Silver spoon, Barbers, SLQ and 1700s pocket spill (?)

cheffer

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Spent some time from Saturday to today checking out public use areas close to some of the old villages here in Western Mass, it's getting so our local favorite spots are pretty dried up and we've been looking a little further out. Luckily there's a lot of woods and history here.


Went out with SecondStar, ACOJoe, and Pittscop631 Saturday where I had great luck last month with 2 reales and several old coppers. Mike found a beauty King George (see his post) and I managed two random Barber dimes in a big flat spot near the stream:


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Yesterday I went a little further south and found a nice wooded park behind the main street, right off the bat found a SLQ, followed by a sterling spoon (with Indian Head hallmark), then nothing decent for over an hour, until I was "headed back to the car" (which is sometimes the ticket if you say it out loud) and dug a no date large, looks like a Draped (?):


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Today I headed back but stayed a little north of the village. There's a lake close by and I figured the woods, which are also open to the public, might be a good place to start. About three hours later I had only found two large flat buttons. I decided to "head back to the car," lo and behold found three coppers in a two-foot radius, not sure if it's a pocket spill or a coincidence just because the big difference in the dates:


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The crusty one looks like it might be a CT, I'll try to get some of that off but I can already tell the corrosion is pretty deeply set in. Here are the buttons and two locks I found:


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Thanks for looking and HH,
Steve
 

Upvote 44

Red-Coat

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Good selection and nice silver spoon.

The Indian head hallmark is that of Wilcox & Evertsen, formed in 1892 (originally Rowan & Wilcox, established 1889). In 1896 they were bought by the Meriden Britannia Company and moved from New York, NY to Meriden, CT. Then two years later Meriden became part of the International Silver Company (ISC), with flatware production moving to Wallingford, CT. It wasn’t unusual for companies that were part of ISC to continue using their own marks to preserve their identity and that’s the case here, since the spoon is Wilcox & Evertsen’s ‘Marcell’ pattern, dating from 1907.
 

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Lost Signal

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Ill bet the coppers are a spill. Those things just stayed in circulation. I don't think it would be unusual for a very wide range of dates to be in the same "pocket."
 

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cheffer

cheffer

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Good selection and nice silver spoon.

The Indian head hallmark is that of Wilcox & Evertsen, formed in 1892 (originally Rowan & Wilcox, established 1889). In 1896 they were bought by the Meriden Britannia Company and moved from New York, NY to Meriden, CT. Then two years later Meriden became part of the International Silver Company (ISC), with flatware production moving to Wallingford, CT. It wasn’t unusual for companies that were part of ISC to continue using their own marks to preserve their identity and that’s the case here, since the spoon is Wilcox & Evertsen’s ‘Marcell’ pattern, dating from 1907.

Thanks for that information Red Coat, very cool. I knew about Meridian and was trying to find the pattern but you nailed it with the W&E style
 

VTColonialDigger

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Those are some awesome finds!! The crusty coin in the spill looks like a King William halfpenny. You just can't beat silver, relics and old coppers!
 

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cheffer

cheffer

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Those are some awesome finds!! The crusty coin in the spill looks like a King William halfpenny. You just can't beat silver, relics and old coppers!

Hey VT, thanks for the info! I thought I was looking at an Etlib but see now it wouldn't be next to the bust. Wasn't looking too closely, hope to do some picking tonight and get some detail!
 

Silvermonkey

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Wow Steve...some great finds! Those old coppers are in amazing shape! "Woods and history" would make a great bumper sticker....words to live by....
 

lenmac65

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What a couple of great hunts! Love the Barbers, and those coppers are in great shape. I am starting to think I live in the wrong part of Massachusetts. Happy Hunting.
 

Steve in PA

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That patch of woods seems to be quite productive :thumbsup:
I think your first no date largie is a Liberty Cap
 

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cheffer

cheffer

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What a couple of great hunts! Love the Barbers, and those coppers are in great shape. I am starting to think I live in the wrong part of Massachusetts. Happy Hunting.

Plenty of room over here when you're ready!
 

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cheffer

cheffer

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That patch of woods seems to be quite productive :thumbsup:
I think your first no date largie is a Liberty Cap

Hey Steve, thought the same thing at first, it does look like the cap from certain angles
 

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cheffer

cheffer

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Those are some awesome finds!! The crusty coin in the spill looks like a King William halfpenny. You just can't beat silver, relics and old coppers!

You nailed it VT! Started to lightly pick away at it and was surprised at how quick the details came out. Something about that soil saved all three of these coppers. Maybe I can get at the date, stay tuned...

IMG_3637.jpg
 

secondstar

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Hopefully it's one from 1699 and you can become a member of the 1600's club! We find good stuff out here, but 1600's is tough, even for us!
 

ArfieBoy

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Super finds! And so many of them! Thanks for showing them to us!
 

thrifty76now

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Fantastic finds to say the least .You certainly unearthed a very nice early SLQ ,Those early issues with date readable are my favorites. In over fifty years detecting I have dug only 3 of the early SLQ with the dates showing.Afrer 1924 I have very many.When silver was real high in 1979 I sold many many no date showing SLQ 's for the money which I regret now.
 

Squirrel322

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Wow! What an amazing group of finds!
 

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