Chinese relics in a Gold Rush town

[Hendo0601]

They recently cleared and scraped a lot in the old town area of an early Gold Rush-era town in Northern California. I had detected this lot years ago but it was so overgrown with brush and weeds I was only able to cover a small fraction of it...now though it is wide open! This part of town eventually became the “Chinatown” of this city, the opium den building is still standing a hundred or so feet away. Tons of broken pottery and glass on the surface, I didn’t find any complete bottles but then again I didn’t dig for any. I scored 5 Chinese cash coins of varying sizes/ages, I think the oldest of them dates from the 1700s. A really cool saddle terret with silver plating, a broken piece of a stamped brass belt buckle wreath, Hayden & Sanders 1850s brass faucet handle, a gazillion pieces of opium tin, a really cool lead seal with Chinese characters on it, and the big bucket list item for me is the busted Chinese padlock! You can see where someone tried picking the lock with a wire and broke it off in the key hole, so they took a bar and put it under the hasp and pried down breaking the hasp. Not bad for a few hours after work before dark!

 

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[RTR]

They came from all over the world with the dream of striking it rich

 

[Noah_D]

Lot's of history there! Looks like a fun day!

 

[Brian93436]

Pretty cool pieces of history recovered. Which coil were you using?

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!! Congrats!!!

 

[ArfieBoy]

Congratulations on some nice finds! Years ago I found an old opium tin in an old mining camp way up the river from where I live. I got the lid out, but the rest of it was all crumbled in the ground. Also found an oblong oriental coin... but it wasn't Chinese. Research revealed it to Japanese! Thanks for posting.

 

[Noah_D]

Hey Arfieboy, do you remember off the top of your head how old the japanese coin was? Just curious.

 

[Hendo0601]

Pretty cool pieces of history recovered. Which coil were you using?

I was using the 6” coil on my CTX. I started with the stock 11” but there was WAY too much debris in the ground and it was driving my ears crazy. That little 6” coil is like a freakin sniper scope I swear it’s SO accurate.

 

[Timbermaster]

That lock is an incredible find. I would love to find one of those someday.

 

[ArfieBoy]

Hey Arfieboy, do you remember off the top of your head how old the japanese coin was? Just curious.

It was removed from circulation in Japan in 1870. It is a 100 mon Tempo Tsuho coin that circulated in Japan between 1837 and 1870. I don'tknow the specific year of this particular coin. I recovered the coin I the early 1970's.

 

[Noah_D]

It was removed from circulation in Japan in 1870. It is a 100 mon Tempo Tsuho coin that circulated in Japan between 1837 and 1870. I don'tknow the specific year of this particular coin. I recovered the coin I the early 1970's.

Oh cool! Quite an unusual find!