Gold Pocket Watch?.... silver, and more!

[OutdoorAdv]

Spent today at a family friends property that I dug a 1842 LC and a token at nearly 20 years ago...

I have a good feel for the property now and found a couple old trash pits and two old burn piles. I could only stand listening to the signals in those areas in bursts, before needing a break in some more quite ground. I was digging blobs of melted aluminum that gave screaming signals on my V3i with all frequencies lining up and mid 80's to low 90's VDIs registering as solid quarters and half dollars. I dug about 12 of those aluminum blobs... because you never know... and the last "blob" was telling me half dollar and I thought to myself 'I'm here to dig so I might as well clean this junk up', flip the plug AND



Man was I glad I dug that melted aluminum blob!!

Great way to end a year! I have dug at LEAST two dozen pocket watch insides, fronts, backs, bezels... and I always wanted to find a whole watch. All the old parts I've dug have been either gold plated or silver plated... so I was expecting the same thing here. I left the dirt on it, packed it in cotton balls and had to wait.

So I get home and just run some water over it. Most of the caked on dirt just falls right off. I couldn't believe it, but I was seeing scrapes in the gold... so it doesn't appear to be plated. So I'm thinking either solid gold or gold filled. The face is porcelain... a piece of the second dial was cracked and fell off. I plan on super gluing the bits back on it. If you shine the light just right, you can see where the letters used to be and you can see "Waltham" in the middle. I took some pictures of the light hitting it so you guys can see the font on it.




How can I clean the encrusted dirt off and tell more about this watch?

I'm not trying to make this watch something that its not, but the pictures make it look plated... this was dug in a horse pasture and the soil is rough... what you cant see to well in the pictures are that the parts that are not gold, are encrusted with dirt. I took a shish kabob and scraped at some of it and it was gold under... but it appears to scratch easily, so I stopped there. On the picture of the back you can see all the scratched that tell me its either solid gold or gold filled.

The section I scraped is circled in red here.


Oh.... and I also dug a 1935 merc, 4 1/2 wheats (someone actually cut one in half), Cool old brass faucet, a nice convex button minus shank "rich orange" backmark, musket ball, various lead bits and tons of trash.




Convex button close up


In the group shot you'll see the Black Oak Farms cow tag #120. When I flipped that plug I flipped out. About 15 and 20 years ago I dug #63 and #5... so its nice to have three of them together now.

 

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[nsdq]

neat finds .. watch looks to be gold filled, if your able to soak it the back should screw off and you can get better info on the case and watch movement

 

[Boxcarburt]

That is some incredible stuff!! It's funny to look at this kind of history...It makes you think what type of "junk" we have today that will be someones find in the future!

Thanks for all the pictures. Its inspiring to me as a newby!

 

[EasternShoreMetal]

I invested in an inexpensive Ultrasonic Cleaner.. It works really WELL at removing the dirt from every crevice without harming the metal. It will not remove the crusts and cancers on the metal, just the dirt.
NICE finds all round. WTG!

 

[EasternShoreMetal]

That is some incredible stuff!! It's funny to look at this kind of history...It makes you think what type of "junk" we have today that will be someones find in the future!
Thanks for all the pictures. Its inspiring to me as a newby!

I have been thinking lately of just that thing. What would it be like to bury a small brass box with some inexpensive goodies or coins of our day? Just for the guys who come after us.
(No Zinc though!) that's just mean..

 

[pong12211]

Nice finds looks like a good day of digging to me. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Bass]

Very nice finds. Hope the watch is gold and not just plated. It looks good from here but further cleaning should tell us what you have. Thanks for sharing

 

[sutphin]

Nice finds and the good ole headstamps . I was born and raised in Loudoun and there is quite a bit of history in the county if you can get into the right places. .The button with the orange gilt is a nice find.vanzutphen

 

[Helix]

Soaking it in lemon juice for a day should tell you if it is plated. But then that might ruin the guts and face.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

neat finds .. watch looks to be gold filled, if your able to soak it the back should screw off and you can get better info on the case and watch movement

I think you're right. Its definitely thicker than gold plating... and I was hoping for solid gold, but I just picked the dirt off the edge of the metal where the glass was and I can see gold on the inside and outside... sandwiching something... probably brass. But the gold layers do look pretty thick.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Thanks a ton for all the comments. It was a long day where finds were spaced out with a LOT of digging... so at the end of the day I didn't feel like I found all that much until I got home, unpacked and realized I found some cool stuff.

Read a great article on here about cleaning crusty gilt buttons with Aluminum Jelly.

Here's what I think I'm going to do to it to get the back off:
1) Clean the crusted dirt off with Aluminum Jelly. This should allow me to apply it just to the areas that need it and not affect anything else.
2) Soak it, back facing down, in a bath of WD40 or penetrating oil just deep enough to let the threads get covered and not the watch face.
3) Unscrew the back to find out it's a one-of-a-kind Waltham made of solid gold harvested from leprechauns, with a watch face not of porcelain, but rather Unicorn tusk.
4) Retire.

