The key to happiness and 20 centimes

May 9, 2018

The flea market opened this morning for the first time this year at around 5:00am.  I stopped by around 9:30 to see if I could figure out which booths might have the best spills.  It was about 3/4 filled - apparently Wednesdays are for antiques and the weekends are more general stuff.  I did identify a few booths that had jewellery and other small items and went back in the afternoon to prospect one of those booths.

I found a lot of brass stuff including the civil war tent slip.  (Thanks to "Indiana Bones" on Facebook for identifying it).  It was patented in November 1880.  Patent number US234896A.

May 21 update: I donated the tent slip to the local Historical Society where it will be featured in a case of other civil war relics.  Doing my part to save history!

This key says "Handy Harry 54 6th Ave. N.Y" on it.  I seem to find a lot of keys on this site ranging from modern to vintage and I'd guess this dates from the 60's.  It seems that by the end of the year I'll have a lot of brass and lead scrap.

I got a bit excited when I dug up what turned out to be a French 50 centime from 1973 - it looked kinda gold-ish at first.  It's a bronze-aluminum coin that held up well underground.

A nice piece of junk jewellery is this earring with a blue stone:

Not exactly the bluebird of happiness, but I'll take it.

So the key to happiness is a hobby that keeps you engaged and that your friends not only tolerate, but find amusing.  My friends are all quite interested and supportive of my obsession!

Oh, and I thought I'd show my photo setup in the corner of my workshop.  

I have 2 cool white LED lamps on 2 multi-joint desk lamps so I can position them differently for each shot.  For instance I drop one lamp down to the table to side-light coins.  I can also move them to front or back light different objects.  I shoot 12 megapixel images and crop them way down for the blog.  I use the green cutting board because I like having the scale in mm and inches so it's easy to get a sense of size of my finds.

Disposing live rounds safely and a 5 pesetas coin

May 8, 2018

I detected the flea market for an hour or so this morning.  Mostly found clad coins, a Chevy car key, another new Hampshire highway token (I have 3 so far) and a Spanish 5 pesetas coin - see below.

I stopped in to the local county sheriff's office to drop off some live rounds for them to dispose of safely, I had a rifle and 2 pistol rounds.  Our Maine town is too small to have a police department.  I got to chatting with the 2 women at the front office and they were well aware of the "Detectorists" TV show and enjoyed it.  So then I offered my services to the department and they said that one of their deputies is a detercorist and they called him out front to meet me.  That's what I love about living in a small town, everyone is so friendly in town, county and government offices.  I chatted with deputy Brett a bit and learned that he had started with a Whites machine and now uses the Garrett AT Pro and does all the detecting for the department.  He, like me, also grew up in England - small world!  It's only a few times a year that they need to find spent shells or bullets.  He too, loved the Detectorists show and mentioned that the 3rd season will be available on Netflix later this month! Yay!  I'm going through the series for the 4th time and enjoying it just as much as the first.


The Spanish 5 pesetas coin is a 1999 commemorative made from aluminum-bronze.  It was demonetized on 02-28-2002 and has a small collector value.  When I dug it up it looked like gold for a moment because the bronze has not corroded.

Detecting time-lapse

May 7, 2018

I spent about 2 hours on the flea market permission this morning.  I didn't bother documenting my finds - nothing exciting, just a lot of clad dimes, pennies and a quarter.  Plus a nice sterling earring of a small horse.

I did set up my time-lapse camera so you can see me in action sped up.  I used 1 frame per second to condense about 50 minutes into less than 2.  Enjoy!

Christian pendants and sterling jewellery

May 5, 2018

I hunted for 3 hours today, oh my aching back.  It was a warm day with strong breezes that kept the black flies away.  I spend more time crouched down digging than I do swinging the detector.  The signals are so close together that I rarely get to walk more then 4 paces without detecting something.  As I get more experienced the size of the plug I dig has reduced to about 4" X 4" - the width of my shovel.  The pinpointing feature of my ACE 300 machine is that accurate.  Often the item is toward the side of the plug, and sometimes down in the hole.  I rarely need to dig down more than 6". 

Coins near the surface yield a a distinctive "ding-ding" sound from the detector if they are laying flat and I can locate it with my pinpointer without digging.  I just use my hand digger to open up the top inch of soil, and there it is.

I only took my gloves off for the pictures.  They stay on the whole hunt for 2 reasons.  They recently sprayed the property with weed killer to keep the spaces under the flea market tables clear so if someone drops something they can find it.  But also I like to keep my hands clean and safe from sharp objects like can slaw (chewed up aluminum cans).

