1895 teardown trash pit produces notebook

seychik

Full Member
Nov 3, 2011
152
161
Denver Metro, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT, Garrett Propointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Drove past an empty lot where a house was freshly torn down and saw two men talking. Immediately circled around the block, stopped and approached the guys saying "I have this crazy hobby, metal dectecting, could I detect this property?" "Are either of you the contractor or owner?"

One guy was the contractor, the other the owner. The ower said sure, go ahead, let's split the finds 50-50. We talked about the 'finds' and it was agreed that if the finds were a cache of coins or something good we would split, if it were pocket change, no split.

The area was super trashy, so hard to detect. I did come across a trash pit full of glass with a lot of broken canning Mason jars. While shoveling out a load of broken glass and dirt, a metal object popped out with a small chain attached.

It turned out to be a little metal covered notebook with 3 velum type pages with writing. Wow, this was interesting. The metal covers read England on one side and Germany on the other. No dates or other information. I washed the dirt off and could see a name page and a list.

H G Tower, Henry G Tower shows up in the Denver directory in 1883 as a painter through1899. He later shows up at the address of the teardown around 1900 (as sign writer), and in 1905 (again as a painter). In 1905, Harry G Tower (student) is also listed at that address.

The list looks like a packing list. I think it was Henry's wife's packing list, which included "a coat for Harry". A facinator is a hat, I think the Ulster refers to a dress.

Other finds from this site were milk bottles, plate glass with lettering, fancy silver spoon, small terra cota bird, chinese coin, common/newer bottles, and plenty of junk.

The owner came back by and looked at the finds and didn't want any of them. I found two new pennies by the dumpster when dumping the broken glass I cleaned up for the owner, gave one to the owner as our 50-50 split, he took it, we both laughed.

Cindy
 

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Upvote 2

desertfox

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Apr 16, 2007
2,315
11
Oklahoma
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What a unique find. Congrats on stopping and getting permission to hunt! HH
 

curbdiggercarl57

Silver Member
Nov 19, 2007
4,362
1,041
Largo, Florida
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Excellent bit of deduction, and amazing that there was a written tie-in to a person that lived at that detecting site found at that detecting site.
Carl
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highnam

Bronze Member
Jan 23, 2012
1,603
1,636
Western Washington
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Awesome finds! I wonder if the notebook was a travel tag off a piece of luggage, describing the contents of the luggage? All those personal items listed, plus the "care of" person makes me think travel. Really cool to dig up something that is handwritten and still legible. Never heard of velum, but it seems interesting. I like the bird too!
 

craftydetector

Tenderfoot
May 15, 2012
6
1
New York
Detector(s) used
Delta Teknetics 4000
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hey- Great finds! The little metal notebook is from something called a chatelaine. Victorian ladies attached these ornate clips to their waistbands and they had fancy chains hanging from the clips that held these little notebooks, scissors, mechanical pencils, watches, etc. There were no pockets in their skirts so they needed a place to keep things at arm's reach. Congratulations on a beautiful find!
 

Papa Bear

Bronze Member
Dec 30, 2011
1,153
485
Western Territories
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Great rescue. Are you going to look for descendants? Well done!! :occasion14:
 

SmokinJoe

Jr. Member
May 31, 2012
48
26
Jamesville,NY
Detector(s) used
Garret ACE 250, Garret AT Pro
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Hey- Great finds! The little metal notebook is from something called a chatelaine. Victorian ladies attached these ornate clips to their waistbands and they had fancy chains hanging from the clips that held these little notebooks, scissors, mechanical pencils, watches, etc. There were no pockets in their skirts so they needed a place to keep things at arm's reach. Congratulations on a beautiful find!

Hey thanks for that info. I learn something new every day.:thumbsup:
 

oldsalty19

Silver Member
May 29, 2011
3,195
202
NE Ohio
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interesting find and some history to boot! nice hunting
 

leprechaun

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Feb 20, 2012
1,996
606
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CTX 3030; The only metal detector I'll ever need
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[ Pretty nice find. :thumbsup:You got the better end of that deal in my book.
 

jewelerguy

Gold Member
Jun 28, 2011
11,435
8,927
Oklahoma
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that notebook thing is just too cool! :icon_thumleft:
 

The Rebel

Bronze Member
Sep 20, 2011
2,016
3,461
Southwest, CT
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Sweet Find. Now what would be real cool if you can find where they are buried. It really connects a moment in time so long ago!
 

Southern_Digger

Hero Member
May 21, 2012
573
222
Florida
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Minelab Explorer and Excalibur; Tesoro Tejon; Fisher 1265-X; Garrett Master Hunter; White's Coinmaster; In closet: Bounty Hunter and Relco
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Great recovery. I found a similar item when a historic house was torn down in Miami, Florida. The attic was filled with stored records from the Bank of Bay Biscayne. This was scattered in several piles near the demolished house footprint. The stationary had a beautiful logo of 1870's sailing ships anchored in the bay. The bad news was it was pouring and all this paper was destroyed. Their were large piles of it in rain soaked cardboard boxes too. Wish I could save a few but I was too late and getting soaked myself-the demo team allowed me on the site BTW- Anyhow, I found a hardbound ledger and took it home and dried it out. In it were handwritten line item transactions for many early townspeople. Also I found a line item where my great grandfather received a $500 auto loan. I since misplaced the ledger and think I loaned it to an asst. admin at the local historical commission to research and copy for future hist. journal articles. It was never returned to me.
 

dandan

Full Member
Feb 24, 2006
196
2
Curious that it says "Ulster" on one page. I'm from Ulster county in NY.
 

PikesPeakCharlie

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Nov 19, 2008
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1,511
Pikes Peak
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Sweeeeeeeeeeet Colorado find !!!!!!!! I think my eyes actually turned a little green 8-) Congrats !!!!!
 

OP
OP
seychik

seychik

Full Member
Nov 3, 2011
152
161
Denver Metro, Colorado
Detector(s) used
Whites MXT, Garrett Propointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Thanks everyone for the comments. Craftydetector, I'm glad to know I found a type of chatelaine. Papabear, I didn't think to look for decendants, or where they are buried, Rebel. Southern Digger, that was an interesting story about the records recovery, too bad the ledger wasn't returned. Pikes Peak Charlie your avatar is amazing.
Cindy
 

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