Few Non-Ferrous, but lots of Eyeball Finds!

ANTIQUARIAN · Oct 6, 2020

I got out on Sunday for a few hours to one of my permissions that has recently been disked. :thumbsup:

Unfortunately, the non-ferrous finds were few and uninteresting, thankfully the eyeball finds were plentiful as it had rained the night before. I love detecting in the fall, it’s my favourite time of year. The wind is cooler and dryer than in the spring and summer. The noise of dry leaves rustling in the wind on the branches lets me know summer is over, and the winter snows will soon be here. The fields and sky above me are filled with noisy flocks of Canada Geese feeding on the leftover soybeans getting ready for their annual migration south to warmer climes.

Ok, enough of the reminiscing about the seasons :laughing7:

back to the finds. My first find poking out of the soil was a stoneware ink bottle, unfortunately, the top lip is missing. My next eyeball find was sparkling at me from the dirt. When I picked it up, I felt it might be silver embedded in a piece of quartz, but a friend told me that it’s most likely Iron Pyrite. This is interesting because the nearest known iron mine is over 100 miles east of here. My next find was a carved ‘pillar’ of white marble… how this got here I’ll probably never know. The last pic shown is of three other stoneware ink bottles that I’ve found in the fields while detecting over the past few years. I’ve decided that I’m going to take them to an antique restorer in Toronto and have the chips on the top lips repaired. I’m going to have these for the rest of my life, so I feel it’s only fitting that I have them restored. I’m going to leave the chips on the base though.

Thanks very much for looking,
Dave

Calabash Digger · Oct 6, 2020

nice!

ANTIQUARIAN · Oct 6, 2020

calabash digger said:
nice!

Thanks.

Digger RJ · Oct 6, 2020

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

Aureus · Oct 6, 2020

I really like finding pottery and stoneware on the fields. Those seem to be some great examples. Congrats!

Wildcat1750 · Oct 6, 2020

Looks like it was a very fine day out. I love this time of year too! :icon_thumright:

ANTIQUARIAN · Oct 7, 2020

Digger RJ said:
Nice!!! Congrats!!!

Thanks Randy.

Aureus said:
I really like finding pottery and stoneware on the fields. Those seem to be some great examples. Congrats!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes to collect bits of broken glass, pottery and rocks from the fields Anton. :thumbsup:

Here's a pic of one of the most beautiful rocks I've ever found... it was glowing yellow in the morning sunlight when I found it too.
I lightly buffed the surface with Preservation Wax and it now sits on a side table in our office... my wife doesn't appreciate it though. :laughing7:

Dave

Wildcat1750 said:
Looks like it was a very fine day out. I love this time of year too!

Thanks very much for your post Nick.
Hope you're having a great year my friend,
Dave

pepperj · Oct 7, 2020

I alway appreciate the bonus when a field gives up a whole bottle, a rarity almost it seems. I really like the pottery inks, sure have dug a mess of broken ones over years-getting one that just chipped is a bonus.
Have you ever tumbled any of the glass shards?-many artists really like-hint-hint.
You're really due for a nice point/spearhead/or tool, as you your always picking up glass and rocks.
BTW nice rock-I like even though your Mrs doesn't like it. :laughing7:

( I'm thinking your rock might be an old Bocce ball-hard to see the size)

WannaDig3687 · Oct 7, 2020

Great eyeball finds. I would have been so pumped with those pieces. I’m glad you were rewarded with the ink. I’ve never seen one of those. When you find these pottery shards, do you save them according to the site you found them at? Then do you try and piece them together to get an idea of what it was? Asking for a friend, lol.

Aureus · Oct 7, 2020

I've never seen a rock like this, really cool.

ANTIQUARIAN · Oct 8, 2020

pepperj said:
I always appreciate the bonus when a field gives up a whole bottle, a rarity almost it seems. I really like the pottery inks, sure have dug a mess of broken ones over years-getting one that just chipped is a bonus.
Have you ever tumbled any of the glass shards?-many artists really like-hint-hint.
You're really due for a nice point/spearhead/or tool, as you your always picking up glass and rocks.
BTW nice rock-I like even though your Mrs doesn't like it. ( I'm thinking your rock might be an old Bocce ball-hard to see the size)

Thanks for your post Jim. :thumbsup:

I've always wanted to find an arrowhead or a spearpoint, it will happen one day, my only hope is that I recognize it when I see it.

Here are a couple of better pics of the 'yellow' rock that I found a few years ago... and no, it's not an old Bocce Ball. :laughing7:

WannaDig3687 said:
Great eyeball finds. I would have been so pumped with those pieces. I’m glad you were rewarded with the ink. I’ve never seen one of those. When you find these pottery shards, do you save them according to the site you found them at? Then do you try and piece them together to get an idea of what it was? Asking for a friend, lol.

Thank you for your interest WD. :hello:

I don't save all the glass and pottery I find, only the pieces that are 2" or larger and have a colourful scene or information about the maker on them.
I currently have two large baskets full, one with the glass and the other with the porcelain fragments.

If I'm lucky enough to find two pieces that are a recent break from the plow, I will try and glue it back together for posterity. :laughing7:

Best of luck to you,
Dave

Aureus said:
I've never seen a rock like this, really cool.

Thanks Anton.
I'm on the verge of 'hoarding' interesting pieces like this in our home, so I need to be aware of everything I now bring home from the fields. :thumbsup:

Dave

pepperj · Oct 8, 2020

Thanks for the new pics of your rock Dave, ya I agree fully "It's not a Bocce Ball" Now I can see in photo #3
I'd be saying it's a nice dinner roll if we were living in the Flintstone era. :laughing7:

Have you ever asked a geologist?

ANTIQUARIAN · Oct 9, 2020

pepperj said:
Thanks for the new pics of your rock Dave, ya I agree fully "It's not a Bocce Ball" Now I can see in photo #3
I'd be saying it's a nice dinner roll if we were living in the Flintstone era.

Have you ever asked a geologist?

Unfortunately, I don't know any geologists in my area Jim.
I'd love to know what type of rock this is and where it may have originated though? :icon_scratch: