Hiding places of yesteryear
- Thread starter ROBBIE
- Start date
A British habit was to put a coin of the date of the construction of the house under a window frame. Also a witches jar under the front door to keep out witches/evil spirits. These can be very valuable.
Many emigrated to the U.S. and no doubt continued the old customs.
Many emigrated to the U.S. and no doubt continued the old customs.
One day when I was a kid we were sitting on the wooden steps to the front door of an old house built around 1900. We had found a heap of old newspapers under the lino and were reading them. I looked betwen my feet and could see unuder the step an iron trunk. Talk about an adrenalin rush, I was about 10.
It was about 2 feet square had a curved lid, off that goes and what do we see.
A heap of old bottles with some nice labels. A heap of old photos from the 1800s of a family. Heaps of beads from one of those old fashioned dresses. A nice wooden carved frame unfortunately covered in a million borer holes. Some odds and ends.
The photos were amazing, I keopt them for some time but dont know what happened to them. I am guessing some kids had it as their treasure chest hidden under the steps. So I would check under steps.
People hide things at the base of a tree when it is young. Tree grows and pushes it out from the trunk and the person dies or forgets.
Loose bricks in chimneys.
Around doorways. heaps of things get dropped as soon as you leave the house. The driveway, where did they get in and out of the car?
In the ceiling. Under rocks.
It was about 2 feet square had a curved lid, off that goes and what do we see.
A heap of old bottles with some nice labels. A heap of old photos from the 1800s of a family. Heaps of beads from one of those old fashioned dresses. A nice wooden carved frame unfortunately covered in a million borer holes. Some odds and ends.
The photos were amazing, I keopt them for some time but dont know what happened to them. I am guessing some kids had it as their treasure chest hidden under the steps. So I would check under steps.
People hide things at the base of a tree when it is young. Tree grows and pushes it out from the trunk and the person dies or forgets.
Loose bricks in chimneys.
Around doorways. heaps of things get dropped as soon as you leave the house. The driveway, where did they get in and out of the car?
In the ceiling. Under rocks.
spittfire
Elite Member
A friend of mine told me that back in the day, property disputes were rampant. A property owner would put a silver coin where his property ended because neighbours would always move a visible marker. Supposedly there are coins at the boundaries of properties that were never picked up.
steve in so la
Forum Supporter
- Joined
- May 9, 2006
- Messages
- 7,545
Some time back I was detecting this empty old house's yard and saw a dog digging away across the yard. He was right under a bedroom window and man did the dirt fly ! When he left I went over and he had dug up about 40 coins and some were about 10 feet back where he had thrown them.
None were old, sorry to say. The dog must have smelled something in the ground . I did note that the cache was right under the bedroom window probably so the owner, a kid, could keep an ear on things. Steve in so az
None were old, sorry to say. The dog must have smelled something in the ground . I did note that the cache was right under the bedroom window probably so the owner, a kid, could keep an ear on things. Steve in so az
brooklynct2003
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 4, 2006
- Messages
- 453
Helps to be a botanist as well as a treasure hunter.
Look for fruit trees or tree species not native to the area you are hunting in. An older apple, pear, or other fruit tree in a secluded area usually means someone has been there.
Look for fruit trees or tree species not native to the area you are hunting in. An older apple, pear, or other fruit tree in a secluded area usually means someone has been there.
Stroover
Junior Member
brooklynct2003 said:
And when you DO find something like this, look for fenceposts or post holes (where posts used to be before they decayed). People used to hide caches under one of these fenceposts. Sometimes the "correct" fencepost was marked by a lonely rock, seemingly out of place. Try to locate a trail leading to a source of water, and detect along the trail as well as near the water's edge. If you come across and abandoned house, or you have an old relative who deceased and may wonder where they may have hidden their "stash", snoop around in the flower bed near the house.
I'm sure this is all old news to you folks. I'm just relaying things I learned during my modest treasure hunting years.
I've heard on more than one occassion that a likely hideing place for coin cache's was on top of the smokeshelf in a fireplace. If your not familiar with a smokeshelf it is located on the very top of a fireplace just within arms reach . They were put in metal boxes , of coarse to protect from fire damage.
W
Whiteslover
Im just gonna sum everything up. Look EVERYWHERE! lol. It seems like you guys have mentioned every spot on a property lol.
R R Stace
New Member
In the walls!!
I build homes for a living and one thing I have always done is I take a penny, nickle, dime and Quarter of the current year ( Year the Home was built ) and tape them together and put them on the bottom plate of one of the walls. Its just me but I just thing it would be fun to find them a hundred years from now.
Just me two cents on the subject. LOL
I build homes for a living and one thing I have always done is I take a penny, nickle, dime and Quarter of the current year ( Year the Home was built ) and tape them together and put them on the bottom plate of one of the walls. Its just me but I just thing it would be fun to find them a hundred years from now.
Just me two cents on the subject. LOL
My folks bought a house in the 1970's. This house has been built in the 1920's and I remember my dad showing me a loose brick in the fireplace that was cut in half. He figured the previous owners had stashed some money in there, although the space wasn't big enough for much. Check those old fireplaces !!!
