I spent late last night planning a few spots to dig. Yup, I did research! I want that elusive silver, I tell ya! I am having fun with the finds I am getting, but I want to go back a few more decades yet! My earliest find is now 1942, but I'm itching for silver coins!!!
So last night, I checked out our local history, and it's pretty neat to see what is available. I decided to head to the old road that used to go through the valley before the bridge was installed. I looked at old photographs and was able to determine where a house used to be in the 1800's, too. Most everything else on top of the valley has been built up! But I wanted to try that old road and home.
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| That house on the right is now a parking lot for the golf course. |
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| I was still hoping for some good ol' 1800's backyard digging. |
Well, in the woods, the detector was mostly quiet again! That's so different from what I am used to. But it finally gave off a solid hit, so I started the dig. And right beneath the surface was a SPOON!!! It was in great shape, and I kind of just figured it was a recent loss. Oh, you never know what you are going to get.
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| My first spoon! |
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| You never know what you will find! |
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| My first deer antlers! |
I then ended up coming upon an area where a large party had taken place. And it just aggravates me so to see the nature in which fellow humans treat this earth. I was staring at a TON of beer cans just strewn throughout. Sigh. I really do not like people much of the time. I mean, it was a terrible mess. I couldn't let it stay that way, so I took some time off from detecting and cleaned up God's green earth. I also had to haul the trash out of there, too, so that was rather aggravating! It was a steep hike up that hill!
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| I filled up these milk crates with beer cans in what should have been beautiful woods. Stupid people. At least they left the crates for me to fill up. |
I would find mostly junk on the hill, and the cans and tabs didn't help out my search up there. I did find a mantel clock frame, though...that was unique. I also found another penny on the hill, but it was a later date. I just wasn't having any luck! So I decided to head back downhill and try the other side of the bridge where the old road is now a bike path. Well, that didn't work out too well for me, either. Everything is paved!!! The good stuff is hidden underneath asphalt! I did venture off the path, though, and found an old rusty pulley from who knows how long ago!
Eager to get out of this dismal search, I decided to drive to one of our flatland open picnic areas. The day was warming up wonderfully, and I sure didn't want to be inside!!! I would walk up and down the open grass and just soak in the sunshine. It seemed everyone else in Cleveland was doing the same thing...the road was full of cars passing by! I would find a few late coins, and then...
BEEP! I dug up the plug only to see something that looked the size of a half-dollar!!! Oh, what could it be?! It had words on it! What type of coin had I found?!
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| I was so excited to clean this one off! I had NO idea what it was! |
Well, after flipping it over, I was quite dismayed. The words were plain as day on the back: MY NAME IS: _______ PLEASE CALL: _______. I had found a stinkin' dog tag! And here I was sooooo excited about this being a big coin! Grr!!! The front said St. Francis of Assissi, Protect My Pet. Sigh.
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| I was so dejected! It was nothing more than a Catholic dog tag! |
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| Worthless! |
After a couple more coins, I decided to try out a local school. I was just itchin' for something more than these finds! All late-year coins and just...blah. My day wasn't going as planned!
At the school I found a gold (but not really) brooch, a toy semi, and a nickel. The finds were mostly trash, though, so I decided to head to another old park! I would find late-year coins there, as well! Just not my day!
So I decided to head back home, but a block away, I figured I would go for the easy money again. I was pretty disappointed with the day's finds! Nothing too exciting. So I drove to that park where I have had good luck finding cash. And wouldn't you know it, I was ringing up coins left and right. Most of them were on the surface or just two inches down. Beep! Beep! Beep! I knew I wasn't going to find anything special, but I needed something to help me with this day. This was just a rather boring search! I found numerous dimes, pennies, a nickel, a couple quarters, and a cheerleading pin.
The park didn't let me down. :)
Once back at home, I put together most of my finds. I'm leaving a lot of the junk out now. But what a day it had been! I actually had NO idea I had found this many coins! 33!!! I was pleasantly surprised!
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| Lots of pull tabs, a pulley, a clock frame, antlers, coins, and some jewelry! |
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| A day of rather unique finds! |
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| 19 pennies, 2 nickels, 8 dimes, 4 quarters, 1 brooch, 1 pin, 1 dog tag, and 1 spoon! |
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| This will look awful good in my treasure chest! |
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| It had a few stones until I washed it. Cheap cheap! |
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| The oldest coin today. 1962 D. |
But now more about THE SPOON!!! I had forgotten about it completely until I started washing the coins. When I finally remembered it, I headed outside to pick it up out of the crate. It was just a spoon, but I still wanted to see if I could learn some more about it. It had a funny sound when I hit it up against the side of the sink...different than the silverware I am used to. Hmm. It also seemed to want to clean up rather nicely, so I eagerly checked for engravings.
Bam! Right there on the back of the neck. But what did it say?! It took me plenty of scrubbing to make out anything, but then I had a word: Rogers. So I walked over to the computer and typed in "Rogers spoon." Whoa!!! Are you kidding me?! I would read a bit more...silver spoons, silver-plated spoons...and on and on! I went to clean it up some more!!! What exactly did it say?! What do I have here?!
I still don't have it exactly down, and I have tried numerous angles and lights, but what I have gathered is "w ROGERS & _______ A1 X11." And after more research, I learned that William Rogers is actually the predecessor to Oneida!!! Actually, tons and tons and tons of Rogers silverware was made, so that makes it difficult to research, but I was able to find this exact spoon on the internet!
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| w ROGERS & _____ A1 X11 |
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| What my spoon used to look like! This one is for sale on the internet. A Rogers & Bros. Tipped spoon from 1879! |
And if the owner is right, this spoon was made by Rogers & Sons in 1879!!! The spoon is of the Tipped design from 1847. I was shocked. I had NO idea what I had found. And this was hours ago...my FIRST find of the day! I considered it commonplace...just a spoon on the surface dirt...probably used by one of those partying kids to eat their SPAM (I found a couple of those cans up there, too). It was so ho-hum to me that I had dumped it in with the beer cans on accident! I just didn't think much of it!
But here it is my oldest find yet!!! This spoon is 134 years old!!! That just blows me away!!! Was it dropped by the farmer as he ate lunch while checking on his cattle?! Was it left outside by the farmer's son after he took some food up the hill? Was one of the wagons selling silverware and lost one?! Was it a simple antique set from a Cleveland house only dropped several years ago?! I'll never know!
But I found a spoon that pre-dates Oneida!!! That's pretty cool. This blah day isn't so blah after all!
Another $2.19 in clad coins and a silver spoon that managed to stay out of peoples' mouths. What a neat hobby.
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