Short Hunt – 1920 Silver 'Fishie' Nickel

[ANTIQUARIAN]

This was a c1860 homesite that I first detected in 2015, the winter wheat was harvested here in June. The other day I was driving by and noticed the ground had been turned, so I decided to hit it yesterday for a few hours. It never ceases to amaze me how something as small as a Scoville wick adjustment knob sounds so loud under the coil of the Deus.

Up until this point I had found very little in the way of a ‘keeper’, then I got a 75 – 78. I thought, “great, aluminum can slaw”, but instead out popped a 1920 Canadian silver Five Cent Piece! I gave it a quick tongue bath and took a couple of pics. This is the first ‘Fishie’ I’ve found in over six years! “The Canadian five-cent coin, commonly called a nickel, is a coin worth five cents or one-twentieth of a Canadian dollar. It was patterned on the corresponding coin in the neighboring United States. The denomination had been introduced in 1858 as a small, thin sterling silver coin, that was colloquially known as a "fish scale," not a nickel. The larger base metal version made of nickel, and called a "nickel," was introduced as a Canadian coin in 1922."

The small ‘Duraglas’ brown bottle with bakelite top was an eyeball find, the rubber bulb on the top has rotted away but the glass tube inside was still intact. This little brown bottle with a bakelite top and glass dropper is an Owens-Illinois Glass Company produced medicine ‘dropper’ bottle made in the 1930s. “The Owens-Illinois Glass Company was the result of the 1929 merger between two glass-making giants of the industry: Owens Bottle Company (Toledo, OH; predecessor Toledo Glass Company.” The number on the LEFT of the diamond logo is the plant code number, the number on the RIGHT is a year date code, and the number below the logo indicates the mold number… “4” was Clarksburg, WV."

Thanks very much for looking!
Dave

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[Tuberale]

Nice 1920 nickel.

 

[weregolf]

A coin in good shape

 

[Argentium]

Somethin smells a little fishie around here !

 

[Hawks88]

Good post Dave. I really like that nickel. Looks like a great place to be detecting at this time of year.

 

[smallfoot]

I wish there was some cultivation going on around here anymore..the only thing growing is buildings...Nice finds there..hit it again, you just started finding the goodies!

 

[Digger RJ]

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[Gridwalker306]

Congrats on the sharp looking fishscale! I hope you don’t have to wait another six years for the next one. [emoji106]

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Nice 1920 nickel.

Thank you Sir.

A coin in good shape

Thanks very much for your post weregolf.
Dave

Somethin smells a little fishie around here !

You're one of the few guy's here who'd get that reference my friend!
Great to hear from you,
Dave

Good post Dave. I really like that nickel. Looks like a great place to be detecting at this time of year.

Thank you Hawks, I've enjoyed this site for years.
The finds have never been great here, just consistent.
Dave

I wish there was some cultivation going on around here anymore..the only thing growing is buildings...Nice finds there..hit it again, you just started finding the goodies!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts smallfoot.
As I was mentioning to Hawks above, this site was likely an early homesite, as the majority of the finds have been household related.
On my first trip to this site in 2015, I remember I found the doorbell to the front door. (See bottom of this thread for a pic.)
Best of luck to you in FLA,
Dave

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

Thanks Randy!

Congrats on the sharp looking fishscale! I hope you don’t have to wait another six years for the next one. [emoji106]

I hope I don't have to wait either.
Too bad it wasn't a 1921 ay.
Dave

 

[unclemac]

Good post Dave. I really like that nickel. Looks like a great place to be detecting at this time of year.

that made me chuckle .... a silver half dime being called a "nickel"... i bet I do that all the time without even thinking about it!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

nice finds, congrats!

 

[DigToChina]

Fantastic details on a great find Dave!

 

[DirtDigginDan]

Nice finds, I really like the little silver! hope to find some of that Canadian shiny some day.

 

[washingtonian]

Love the fishy and the pics of the countryside. Well done man!!

 

[R_Arn15]

Very cool!! I found a lid from an old bottle from that company here in south Mississippi a while back. Took me forever to figure out what company that emblem was from. Congrats!!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

that made me chuckle .... a silver half dime being called a "nickel"... i bet I do that all the time without even thinking about it!

It's so true, the term 'nickel' has become part of our cultural fabric ever since we started producing the the 5-Cent piece in nickel here in 1922.
Thanks for your post Mac,
Dave

nice finds, congrats!

Thank you Professor!

Fantastic details on a great find Dave!

Thanks very much my friend.
Hope you're having a good year so far,
Dave

Nice finds, I really like the little silver! hope to find some of that Canadian shiny some day.

Good morning Dan, given your location being relatively close to Canada you have a pretty good chance.
There's an interesting looking 'green space' at Barton & 14th Ave in Buffalo, do you know it?
Best of luck to you,
Dave

Love the fishy and the pics of the countryside. Well done man!!

Thank you Sir.
I think a pic of the area helps give the finds context.
Dave

Very cool!! I found a lid from an old bottle from that company here in south Mississippi a while back. Took me forever to figure out what company that emblem was from. Congrats!!

Thanks for your post 'R' and for sharing your story.
Through research I found The Owens-Illinois Glass Company owned the 'Duraglas' trade mark name, this name appeared on the base of most of the products they supplied.
So who knows what this bottle originally held, but it likely had a paper label attached when retailed.
Dave

 

[unclemac]

too bad too, the fish scales were such a hold over of times gone by and a really neat little coin with a lot of detail.

 

[Tpmetal]

nice find, blows my mind people didn't lose every single one of these they owned they are so small. Also hard to find with detectors so great job on that!

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

too bad too, the fish scales were such a hold over of times gone by and a really neat little coin with a lot of detail.

This is so true Mac, these 'little nickels' were only made from 1920 – 21 with a 80% silver, 20% copper content.
In 1922, our Canadian nickels metal composition changed to 99.9% nickel.

"The first ever Canadian five-cent coins were struck by the Royal Mint in London England as part of the introductory 1858 coinage of the Province of Canada. The coins were the same size and general composition as the corresponding American coins of the time, so the five-cent coin was based on the US Half Dime. Although the American denomination was introduced as a larger copper-nickel coin in 1866, and the five-cent silver was retired in 1873, the Canadian five-cent coins remained small and silver until 1922. Up until 1922, Canada's five cent coins were made mostly of silver (92.5 %, or sterling silver until 1920, then 80 %, or fine silver). In 1918 and 1919, the five-cent coin required more than one third the silver allotted for coining. The composition of the five-cent coin was changed to 100% nickel in 1922, saving the Canadian government about $150,000 per year.

Five-cent coins dated 1921 are among the rarest and most collectible Canadian circulation coins, known as "The Prince of Canadian Coins." Estimates of the number of specimens known range between 400 and 480. In May 1921 the government of Canada passed an act authorizing the change to the larger nickel coin, and subsequently most of the 1921 mint run was melted down."

nice find, blows my mind people didn't lose every single one of these they owned they are so small. Also hard to find with detectors so great job on that!

Thanks for your post TP.
You might think due to it's size that it would be hard to find, but in my Deus headphones it sounded huge and it was 5" down.

Best of luck to you this fall,
Dave