Back to the 1850's Farmhouse

I went back to the 1850's farmhouse two days ago and I didn't find much. The ground is so dry right now that I think I am missing a lot of the coins and smaller stuff. I will go back when we get a good amount of rain. Anyways,  I found a pocket knife in the front yard near where I found the pocketknife yesterday which I forgot to mention and take a picture of for the previous blog entry. I was at the house for about 2.5 hours without finding much other than a 1969 quarter and a rimfire shell casing so I headed down to where the old school supposedly was. I'm not totally positive that it used to be the school because it might have been a little further down the road but there was definitely a structure there at one time. It was a couple hundred feet away from the house so I took my car down and the owner took his tractor to show me about where he thinks the school once stood. I spent about an hour and a half there. As soon as I got out of my car, I saw broken pieces of plates/cups/bottles littering the ground. I thought I had really found a good place to detect but I soon learned that was not the case. The only thing I pulled out of that area was a button and a bunch of broken porcelain. I think the porcelain is very interesting and old though so it wasn't a total waste of time. I'm not exactly sure when that structure was knocked down but it was definitely after 1909 and before 1936, so most of the stuff that I found there has to be pretty old.

1850's Farmhouse

I got permission to metal detect an old farmhouse that dates back to the 1850's yesterday. I went after dinner for almost two hours and I will be going back today. I didn't find many old coins which is to be expected around here. Back then, people really didn't carry around much money because the farmers were pretty poor. This house has just over 100 acres and other houses used to stand on the property along with an old school house that was moved to another location in the 1860's and a new school was built up the road from my house. I spent most of the time yesterday near the house and where the old barn used to be. I think today, I will try to spend more time near where the other houses and school used to be since I didn't find much near the house. Here are some of the things that I found yesterday:

The first shell is from after 1926. The second is from 1898-1932. The last is from 1887-1934. They were all in the same area so they were probably shot sometime between the late 1920's and the early 1930's.

I also found a 1923 Wheat Cent, a 1994 penny, and the inevitable nails and foil.

The Old School House

I obtained permission to metal detect an old school house up the road from me. It was built in the late 1860's and it was a school until the 1950's when the public school district formed. It was converted into a residence and the same man has lived there since then. The first day that I went there, I found my first silver coin, a 1923 Mercury dime.



Also on the first day, I got a solid high-toned signal. I dug down and discovered I was metal detecting a fireplace's dumping grounds. I found a lot of pieces of foil and I continued to dig when I found a burnt ring. It appears to be gold but it is so badly burned that I can't see any markings that would be on the inside of the ring.



I found several wheat pennies with dates from 1910 through 1958.

On the other days that I went there, I found a 1920 quarter (which also appears to have been in a fire), three Indian Head pennies (1899, 1902, 1903), a 1919 Canadian dime, a 1940 Mercury dime, and a "For Achievement" button with the initials JAC on it (appears gold plated).