tigerbeetle
Full Member
- Jan 2, 2009
- 166
- 275
- Detector(s) used
- Many -- Fisher, White's, Minelab, Cobra, others
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
After over 40 years of treasure digging, driven by a certainty that a find-of-finds is just another scratch away, I’ve dug with a minor phobia hanging within easy reach of my overactive imagination: What if I were to dig up a human skeleton? Just my luck I might uncover a huge gold ring – with a finger bone still attached.
Truth be told, I kinda realize there isn’t a ghost of chance such a thing will ever befall me. However, I came too close for comfort this past year.
I was digging a newer dump site, fairly deep in some thicker woods. All the site offered of Th’ing interest was a slew of older milk and cream bottles (Millside Dairy, N.J.). I slipped the bottles in my ever-present backpack and was about to leave the site when a final rake-through uncovered what first looked to be one of those brass reed plates from a harmonica. Those reed plates are one of the most common large items found by detectorists.
It wasn’t until I flicked the piece with my rake that the horror set in. The thing still had teeth attached to it. For a dizzying instant, I was frozen in place. It sure seemed my long-lived phobia just came to morbid fruition. In this case, I had seemingly found a mouthorgan with the mouth still in place. Dial 9-11!
Fortunately, I allowed logic to carry the moment.
Using what amounted to a goodly amount of internal fortitude, I further flicked the toothy find and pretty quickly guessed what I had unearthed – and even that didn’t even remotely detract from the weirdness.
Here, check it out and imagine some dirt on it as it jumps into sight -- and tell me you wouldn’t get a few heart pounds.
It’s a shade tester for a dentist. When replacing a person’s tooth, he pulls out one of these color-graded false teeth to hold in place with the patient’s existing teeth to match the color. Again, you see it a bit cleaned up but when I first dug it …
Truth be told, I kinda realize there isn’t a ghost of chance such a thing will ever befall me. However, I came too close for comfort this past year.
I was digging a newer dump site, fairly deep in some thicker woods. All the site offered of Th’ing interest was a slew of older milk and cream bottles (Millside Dairy, N.J.). I slipped the bottles in my ever-present backpack and was about to leave the site when a final rake-through uncovered what first looked to be one of those brass reed plates from a harmonica. Those reed plates are one of the most common large items found by detectorists.
It wasn’t until I flicked the piece with my rake that the horror set in. The thing still had teeth attached to it. For a dizzying instant, I was frozen in place. It sure seemed my long-lived phobia just came to morbid fruition. In this case, I had seemingly found a mouthorgan with the mouth still in place. Dial 9-11!
Fortunately, I allowed logic to carry the moment.
Using what amounted to a goodly amount of internal fortitude, I further flicked the toothy find and pretty quickly guessed what I had unearthed – and even that didn’t even remotely detract from the weirdness.
Here, check it out and imagine some dirt on it as it jumps into sight -- and tell me you wouldn’t get a few heart pounds.
It’s a shade tester for a dentist. When replacing a person’s tooth, he pulls out one of these color-graded false teeth to hold in place with the patient’s existing teeth to match the color. Again, you see it a bit cleaned up but when I first dug it …
Upvote
0
