halfdime
Silver Member
About a year ago, I noticed an old house that I'd driven past a thousand times without seeing; it was set back maybe 100 feet from a very busy road in our area, and not obscured in any way. Over the course of 40+ years, I just had no reason to pay attention. Having a detector changes the way you look at the world, however, and suddenly there it was. It happens to sit beside a prominent candy shop, so I stopped in just to inquire if anyone knew who owned the old house next door. As it happens, it belongs to the owner of the candy shop. She wasn't in when I first inquired, so I left one of my little pamphlets and asked the lady to pass it on to the owner. That probably never happened. Recently, while riding with someone, I pointed out the house; they told me that the fire department was supposed to burn it down, but the asbestos shingles had to come off first. Well, they're off and I was still really interested in the place. Not just the ground around it, but the inside, too. I've discovered that there are often VERY interesting artifacts hidden just under the skin and even in the skeleton of old houses. I found the candy store's website and it had the email of the owner posted. I composed a very well-reasoned plea to search the grounds, and mentioned that the interior should be searched as well before it was roasted. I attached pictures of some of my better old finds, possible contemporaries of the house in question.
That was about a week ago, and I hadn't heard back. I had reason to be down there again today (almost twenty miles away) so I stopped in and asked to speak to the owner. The woman I asked turned out to be her, so I told her my name and she recognized it right away from the email. She was very interested in what I had told her and gave me her permission to hunt it all- yard and house. She said that nobody had ever detected the yard!
After a few hours of leaf duty at my mother's house, it was down for an afternoon hunt. Sadly, I've concluded that the yard has been hunted; in about an hour and a half, I found a clad dime and four memorial pennies. I searched enough to be certain that I wasn't the first. I'll go back and continue, but I don't have high hopes. With about an hour left, I decided to do a little investigating inside; it's been trashed in spots, and nothing I was about to do would reduce its value further! I'm a big fan of mantles and the areas around fireplaces; when I moved into my house I found tons of cool stuff that had found its way behind the mantle. Today's house has at least five, and maybe more, fireplaces, and soon the mantles were moved, along with the big stone in front of the fireplace (hearth?). Soon the treasures started to appear: hidden behind one was this old picture, which may not translate well here. Sometime in the distant past, a youngun decided to stash his marbles behind the baseboard of another -21 in all! At another, this lucky token with a 1918S wheat penny in it appeared - the only old coin of the day! Finally, a card identifying a candidate for office- in 1874! I'll go back and do more detecting, and take better tools for interior exploring; I'm sure there is more to be found.
That was about a week ago, and I hadn't heard back. I had reason to be down there again today (almost twenty miles away) so I stopped in and asked to speak to the owner. The woman I asked turned out to be her, so I told her my name and she recognized it right away from the email. She was very interested in what I had told her and gave me her permission to hunt it all- yard and house. She said that nobody had ever detected the yard!
After a few hours of leaf duty at my mother's house, it was down for an afternoon hunt. Sadly, I've concluded that the yard has been hunted; in about an hour and a half, I found a clad dime and four memorial pennies. I searched enough to be certain that I wasn't the first. I'll go back and continue, but I don't have high hopes. With about an hour left, I decided to do a little investigating inside; it's been trashed in spots, and nothing I was about to do would reduce its value further! I'm a big fan of mantles and the areas around fireplaces; when I moved into my house I found tons of cool stuff that had found its way behind the mantle. Today's house has at least five, and maybe more, fireplaces, and soon the mantles were moved, along with the big stone in front of the fireplace (hearth?). Soon the treasures started to appear: hidden behind one was this old picture, which may not translate well here. Sometime in the distant past, a youngun decided to stash his marbles behind the baseboard of another -21 in all! At another, this lucky token with a 1918S wheat penny in it appeared - the only old coin of the day! Finally, a card identifying a candidate for office- in 1874! I'll go back and do more detecting, and take better tools for interior exploring; I'm sure there is more to be found.
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