I found tons of Lincoln pennies as usual.  If I had a penny for every "stinkin' Lincoln" - why I'd be . . . dirt poor!😉  I don't find many quarters.  My joke about this is that Mainers are so cheap that if they drop a quarter they pretty much call out the National Guard to find it!😀  The pulls tabs always get my pulse racing because I'm hoping for gold.  I seem to be finding a lot of keys at the flea market, all shapes and sizes - and other cabinet hardware.  

But the interesting finds today are the jewellery.  First is this Swank brand gold filled collar bar from the mid 1900's.  It is stamped 1/20 12K G.F., SWANK and PAT. 75818.  These were common from the 1930's into the 60's.  

Then there's the Siam Sterling cuff link with a nice design, these were made from 1930-80 in Thailand.

This cute .29oz  .500 sterling turtle was probably painted originally. It shows greenish residue on top and yellow on the bottom.

This cute mermaid is brass.

I found a couple of Christian items, there must be a booth that specializes in them as I found some before.  This oval brass pendant says: "ST. ODILIA PATRON SAINT OF THE CROSIER FATHERS PRAY FOR ME".  On the back is: "ST. ANTHONY PRAY FOR US".  I never heard of St. Odilia!

And this tiny brass cross pendant has the text: "THY KINGDOM COME", the back is blank.

silver jewelery and more

May 4, 2018

I had a good 2 hour hunt on the flea market grounds this morning and finally met Gina, the property owner in person.  I had called to get her permission back in mid April.  She is very friendly and encouraging and told me that her family have been on the property for generations and I am welcome to hunt around her home as well!  Yay!  But first there are acres of flea market stalls to hunt around, and she advised me to look under the tables which are permanent fixtures.  I'll get to that.  She asked me to keep an eye out for a piece of cloisonne jewellery that she lost about 4 years ago that has real sentimental value.  I hope I find it for her!

I showed Gina my first good find of the day which is a nice 800 grade (80% silver) bracelet weighing in at 3.5 grams. I like the offset heart cutout.

Later I found a nice sterling brooch weighing 7.4 grams

It is pretty bent up and has some damage, but it is a very fine design.

Then there is this 22K gold plated pendant with an eagle on it.  I assume it is military, but there are no markings on it.

Finally, I found this Christian brass bookmark(?).  The text on the front reads: "O MARY CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN PRAY FOR US WHO HAVE RECOURSE TO THEE".  The back shows 12 stars, and other icons.

Of course I found lots of other junk that includes bits of brass hardware that will go in my bins to be recycled once I accumulate enough scrap.

Buttons and badges and 1901 George V penny

May 3, 2018

A quick 1 hour hunt on my flea marker permission this morning before the rain hit.  The black flies are just starting to get alloying and I forgot to bring my bug dope.  Lots of interesting finds though.

This 1967(?) Impala SS badge is cool, I wonder if it is collectible?

This earring or badge has a neat emblem looks to be brass plated.

This tiny Lions International badge has a screw thread on back and says: "REG. US. PAT. OFF." on the back, and the word: "ABUNDANCE" across the top front.  No idea what is patentable about it.  Part broken off might have been a number.

And this tiny brass door knob with key hole is cool! Maybe for a doll house?

This Lion(?) is maybe pewter or pot metal and might have been plated originally.

And finally the 1901 George V British penny.  I have no idea how these foreign coins get here, I also have found late 1700's Chinese and 1950's Japanese coins.  Maybe the flea market had a coin dealer with a propensity for dropping them?  But I find them all over the property.

1953 Canadian Cent, military button + highway token

May 1, 2018

An interesting assortment from today's hunt.  The big brass ring has "2 1/2  TOP-ME" embossed in it.  No idea if ME refers to Maine or what it was for, but it's a big chunk of brass. 

The 1953 Canadian Cent cleaned up fairly well despite being a bit pitted.  And this is the 2nd New Hampshire Public Works and Highways token I have found (not shown).  It's about the size of a quarter and presumably used for paying tolls.

The military button was made by Horstmann Philadelphia.  I can't find an identical one on the web, but the front shows a bird (eagle?) above an anchor with 13 stars around the edge.  I'm told it could be a 1898 through 1902, later version of the federal navy button.

Then there's this nice brass drawer pull with lots of fancy patterning on the front

Finally there is the engraved copper plate that reads: "Miss Esther B. Hewett" in reverse text - presumably for printing.

It is always interesting to see what comes up.  I'm finding something almost every square yard on this Flea Market permission.  I could get spoiled by this!