Well, 1 & 2 are a given... 3 & 4... probably not!

If my plans on freeing the back are a horrible idea, chime in! I don't currently have any Aluminum Jelly, so this project will be on hold until I can order some.

 

[BuckleBoy]

Nice finds! I'd apply aluminum jelly to the spots on the watch where you'd like to remove the gunk (soak the watch in water first to loosen gunk). Then either gently toothbrush or (my favorite) use a wooden skewer. Press down only as far as the surface of the gold. You'll be able to feel the gold plating under the toothpick, but don't dig in too far or you'll remove gilding. That won't bother the face of the watch at all, cause you'll only be applying it where needed.

I'm positive it's plated. If it were solid gold I doubt it'd have that type of encrustation on it.

Just go slow and realize that it will take a while to get it done. When I dug a full set of gilded Kentucky state seal buttons it took me several days to get them all clean this way. But now I have a beautiful display case worth of them, so well worth the time spent. Good luck and please feel free to post a photo to my button cleaning thread in the preservation section of the forum once it's done!

Cheers,

Buck

 

[winslow]

That is very cool! I only find pieces and parts of pocket watches and never gold. I like those cow tags as well.

 

[OutdoorAdv]

Nice finds! I'd apply aluminum jelly to the spots on the watch where you'd like to remove the gunk (soak the watch in water first to loosen gunk). Then either gently toothbrush or (my favorite) use a wooden skewer. Press down only as far as the surface of the gold. You'll be able to feel the gold plating under the toothpick, but don't dig in too far or you'll remove gilding. That won't bother the face of the watch at all, cause you'll only be applying it where needed.

I'm positive it's plated. If it were solid gold I doubt it'd have that type of encrustation on it.

Just go slow and realize that it will take a while to get it done. When I dug a full set of gilded Kentucky state seal buttons it took me several days to get them all clean this way. But now I have a beautiful display case worth of them, so well worth the time spent. Good luck and please feel free to post a photo to my button cleaning thread in the preservation section of the forum once it's done!

Cheers,

Buck

Buck, Thank you! Aluminum jelly it is. Based on the cross section I cleaned where the glass was, I have a hunch it might be gold filled. The gold layers appear to be thicker than an electroplate or gilding. The scratches on the back are deep and I can't see the base metal... that's only reason I thought it might be solid. Makes sense that it is encrusted because of a base metal. I bet the wear to the plating will be evident when I get it cleaned up some more.

I think you recommend aluminum jelly, but I think naval jelly might be easier for me to find locally. Would there be any concern over using Naval instead of Aluminium Jelly?

My goal is to hopefully get the back off so I can get more info about it.

Once I get it cleaned up, I'll absolutely post all the pictures in the button cleaning thread.

-Brad

 

[OutdoorAdv]

That is very cool! I only find pieces and parts of pocket watches and never gold. I like those cow tags as well.

Thank you! You and me both. I have a drawer that I keep most of the watch parts that I still have in.



While I'm pretty sure this one is gold filled, I am beyond excited that its mostly intact. I always wanted to find a whole one. Later in the day, I even went back and popped the plug to look for the glass. ha

The Cow Tags are all marked on the back with "Lamb Seal and Stencil Company, Wash DC." Its cool that they were made by a local company. I didn't find them close to each other. The farm was huge. Makes me wonder how many were lost since I've managed to wonder over a few of them on various properties.

 

[digger27]

One of my greatest finds ever...this rolled gold Elgin pocket watch.
Came up black as the ace of spades, had to use a green scrubby to get all the black layer off of it but it turned out great.
I suspect yours is rolled gold also, much, much thicker plating on rolled gold than just plated.
Enough that the refineries will accept this and pay you for the decent amount of gold in it...not that I will ever do that.
Mine is a screw off type that is stuck and I asked some watch pros who said if that happens nothing less than a hammer will work now so I might never find out the real age of this thing but it still looks fantastic on display.

CongratZ on the rare find!

 

[Boxcarburt]

I have been thinking lately of just that thing. What would it be like to bury a small brass box with some inexpensive goodies or coins of our day? Just for the guys who come after us.
(No Zinc though!) that's just mean..

That is a genius idea! Stick some cool stuff in there and a vacuum sealed note from one hobby member to another!! I might have to get on this...

 

[ARC]

Most buyers (good ones) pay "sterling" price for gold filled and rolled gold.

 

[ARC]

Watch back should "pop off" with small carefully placed small pocket knife under "lift lip".
Inside of case back will tell you what it is etc.

PS>
For those who find or see a watch like this and suspect it may be gold and want to know quickly without possible damage or opening...
you can GENTLY place your thumb in center of back and gently apply pressure...
If it moves... tis gold
If no movement... tis filled or plated.

 

[park pirate]

Damn nice finds..