Just the strangest find...

paleomaxx

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In many thousands of plugs that I've dug, this is far and away the weirdest thing that has popped out.

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I was digging for a large deep signal (ended up being iron sheet at about 10"), but when I flipped the plug over this literally fell out. It's a solid glass cube with beveled edges. Here it is again under normal light:

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And here it is under UV light:

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So awesome! I had a hunch that it was uranium glass (also knows as vaseline or depression glass) when I dug it, but the fluorescence under UV light is an easy test to confirm it. This type of glass was popular from the 1880's to 1920's and was made by adding uranium dioxide to the glass to impart the characteristic yellow/green color. That does make it mildly radioactive, but the uranium is chemically bonded to the glass so under normal conditions it can't leach out or cause any harm.

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It was used for all sorts of decorative glassware, but most of what I've seen up until now were plates, vases, and bowls. This is the first I've ever seen that's just a purely decorative cube, but I guess it could have been a paperweight or a sample piece put out by the glass-works to show off their product.

I found a few other less odd, but still fun pieces during the hunt. My first full utensil set!

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There was also this very neat cast iron toy plane.

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This larger button has a brass front, but an iron back and sounds hollow.

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This was also a strange find. I found these pewter fragments broken apart, but close together and the same area and the design looks a little like the US treasury off the older $10 bill reverse engraving. Does that seem accurate?

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At any rate, quite the memorable hunt and I'm eagerly awaiting more rain so I can hit some of the deeper signals in this yard!
 

Upvote 43
Kriptonite orange juice......fresh squeezed !!
I think il stick with my sunkist dont want to glow green like the glass haha

That's an awesome find! I wonder if Corning used to make uranium glass; it would be even cooler if these were locally made pieces.
Thank you ! The juicer was found in Schoharie county. Not sure how close they are from each other? Yours would make a great paperweight on a desk
 

I thought I had a match to your pewter finds but mine shows The Capital ( it is labeled in the area below the building ) and is five inches in diameter . I found almost all the pieces though I never researched it. Since yours shows a different building , there may have been a series of them made.

Actually I think that's it! On mine the dome is just missing, but building's facade is the same. Thank you so much for posting that; it looks like I have more pieces to recover. :laughing7:
 

The back mark appears to be A.C. Bosselman & Co New York; a souvenir maker and importer active between 1905-1914. I did have one piece with fragments of lettering; I'll see if they match a section of that mark.
 

You should zap that cube with a laser and see what happens, nice finds
 

That IS unusual....and the glass actually sent a signal to the detector or as it near other metal? Very cool! My first thought was...."Where's Superman?" but as Rbowtie97 suggested...maybe kryptonite [emoji6]
 

That IS unusual....and the glass actually sent a signal to the detector or as it near other metal? Very cool! My first thought was...."Where's Superman?" but as Rbowtie97 suggested...maybe kryptonite [emoji6]

No it didn't ring up on my detector i left it at home that day. It was an eyeball find in an old glass dump. I just kept it because the green glass looked cool. On the same trip i eyeballed a rusty old band-aid tin turned emergency kit wrapped in tape. On the ride back to the house on the gator the last day of the trip i looked inside and there was a 54 silver dime tucked in the bottom.That sealed the deal on that trip as we packed up and left for home 20 mins later. Its nice when you find it but even nicer when it finds you!
 

Wow. That cube.

Don't have any clue what the heck it is...but would love to find one.

I dub it the shiny, glowing cube of awesomeness.

Great find!!
 

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