Finally! A first find....

[Ray in CA]

Ever go back time after time to a site only to be skunked time after time? Well, after over a year of detecting an old and very large site, which was once a Catholic school established in 1890 for local Indian children, I finally came away with a decent find...a small copper pendant in honor of St. Therese of Lisieux. Since Therese was not canonized by the Catholic Church until 1925, it stands to reason that this pendant was worn sometime after that but no later than 1952 when the school closed down.

On the front the pendant reads "St. Therese of the child Jesus," while the back is one of her quotes: "I will spend my heaven doing good upon the earth." It's about the size of a half dime and apparently was bent a little by a disc.

I have not even found so much as a single wheat penny at this site. But this time I hit an area where I had suspected an old house once sat. I also found a silver plated spoon but I won't be able to post a pic of that until tomorrow. There is also a swimming tank high up on the hill that I've yet to detect around, and I've seen old pictures of it filled with kids so there must be something up in that area.

Given the fact that most of the kids who made up this school were Indian and very poor, I don't really expect to find much coinage, but I'm hoping it will at least cough up a silver one of these days! I may have to just bring Anthony along with me next time and his new SE to coax out a Barber, hehe.

Ray

 

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[get-r-dug]

That's a great find. Way to go!

HH grd

 

[tymcmurray]

Sweet!! Haven't found any myself.

 

[Michigan Badger]

Hey Ray, I know what you mean about hunting a site over and over and coming away with nothing.

I have one old site I've hunted so many times it's actually ridiculous. It's only about 1 acre in size and I've walked every inch with about 7 top brand detectors and every year when I go back there I still find one more thing

After 14 years doing that site, last year I made my best find ever, a solid rose gold 1920's style "Flapper" chain. It's worth more than finding a $5 gold piece.

You never know.

But generally look for those old house sites.

 

[Cynangyl]

Congrats on the great find!! Hope you are on a roll now and find all kinds of goodies!!

 

[Detectingfreak]

Awesome!

 

[Ray in CA]

Thanks everyone!

MB, I've been over this place at least a dozen times with not a decent find. Of course like I said, it is a very large area, probably about 5 acres. I'm trying to find more old pictures to help give me a proper perspective of where people might have dropped their coins, if any. Last night I saw a photo that leads me to believe that one area may have been used as a field for recess and recreation. Tons and tons of junk metal here, and of course, scores of lazy and inconsiderate people have used this area as their personal trash dump.

Ray

 

[Michigan Badger]

Yep, usually where the trash is, the treasure is.

Personally I do very poorly at school sites. BUT, if there was an athletic field of some sort that could be good.

One thing to consider is where the students laid on the grass for naps. Old photos of where trees once stood are important.

Check to see if the old parking lot was abandoned or is not yet paved. Back before the auto they had parking lots for buggies.

Don't forget the old houses across the street from the school. Back in the old days many of these were owned by schools to lodge teachers and students.

Always check ditches. Some of my best finds come from them.

HH,

Badger

 

[Ray in CA]

Thanks, MB!

What tipped me off to the house site was lots of old and broken colored glass, pottery shards, and broken vintage dishware. Here's a pic of the silver plated spoon, a neat toy car about 6" or 7" long, and a metal fragment I haven't quite figured out yet. Anybody wanna guess what kind of car this was? Just look at those sleek lines!

Ray

 

[Roger Mn.]

Neat car the first one I've ever seen.