Odd find at over a foot deep. A silver makeup compact, but nothing else around it.

[matt092079]

I decided to hit a field that I haven't detected thoroughly on a property I've had permission on for going on a year now. Main reason? There are modern bullets everywhere. Literally everywhere. But today I finally came across a large, deep sounding target. I finally get it out after a foot down and revealed what I thought at first was a coin purse. My blood pumping, I scan the hole again...more! I thought for sure a bunch of silver coins. But it was just the front plate to it. The piece is a silver plated, what I'm guessing is a ladies make up compact. The front plate with shield appears to be real silver, because there is no flaking even after soaking in lemon juice, just became shinier. I finally opened it up when I got home and saw the reflective glass, which was broken.

Now what makes me extremely curious is the fact that I searched all around it, all throughout the field and no signs of anything civilized from the time period. No buttons, no coins...nothing! Seems almost intentionally buried. What I'm wondering is if another part opens which could contain coinage? I'm afraid to bust it up too much because the piece in itself is so pretty. Hm, decisions, decisions. Thanks for looking and HH.

 

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[BigWaveDave]

open it.

 

[Ahab8]

Yeah I wouldn't bust that up, it's pretty nice looking. Hope it contains some hidden treasure. You just need the secret combination :-)

 

[CMDiamonddawg]

possibly a locket

 

[wayfas4u]

now that's a nice find!!! interesting!

 

[Stripeythecrab]

Ooh! Very ornate. Is that blue material on top of the patterned silver?

 

[VOL1266-X]

The F75 will find those deep signals as you know Matt!! HH, Q.

 

[BRD]

Congratulations, very nice find. Keep hunting, there are more good targets in the area, I could almost guarantee.
BRD

 

[matt092079]

Congratulations, very nice find. Keep hunting, there are more good targets in the area, I could almost guarantee.
BRD

I'm sure. I have to dig everything. And I intend to when I have a full day to detect it.

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

You had better go back to that spot and poke around some more. There might be a state copper waiting to be dug

VPR

 

[matt092079]

Ooh! Very ornate. Is that blue material on top of the patterned silver?

Yes. Not sure exactly what the blue material is, though. There's a small scratch in the shield and it doesn't reveal any brass underneath. I'm almost 100 percent positive the center of the face plate is genuine silver and not plated like the rest of it.

 

[Brother Al]

Years ago I used a radio shack detector to locate buried thrash piles at old home sites. I was only trying to add to my bottle collection.
One evening I dug an art deco sterling compact.
The rest is metal detecting/addiction history....lol,very nice find sir!

 

[ModernMiner]

Matt,
That's a very nice compact. I've dug a lot of compacts over the years, but never one that nice. Must have come from a well to do lady.
Great find,
Doug

 

[CladGrabber]

Very nice relic!

 

[matt092079]

Thanks everyone. I really like it.

 

[treblehunter]

Nice find, if I found it I think I would leave it intact, looks like a compact (I don't know for sure) very pretty, be a shame to bust it up.

 

[StevePa]

That is pretty cool. Don't find something like that everyday.

Steven

 

[Michellets]

I'm thinking it was worn as a locket because of the way it looks, and the size of the object. Interesting, and would like to see better pictures of both sides of each of the pieces... HH. M.

 

[matt092079]

I'm thinking it was worn as a locket because of the way it looks, and the size of the object. Interesting, and would like to see better pictures of both sides of each of the pieces... HH. M.

I think they were kind of a locket of sorts back then, used for multi-purpose, carrying change, powder their nose and such. They had chains usually connected to them. Perhaps the chain is nearby.

 

[matt092079]

This thing definitely opted as a coin purse. There's a round notch under the glass mirror where a coin or coins would have been. I will definitely have to go back to this spot and dig the hole back out. Possibly could be coins deeper in the hole that the detector just wasn't picking up.