Treasure Set in Stone UPDATED MACRO PIC CLOSEUPS AND X-RAY PHOTOS

1liquigirl

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Jun 13, 2005
393
13
Bellefonte, PA
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Gambling in Atlantic City is a thing of the past. You'll make out better on the shoreline. I run with a Garrett Ace 250 and came back with this and a few pieces that I think are bayonets, various sand pennies and the mouth of an 1800's amber brown whiskey bottle. It stormed with thunder and lightning the night before, and the surf was really pounding. The beach opened at 6AM and out I went. I turned the stone over and there it was, a chain and a shiny silver coin sticking right out at me. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and after the shock wore off, you should have heard me whooping it up. I put it in my bag with the shells I had been collecting prior. I didn't care at that point about breaking any of them, to me I don't think I'll ever find anything better. About a minute after I put it in my bag, an ATV cop went by me, and I ecstatically said "Hi" to him. It was probably pretty out of place, but I couldn't help it. I held onto that bag like my life depended on it all the way back to the hotel room, to show my sleeping partner the treasure I had truly found. I wonder how long it takes to embed coins and chains in to sandstone? More than 30 years, I'm sure. :laughing7: We didn't head straight home, we went to a friend of ours that owns a stones and gems shop. He'd never seen anything like this before. He told us that as is, we are looking at a value of at least $400. We plan to get the stone X-rayed at some random dentist's office to see if there may be a pendant or even a gem on the chain and if we're lucky, there may be more coins. There is an indent in the rock underneath the area that the coin is showing that could have held another coin, it is completely round and about the size of a dime. There's alot of MDing that goes on along the shores of Atlantic City and alot of iron content out there, so I bet this stone could possibly have been overlooked by others more than once. I want to get all of the sand removed that is concreted on this coin, but I'm afraid to hurt it in any way. I carefully removed some of the grains of sand with a razor blade and I am sure I didn't scratch it. It is just enough to see that some letters are still present, but not enough to identify them. I refuse to do anything more to it. I trust someone out there can get it clean. The chain located in the top left of the stone in picture one and on my finger in picture two is handmade, the ends of each link are wrapped over the next loop. It is non magnetic, but has been tested for 14 ct gold and dissolved right away at our local jewelry store, so it's more likely to be bronze. A few more links are showing on the other side of the stone from where it hangs out on the other, so most of the chain could be wrapped up inside the stone. I hope to make banner with this one! I live in Central Pennsylvania and I doubt there is anyone around here that could identify this coin as is, it is thinner and smaller than an American Dime.

Update: There have been lots of views, replies and posts for me. Read the whole post to see the progression of IDing this. We will have the Macro pics of the coin tomorrow (Thursday, October 7th). We have used Goo Gone and the sink spigot for two days (alot longer tonight than the last). It's is showing a spot in the middle of the coin, when it hadn't before, but not much more. We used aluminum wrapped around the coin with baking soda and hot water for about 5 minutes, it didn't help much. We're hoping to find a dentist to do a water pick trick on the coin, although none of the dentists we have called wanted to even do an X-Ray. We paid $105 for two X-Ray photos at Metzger Animal Hospital in State College (I had volunteered here 12 years ago, in High School. We received a phone call back from the head of the Earth and Mineral Science Building here at Penn State. The head of the Department gave me an e-mail for a lady in the Anthroplogy Department. She has lived in Florida and has worked with shipwrecks. Just waiting to hear back from her now. Thanks for the five coin rating, on the My Best Finds Forum, but to see how this is progressing, it goes to show you, that everyone wants to find treasure, but the time and effort it takes to ID and find it's place in history, takes alot of work and patience. No one sees that in the beginning, then you find something good and you realize. Please, any other suggestions would be appreciated.
 

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Upvote 0

Mach1Pilot

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

That's a cool find. :icon_thumright:

It would be interesting to see what the coin is should you decide to extract it from the stone..... :)

Do you have any clearer pictures of it?
 

celtex

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

:icon_thumright: way cool find and I'd leave it alone. :icon_sunny: Not many finds like that one and a mercury dime can be had for 1.30 so leave it alone.
 

GioTheGreek

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Thats the weirdest thing Ive seen. lol

I wonder if theres anything out there that will dissolve or break up the sandstone but not the coin.

There maust be a way to safely get that out. :)

Great finds and best of luck, keep us posted.
 

