1800s Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Ohio Jerry

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Feb 20, 2008
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1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Following Buckleboy's advise to research old maps, I found the site of an 1800's one room schoolhouse just 100 yards from the house i grew up in. It's just a wooded, level area in the woods now,no sign there was once any kind of building there and if not for an 1871 surveyors map I would never had known it existed. Thanks Buckleboy!. I found some interesting relics all in the same general area where i now believe the schoolhouse stood. A piece of coal,a buckle,a round buckle with a stamped date of MAR 14,82. A little cast iron decorative piece that i believe could have come from the metal framework of an old desk,and an interesting all metal piece that looks like a harmonica reed. The sweet little 43 merc came from the base of a tree stump nearby.There were loggers in the area in the 50's and for sure I'll be hunting around all the stumps. It sure seemed funny to dig up a silver coin out in the middle of the woods!! Now i need to find where those school kids lost their large cents during recess :wink:
Thanks for having a look,Jerry
 

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Kas

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Jan 3, 2007
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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

WTG Jerry, that's the way to do it. Good research.

Ken
 

S

seger98

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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Nice Merc, other stuff is neat too.
 

vision quest

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Jul 8, 2007
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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Looks like you found a great site. I'm always amazed at how nice silver looks after being in the ground for so long. Nice finds!!
 

Evolution

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Aug 2, 2007
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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Great job on the research. Make sure you look for all of the older house sites that were located on the 1871 map as well. You never know, some of them might date back alot farther than that. Nice finds! :thumbsup:
 

Bavaria Mike

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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Congrats on the silver! The schoolhouse site sounds great. I am also from Ohio, south of Canton but I have been in Germany for about 22 years now. I found a 43 Merc last time I was home near Schoenbrunn and some other nice finds. HH, Mike
 

SgtSki in MI

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Oct 14, 2007
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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Cool finds Jerry!

Schoolhouse sites are some of my favorite MD spots, especially ones that operated until schools were consolidated in the 60's here in Michigan. You don't usually find silver bigger than a dime, but theres all sorts of other cool stuff the kids dropped over the years too. Except for eraser ends from pencils ( I HATE those! ).

I also found a cool trick to tell how hard a schoolhouse was hit by other MD'ers before you got to it: Back in the day, school milk came in half-pint glass bottles with a foil cap. Lots of these caps found their way into the ground and they read just like a nickel on most machines. I hunt with an Explorer XS and a CZ-5 and school milk caps read like a nickel on both of those machines, anyway.

If you dig one, you can tell how hard the site's been hit because the cap will have a bunch of holes in it from probes.

Anyways, it's just something that helps me evaluate a new schoolhouse site that I hadn't hunted before.

WTG,
-SgtSki
 

BuckleBoy

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Jun 12, 2006
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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Bravo!

I'm happy for you on that first silver! My first silver was a Mercury Dime as well. If you're focusing on housesites and school sites in your area, you'll be MUCH more likely to find virgin spots.

That woods hunting is addictive, isn't it? The best part is that you can hunt in some older-growth woods all summer long!

Hey, I hope you find many, many more sites from that map. Keep all your maps and don't share them unless you find a valued hunting buddy that you trust. And maps are just the tip of the iceberg as far as research goes.

My next tip is this: Go and talk to as many old timers as you can about spots that were torn down long ago...houses, schools, drive-in theaters...swimming holes long forgotten...picnic groves :o meeting houses and churches. Write ALL the information down as you listen to their stories, and chase these sites down one by one. After the old folks are gone, no one will be alive that will remember some of these sites--and they may never be found.

Best Wishes,


Buckleboy
 

BuckleBoy

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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

By the way...

Although the dime could have been lost by loggers in the woods, you could check the schoolhouse records. They're organized by county, and they usually designate schools with a number. You could see which year this one was no longer listed--it'd give you a clue as to which coins and relics were from the school.

My hunch is that you've found the site. Almost all of the schoolhouse sites I have hunted have had lots of pieces of coal. It seems that most one-roomers were heated with coal heat. I know those coal signals sound like pennies sometimes, but you just gotta dig 'em. Gotta get those Indian Head Cents!

Since you mention the loggers...find out where their lumber mill or camp was if you can. I'm sure someone remembers it if they were there in the 50's. There are some good finds to be made there as well. I got my Morgan Dollar and Barber Half in the same hole at a lumber camp back in 1993.

Cheers,


Buckleboy
 

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Ohio Jerry

Ohio Jerry

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Feb 20, 2008
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Ohio
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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

SgtSki in MI said:
Cool finds Jerry!

Schoolhouse sites are some of my favorite MD spots, especially ones that operated until schools were consolidated in the 60's here in Michigan. You don't usually find silver bigger than a dime, but theres all sorts of other cool stuff the kids dropped over the years too. Except for eraser ends from pencils ( I HATE those! ).

I also found a cool trick to tell how hard a schoolhouse was hit by other MD'ers before you got to it: Back in the day, school milk came in half-pint glass bottles with a foil cap. Lots of these caps found their way into the ground and they read just like a nickel on most machines. I hunt with an Explorer XS and a CZ-5 and school milk caps read like a nickel on both of those machines, anyway.

If you dig one, you can tell how hard the site's been hit because the cap will have a bunch of holes in it from probes.

Anyways, it's just something that helps me evaluate a new schoolhouse site that I hadn't hunted before.

WTG,
-SgtSki
Hi SgtSki, would someone take the chance of probing and scratching a valuable coin? Would you be able to tell with a probe whether it was coin? Thanks for the tip. i'm still trying to determine how long this schoolhouse was standing,i guess i need to pay a visit to the courthouse..
 

daytondigger

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Oct 6, 2004
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Dayton, Ohio
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Re: 1800's Schoolhouse Relics plus first silver!

Way to go, research can be very helpful. Old maps are great. Congrats on the finds and keep on huntin'. Ohio has some good detecting spots. Look for old picnic groves and popular landmarks from the turn of the century(1900). Lots of coins lost out in those woods long ago.
 

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