Three Halfpenny Tokens Antique Ice Skate Blade?

ANTIQUARIAN · Jun 7, 2021

Early on Friday morning before it got too hot, I headed back to a site the arkies dug last year and made a few more saves. :thumbsup:

I found three Upper Canada Halfpenny Tokens, a crushed thimble, some pipe stems and the animal tooth here. The house originally sat on a small hill about 200' from the main road.

On Sunday, I headed to a site I detected last fall. Here I found the D-buckle, a toe tap and a very smooth coin, I can just make out a left-facing bust. I also dug what I think may be an old ice skate blade. I had a feeling this is what it was as soon as it popped up, as it doesn't look like a tool or any plow part that I've ever seen. I have also included a pic of an early pair of German Ice Skates I found online that look similar to what I found, let me know what you think. :icon_scratch:

The house was originally located on a flat spot beside the main road, this old '2' mile marker stone was located close to where the house stood.

Thanks very much for looking,
Dave

erfranks · Jun 7, 2021

Very Nice hunt!!! Great saves!!!

Steve in PA · Jun 7, 2021

Those are very cool tokens Dave!

Argentium · Jun 7, 2021

St. George -3 , Dragon -0, Nicely done !

Digger RJ · Jun 7, 2021

Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

DigToChina · Jun 7, 2021

Good finds Dave! Nice job straightening that one coin too.

Jeff H · Jun 7, 2021

Thank you Dave!! You just ID'd a piece for me that I've been trying to figure for some time. I have a very similar blade except the curl broke off on mine. I was looking at it as some sort of odd door latch or something. But clearly I can now see it as a skate blade.

Congrats on the bank tokens as well. Every time you post one I get jealous!

Jeff

Hunk-a-lead · Jun 7, 2021

such cool finds, awesome

Florida Finder · Jun 7, 2021

Wow what a great day of digs!!!

tnt-hunter · Jun 7, 2021

Congratulations on a nice hunt. Those bank tokens are really nice and make me jealous. From what I can see I have to agree you nailed the ID on the skate blade. Keep up the good work, stay safe and keep swingin.

xr7ator · Jun 7, 2021

Great stuff up there and thanks for the post. I think that mile marker is really cool and one of the better rocks I've seen posted here on Tnet.

E-Trac-Ohio · Jun 7, 2021

Outstanding !

Blak bart · Jun 7, 2021

Dave is detecting now....the finds just keep coming. Nice work buddy keep em coming !!

cheffer · Jun 7, 2021

Nice! Love those blades

Trezurehunter · Jun 7, 2021

Those are some nice tokens Dave, but I tell you, that Skate blade is a great relic.

ANTIQUARIAN · Jun 8, 2021

erfranks said:
Very Nice hunt!!! Great saves!!!

Thank you Sir. :thumbsup:

Steve in PA said:
Those are very cool tokens Dave!

Thanks Steve, these are some of the largest 'Canadian Pennies' we find here in Canada.
Dave

Argentium said:
St. George -3 , Dragon -0, Nicely done !

I love that... thanks for the laugh buddy! :laughing7:

Digger RJ said:
Very Nice!!! Congrats!!!

Thanks Randy.

DigToChina said:
Good finds Dave! Nice job straightening that one coin too.

You noticed that did you Dallas... yup, it was 'taco'd' when I found it, likely from plow damage.
Hope you getting out digging in the heat these days. :icon_thumleft:

Dave

Jeff H said:
Thank you Dave!! You just ID'd a piece for me that I've been trying to figure for some time. I have a very similar blade except the curl broke off on mine. I was looking at it as some sort of odd door latch or something. But clearly I can now see it as a skate blade.

Congrats on the bank tokens as well. Every time you post one I get jealous!

Jeff

Thanks for your post Jeff. :hello:

This blade was a surprise when it popped up and it's definitely not something I'd ever found in a farm field before.

