Cast Iron Object With Pennies Inside?

[Itzzjustwill]

I found what appears to be cast iron with Pennies inside. I found it using my Garrett ace 250 and when I put the coil towards the top hole it registers as a penny clvery consistently. Unfortunately it seems to be encased in cast iron all around so I don't know what's inside. It doesn't rattle at all. Should I open it? Would it be worth less if I open it, or does the shell not matter?

 

[Ism]

Doubt there are pennies inside unless you can see them. Large iron mass (especially vertical pipe and/or rods) often comes up as high conductor targets like coins. Vertical nails and bolts in the ground often sound like a deep coin.
In addition, iron rings like those from old wagons/horse tack, sound like a high conductor target also. I dug a couple nails and bolts just yesterday because they rang up in the penny/dime range with zero indication it was an iron target. Iron orientation matters.
Interesting piece though, maybe someone can identify it for you? I have no idea.

 

[Hbot37]

bang it with a hammer and knock all the crud off

 

[pepperj]

Hope it's not the nose cone off something that goes boom.

 

[unclemac]

why pennies?

 

[cudamark]

If the cast iron object has some value, I wouldn't break it. Instead, I would soak it in Evaporust (or similar) until whatever might be inside releases from the container. If it's worthless, sure, pop it with a hammer if you like.

 

[Emil W]

Are you sure it's iron? If it has iron objects inside it could have sounded like iron on you machine. Check it with a magnet, especially around the rim where the magnet wouldn't stick to anything inside.

 

[plehbah2]

Metal detectors are useful tools, but they are not miracle devices. Just because the metal detector gives a meter number the same as a penny does not mean that there is a penny anywhere near the coil. The coil is a copper wire coil with electricity running through it, and this produces an electromagnetic field which distorts upon encountering various anomalies. There are lots of anomolies in real world conditions likes round holes in cast iron objects, wet soil, dry soil, bent iron nails, burned bricks, background ground mineralization, etc. Metal detectors will see a flattened steel bottle cap as a coin, even though it is ferrous. It's complicated. One of the most important lessons I learned with my metal detector early on was that it lies much of the time. This was driven home one morning at dawn when I was a kid, and took my White's Eagle II out into a field at an old fort which had been plowed for the first time. About 20 feet into the field I got a strong and repeating signal. The decal on my metal detector indicated that a number on the VDI of 32-34 was a pulltab. Well, I was not looking for pulltabs! I went about 5 feet and got an identical signal. I'm not digging those pesky pulltabs! I kept going, and some salty and smart @ss old timer decided for some reason to follow along my footsteps into the field. He got the same signals I did except he dug them. They were both pristine stamped brass bugles from a Civil War era kepi hat. I learned a powerful lesson that day, and I could have had a pair of those beautiful insignias in my display of fort items. But I learned!

My point here is that there is almost certainly no penny in that cast iron object. Your detector is registering the shape of the object, the hole, and the shape of the hole, and giving you some data. Since you are mentally calibrated to coins, you are interpreting the data as coins, but it's not.

The metal detector lies!

 

[creskol]

What does the small end look like?

 

[Groundhogg]

I found what appears to be cast iron with Pennies inside. I found it using my Garrett ace 250 and when I put the coil towards the top hole it registers as a penny clvery consistently. Unfortunately it seems to be encased in cast iron all around so I don't know what's inside. It doesn't rattle at all. Should I open it? Would it be worth less if I open it, or does the shell not matter?

Don't worry about whats inside. Put it on the shelf and get back to swing the coil. Cool find. I love the old stuff.

 

[creskol]

I still think it is a hanging beam scale weight.