Interesting story and finds....

[txconservative]

Before I begin I would like for you to all know the finds are not mine, they are a friend of my mothers and I am just sharing them with you because they have a neat story behind them.

My mother's friend and her husband live in Baytown,Texas. Their property backs up right to Cedar Bayou, one of the main Bayou's that runs through Baytown. They have been telling me for a while that I need to come over and do some metal detecting on their property. (Right now I really wish I could just load up and go!!) Her husband Jimmy even told me of an old cemetery he found in the woods and you can only get their by boat.

A few years back they were starting to build the pier in their back yard and had to do some digging. About 4 or 5 feet down they discovered a burlap sack full of the following finds...

We honestly do not know what the story behind these items could be ? Could it be that someone broke into a home long ago and then they threw the sack before they could be caught ? Or was it someone's items in general and they were just lost in the Bayou and washed up? Over the years things have washed up with the water levels and the sand will just compact them further into the ground. Who honestly knows but , I cannot wait to get out and detect on their property !


The gun has some writing in script saying: A.W. Schwarzlose Gm.b.H. Berlin...I cannot find a patented year on the gun anywhere, since it is real rusted and everything is pretty much froze on it. The clip is still in place, the trigger is froze and the slide won't move at all...

The rhino, horse and vase all seem to be brass....The Rhino is VERY heavy...I could not find much about the Rhino, but the horse I found many pictures of it on the internet...

 

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[oldmaps]

The rhino looks like bronze , I always heard that bronze had a cold feel to it when you touched it. Don't know if its true though. It's defiantly an unusual find

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Hello Erika

The Rhino and the Horse statues both look to be made of bronze as oldmaps mentioned. Stylistically the Rhino looks to date from the late 1920's or possibly the 30's and the horse about the same. Look closely for the foundry marks on the bronzes, they could be worth quite a bit at auction.

The silver "Sugar Bowl", which is missing its top, looks to date from the 1920's or 30's, but without seeing the marks on the bottom I wouldn't know for certain. The "Chinese Brass Vase" looks to be 1920's or 30's as well. The gun . . . I have no idea about that one.

Hope this helps,
Dave

 

[hammered]

Hi Tx, here is some more info on the pistol. It appears to be a Pocket model 1908 7.65 blow forward squeeze cocking pistol with 7 round mag.



Here is a link to a forum with the info. I like the Rhino, it looks kind of Art Deco to me.

http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=371339


Hammered

 

[Mackaydon]

http://forums.gunbroker.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=159746
This appears as different info; excuse if repetitive.
Don.....

 

[warsawdaddy]

All kinds of scenarios could be made from these great finds,from German Americans burying their treasures before what happened to the Japanese Americans,happened to them to who knows what?Yep,I'd be detecting there as fast as I could.Goodluck.

 

[WinstonTX]

Looks like robbery loot to me, since you say it was found in a burlap sack and given that there is a gun. Probably no way to track down the owner unless there happens to be an inscription on something.

Pretty cool find! Get out there and hunt that property as soon as you can!

 

[Broken knee]

Here is some info on the gun, Known as "STANDART" pistol, this rare selfloading handgun was a design of ANDREAS WILHELM SCHWARZLOSE (1867 - 1936), born in Prussia (later Germany), resident of Berlin, although mentioned sometimes incorrectly as an Austrian, because of his first really successful invention, machine gun Modell 1907, was adopted first in Austro-Hungarian Empire. Standart or Military pistol was patented first in Britain (as usual in those days. Br. Pat. N:r. 1934, registration date 23rd April 1898). Patent drawing of the Standart pistol shows an accelerator lever, similar to that of Finnish LAHTI L-35 pistol (it's "Achillean Heel"). Schwarzlose Standart pistol prototypes were designed to shoot 7.65 x 25 mm BORCHARDT cartridges, but the accelerator was omitted from the actually producted pistols - at least from majority of them. ( gun depot )
Broken Knee

 

[teleman 2525]

truly an interesting find cool story

 

[FarmerChick]

very cool story
and wonderful pics

you get over there and start detecting right now--you hear!

 

[txconservative]

Thank ya'll so much for the replies ! I am itching to get over there and detect ASAP!!

 

[txconservative]

And you're right... They are bronze...

 

[SGVALLEYMAN]

Great story...great finds, and I'm sure it will be a great time detecting...keep us posted !!!

 

[soupie]

Quite some interesting pieces
And many unanswered questions
Now thats what treasure hunting is about
I like it
HH Soup

 

[Steve in PA]

Interesting story
Of course your detector isn't going to pick up anything that is buried as deep as this stuff was. However, an old church may have stood near that graveyard, and that would be a good spot to search - not the graveyard, the church yard

 

[The Swed Hunther]

Wow, that's a great story!! Thx for sharing!
I agree it seem that this things are a robbery lot, gotta love the horse!
Good luck, and happy hunting!

 

[Old River]

From what I've heard about that area, lots went on over there. Along Ferry Rd. There is suppose to be a Civil War camp site there. I have not researched it, its just what I've heard from other detectorist. There was one CW button found there that brought a good sum of money. If you can hunt that area I would work it over good, and do some research on it.

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Cool Stuff.....No telling what you might find digging that place up...