Gold, Silver, Pearls, War Artifacts, and More! Haha! :D

[UnderMiner]

From the contents of a house clean-out I picked up last night. Still going through the bags and boxes right now but so far I have uncovered: 1 14K pearl bracelet, a vintage US soldier's uniform jacket (with Sterling Silver rifleman's badge, other awards, and patches), a soldier's hat with brass American Eagle insignia, a 1963 $10 Bill (From pocket of Uniform), and more to come I'm sure! Any ideas what the patches and insignia on the uniform mean, I think the "8 with the arrow" is the logo for the 8th Infantry Division, I wonder if this uniform is worth anything significant? Enjoy the pics, I'm sure I'll dig out more to come.

The first thing interesting I pulled out of the bag was this really cool looking army hat
with decades worth of dust accumulation.


Then I pulled out the jacket with all its decorations:


Some of the decorations on the jacket:



The sterling Silver Rifleman's badge:


Just on a hunch I checked the inside pocket of the jacket and found the soldier's long forgotten $10 bill - dated 1963!



The soldier's cap was also included:


Also found this 14K and pearl bracelet still in its original box (albeit wet and a little frozen to some cotton):

All cleaned up: I wonder if it's worth anything significant? Maybe $20 at most probably.


Anyway I have to get back on the hunt, will check back soon if I find anything else in this lot!

 

[bill from lachine]

underminer,

Good score so far.....those look like natural pearls so should have a bit of value....suggest checking the big E for something similar to gauge the price.

Regards + HH

Bill

 

[pepperj]

Another good score for your efforts, it seems that there's just too much money in this worlds for folks to care about anything smaller than the address and how much the broker can sell it for.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Nice score! I don't know about the pearls, but I can tell you the Class A's are likely going to be 1960's Vietnam era and really don't have a lot of collector value even though you'd think they should... There are just too many of them still out there, unlike the older stuff... you might get around $100 for the set on ebay? If they were one of the more collectable units like Airborne or Cavalry and with a bit more bling they'd go for more. It's a really cool find though, and definitely worth hanging on to. It's a shame the name tag is gone, it'd be cool to be able to trace them to the soldier who wore them.

 

[UnderMiner]

It's a shame the name tag is gone, it'd be cool to be able to trace them to the soldier who wore them.

Perfect timing with that comment. Look what I just found. An old envelope dated Nov. 12 1963, same year as the bill in the pocket! And its addressed to a "Pvt. Walter J. Pulsch" stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri! That has to be our guy!

 

[Ron P]

The Patch is from the 8th Infantry Division. The 8th ID was stationed in Germany, I was assigned to the 8th ID in Wiesbaden Germany from 82-85. We use to say that the 8 was the 8 hours it to to fly there, and the Arrow was the Shaft you got for being assigned to the division. Appears he was assigned to an air defense artillery unit. Leonard wood may have been where he trained. You did good.

 

[Roadrunner007]

WOW! ....Super discovery.

 

[UnderMiner]

The Patch is from the 8th Infantry Division. The 8th ID was stationed in Germany, I was assigned to the 8th ID in Wiesbaden Germany from 82-85. We use to say that the 8 was the 8 hours it to to fly there, and the Arrow was the Shaft you got for being assigned to the division. Appears he was assigned to an air defense artillery unit. Leonard wood may have been where he trained. You did good.

Awesome info! Also very cool that you were part of the 8th ID in the 80's.
From my research the "we support the line" pin is from the 28th U.S. Army Field Artillery unit. There are two on the uniform, one on each shoulder.

 

[fmfdoc]

Think crossed cannons are artillery, pretty sure the "we support the Line" with the bomb is Arty. The uniform looks Viet Nam-era, though. Value, as always, is what someone is willing to pay. No big money there, though.

 

[Fingerlakes119]

Great save, Again

 

[hunting deer]

Great finds! I was also in the 8th Infantry Division stationed in Mainz, West Germany in "85" and "86". I was Infantry and 19 years old. It was called "the crazy eight" in my circles. Mostly good memories and lots and lots of beer! Wish I had detected back then, I bet I could've hit some good spots!

 

[UnderMiner]

Great finds! I was also in the 8th Infantry Division stationed in Mainz, West Germany in "85" and "86". I was Infantry and 19 years old. It was called "the crazy eight" in my circles. Mostly good memories and lots and lots of beer! Wish I had detected back then, I bet I could've hit some good spots!

Exciting youth experience you had! Just imagine all the WWII artifacts you could have probably just eyeballed off the ground if you had known My bet is that there was also still alot of Nazi related stuff lying around in German thrift shops at that time for dirt cheap. Still you had a nice time over there. I bet the German women were nice too

 

[wheatfinder13]

Nice finds. I like the ten dollar bill

 

[hunting deer]

I was pretty ignorant of history back then except for the basic stuff. I did date a German girl who did't speak any English. I learned a lot of German customs and got some rewarding insight about the German culture.

 

[cjon455]

very cool, not everyday we see stuff like that pop up

congrats!

 

[Argentium]

With the name on the envelope you have a decent chance of returning these items to a surviving family member (or the soldier himself )
Nice saves ! Are these things that you are finding on the curb in boxes /bags ?

 

[UnderMiner]

With the name on the envelope you have a decent chance of returning these items to a surviving family member (or the soldier himself )
Nice saves ! Are these things that you are finding on the curb in boxes /bags ?

Curbs, dumpsters, sometimes people even invite me into their houses to cart away stuff they don't want. Unfortunately my reserch indicates the soldier died last year and apparently it was his family that threw away his stuff.

 

[Argentium]

That is unfortunate ! This veteran served his country and his family throws his uniform and medals in the trash - Wow.

 

[UnderMiner]

This is actually not the first time I've found stuff like this. A few years ago I found a WWII serviceman's war log with all his photos and the names and addresses of all his old radio buddies. Some notes inside talked about the tragedies at Pearl Harbor and the battle of Tarawa. Even contained a few souvenirs like drink coupons and meal tickets. Grand kids threw it out along with all his other belongings including some of his medals and a solid gold pin. The house ended up being sold and demolished and it has now been replaced by a large mansion of sorts.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

You are on a roll! Great score!