Fun day in the sun at old house site

DickH · Apr 8, 2009

Had fun in the sun yesterday; one of the first sunny days of the year. Got permission to hunt a 10 acre 1930's home site that's soon going to be bulldozed for commercial property. Just hunted a ten foot wide strip around the foundations. Didn't find much of value; but had a lot of fun, with more hours detecting to come. Lots of trash in the area; but I'm new to this and dig everything. The first image shows the stuff I brought home to clean up. The 46¢ bottom right was found in one 6 inch diameter hole - aren't spills fun! The framing hammer head, reciprocating saw blade, faucet knob and grommet all gave out intriguing signals. The big, heavy thingy-a-bob in the upper right corner has me stumped. When I dug it I first thought I'd brought up a big padlock; but after cleaning off the clingy clay its now a whatsit. 2-1/2" x 1-1/4" x 1-7/16" high and very heavy. The outer case is obviously steel but it is filled with a grayish metal {lead?} and has just one hole on each top & bottom.

The other thing of interest is the thing I've labeled big cent. After cleaning it all up I still couldn't make out anything except that it seemed to have a couple letters stamped on one side. I scanned it at high resolution and now you can read 'cent' on one side and can imagine the Lincoln memorial above it. Only problem is that it is significantly larger in diameter than a regular penny. Weird.
Anyway, had lots of fun and there's lot's more property to search

bula · Apr 8, 2009

Looks like you had fun & picked up some nice finds.

kuger · Apr 8, 2009

It strikes me as a padlock.....but where is the other hole?....or key hole?

DickH · Apr 8, 2009

That's what confuses me too. It does in general look like a padlock; but there is only one hole per side. Granted one could be the key area there still needs to be two holes on the other side for the loop.
Dick