A friend on another forum suggested, "Based on it's size and thickness, it was probably a skate mounted underneath an ice sled of some sort, as opposed to a skate blade someone would've worn on the bottom of their feet"
This makes suggestion perfect sense to me.

Hey if you ever find yourself in the Toronto area, PM me and I'll take you out for detecting for a few hours.
You never know, maybe you'll catch yourself a Dragon too. :laughing7:

Dave

Hunk-a-lead said:
such cool finds, awesome

Thanks very much buddy. :thumbsup:

Florida Finder said:
Wow what a great day of digs!!!

Thanks FF, it was a great couple of days... except for the intense heat and humidity of course.

tnt-hunter said:
Congratulations on a nice hunt. Those bank tokens are really nice and make me jealous. From what I can see I have to agree you nailed the ID on the skate blade. Keep up the good work, stay safe and keep swingin.

Thanks very much for your post and for the compliment tnt.
The better sites are all planted now, so finding new places to detect is my next challenge.

Hope you're keeping cool in Maryland,
Dave

xr7ator said:
Great stuff up there and thanks for the post. I think that mile marker is really cool and one of the better rocks I've seen posted here on Tnet.

Thanks for your post my friend. :wave:

I tried to dig this stone out a few weeks ago, as it's going to be lost forever when the road gets widened in the next few years.
It must weight close to 100lbs, as 18" of it sticks out of the ground and another 30" is still buried.
The problem is I can only get my vehicle within 10' of it and it's buried on top of a small hill with a ditch in between.
Dave

E-Trac-Ohio said:
Outstanding !

Thanks!

Blak bart said:
Dave is detecting now....the finds just keep coming. Nice work buddy keep em coming !!

Thanks Bart, it was a long cold winter here and I'm just trying to make up for lost time. :laughing7:

Best of luck to you buddy,
Dave

cheffer said:
Nice! Love those blades

They're definitely unique... the problem I have now is, I think they're too big to fit in my tumbler drum. :icon_scratch:

Best of luck to you in MA,
Dave

Trezurehunter said:
Those are some nice tokens Dave, but I tell you, that Skate blade is a great relic.

It's funny, I thought the 'Dragon Slayer' Halfpennies would get the most interest. :laughing7:

I guess we just don't find these types of blades in farm fields everyday.
Dave

DigToChina · Jun 8, 2021

ANTIQUARIAN said:
Thanks for your post my friend.
I tried to dig this stone out a few weeks ago, as it's going to be lost forever when the road gets widened in the next few years.
It must weight close to 100lbs, as 18" of it sticks out of the ground and another 30" is still buried.
The problem is I can only get my vehicle within 10' of it and it's buried on top of a small hill with a ditch in between.
Dave

I can help you with that Dave because that sounds like a two man job. It will require you to show me the location of that field and trust that I won?t be a dilhole trying to scoop a location. I like to think I?m not a dilhole [emoji2371]

lenmac65 · Jun 8, 2021

Congrats on the saves. Such a great design on the reverse of those halfpennies - look to be in good shape too.

Relicific · Jun 8, 2021

Dave the ice blade is a fantastic find

ANTIQUARIAN · Jun 9, 2021

DigToChina said:
I can help you with that Dave because that sounds like a two man job. It will require you to show me the location of that field and trust that I won?t be a dilhole trying to scoop a location. I like to think I?m not a dilhole [emoji2371]

Thank you so much for your offer to help with the mile marker stone Dallas. :thumbsup:

I'll send you a PM to discuss it.
Dave

lenmac65 said:
Congrats on the saves. Such a great design on the reverse of those halfpennies - look to be in good shape too.

Thanks for your post Steve. :thumbsup:

The pennies did clean up nicely, these old British-made coins are always fun to find.
Hope you're keeping cool my friend,
Dave

Relicific said:
Dave the ice blade is a fantastic find

Thanks Tony, it's certainly a unique find.
My only concern now is that none of my tumblers are large enough to handle this piece, I just might have to try my hand at electrolysis. :icon_scratch:

Dave