 years and I say looking for treasure. She'd think for sure I have lost my mind. So I get masked up, gloves and long sleeve clothes and get my flashlight and head up. I crawl through loose insulation to one end of the attic and see nothing. Waste of time. Well at least no raccoons or squirrels are scampering away after eating all my wires. So I'm glad about that as I head back. I figure I'd stop and look around as I'm in no hurry. On the backside of a rafter I see a old metal box that's been obviously hidden behind a beam. I am thinking NOOOOO way !!! I can barely lift it with one hand it's so heavy, covered in dust. I don't open it and shuffle it to the exit. I take another glance around before leaving and see something on the other end. A pile of silver plates, pitchers and bowls!!!! I keep looking and find old letters sent to this lady at my house in the 60's. How cool. I wait until my wife gets home from work to open my chest. Now I can't believe I could even wait. Was it gold??? Would we retire?? Ha. Who knows. Now of course I don't feel stupid telling her I've been treasure hunting in our attic!! I explain it to her and she's as excited as I am. We open it to find rolls of 1964 half dollars, cash, old tokens and dollar coins. We were awed by our find just picturing this old lady stashing all her silver in the attic years ago. All total ended up being worth over a thousand dollars.

So my silver find has bought me an Ace 350 and pro pointer. If the old lady hid any more in the backyard I sure cant tell. Because all I have dug is tons of junk!! I'm thinking maybe she is masking the silver cache with all the foil and nails I'm digging. Haha. But after reading on here about discrim and learning the tones I have got a little better. I've done testing with different items to get the tones down. Can't wait to head out, starting tommorrow, to some spots Ive scouted in the area and see what I can find. I hope I did right with the 350... After reading a lot I'm wishing now I would have spent a little more for the AT pro. Well, this is my intro to the forum and MDing. Hope I have at least some success, and to all with a old house.... CHECK YOUR ATTICS!!!

 

[MDChris]

Very cool story! The wife and I love the Charleston area, we try to get down to Kiawah Island each year on vacation. Anyways happy hunting and make sure to post again when you find more goodies!

 

[SageGrouse]

Here's a repost of my own "attic" find... not an attic but a Victorian - Thirties era storage space that had been locked and painted over for many many years.

Not a detector find, but...
When we rented a flat in a Victorian house in San FranCon'tCallitFrisco I researched the house thoroughly. I found pictures of it before it had been "remuddled" and everything. There was a locked storage space under the front steps. I asked the landlors about it and he replied "Eh that... It's a storage space, but nobody's opened it since I bought the house back in the Sxities. There's no key and the lock's probably frozen."

WOW!! You can imagine how that set me off! I *HAD* to get that space open. SOMEHOW.

The lock was, indeed frozen, as was the door itself. It had been painted over and painted over and painted over so many times, we counted eleven coats of paint when I went to work on it.

We (my partner and I) used sharp blades to carve away the paint around the sides, top and bottom of the door and to unseal the keyhole which was actually painted over (I had to find it with a sharp icepick as a probe) We estimated that the storage space had not been opened since WAY before the Sixties... perhaps not since the house was new!

It took about a week of labor to get the door open. Not that it was difficult, but we did NOT want to damage ANYTHING and the door was original Voctorian wood. The lock was a standard skeleton key house lock and so I bought a HUGE ring of skeleton keys and tried each one in succession. Finally, second to last key on the ring the lock TURNED! YIPPEEE!

We slowly opened the space and sure enough there were old suitacass and boxes stacked inside! YOWZA! With the landlord watching, we photographed, measured, and drew the positions f each box or crate. It was just like Tutankhamon's Tomb!

It took four days, but I was *adamant* that we were NOT going to just "smash and grab"! Everything was detailed. Finally we began opening boxes.

Long story short, there was *nothing* of any particular value, but there WERE hundreds of old newspapers! San Francisco Examiner, Oakland Tribune etc. The dates were from 1923 to 1930 when, I guess the room was locked for the last time. There were some old clothes in the suitcase (they went to museums) We carefully searched between the pages o the newspapers but no hoarded paper money was found.

No jewelry, but we did find the personal papers of one of the former owners of the house. The best find was in the very back. Old grade school textbooks and homework assignments and test papers. The owner's wife had been a grade school teacher in the 30's All of that went to the school where she had taught and they were delighted with it.

Although I had hoped for something spectacular, nothing like that was found... but we did find something even more important... history. We offered the landlord first choice, and he, disappointed, said he didn't want any of it. We gave the old papers to the historical society for their archives. The clothes went to museums and second hand shops. The school memorabilia went to the school and that was about it. Still, it was a GREAT adventure and I will NEVER forget the sheer thrill of hearing that ancient lock go *CLICK* and the knob turning in my hand!

SageGrouse

 

[Jax]

Very cool find. Id like to see pictures of the Tokens and coins

 

[Grumpysrb]

Great story.

My first machine was the ACE 350, and I paid for it with two gold wedding bands I found at the beach. I also found about $20. in clad and a sterling silver ring. Bought a Pro Pointer, and a 150 as a backup. Later decided to get the AT Pro and it's great. I took a long time before I learned the tones on the 350. Did that after watching a video on youtube that made that lightbulb go on over my head. Started digging much less trash. Later got the AT Pro and am digging more clad, a few more rings(mostly cheap ones) and 2 silver coins(a'64 dime and a '28 quarter). I love the vdi and being able to detect saltwater sand.

Good luck, don't get disappointed.

 

[Cool Hand Luke]

Very cool story about the Victorian storage space. I too was expecting your story to end with a monetary bang; however, the finds were really cool. I understand what you mean by never forgetting the feeling when it finally opened. I too will never forget opening that attic box with my wife. Glad I waited on her and didn't jump right in.

I'll try and get a picture posted.

 

[sexton]

I left a treasure

I had collected miniature liquor bottles for over twenty years. These where all full glass bottles bought at flea markets and garage sales and friends and family would give me . After moving to our last house we never upacked them and eventually they ened up in the attic. Last count before the move I had 600 miniature. We moved 7 years ago to our present location after being here about 2 years I remembered I forget to clean out the attic im sure the new home owners had a good time drinking.

 

[Awendaw]

I'm in the Charleston area also so if you want to meet up one day let me know.