Strange find today, need help.

[deerhuntinghippie]

Well, I've been digging an old home site that is literally within walking distance of my house and today I found something strange.
I saw what looked to be a piece of iron laying on top of the ground and I walked over to get it to carry to the truck for scrap and when I knelt down to pick it up the thing wouldn't budge. After about 45 minutes of digging I finally got it out of the ground. The thing looks like an old steel drum that you'd see folks using for burning trash in back in the day, however, there didn't appear to be any openings and it has been somewhat flattened. It's also green in places as if it were copper, which in my mind would be highly unlikely. When I ran the Garrett over it I received only high tones ranging from pull tabs to quarters...
I don't know what to make of it. Could this be a something other than iron? Would iron green like this?
Anyways, I'm going to go back and get it tomorrow if the weather will allow me to and I'll take some pictures.

 

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[huntsman53]

To be honest, the green looks like the original paint on the drum! However, I would be more worried about the spots that are are bluish green and greenish blue than I would the forest green color on the drum! Without some removal of dirt and debris from the drum, there is really no way to tell for certain if all the spots are paint or something else. If you have a pair or good work gloves or even rubber gloves which would be the best and with the gloves on, try shaking or rocking the drum back and forth and listen for a sloshing noise or other noise coming from inside the drum. If you do hear sloshing, then it still has something inside. Considering the the drum was crushed and the seam seals are broken, the sloshing could be from water that has gotten into the drum over the many years it was buried or it could be leftover chemicals.


Frank

 

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[Ant]

It is anyone's guess to what they had it for, could have even been a road bearer or block that someone didn't see. Is there any noticeable stenciling or metal stamping on the lid, bottom, side or rim (not copper)?

 

[maxpower]

hmmm i recall bashing one of those around back in the day, reminds me of a freon tank from an old monitor top refrigerator

 

[Joe hunter]

Does it taste metallic when you lick it?lol