On Good Friday I investigated an old homestead that I found on my 1870 map which Highway 407 north of Toronto now runs through. Unfortunately, I was too late as the bulldozers had done their job well obliterating all evidence of the site.
All I found here was a 1999 $1 coin and the remains of a one-piece button. I then headed back to the site across the street for this site to where I found an old bank box lid. It was here that I found the oil lamp base, the ‘orthopedic’ horseshoe and the green brass drawer plate. I then headed back to a c1865 school site where I found a couple of King George VI pennies and a mechanical pencil from the Birmingham Stove & Range Company. The brass parts of the pen have plated, which is why I was able to hear it. It’s ‘body’ is made of a type of celluloid plastic, which has likely been made to resemble marble. Stylistically, I’d like to say that it dates to the 1940s or 50s. 
These are all sites that I won't have access to in a couple of weeks after the fields are planted and the grass stands back up. So anything I can pull out of these sites now I consider to be a bonus, as these relics might never have been found if I hadn't taken the time to investigate. Birmingham Stove & Range Company
The Birmingham Stove & Range Company was a manufacturer which produced cast iron wood stoves and cookware in Birmingham from 1902 to 1993. The business was founded in 1902 as the Alabama Manufacturing Company with Samuel Jones as president. He built the foundry in North Birmingham to produce hollow cookware for the Atlanta Stove Company of Atlanta, Georgia. Jones originally leased 80 convicts from the State of Alabama as laborers. The firm acquired a number of foundry patterns from a failed business in 1909 and was reorganized as the Birmingham Stove & Range Company with B. Harry Hartsfield as vice-president and general manager and S. T. Price as secretary/treasurer.
The foundry was damaged by fire in 1915 and reopened on a new site on Huntsville Road at 27th Avenue North in Collegeville. Samuel Jones died in 1930 and was succeeded as president by his brother, Bolling Jones Sr. In 1933 Samuel Jones' son, Bolling Jones Jr took over as president of both the Birmingham Stove & Range Company and the Atlanta Stove Works, then wholly owned by a holding company, Republic Stove.
Under new financial laws in 1938 the company was restructured under the name of the Atlanta Stove Works Inc. (doing business as the Birmingham Stove & Range Company). The Atlanta foundry closed in 1957 and manufacturing of both lines was consolidated at the Birmingham plant. Output was increased greatly with the debut of "DISAMATIC" mould-making machines in 1966 and sales took off with the introduction of a divided "corn bread skillet" in 1967.
On Saturday I visited an old home site that has recently been sold for residential development. I noticed that the site has now been ‘staked’ for services and grading, which I assume will be starting as soon as the ground dries up. This site has produced well for me over the past three years and I’m going to miss it greatly. Here I found the white glass marble, the blue glass button and the blacksmith made plow hardware with the ‘devil’s tail’ at the end. On Sunday morning I visited another site that I’ve been detecting for the past three years. All I found here were the odd bits of brass, the padlock face and part of a fishing lure that states “Angler, makes fish mad". I then headed to another homestead where I’ve found very little since I first detected here last fall after the harvest. All I found here was a folded oval fragment of nickel plated brass, which I now think is what's left of a whistle.
Thanks very much for looking!
Dave
PS. I was getting the oil changed on my truck in my hometown last week, when we noticed smoke in the backyard of a home behind the garage. I was able to snap a couple of quick pics before the local Fire Department arrived to put out the flames. The garage dated to the 1920s and was obviously tinder dry, as it completely burnt to the ground in about 15mins!
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