In me own yard!

[RRey199]

Found some cool stuff right in my own yard. My house dates to 1884, but never occurred to me to look here. ops:
Found various pennies (1950'5 to '84), some other neat stuff, not keepers but still cool. Also found my septic lines :roll:
Oh yeah, found this key. It's 4.25" long. Any one have experience with keys? Was wondering an approximate age. (By the way, found it 2" from a flower garden that gets dug every year. Go figure.

 

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[AU79]

I would keep working it over and over, you will be amazed how much stuff you missed ~

 

[flash]

Cool, you will always have a place to detect in a pinch.
How big is the yard?Turn the discrimination off and scan the yard,see what kind of work you have ahead.I have found that most old yards have alot of shallow trash.Which masks the deeper coins.

Its worth a try I think.Mark off a 8' x 8' area and dig everything with no or low disc.See if it turns up any coins that were masked.

A friend of mine has a house of about the same age.First time there I couldn't figure out why I was getting very few signals.The ones I were getting ,were pull tabs or twist caps and some new money.Turned the disc. down and "ouch" the yard was full of junk.Started removing it and found 4 wheats,oldest 1924.

I would be happy to find a coin as old as that key.It's gotta be 100 yrs old,or more,,,ya think?

Good Luck

 

[RRey199]

The yard is loaded with metal. If I don't disc I'll have the whole acre down 6" and I'd be single.

 

[flash]

Oh I see.LMAO :lol:

Well you should still find a few coins.

That yard I was talking about is loaded with trash also.Once I started digging it,, my friend that owns it was laughing his _ _ _ off at me.Hard to believe how much junk you can dig in an hour.

In these old yards full of trash,At first, I always though someone in the past must have brought in some fill dirt,and that is why it is so trashy.But now I think it is from 100 years or so of people dropping things.Also It seems that fill dirt is fairly clean.At least in my experience.I could be wrong.What do you think about that.

Good luck.

 

[RRey199]

The yard seems to have been topped with fill, because it's in a low lying area with a high water table. My first thought is that anything old is too far down. Then again, up popped the key, 1-2" down, so who knows. My two downstairs bedrooms are built over a dirt crawlspace. This was done around the '30's. I think I'm gonna MD under there. It's like a 70 year-old time capsule.

 

[Lowbatts]

Love those old keys! You say there's a garden there? Don't leave an inch of it unhunted. Also go ahead and hit the original clothesline if it's there and definitely work the area outward from any spot where the the shade tree(s) was/were.
HH!

 

[comfyinvermont]

Hey Rrey, nice find. That key of yours is probably the original door key to your house, It would date from the 1880's or a little before. And don't forget the possibility that there was something on the property before your house was built. Our house was built in 1845, yet I found that there was an encampment from the war of 1812 on the property earlier. I keep finding new stuff that the moles and frost push up higher each year. Keep looking, you will be surprised at what you will find....Lance

 

[RRey199]

That's a good point. Around here we are nearly overrun with woodchucks. When I'm checking out a new hunting ground, especially for bottles, I go straight for the holes to see if the woodchucks have brought up any chunks of glass. It also gives you a good idea of what kind of soil your dealing with. I have the history of my town in an old book, including the date my house was built and who owned it from that day until 1955. Very cool resource.

 

[RRey199]

Brass Key

Here's the key cleaned up. Sure is pretty. It's on permanent shelf duty over my desk. :lol: I think my kids like it more than me. :mrgreen:

 

[flash]

Wow, that cleaned up nice. Does it have any writting on it,or numbers?

You should be able to find some info on it through a search engine.I have seen some sites in the past on old keys.I remember seeing a site were the person had 1000's of old keys and locks.

Good Luck

 

[RRey199]

no markings or numbers. It's 4 1/4 inches long and solid brass. I'll see what I can find.