city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/17/07)

[bill gent]

these homes are scheduled to be dozed to nothing for a DOT project in the city 4 are 1840 homes and 1 is pre 1820 rest (of 30) are 1930-60 homes.

Today me and some fellow officers went into the homes to rescue what we could to preserve city history before it's broken. some chemical bottles (joked they were gonna call it in when i left about a meth cooker driving a k9 car) great friends huh? and also found a beautiful antique gas cast iron stove with porcieln fronts we will contact a dealer to see if hes interested in buying it and will give the entire amount to the old woman that had lived in the home all her life and is now in a retirement apartment
We did also locate a city beer bottle (that went out of business in the early 19900s few intact bottles remain) (I own 1 of 8)

Believe it or not the blue house to the left is actually older . There were also homes with hidden cellars could be because this was part of thr underground RR, The Penn RR depot was across the street (still active tracts) and was a depot for field artilliary during the CW . We did dig and found oysters shells about a little over 2 foot down

 

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[civilman1]

Re: city finds before the dozer

Just doing your job Bill....Wouldn't want anyone tripping over those bottle's and getting hurt.Neat stuff.Hope you can find more goodie's before the dozer's put more nail's in the ground .....Good thing with the stove situation by the way...HH!!

 

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[bill gent]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED)

thanks to my partner in crime. I have the DOT report on the area we are exploring . Seems the state as we thought brought in all sots of equipment to scope out the privy's in the area using tax maps (like we have) they sought the older homes (like we did ) and excavated the backyards where they could with a backhoe then sifted the contents what they found was a mixture of household artifacts from the 19th century of medicine bottles pottery some clothing articles food remains.
Origionally the area was inhabited in the late 1600s (like we thought) by the Dutch and later by German / Irish early 1800s to the early 1900s . The whole area was self-sufficient with even their own electric and gas works . Most inhabitants worked in the surrounding businesses (laundry, Mack truck, brewery, and RR)

We will return as we will be using a larger coil and other deep ground detecting equipment and some city equipment to excavate the area. Apparently the state has noted the area as a historical center but will still go ahead with its plans to demolish everything this time we plan like i said returning in force with our own research team (privy and well hunters) and 4 other metal detectors th'ers

To date I perhaps own the oldest piece find. More info as we find it We have all agreed that the finds will remain our property but we will start a city history museum with prior and present artifacts from the city

 

[bill gent]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED)

no label just raised letters on the bottle it was a white beer (german /irish neighborhood turn of century possibly from the Lembeck Betz brewery 1889-1920 note the bottle top

 

[TreasureTales]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED)

Very nice beer bottle. WTG

 

[Ed-NH]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED)

Looks to be a blob top. Very nice find, the color is great!

 

[aa battery]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED)

 

[coinman66]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED)

Nice finds! Like the bottles. HH Coinman66

 

[Nana40]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED)

VERY, VERY NICE, Bill! 8) GREAT finds! Good luck to you in finding many more!

Nana

 

[shootist]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED)

This is a really cool thread,love that blob top there must be a lot more bottles around there,bet you find some down in the cellars. Try and see if you cant locate the old coal shoots,Ive found a lot of interesting items near them in the ash pile. Alos I didnt see you mention this. You should try and recover all of the old doorknobs if any are present,as well as old hardware such as hinges and window hardware. Im sure the city will take plenty of time in tearing down those places you may have all of the summer to hunt around there. If you know anyone with any say so maybe you can get them to at least tear down the newer homes first,good luck with that spot....Shoot

 

[bill gent]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/14/07)

Because Mike NJ couldn't go Ill post these pictures at his request

All in all it was a fair but turned out to be exciting day prographed the older homes the blue one being the oldest had a new cap as well as top floor put on in the 50-60s
Check out the tree in the backyard its a cherry tree check the age by the size of that trunk it's old and may be late 1600-early 1700s easy (its fat) and it could be Phat as well yes indeed
the stove was next to impossible to get down ourselves it was built in Scotland in the early 1900s by the Columbian stove works in Scotland . The buyer will come (guess when they feel like it to examine it my estimate is from the size and past stoves on the net around 3K. It will be up to them to remove it if they want it you would need some lift equipment to get it out the back because those steps will not hold up to the task unless they take it completely apart (wonder how it got upstairs?)

Having been slightly incapacitated myself I couldn't lift or bend too manytimes (the PD I hunted with was going to cuff me to the rail with my own cuffs sheesh) so I was delighted to roam found a beautiful plate but has a slight chip in it (dang!) also located a grain scoop and a beautiful room gas heater, a collection of stamps back to the early 1900's and a penny postcard which i will shoot when i can

swung my MD a few times in some of the pits that the state was nice enough to dig for us. Alto of trash had a friend dig for me got a low tone hit and found this beautiful fossil next to a small piece of metal thought it was cool until i got home and washed the crud off of it it was ringed with could be gold don't know or really care but its not painted on believe me anyone can look at it when they come visit me this has to be the coolest find or fossil I have ever found to date .