DMN

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Apr 19, 2009
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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Great discovery. As said before, a good and clear pic here might be enough regarding the coin. There are a number of people here who can ID coins with very little detail exposed/provided. Somedays I'm absolutely surprised how they can. Stop out again tomorrow. The churning waters do help to uncover some pretty cool stuff.
 

SouthJerseyJim

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Thats cool! My moms got a bunch of those iron chunks with silver coins sitting on her windows sill :laughing7: What I usually do is take it to the basement and use a hammer to break apart the iron and rust. If you do it right you wont hurt anything. Its most likely a merc or rosevelt dime. But I have seen barbers and seateds before so keep your fingers crossed. How did you get it appraised if you cant even see what it is? :icon_scratch: Nice find though!
 

OP
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1liquigirl

1liquigirl

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Jun 13, 2005
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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Sorry all, but we only have a cheap cell phone camera. We'll borrow a digi cam to get some better shots in a day or two. I got the rock appraised at my friends rock and gem shop, as a stone- as is, a curiosity piece, that is the value to a collector. He told me not to break it up. The X-ray is all you need to determine if there's more to it than meets the eye.
 

SouthJerseyJim

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Im not understanding this, is the iron piece with the chain and coin in it what you found? Is the ring on your hand with the blue stone in it something you found with the iron piece?
 

richm

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

A PA. girl who likes to detect That's awesome! I was just up in Forksville PA. detecting, boy do I miss it. Forksville is about 45 minutes from Williamsport. Have you ever heard of of it? Rich. ;D
 

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1liquigirl

1liquigirl

Sr. Member
Jun 13, 2005
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Bellefonte, PA
Re: Treasure Set in Stone

SouthJerseyJim, no the rings are on my hand. I have not removed anything from the stone, the stone is mostly sandstone but black in color in most spots and it has iron content to it, so parts of the stone have that reddish brown color to it, there are also shells embedded in it and one piece stuck to it looks like the remains of wood.
 

JerV3

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Pretty neat find I'd say. Looks old and silver to. I'd say a good electrolosis bath would do the job. Keep us posted on what you may find out about it.

I live in P.a also. But hunting beaches is really fun also. It's amazing how much stuff gets lost in the sand. One of those things. Gotta be up early and out early to make the finds.

HH Jer
 

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1liquigirl

1liquigirl

Sr. Member
Jun 13, 2005
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Bellefonte, PA
Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Jer, Thanks for posting, I'm afraid I don't know how to do electrolysis myself beyond the homemade and very slow aluminum foil wrap with baking soda and hot water. I'm afraid to do it, the last thing I want to do is ruin it. I'd have to go to someone who has a better setup with that and is experienced. Wouldn't the bronze of the chain and the iron content in the sandstone effect the color of the coin in the process? I really hope someone has some suggestions on where or who to take it to. ?
 

DigginThePast

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Dec 31, 2008
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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

"it is thinner and smaller than an American Dime"

Could be a Half Dime. :)

I wonder if a water pick would be effective in removing enough sand to identify. :icon_scratch:
 

Mr Tuff

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

whatever it is it looks sweet!!!!!!!!! MR TUFF
 

Mr.T

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

celtex said:
:icon_thumright: way cool find and I'd leave it alone. :icon_sunny: Not many finds like that one and a mercury dime can be had for 1.30 so leave it alone.

I agree- find someone here who knows exactly the thing to do- very nice find!

Rory
 

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1liquigirl

1liquigirl

Sr. Member
Jun 13, 2005
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Bellefonte, PA
Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Thanks Mile-ender, I checked out the link, you have to wonder if the acid will effect the stone's color, I'm hoping to keep it together in one piece, but if we can see one side of the coin or enough to identify it, I might want to remove it and it's contents from within. I think it's very old and from what I can see on the coin, it doesn't look American. But that's the thing, the coin is illusional, you change view angles and you see something completely different. Hoping to get a good pic of the parts of silver that are showing in a day or two. Then maybe we can get an ID. Thanks everyone for all your replies so far.
 

Tuberale

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

IMO getting an X-ray is an excellent first step. Ring and coin does look embedded in an iron concretion: something high iron (thus the rusty-red appearance), which may also have something to do with the encrustation of sand: sort of an electro-chemical reaction. I also like the idea it may have a half-dime, or better yet, a half-disme as they used to be called.

Would love to see the X-ray, too, if you can.
 

Tnmountains

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Re: Treasure Set in Stone

Cool find and look forward to more in this mystery adventure :hello:
TnMtns
 

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