Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Mother load

Old Town

Old Town

moved on...
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
672
Location
Key West, Fl
I recently got back from a semi-business trip up to New England and Nova Scotia. This morning while jogging around the island, I spotted one of our historic homes being worked on in a way only a metal detector could love.

They were taking up large sections of flagstone and brick walkways and patio surfaces. This house was built in 1840. It belonged to a family of Navy men. Later it was a home for unwed mothers around 1900. More families moved in. During WW2 English refugees lived there. (All this from a book I have on KW homes.)

So up the stairs I go. Found the owner and explained myself. He said it was fine with him. I just got back from working an area no bigger than the average living room. Maybe 15 by 20 feet. This was part of the backyard. So far I've found 4 silver rings, 2 silver quarters, 1 silver Rosie dime, several junk rings, one badly corroded Indian Head penny, 6 wheaties and a handful of clad.

I'm going back tomorrow. I've only hit about 20% of the area possible. It's pretty obvious the place has never seen a metal detector. The owner is amused by my finds and told me anything I find is mine unless it's gold and so heavy I need help carrying it. He's a funny guy.

Watch this space tomorrow night. I'll have returned from my first complete sweep with a Vaquero and will post pictures. So far it's the mother load.

Old Town
 
WoW . . that does sound like a Mother Lode all right . . . looking forward to seeing some photo of the hunt ;)
 
That's a great place to hunt that's a great spot . A person should always be watching for places like that when out and about , good job keeping your eye open . Nice finds Congrats...



Harold
 
WOW awesome job! Please keep us updated! Good Luck!
 
Dig this

I'm back. This place is shaping up as one of my best Key West houses ever. I worked for 3 hours this morning and found 43 modern clad coins. No photo of this stuff, we all know what dirty clad looks like. Found 4 quarters, 7 dimes, 5 nickels, and 27 pennies for about 2 bucks. All modern.

Also found very little aluminum junk. Not one flip top and no can slaw. A bunch of square and modern nails and the usual junk you can't figure out (iron).

For good stuff I have pictured 13 wheaties, 1 Indian Head, 1 Rosie I can't seem to get very clean, and 3 silver quarters.

Also found 2 gold rings. One a man's wedding band and one a double dolphin thing. Both 14K. Silver was all over the place around a small cistern that now serves as a swimming pool. It's tiny, about 15 feet across. Around it in the grass and gardens I picked up most of the silver rings and the 2 gold rings. A couple of the silver rings are 60s-70s era hippie stuff. Dig it!

My best 2 finds are the military buttons. These are my first such buttons ever. One has 13 stars and an eagle holding an anchor. This house was first built by a US naval officer in 1840.

The costume "diamond" almost stopped my heart. I was into good stuff and then that pops up. Figured it might be real, too. The ornate earring is silver but I dared not do a thing to it but rinse it off. It has fired inlays I feared flaking out. It's very Victorian. The key is cool but I don't think it very old.

Also found the silver Mary medal and another religious medal and chain. An English 20 pence found its way to the surface. My first. The fairy earring is silver and very cute. The heart is thick and solid silver. This place is a silver mine.

The bronze bracelet broke apart on lifting it. It did have a fine bronze chain holding all the hollow beads together. This chain was corroded to nothing. I restrung the beads in some kind of order with some twine. I imagine at one time the thing was very shiny.

Note the little photo button. It's steel with brass or gold plating. Have no idea who the man pictured is.

What has surprised me so far is the lack of really old coins. I do have the 1882 Indian Head but I really expected some older silver. I will be going back during our wet season coming up. I did not dig in the small lawn areas, I only took surface coins with my trusty metal probe and knife tip. I explained to the owner plugs could die in this current dry weather. He said I could come back anytime. He was nice to begin with and became family after I gave the gold dolphin ring to his wife. It had fit her perfectly and she was too classy to ask for anything. They think I'm a saint. What a farce!!!

I used my Tesoro Vaquero and will go back later with my E-trac. I sounded hits all over the lawns but they were too deep to cut out. I will dig these later when it gets wet around here. The Minelab should find a lot of stuff I missed at greater depth. I have no doubt I've only scratched the surface here.

For cleaning coins I only use soap and water and then a rub of olive oil. The silver coins I wash with lemon juice and soap. This had virtually no effect on the Rosie. I dared not do anything rough. The quarters came out of drier coral soil and were not bad to begin with. This sight has several different kinds of soil. Some rich planting soil and some limestone-coral native earth.

These old houses have small yards and over the years different people will change the layouts of the pathways and plantings. No way to accurately guess where things will be found. A lot changes over 170 years as with this house.

Later I hope to find deep silver. One thing for sure, the good lawn is loaded. I had dozens, yes, dozens of good deep hits I left alone for fear of digging.

Will return in the fall.

Old Town
 

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I looked at a book on military buttons. The navy button on the right is from the 1880s. Thirteen stars around an eagle holding an anchor. The other hollow button eludes me so far. I find the buttons the most interesting.

OT
 
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