1850's Schoolhouse Adventure

[sibbley]

My latest permission is an 1850's schoolhouse owned by a municipality that actually seems to care about history. I have the blessing of the municipality and its Historical Commission to clean out the property and find what I can. Any items pertaining to the school will be given to the Historical Commission for display.

The school was built in about 1859 and operated for about 100 years closing in 1958. The school served grades 1-8 till 1951 when it was lowered to grades 1-6. In 1959 the school building and property was sold to a nearby farm and sold again in 1997 to a large corporate farm. In 2013 the school building and property was gifted to the municipality. The structure was refurbished between 2013 and 2015 to its current fine condition.

I was able to get a half day off work August 23, 2024, and decided to spend a couple hours at the site just sniffing around for any obvious decent tones. Tons of iron, I mean it's a very trashy area. Around the building is the worst I think I have seen. I imagined most of the trash there was from the work done to refurbish the building. I got lucky though, I went to search around the trees in the yard. They are thick, so I figured they were at least 80 years old. That paid off with a coin spill including silver.

1850's Schoolhouse Coin Spill with SILVER!

The next township over owns an 1850's schoolhouse which I just received permission to hunt. One condition though, they get to see all the recovered items. I told them they could have all the recovered items to display. The building was rehabbed several years ago, and I figured there would be...

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I spent a couple hours on Saturday and Sunday removing iron from the yard and around the building. Haven't taken photos of those items yet. I also pulled flashing, bottle caps, pull tabs, and the dreaded foil from around the building. While working the building area, a gentlemen wondered over from the nearby farm and introduced himself. Turns out he not only attended school there but also worked for the farm that owned the property from 1959 to 1997. This fellow was a wealth of information and explained why I was finding the iron items I was finding.

At one point the school building was renovated to accommodate tractor repair. Tractors and farm equipment were stored on the grounds for many years. Broken parts were just thrown to the ground and left to rot and sink into the ground. I have my work cut out for me, but I have all the time in the world to work at finding the older pieces.

I'll continue to post as I make progress.

 

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[sibbley]

Aren’t those new zinc cents sad. I’ve found Indian heads in better condition than those. The zincs will be eroded away within 50 yrs. US coins have gone downhill. They have about reached bottom.

Yeah, the one was in decent shape. Don't find them like that very often.

 

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[sibbley]

I broke into a new era of coinage yesterday. Found a 1907 IHP. Also hit on another Wheat, a 1917.

I have last week's finds to post. Work has kept me pretty busy.

 

[sibbley]

My luck of finding a coin every time I go to the school continued today. A 1926 Wheat penny. I actually found two Wheats yesterday while there but forgot to take pics while taking these.

I also found another interesting piece. I'm sure it's some type of decorative pin/brooch. There is a partial patent number on the back of the clasp. It appears that some of the numbers have been worn off. This item made me happy. I've been pulling a lot of junk out of the ground yesterday and today. Yesterday my wife and I spent almost an hour trying to get a 2' long piece of iron out of the ground almost a foot deep.

The pin/brooch is exactly the kind of item we are looking for. Pieces used or worn by the people that used the school and grounds. The Historic Commission is happy with our progress so far.

I posted it over in the "What is it" forum.

 

[sibbley]

I've been using either the Deus 2 or Manticore with the 9" coils mostly at the school. Friday afternoon I switched gears a bit by using the 11" coil on both. It has really seemed to make a difference, I think. Finding the IHP on Friday and 3 more Wheats Saturday and today plus the pin/brooch. All five items were found where I've been working with the 9" coils. An area about 10' x 10' square where the kids used to pitch pennies in the 40's and 50's. All have been about 4-5 inches deep.

Only thing I've noticed with the 11" coil on both machines is that bent nails give me 83-92 signals. The Manticore 2d does give me a trace reaching up to the Ferrous line. But I dig anyway because you just never know.

I've been itching to try the Deeptech Vista at the school, but I have a bitch of a time trying to get a spot to ground balance. There is iron everywhere. I've been digging all the larger iron, but the smaller iron will be digging holes on top of holes. I've been using zero for ground balance on the Manticore and it seems to be working well at this site.