Some New Pictures

wmas1960

Sr. Member
May 17, 2005
260
2
Chicagoland
Yesterday, in a couple of posts I mentioned that I would post pictures when I get some available. I have just finished prepping them and thought I would post them here

First, not a find from today or yesterday but the first metal detecting find I ever made. While in high school, I went out with a friend and we detected some of the campus. The only thing I ever found with my Jetco,

OldDoorKnob-640.jpg


My father took it to his dental office and cut off the rod that mounted it into the door. He cleaned it up some and put it in an ultasonic cleaner to clean it up. Note the copper that is on the surface in some places. Now days, I wish we hadn't cleaned it up so much or thouroughly. It should have been a dark aged brass or bronze, whatever it is. Just doesn't look right to me. It has been about 30 years since I found it and will probably be some time before it's color reflects it's age again.

Compare though to a new door knob that the school mounted and presented to him and my mom in appreciation for their work on the parent's club. By comparison to the old, looks like it is probably brass.

NewDoorKnob-640.jpg


Even though the door knob isn't that valuable, it is probably the most valuable find I have made to date. The school no longer exists and was torn down about 6 or 8 years ago. All the doors on the main floor had such door knobs. This one was very badly worn and covered with dirt. Don't know how long it was burried but it would have to have been pretty old. I found it back in the mid 70s. The school was built and opened it's doors before 1915. Don't know how long they had those knobs in use but considering the difference in texture, and all, I wonder if it might have been a more original door knob to the building. Perhaps something that got, accidentally, tossed after some renovation. The area we were searching was an area where they used to dump stuff back in the earlier days. There were several such sites on campus where they dumped stuff. Before they started trucking it off site. I wish I knew then, what I do today about detecting. It would have been so much more fun detecting, if I knew more about the history of the land and what the hot spots to detect would have been. Back then I got discouraged with my lack of success and the detector sat in the garage for about 20 years till it got pitched during a house cleaning.

Last night, went to a school yard play lot near me. Found a bit of coin and a zipper pull, a couple of parts of pencils, a Nike button and a token that I don't know what it is.

050804-Highcrest-640.jpg


There was a dime that, while only a 1999 seemed kind of interesting. Something about being burried in the wood chips and composting mulch underneath, some of the copper seems to have been drawn to the surface. Looks rusty but on close look it looks more like copper.

050904-Highcrest-1999Dime-640.jpg


Then there is the mystery token. Anybody know or recognize where it is from?

050904-Highcrest-Token-640.jpg


I will post links to this thread in the other threads when I can find them all and get a moment. Got to run know.

Keep Swinging, Lots of cool stuff out there to be found..... Even if it isn't that valuable.
 

Upvote 0
Nice doorknob, be happy with your work on cleaning it and mounting it. Looks great, a piece of art! That could sell for a good deal of money on E-bay some day. Great assortment of finds good to see someone else is digging trash ;D what??... The dimes I have been digging have this copper look to them I think the ground makes them like that. You could check it for a missing whatsit (The layer of nickel is missing, can't recall what they name this) Turn the coin on edge and see if you can see the two layers of copper and nickel or can you just see the copper. If its just copper you could have something. Also keep in mind the inner core of modern dimes is pure copper.

Good job, thanks for the pics!!
Keep @ it and HH!!
 

Being the sentimental value of the fact that they came from the school where I spent 6 years of my life, (Military School), I don't think I would sell them. I know though, from other memorabilia from that school that they would fetch a bit on eBay. Incidentally, the pictures are 2 different doorknobs. One, the textured one... and unmounted, is the one that I found with my first detector. Odd that it was the only thing I ever found with that machine. My friend had a detector that was far more sophisticated than mine and he was finding tin cans and an occasional rifle cartridge. I only found 1 thing but it was so much nicer than anything else that we found that day. I wish I had had better luck that day. Might have kept my interest more. Like I said earlier, had I learned then, what I know now, I could have found some pretty good stuff by looking in better places.

The second door knob, the one that is mounted was a presentation piece that the school gave my parents. There is a big difference between the early one, that I found, and the newer one that they gave out. High Polish, shiny... Feels lighter in weight too.
 

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