brianc053
Hero Member
- Jan 27, 2015
- 987
- 3,443
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- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Equinox 800
XP Deus 2
- Primary Interest:
- Metal Detecting
Question about toy train and some other unusual items
Hi everyone. I had a quiet morning at work so I detected at a new location here in town, a property with a late 1700's house (but with a lot of disturbed ground, making it tough to find the undisturbed really old areas).
I only found one coin (a wheat penny, date not recoverable) and I don't think I found anything super-old yet, but I found two mystery items and two items that I don't know much about and that I'm hoping you'll help with.
Item #1: the weirdest item of them all, this large item could be a lot of things. I originally thought it was a watering can nozzle (it's definitely not). Then I thought it was possibly an incense burner (no way to open it). But as I cleaned it I noticed the hole in the side/bottom that's in line with the two non-iron silvery "things" (rivets, decorations?), and maybe most importantly the item is not completely hollow. In between the upper and lower halves there's a layer of metal, kind of like the beef in a hamburger. When I tap on it through the grill with a thin object the sound is like a microphone membrane, if that makes sense.
Any ideas?
Item #2: First, I hit it with the shovel. Oops, it happens. I thought this was just some sort of cap to something until I cleaned out the underside, where I found that removable piece in the 2nd and 3rd pictures. And there's a tiny hole in the middle of the chrome-looking cap thing. Thoughts?
Item #3: OK I know this is a doorknob. But I know nothing about how to date a doorknob. Can anyone point me to resources where I can do some reading please?
Item #4: And I know this is part of an old toy train. I did enough research to know it's part of a "floor train", but I'm too ignorant to know if this is aluminum, tin, iron or some other metal. Sorry - please help me learn. The underside says "T6" and "MADE" nothing else (no "made in USA" or similar, just the word MADE).
Thanks in advance for all your help!
Hi everyone. I had a quiet morning at work so I detected at a new location here in town, a property with a late 1700's house (but with a lot of disturbed ground, making it tough to find the undisturbed really old areas).
I only found one coin (a wheat penny, date not recoverable) and I don't think I found anything super-old yet, but I found two mystery items and two items that I don't know much about and that I'm hoping you'll help with.
Item #1: the weirdest item of them all, this large item could be a lot of things. I originally thought it was a watering can nozzle (it's definitely not). Then I thought it was possibly an incense burner (no way to open it). But as I cleaned it I noticed the hole in the side/bottom that's in line with the two non-iron silvery "things" (rivets, decorations?), and maybe most importantly the item is not completely hollow. In between the upper and lower halves there's a layer of metal, kind of like the beef in a hamburger. When I tap on it through the grill with a thin object the sound is like a microphone membrane, if that makes sense.
Any ideas?
Item #2: First, I hit it with the shovel. Oops, it happens. I thought this was just some sort of cap to something until I cleaned out the underside, where I found that removable piece in the 2nd and 3rd pictures. And there's a tiny hole in the middle of the chrome-looking cap thing. Thoughts?
Item #3: OK I know this is a doorknob. But I know nothing about how to date a doorknob. Can anyone point me to resources where I can do some reading please?
Item #4: And I know this is part of an old toy train. I did enough research to know it's part of a "floor train", but I'm too ignorant to know if this is aluminum, tin, iron or some other metal. Sorry - please help me learn. The underside says "T6" and "MADE" nothing else (no "made in USA" or similar, just the word MADE).
Thanks in advance for all your help!
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