Mystery House Journal

[robertk]

Just about the time I got my new Deus II, I was looking at an old map of my neighborhood and discovered that in 1940, there was a house sitting in what is now my front yard. This surprised me greatly, so I started hunting old photos and found a 1955 aerial photo, with no trace of the house. So it was there sometime before 1940 to get "on the map", but was completely vanished by 1955.

So I worked out the distances from the old map and got a good guess to where the house was, and started hunting. I quickly discovered that my entire front yard is littered with iron.

I don't know when the house was built, but I'm assuming mid to late 1800's. So far I haven't found anything with a date on it, but what little I have found seems to back up those dates.

So I'm starting this thread to post interesting things, mostly for feedback as I try to understand the history of those who were here before I was. Here's some of the stuff I've found so far. Any comments on what they are, or what they are used for, are welcome.

This was identified (thanks to this board!) as a suspender adjuster, pre-1920.


And this one is part of a victorian bed rail attachment.


This one is a spoon, obviously. Silver plated, well worn. I haven't found an exact match on the pattern and I can't quite read the maker's mark, but the stuff I find that's close is in the early 1880's. Interestingly, I found this standing vertically in the ground, big end down. It took some digging to extract it.



I've also found a few shotgun shell end caps. At first I ignored these thinking they were just trash from a careless modern hunter, but after investigating, these are from around 1900 (Union Metal Cartridge Company, "New Club" style, produced between 1891 and 1911).


And some iron stuff...



I've found several of those square nuts. They look like they might be blacksmith-made because while the hole diameter is pretty consistent, the size and thickness of the nut itself varies quite a bit. And that thing that looks like a telegraph insulator is a mystery -- iron wouldn't make a very good insulator.

Then there's this partial plate -- quarter inch thick and heavy. Maybe a stove part?



And then there's this thing.

It's about 8" diameter, about an inch thick, with a 1/4" "rim" around one side, totally flat on the other. And it's heavy -- weighing exactly 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs) in its current state. No obvious handle or anything to indicate use.

So there's what I know so far. I will post more as I discover it...

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Diving for Pleasure and Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[robertk]

You did a good job sir... Looks great. And glad it works also....!

Thanks!

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Cry Of The Eagle: History And Legends Of The Cherokee Indians And Their Buried Treasure - Grab it through Amazon!

[CreekSide]

Just about the time I got my new Deus II, I was looking at an old map of my neighborhood and discovered that in 1940, there was a house sitting in what is now my front yard. This surprised me greatly, so I started hunting old photos and found a 1955 aerial photo, with no trace of the house. So it was there sometime before 1940 to get "on the map", but was completely vanished by 1955.

So I worked out the distances from the old map and got a good guess to where the house was, and started hunting. I quickly discovered that my entire front yard is littered with iron.

I don't know when the house was built, but I'm assuming mid to late 1800's. So far I haven't found anything with a date on it, but what little I have found seems to back up those dates.

So I'm starting this thread to post interesting things, mostly for feedback as I try to understand the history of those who were here before I was. Here's some of the stuff I've found so far. Any comments on what they are, or what they are used for, are welcome.

This was identified (thanks to this board!) as a suspender adjuster, pre-1920.
View attachment 2087631 View attachment 2087632

And this one is part of a victorian bed rail attachment.
View attachment 2087644

This one is a spoon, obviously. Silver plated, well worn. I haven't found an exact match on the pattern and I can't quite read the maker's mark, but the stuff I find that's close is in the early 1880's. Interestingly, I found this standing vertically in the ground, big end down. It took some digging to extract it.

View attachment 2087633 View attachment 2087635 View attachment 2087636 View attachment 2087634

I've also found a few shotgun shell end caps. At first I ignored these thinking they were just trash from a careless modern hunter, but after investigating, these are from around 1900 (Union Metal Cartridge Company, "New Club" style, produced between 1891 and 1911).
View attachment 2087645

And some iron stuff...