To finish out the day we went exploring and walked to the back of a warehouse that will be demolished as well with the rest of the area only to come across 3 guys who probably just stole two cars. Well to make a long story short we were just all gonna walk away until they mouthed off welllllllllllllllllllllllll guess the sound of 5 semi automatic weapons engaging a round changed their mind and attitude-----(busted !)

I finished my day out with some help rescueing 2 Koy fish from an outdoor pond before the million cats in the area got them they are about 10" long glad i found a bucket and had a fish net they will make a great addition to my outdoor pond with my other koy and feeders the kids love to look at them in my garden so now the pictures sorry so long winded

 

[lonewolfe]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/14/07)

Love the bottle and the plate!

Looks kinda run down around there (well - really run down lol)

are you sure it's safe to detect around there!? lol

HH

 

[Monty]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/14/07)

I know a feller that takes old cook stoves and rebuilds them and they sell for big bucks. He claims they cook better than today's stoves because they use to do a lot more baking than now. He has one in his house that is huge with all kinds of chrome knobs and stuff. Looks like the grill of a .59 caddy! Monty

 

[bill gent]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/14/07)

Is he close to me (NJ) Monte?

 

[bill gent]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/14/07)

Dangerous did you say? "Walk softly and carry a large cal. gun"

You just have to have a city attitude and use alot of common sense. Knock on wood I have walked away from trouble but never ran. Besides we always wear a vest and carry ------------but none of us are under 6'3 and large (not fat)

 

[Mike95inNJ]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/14/07)

Pretty cool Bill. Kinda bummed I could'nt go today. My wife just had surgery on her foot and I really needed to stay close to home. It seems everytime you go there some unsavory characters get to running their mouth. That first guy was a piece of work I tell ya. I think the guns should go with you everytime we go there from now on. I really wanted to meet Mark. Anyway, I did go to the local school I've been hitting. Will post shortly.
Cya, Mike in NJ

 

[bill gent]

Re: city finds before the dozer (UPDATED 1/14/07)

Your going with us to the HS (site of shanty twn and CW fort) will tell u the date when i know Call me tonight maybe Ill travel to you. Ah a reprieve from the gov huh? (to go THing) lucky you
Think the site is almost worked out the only thing left is to dig fresh privys there I will be building a sifter this PM we will also wait til the state digs and scrapes that area who know what will come up. Im suprised that to date no early coins were discovered from the 1800s as the area wasn't populated til then but was farmed

 

[bill gent]

Mrs. Nickoles the last owner of perhaps the oldest structure in the area we are hunting and last owner of the antique stove has declined to accept any funds pending the sale of. She will instead donate any funds to a future museum in the city. She did accept some newspaper articles about her home and herself , a brick from the corner of the foundation and a beloved pet photo of a dog long since passed on she had on a letter opener (cherished the most). We spend some time conversing about the area over the some 92 years she spent at that one residence and it's history. It was a short time later, after we left that my friend and myself realized that we had literally talked to a history book.
The DOT in their report to the state confessed that the area was historical enough to declare a historical spot however construction will continue and the homes will be leveled and buried under a highway overpass. They will make available their finds , erect a plaque atesting to the history and take many photos of the older homes.

Guess that's the price of progress sheeessshh

 

[Trash Digger]

Way to go to all of you guys. I'm glad you are able to "pack" so you can give the punks an attitude adjustment.

I have a couple of suggestions. You might want to take a tape recorder with you when you talk to that marvelous old lady. Get her to repeat all the history she can and get it on tape. Then you could have it transcribed and printed into a pamphlet for inclusion in the museum.

Second, if you can, get that cherry tree when they cut it down. Cherry is a fairly expensive wood. It could be worth a grand or two if you can find the right buyer.

Mike

 

[Scots Gaelic]

Excellent finds! Sounds fun. By chance were you able to lift up the window sills? Pre 1930's, people liked to hide stashes there, also near the counter wieghts (which can be worth a little $$).

 

[bill gent]

In reply to scots post we did a through search and laid hands on almost every room including the cellars , cupboards door sills and creaky or lose floors nothing did manage to come up with a beautiful Terra cotta crock pot (no lid) there weren't alot of coins to be found I may return with Mike NJ to sift the side yard
The thought had crossed my mind to salvage most brick 1820-1840 as well as some side slats (home) and the tree