Monopoly at the flea market

I have not been out detecting much lately due to work and weather.  Today I was driving by the flea market and decided to squeeze in a half hour or so of detecting.  I think they close up in a week or so, but I have permission to continue detecting as long as it is closed.  I'm hoping to keep detecting until the ground freezes hard in November.

The first signal I found was on the surface, but hiding in the gray gravel.  Monopoly!

As usual I found modern coins, a dime and 7 pennies.  Also a lamp finial on a post, a copper bracket and more.

This bracelet is interesting because it is clearly copper yet stamped 925 implying sterling.  I think it was silver plated but that is all gone now.

This brass skull bead is 2 faced with eye holes that go all the way through.

And 2 bullets.  I have no idea whether they are modern or what caliber.

An entertaining hunt on a very pleasant sunny day in the low 70's.

What metal Detectorists do on vacation. . .

I am enjoying my long weekend at the family cabin on the coast of Maine, the weather has been perfect in the mid 70s sunny and breezy.  I decided to go over the front lawn a second time but move north-south instead of east-west today.  It's interesting how much more stuff I found, I thought I had really covered it quite thoroughly. No silver this time but lots of interesting bits and pieces.

 Nails, pulltabs, a pen, pencil, shotgun shell and and .22 cartridge and a few bits of metal.  $0.46 in modern clad coins is not too bad I guess. I got spoiled yesterday and hoped for so much more. I might explore the neighborhood to see if I can get some permissions tomorrow.

Silver coins at the family cabin!

I am up at the family cabin on Frenchman Bay across from Bar Harbor in Maine for a three-day weekend getaway by myself.  I got the metal detector out right away and swept the front lawn which faces right onto the water. 

The cabin was built in the 1950s and one of the first things I found was a big metal pulley. It looks like the kind of thing that might've been used during the construction process.

I roamed around the front lawn and found some nails and other odd bits of metal.  But then right at the edge I found a standing liberty quarter, I believe it's a 1917, unfortunately the dates tend to wear off on this vintage coin so it's hard to tell for sure.  Then I got a 1952 Roosevelt silver dime and a 1925 wheat penny followed by 1969 Lincoln penny. Pretty good haul for a one hour hunt!

Update a few days later:
I tested the quarter and found it is a 1924.  I used a small drop of acid used for testing 10K gold to lightly etch the surface where the date should be below the standing Liberty's feet.  I moved the acid around a bit with a toothpick until the number was revealed.  It was only visible in the wet acid and disappeared when I washed off the coin and polished the area that had been dulled by the acid.  This is definitely my favorite coin find so far.


The view from the front deck is quite spectacular.  Off to the right (not in the picture) you can see Acadia , Cadillac Mountain and Bar Harbor.

My friends back yard finds

I went back to my friends Tom and Marets property this afternoon after the sun dropped low enough to shade the lawn.  It was in the low 80's and humid, but a light breeze made it pleasant.  I worked my way down the lawn that slopes away from the house.  I was hoping to find cool stuff around where there was once an orchard, no luck.  I got mostly pull tabs, nails, and other odd junk.

So I came back up and searched around below their deck while Tom watched.  He was tickled when I turned up a lobster pick, and let me keep it.

I also found a nice vintage silver fork marked "ALVIN STERLING" - another keeper!  Alvin was in business from 1886 to 1928, so this is around 100 years old.  It's in very good shape.

 
Then I found a brass garden hose nozzle, this design is old I think and does not shut off.  Tom hooked it up to a hose and it shot a thin stream over 30 feet.  Great for putting out small fires, but this one goes in my brass recycling bin.

Digging my friend's yard - got my first Indian Head (in bad shape)

I have not been out detecting for a week due to bad weather and a bad back that required chiropractic treatment.  You know it's bad when you can't reach down to put your socks on!  But today my back has improved and the weather was tolerable - in the shade so I asked my friends Tom and Maret if I could dig on their property.  The land had been an apple orchard in the past and I'm looking forward to exploring the open field where the trees were, but it was too hot for that today so I stayed in the shade.

I don't want to give the impression that I always find  a lot of cool stuff, sometimes its mostly junk.  Today's haul included bits of rusty metal, some can slaw that was 8" down in the lawn and a rifle shell.  Some bits of brass that can be recycled and I did find $1.18 in coins mostly around where they park their cars.

