Victorian Era Leather purse inside of an iron concretion w/silver jewelery

[riverdiver]

Victorian Era Leather purse inside of an iron concretion w/silver jewelery

Here is my story, I had read in W & ET about other divers recovering iron nodules u/w that upon drying out sometimes produced gold and silver items. The areas I dive have similar iron nodules/concretions on the bottom up to 2' in diameter. On my last dive in August I saw one at 28' with a clay Ink embedded into the top of it. I recovered it and upon bringing it to the surface I observed a small ornate silver necklace coming out of the block. I took it home and let it dry for a day in the sun. I put the block on my bench and set to removing the necklace with a dremel tool, the whole front of the block popped off and exposed a leather purse containing an Indian Head Penny with 18** for a date, 2-Silver Brooches with glass inlay designs a silver mourning pin and some other items cemented into the block. 3-days later and several recharges of the dremel produced a lock, 2-hair/clothing pins?, 2-brass earrings and some small links that deteriorated. The original iron source turned out to be a small gauge RR spike. I was diving in a river near a RR Bridge looking for bottles when I found it.
Enjoy the photos!

 

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[worldtalker]

Re: Victorian Era Leather purse inside of an iron concretion w/silver jewelery

riverdiver,Now that indeed is a find,any part of Jimmy Hoffa in there? God Bless HH Chris

 

[curbdiggercarl57]

Re: Victorian Era Leather purse inside of an iron concretion w/silver jewelery

That is just too cool.
All the parts of purses I dig are devoid of any coins.
Way too cool.
Carl

 

[TENNESSEEGAL]

I just found this post. I think this is one of the coolest finds I've seen. I Imagine a young lady enjoying a pleasant boat ride with her beau and she reaches to point out something of interest on the bank and OH! There goes her purse and her treasures. Where it lay at the bottom of the lake until you come along to rescue it from the silt. I envy you the job of having carefully uncovered each piece.

 

[g-olden years]

Wow! What a thrilling find! And you might not have bothered looking closely if you hadn't already read that article! Last year in a field, I dug an ornate old purse frame minus it's cloth or leather purse which I guess had rotted away, and my furthr detecting resulted in no coins or jewelry anywhere nearby. But a few weeks earlier about 20 yards from that spot, I'd made a surface find of an old silver dollar, so maybe they'd originally been lost together. Andi

 

[hotrod]

nice finds

 

[knarf44]

That's why we do what we do!!!! I'm Greeeeen!

 

[birdman]

That is such a cool recovery!