Masked Barber

I met Steveouke at lunch for a quick hunt around the spot where I found the Indian Head yesterday. I got there a couple of minutes before he did and got to swing the detector a few times before I got a solid nickel signal. I dug a relatively shallow hole only to find an old piece of tin instead of a nickel. I ran the coil over the hole out of habit before covering it again and I got the sweet, silky, tell-tale audio signal and a solid VDI of 91. Gasp! This signal did not exist prior to me removing the tin from the hole! I dug maybe an inch deeper and out came this pretty thing:

 

I was taking the picture of the dirty coin when Stevo arrived. He was just in time to see the coin with the fresh dirt on it.

When I find a coin with very little wear as this one, I infer that it was dropped soon after it was minted. So someone lost this precious in the early years of the 20th century. How cool is that?

Soon after, I dug a signal on the wheat range and I found an old bullet. Now, about 100 yards away from where we were hunting, there is a row of houses. I know for a fact that one of those houses was built in 1901. Would someone be firing their rifle so close to these houses? I’d like to think not and I’d like to think this bullet is pre 1900’s.

It looks as if the bullet hit the Buffalo.

My lunch hour went much quicker than I like and I left Stevo hunting in the park.

AT ANOTHER PARK, AT AN EARLIER DATE

I hunted my deep silver park the other day and found a bunch of wheats as always and these two things.

I remember the first time I found a Kansas tax token. I was so intrigued by it. Now, they don’t excite me as much although they are an old and cool find. This one is one mil. Rarer for me are the 2 mil ones. They are made of aluminum and they never come up in good shape.

During that same hunt, I dug a deep iron signal and I found this:

A tiny lead Saint Christopher. The fact that it is made of lead and the fact that it was over 8 inches deep tells me it is an old relic. The mystery to me is that it doesn’t appear to be part of a pendant but rather it seems to be a tiny statue. As you can see, it has a flat base that allows it to stand. There are remnants of the black paint that covered it at one time and the word GERMANY is stamped on the base. The Barber is used for size comparison. Interesting.

I am taking a trip this Saturday to the Eastern Kansas border for a Karate tournament. I hope to have an hour or so to hunt an old park I know about.  I am going back to the 1840’s and 1850’s time-wise and maybe, just maybe, I may be able to find a Seated coin.

Wish me luck.

Connecting to the past

Although an old coin can connect you to our collective past, relics can do it in a more personal way.

Today I stopped at an old apartment complex I lovingly call Dog Sh**t Town on my way home from work. I noticed that the city has began a beautification project around the complex and in the process, they removed an old sidewalk and a ton of brush from the area. Naturally, I took out Maurice (my XP Deus metal detector) for a quick look-see.

I only spent a few minutes there but I managed some old clad that obviously laid under the sidewalk since the late 70’s and I also found this really cool commemorative medallion from October, 1913.

The medallion is made of brass or copper, or maybe bronze and it read like a copper penny. It was about 8 inches deep.

It happened in October 1913

The emblems on the medallion appear to be Catholic to me. The text around the perimeter says: “Annual Session Hutchinson Kan Oct 1913.

***UPDATE***

The emblems on the medallion are in fact, from the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and not Catholic as I thought. The order officially came to the United States from England in 1819. The order still operates today. What gave the medallion away was the three links at the bottom of the emblems. The order is altruistic in nature.

Now I need to find out what session this is. Like I said, this medallion, dated to a specific month on a specific year 99 years ago, is a more personal connection to the past.

I love it and I love my XP Deus!

Thank you for looking.

My first ever St. Christopher

Through the year and a half I’ve been metal detecting, I have seen all the other hunters around here find St. Christopher medallions of various sizes and made of various metals but I never found one.

Well, finally, during my stay at the church camp this weekend, I got a little time to swing the XP Deus around the place. I decided to test the woods around my cabin and after finding some clad, I got what I thought was another dime signal. About five inches deep, I found my first ever St.Christopher medallion.

Looks good even dirty

Nice and shiny

Sterling

It wasn’t until I looked at it with a magnifying glass to verify that it was silver, that I saw the word ‘SUCK’ scratched onto the back of the medallion. Darn kids!

Scratched or not, I’ll take it. Now I hope that since I’ve broken the religious medallion drought, that more of these will be forthcoming; maybe even some made of gold!

Thank you for looking!