 
I don't always show the rotted "stinkin' Lincolns", but here's a picture of the ones that I tossed today. The zinc goes fast once the copper plating get eaten through that really bad one id from 1989, and others are from the '80's.

The only notable find from over an hour of hunting was this 1892 Indian Head penny in pretty bad shape.

I'll go back when the weather cools off a bit, there seems to be a lot of signals that I didn't have the energy to dig today.

Lost gold ring recovered on beach - and helping park rangers

I got an email last night around 7pm from a woman named Bethany about a lost gold ring on the beach.  She had got my info from the park rangers at the entrance to Popham State Park beach (Maine, USA).  I had dropped off some cards at the entrance gate a few days back and I'm so glad I did.  I called Bethany and asked her for the details and she was able to give me a very clear description of where she and her mom had put down their towels - it was her mom Judy's gold class ring from Russel Sage College in 1969.  She sent me a picture of what it looks like.  I'm sure it has a lot of sentimental value, if bought new today it's worth $785.  It is 18kt and weighs in at .162oz so the gold value alone is about $200.

I got out there at 8:30am and was the first in the parking lot!  There were signs that the east bathroom was closed.  It is right near the entrance stairs that go down to the beach, there's more to that story - read on.  I got down to the beach and found the driftwood teepee landmarks she gave me and started to work a grid.  I got excited every time I found a pull tab or scrap of tin foil.  Then after about 25 minutes - BINGO!

I would not have found it so easily without her clear description of the driftwood teepee locations relative to where they were sitting, and a bush up on the dune right near where they were sitting.

Here's the actual ring!

Out on the beach there is not a good signal for phone or texting, so I texted her a picture when I got home around 10:30am.  They got my texted picture while driving back to New York and were thrilled.  We will arrange shipping when they get home.  I requested $25 for the search plus shipping and a voluntary reward.

It was such a lovely morning that I stuck around and looked for coins - didn't find much.  One of the pleasant aspects of Maine beaches is that there is almost no trash.  All I found in 1 hour of hunting was a few scraps of buried tinfoil and gum wrappers and 2 pennies and a nickel, plus a few bits of surface trash, nothing much though.

On my way out I saw that the park rangers were digging around manholes trying to access the septic system that had failed.  I offered to help them find the place they needed to dig and it only took a few seconds to locate an iron signal near where they expected to find the 3rd the man hole.  They dug where I told them and they were dead center on the spot they needed and this saved them hours of digging to find it.  One of them gave me 5 free passes as thanks!  Second good deed of the day!

 

As they commented, the job of a park ranger is not always as glamorous as it seems.  Sometimes you are digging out a septic system.  I replied that it must be a shit job at times like this!

WOW! Roman Constantinius I coin from early 300's

Every time I go out metal detecting, I think of the old adage: "To catch a fish, think like a fish".  It's easier at the beach because of all the fish! . . . Um, I mean I can see where all the people plop down their towels. 😉😃  Around historic homes, I hunt around entrances and old trees and back yard areas.  At the flea market, I assume most coin spills and merchandise is dropped on the buyer side of the tables.  But this has not bee proven to be true, I find stuff all over the map.

So yesterday I decided to focus largely where the sellers back their vehicles up to the tables.  I found a lot of coins and some interesting pins up to 8feet from the tables.  I found about the same amount of items I would find on the buyers side.  Interesting.

 This broken sterling brooch goes right into my silver recycling bin.

This gold plated(?) military button has a screw back, so I assume it's recent.  Not sure what branch of the military it's from, there are letters above the wing beginning with "EP.." but that's all I can make out.

This cloisonné pin/earring is a bit scratched up, but I like the design.

 I think this may have been a military epaulet(?), it was black originally I think.

Yet another small lead animal for my growing collection.  I have never seen one new, so I can't tell it they were painted, but they all seem to have paint residue.

The most amazing find is this tiny coin.  I cleaned it in vinegar/salt for 20 minutes and I can see a face looking right.  

I'm pretty sure it is an Roman Imperial coin from the early 300's featuring Augustus Constantinius I.  The obverse shows two soldiers holding spears and shields with two standards between them.

Thanks to Matt Pfeil from the Stealth Digger Nation FB group for identifying this!  This is definitely the oldest coin I have found.  It may be barely identifiable, but it's mine and I'll take it!

When I try to explain the allure of metal detecting, I often say that it's a lot like fishing.  It's not so much about the catch, it's about the experience.  Obviously I'm not a catch and release kind of guy though!