🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Basement Finds — Coin-Sized Discs, Iron Hardware, Possible Watch / Locket — Victorian Canal Property (1865)

[detectorFRED]

Basement Finds — Coin-Sized Discs, Iron Hardware, Possible Watch / Locket — Victorian Canal Property (1865)​

Hey everyone — hoping for help identifying a group of items recovered while cleaning my basement.

🏠 Context​

• Victorian home built circa 1865
• Located near a 19th-century canal corridor in New York State
• Basement has partial dirt floor with large stone slab coverage
• The structure suggests multiple basement phases and possibly an earlier filled crawlspace

Items were recovered while sweeping loose dirt along slab edges.

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🔎 Coin-Sized Disk Objects​

I recovered multiple round objects that initially read like coins but appear to be something else.


Measurements

• Diameter: 22 mm – 29 mm
• Weight range: 4 g, 7 g, and up to ~12 g
• Heavily mineralized / layered appearance rather than clean coin strike

Some characteristics:

• Several show possible layered construction
• One appears to have a copper grommet or attachment point
• A few look like they could be two halves pressed together
• Others resemble flat rivet heads, caps, or plugs

Because of this I’m wondering if these could be:

• buttons (plain or workwear)
• rivet heads / harness hardware
• locket or photo pendant
• watch case fragment
• industrial plugs or punch-outs
• electrical knockout discs from later wiring work
• mineralized coins (less likely but possible)

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⌚ Possible Watch / Locket​

One rounded piece has a small copper loop/grommet that makes me think:

• small pocket watch
• locket or keepsake pendant
• watch fob component
• decorative medallion

But corrosion makes it difficult to confirm.

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🔩 Iron Hardware & Nails​

I also found numerous iron fragments including:

• square / hand-forged looking nails
• spikes and structural fasteners
• a slotted iron piece that resembles harness or mechanical hardware

My initial thought was firearm-related hardware (stock nails or bolt parts), but I realize corrosion can make many objects resemble firearm components — so I’m very open to correction here.


Given the canal proximity, these may instead relate to:

• carriage / stable hardware
• structural fasteners from earlier construction
• canal or workshop activity
• demolition or fill debris

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📜 Additional Interesting Find​

Mixed into the dust were fragments of very old inked paper that appear:

• brittle and pressed
• possibly woodcut or letterpress printed

Which makes me wonder if fill material included debris from an earlier structure, workshop, or disposal layer.

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❓ Questions​

1. Do the disk weights and diameters fit more with buttons, rivets, plugs, or mineralized coins?
2. Does the grommeted piece resemble a locket or watch component?
3. Are the nails consistent with mid-1800s hand-forged construction?
4. Does the grouping look like basement fill from demolition rather than primary occupation debris?
5. Any canal-area detectors seen similar mixed material in basement soils?

Any help greatly appreciated — especially comparisons or similar finds.


Thanks!

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👍 Personal note to you (not for posting)​

Brian — based on what I’m seeing:


Most likely

• large flat buttons (workwear / coat)
• furniture or harness rivet heads
• structural nail heads
• lead or alloy plugs
• stove/furnace ash clinkers
• demolition fill from renovation phases

Less likely but possible

• locket/watch fragment (the loop piece is interesting)
• coins
• firearm hardware

The woodcut paper fragments are actually one of the more historically meaningful clues — they strongly support basement fill from an earlier discard layer.

 

[searcher]

Slotted piece is a knockout(pryout) from an older metal electrical outlet box.
Some of the round ones could also be knockouts from construction boxes.