View attachment 2087642 View attachment 2087643 View attachment 2087640 View attachment 2087641

I've found several of those square nuts. They look like they might be blacksmith-made because while the hole diameter is pretty consistent, the size and thickness of the nut itself varies quite a bit. And that thing that looks like a telegraph insulator is a mystery -- iron wouldn't make a very good insulator.

Then there's this partial plate -- quarter inch thick and heavy. Maybe a stove part?
View attachment 2087637 View attachment 2087638


And then there's this thing.
View attachment 2087639
It's about 8" diameter, about an inch thick, with a 1/4" "rim" around one side, totally flat on the other. And it's heavy -- weighing exactly 2 kilograms (4.4 lbs) in its current state. No obvious handle or anything to indicate use.

So there's what I know so far. I will post more as I discover it...

Nice presentation

 

[TORRERO]

More finds today. Mostly just old iron (which I'm starting to recognize as such and just dig it anyway just to be sure). The non-iron things definitely looked and sounded different.

The finds of the day:
View attachment 2087721
A couple of "teeth" presumably from a farm tool of some sort, a hook-shaped hinge, a few metal loops or handles, some straps, a couple of square nuts, a bolt, a railroad spike, a couple of shot shell caps, and some other misc pieces. More detail on a couple below.

The shot shell caps are the same "UMC CO New Club" as previously found, though one of them has the star design around the primer, which means it's a bit newer than the others (though still no newer than 1911).
View attachment 2087718

I'm not sure what this thing is. To me, it looks like the end of a blasting cap. Did they use those in the late 1800s/early 1900s? There isn't much here that would seem to need blasting?

View attachment 2087717 View attachment 2087722

And this thing ... I've found three or four of them, but this is the best one so far. It's about two inches in diameter, copper or maybe brass, and thin as a sheet of paper. Does anyone know what it is? Maybe a jar cap liner? Seems kinda thin and small for that, but that's about all I could think of?

View attachment 2087720 View attachment 2087719

The last thing looks like the inside seal to a mason jar lid, really common on old sites.

 

[robertk]

First hunt of the spring, a couple of headstamps, a bullet, and iron bits. There was one interesting little oddity that I will probably post over on the What Is It forum. It's small, maybe 3/4 of an inch long and 1/4 inch diameter. Shown sitting on the handle of a small kitchen knife. Any ideas?

 

[robertk]

I finally got a few minutes to do some more detecting. I only had about an hour, and I intentionally spent it going back over an area I'd hunted before. I found one little smashed brass thimble, and a few bits of ceramic and glass in the hole. I also dug several "probably iron but sounds interesting" signals, most of which were various combinations of square nails. But one turned out to be a toy gun, nearly complete. I'm going to dump it in Evaporust and see if I can clean it up. I had found the handle of another toy gun previously, and it cleaned up pretty well. It is the same size and shape as this one, so I'm guessing there was a pair at one point. Maybe the rest of the second one is still out there somewhere. As usual, click to enlarge...


And here is the cleaned up handle that I found before, laid next to and then on top of the recent more complete find. I'm hoping that putting the new one in Evaporust can brink it back from the grave.

 

[robertk]

It's amazing what Evaporust can do. Here's that little toy gun again, before and after, then some shots from different angles. It cleaned up so well it almost looks like it would work again. Almost. Click to enlarge the little ones.

 

[robertk]

I went out and played in the mud yesterday (wow, is it muddy out there) and found a few misc bits. I like the axe head (at least I think it's an axe head). Too bad it isn't complete. I don't know what the thing on the left is. The shape looks intentional, but I don't know what it would be useful for. And that little bit in the top center that looks like ceramic is actually cast iron, probably a stove part or related item. I think that's the least rusty piece of cast iron I have found out there yet. Also got a shell casing and a bit of melted lead. And that little flat thing in the lower right is brass or copper, used to be round and flat but not entirely. It almost seems like the back of a pocket watch, but it's awfully thin for that, and there are no markings at all that I can see. These two pics are basically the same, just one has the axe head flipped to see the other side. Click to enlarge.