2 WORLDS FAIR FINDS IN 5 DAYS

[Natman]

Hi all,

In all the years I've spent metal detecting, this is a first! Last Saturday I posted about finding a sterling souvenir spoon from the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair. It was a great piece of history and I couldn't have been happier.

A couple of nights ago, I posted a find (from another yard in a different city) on the What Is It? section of TNet, which PBK helped me to identify, which I found just 3 days later (Tuesday).

After being shown a photo of what this "thing" originally looked like (I thought it was a kid's badge at first) curiosity got the best of me and I decided to scour the corroded metal with a soap pad. I also put the piece in boiling hot peroxide for about half an hour and I was able to see the image I hoped for..I thought the corrosion was eaten into the metal, and it was, but only up to a point. The surface corrosion was removed, and although it was necessary to rub a bit of the image down, I can now see what was on there. What I still can't believe is that I found 2 Worlds Fair Items, both marked 1904, in less than a week. That, to me, is nothing short of unbelievable!

Here's the spoon once more, and before and after shots of what I found on Tuesday.

And a link to the What Is It? post that shows what it looked like way back when (scroll down to PBK's 3rd post). Thanks again PBK!

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,177797.msg1296161.html#msg1296161

Nat

 

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[zaxfire69]

Wow nice collection there. I love that spoon. That would be in a frame on the wall. Sweet...

 

[minton7]

great idea on cleaning that last find.. really paid off... a worthless peice of scrap metal turned into a keeper.. I have often wondered how many neat things I tossed without properly cleaning them when I first started.....I almost tossed my wreath half of a confederate sword buckle that I found last yr.. had no clue what it was... I am starting to think... We should keep everything we find to make sure it isnt something really cool.... congrats on the awesome finds......... want a display case for em?? Let me know

Randy

 

[Wallhangers]

2 great finds and pieces of history there, nicely done!

 

[Mr_Mojo_Risin]

Very cool.

 

[kimsdad]

Nat,
Your post has served to remind me of the awesomeness of your spoon. Man, that's fine!

Congrats on the medal! One of those wierd coincidences in MD'ing that seems to happen now and then. What a great find! Looks like you're working on a theme!

 

[romeo-1]

Very cool...incidentally, who is the maker of the spoon? I found a silver souvenir spoon recently which is very similar in style to yours.

 

[silverfreak]

Now that is cool. TWO incredible finds like that back to back. Way to go buddy.

 

[Detectingfreak]

awesome job on recovering some of the pieces of history dude!

 

[Natman]

great idea on cleaning that last find.. really paid off... a worthless peice of scrap metal turned into a keeper.. I have often wondered how many neat things I tossed without properly cleaning them when I first started.....I almost tossed my wreath half of a confederate sword buckle that I found last yr.. had no clue what it was... I am starting to think... We should keep everything we find to make sure it isnt something really cool.... congrats on the awesome finds......... want a display case for em?? Let me know

Randy

Thanks Randy, and yes, keep EVERYTHING until you're absolutely certain what it is..last year I found what I thought was a piece of scrap aluminum in a private yard and I almost threw it away..when I got home I started cleaning it off and saw a penny mounted in the middle of the piece of aluminum. It turned out to be a good luck souvenir from Holiday Hill, an amusement park I had gone to as a kid that closed down years ago! The only reason I didn't toss this "badge" was because of its unique shape..I wanted to find out what it was before I threw it away.

I do have something to keep my finds in, but thanks for the offer

Congrats on the medal! One of those wierd coincidences in MD'ing that seems to happen now and then. What a great find! Looks like you're working on a theme!

Thanks! I happened to find 3 metal 45 record adapters from 1950 (the first of their kind) but swore I'd never find another after digging the first one! This however really beats the odds!

Very cool...incidentally, who is the maker of the spoon? I found a silver souvenir spoon recently which is very similar in style to yours.

I have no idea..it's marked STERLING on the back and there's the engraving on the ladle, but no other markings anywhere.

THANKS ALL,
Nat

 

[Captn SE]

Nat,

It's amazing what we'll find in the ground and how we make such coincidental finds that seem to defy all the odds. I did something very similar to you last year at two different sections of a park in Anaheim, CA. In back to back weeks, I found two different tokens/medals from the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition, which was held in San Diego.

Congrats,
CAPTN SE
Dan

 

[Don in SJ]

Nat, It sure is nice to have strange things like that happen in our hobby. The spoon is super and finding the second souvenir just makes finding that one all the more special. I believe I have just the flatten replica of the Liberty Bell from the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair and I was totally not expecting to find something like that in the middle of the woods. (I had to clean that with Peroxide to get a clear view of what it was also)
Congratulations on your two finds which I am sure you are proud to have in your collection.

Don

 

[Nana40]

WoW! How cool is that?! 8) That item cleaned up great too!!

Super finds!!!! Nana

 

[Natman]

Nat,

It's amazing what we'll find in the ground and how we make such coincidental finds that seem to defy all the odds. I did something very similar to you last year at two different sections of a park in Anaheim, CA. In back to back weeks, I found two different tokens/medals from the 1935-36 California Pacific International Exposition, which was held in San Diego.

Congrats,
CAPTN SE
Dan

Thanks Dan! What really amazes me though is that these 2 pieces were found in 2 different cities!

Nat, It sure is nice to have strange things like that happen in our hobby. The spoon is super and finding the second souvenir just makes finding that one all the more special. I believe I have just the flatten replica of the Liberty Bell from the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair and I was totally not expecting to find something like that in the middle of the woods. (I had to clean that with Peroxide to get a clear view of what it was also).
Congratulations on your two finds which I am sure you are proud to have in your collection.

Don

That's nice of you Don, thanks..Worlds Fair souvenirs (in nice shape) are very sought after, I just wish the elements were a little kinder to them.

Thanks again all,
Nat

 

[Evolution]

You're really on a roll Nat. Those are some great relics. Time to start a world's fair collection.

 

[JRich98150]

Attaboy Nate! Isn't it sort of strange how things seem to come in groups once you've found one piece?

JRich

 

[toolman61]

Those are some cool finds Nate!! The badge looking one looks like some kind of award metal like for show cow or something. Wonder what happened to the chain? that went with it HH Tom

 

[Golden1]

Natman that is one AWESOME spoon
Congrats bud

 

[Ia.FurTrade]

Nice stuff, Natman!! Congrats!!

 

[beachboy]

Great stuff....