Bar basement gold, silver and mystery copper!

halfdime

Silver Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
4,514
Reaction score
1,486
Golden Thread
0
Location
Zelienople
Detector(s) used
White's XLT
Several years ago, our church bought a bar. This catches people off guard every time it's mentioned, and I think I've explained it here before. Our church is in urban Pittsburgh and community leaders told us if we want to make a difference quick buy a particular bar and close it down. Alcohol was the least of its problems; the bar was a distribution center for drugs, prostitution and who knows what else. I helped empty it several years ago and found a ball and chain; why would anyone have something like that for benevolent purposes? Anyway, the last few months I've been cleaning less obvious areas, like under floors and the dirt basement. I realized pretty quick that in a building that's more than a hundred years old, a dirt floor could hide just about anything. I was right; before today I'd found 15 or 16 silver coins, a lot of them by sifting. Today, to honor MLK, the kids were out of school so Miss halfdime and I went to the basement. As expected, we added to the silver count with a 42 Washington and two Mercs. What we didn't expect, exactly, but nor were we surprised, was that we'd find a couple rings! One, with a mammoth stone, is 10K; the simpler wedding band is 14. A heart-shaped "Mom" was 14k plated but still interesting. I haven't looked through the pennies yet but I know there are probably 8 or 10 wheats. What was truly surprising was the discovery of a rather large clay marble; it will make a fine addition to my clay family! Finally, we found a little copper disc, just about the size of a silver three-cent piece; as near as I can tell, there is nothing like it in US coinage. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of wear on both sides so I can't see any detail. The picture I got tonight doesn't show it well; maybe tomorrow I can get a better view here but I'd really like some ideas on what it might be. Again, just about the size of a silver three center. We'll wait until gold climbs a lot higher in price before we cash in these babies!
 

Attachments

  • rebelgold (Small).webp
    rebelgold (Small).webp
    11.9 KB · Views: 277
Upvote 14
Awesome, :headbang:

Great recovery's, maybe the small coin is a 3 cent nickel... :dontknow:

Keep @ it and HH !! :hello2:
 

The tiny copper coin might be some kind of tax token dating to the depression era - what state are you in ? I'd love to have access to an
old dirt floor basement .
 

Awesome, :headbang:

Great recovery's, maybe the small coin is a 3 cent nickel... :dontknow:

Keep @ it and HH !! :hello2:

Three cent nickel much bigger. It could be a token, anything. May never know!
 

The tiny copper coin might be some kind of tax token dating to the depression era - what state are you in ? I'd love to have access to an
old dirt floor basement .
Pennsylvania. I could actually search the house next door to the bar; we bought that too and it's going to be demolished. Problem is about a dozen or more old telephone jukeboxes in the way.
 

The stone on the ring, from the pic looks like jade or opal. Opal is very fragile so I'd lean toward jade. Great finds
 

Very interesting, would love to see close ups of that coin. Nice finds, sounds like it would be a very fun place to hunt.
 

Those are nice finds congrats! The place is a treasure box!
 

Good finds and story! HHMMM??? My parents own a commercial building an a very historic town. Building dates back to 1860's it also has a dirt floor. I metal detected the floor a few years back and it just went crazy with iron signals. Needless to say I never found anything of interest. Sifting I never thought of. I guess my question to you Halfdime you tried mding first right what kind of signals did you get? Anyway I think this evening I'm going to head over and check it out again. Maybe I will have something to post. Thanks for the good idea!
 

Good finds and story! HHMMM??? My parents own a commercial building an a very historic town. Building dates back to 1860's it also has a dirt floor. I metal detected the floor a few years back and it just went crazy with iron signals. Needless to say I never found anything of interest. Sifting I never thought of. I guess my question to you Halfdime you tried mding first right what kind of signals did you get? Anyway I think this evening I'm going to head over and check it out again. Maybe I will have something to post. Thanks for the good idea!

I didn't run the detector because there are bottle caps and other metal debris all over the place. I did an eyeball search first, but the only way not to miss anything was to sift. I don't mind it, especially since things like clay marbles pop up!
 

Enjoyed your story. Congratulations on the finds.
 

I didn't run the detector because there are bottle caps and other metal debris all over the place. I did an eyeball search first, but the only way not to miss anything was to sift. I don't mind it, especially since things like clay marbles pop up!

Are Sexy ....:icon_thumleft:
 

Top Member Reactions

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom