Mystery stuff

Crutch

Full Member
Sep 1, 2005
162
3
Springfield Tennessee
Detector(s) used
DFX / Eagle II SL 90
I found the items in rural yards. The three similar pieces appear to be musical insturment parts. There was a vibrating reed that has long since gone. It was rivited on and ran along the machined slot. There are letters stamped on the 3 peices. One is G# as in G sharp. The others are D and possible B or F on the green one. One is turned over for viewing purposes.

The two handle things are solid brass also. Both have a hole thru the side of the tapered part. Just above that there was a peg. One of which is still in place. Both were made with the screw on the end and is about a 10-32 thread. Just about the screw it has a machined flat on both sides. I don't believe them to be clock keys or lamp finials.(spelling?)
 

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I would guess that the key looking things are off stringed instruments and are used to adjust the strings tension. The other reed type items may be off a harmonica. JIM
 

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The Bottom 3 are PUMP ORGAN REEDS. (well Actually The "REEDS" are Broken off) They would be attached to the Bottom Just Below the hollow Center. and Would be a thin Strip of Metal. (see the First of the 3 Bottom ones where the two rivits Held Reed to it)

Just a Guess here: but Considering age/Look I'd say the Top are off a Banjo, Fiddle, or Violin

I HOPE the Top one is off a STRADIVARIUS? ;)

? ? ? ? ? ? COOL FINDS, SHOWS THE AREA IS OLD & may have had Church, Circus/Carnival or MEDICINE SHOWS, there.
 

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After talking to the owner of the house and describing the pieces to him I believe he came up with the right answer. The two brass pieces are most likely the gas valves to old carbide lights. Not he kind coal miners used but rather the kind used inside residential homes. That would stand to reason since the are tapered and there is a hole thru the side. Also at the house was what appeared to be an old well or cistern but I couldn't hunt next to it. He said it was a holding tank for the carbide. It has a steel liner and the gas formed when water drips onto the carbide build pressure and flows thru the pipes into the house to the old lighting system.

Thanks for the info on the pump organ reeds.
 

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Just a question, If you need to move this because it is off topic, please feel free to do so, but it just made me curious when this member mentioned using a metal detector in a rural area, I just wondered, if you are on private property and find something really valuable or even just a nickel, is it finders keepers or are you held under some type of law to contact the homeowner about it? Just made me wonder, I don't know basic metal detector etiquette, maybe we can start a new section? lol! Thanks so much for any reply!
 

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No real concerns about laws other than what is agreed upon by the land owner and the searcher. Well written agreements signed by both parties are binding but usually not necessary. A friend of mine researched a story about a cache on a farm. After asking permission to hunt the owner said sure, "I don't care", he told him he had reason to believe there was a hidden cache on the property, the owner shruged his shoulders and said good luck, he asked if he would mind signing an agreement that any thing found would be split evenly and the owner agreeded. After finding three caches by the barn, the silver was divided evenly. All was well until the owners family found out about it and decided that they wanted my friends share. After their lawyer saw the signed document, he (the owner's relative's lawyer) sorry, nothing can be done about it.

I am sure others on this sight would have better advice but I have never had a problem anywhere. I also have problems asking people that I don't know for permission to hunt so I usually avoid that. The only time I asked to hunt peoples yards I didn't know personally was after an ice storm and I went around in the oldest section of town and offered to cut the tree limbs up for permission to hunt, oops, gave away one of my secrets. They thought they got a good deal. What they didn't realize is what it did for me to be able to help them and me at the same time. I distinctly remember a buffalo nickel, a fired williams cleaner, a dropped spencer with most of the brass still attached, several other mini balls and some grape shoot. That is the easiest way to gain access to one of the kinds of yards you just drool over.

If someone seems a little skeptical of me I just walk away from it. I don't need to be judged and really don't want any kind of connection with anyone that would think I was taking something from them that they think they deserved even though they would never go hunt it up themselves. Well, I'm rambling, hope this helps.........sombody.
 

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