Triple Mercs and a Motorbike

ModernMiner · Feb 5, 2011

Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

Andy (DD-777) invited me up to his neck of the hood woods today to detect an old property field. Beautiful old property but we soon found out the field was full of fill dirt. >:(

We then decided to try to score permission at one of the old house we spotted just down the road. Since Andy is a bit intimidating, I told him to sit tight in the car while I put on my charm. We ended up scoring on the first property we stopped at which was a mid 1800's house. Very nice people. :thumbsup:

I dug a Merc right off the bat by a large Oak tree in back of the house. Andy was digging TootsieToys like crazy in a small radius close to one of the outbuildings. I scored a few more Merc's and some wheats close to that same outbuilding.
Also dug what looks to be an earring (?) and a 1960's (?) TootsieToy motorcycle. Very cool toy. :thumbsup:

UPDATE: The motorcycle is a Honda made by Lesney. It was part of a cycle/ trailer combo in the 60's. Solved by "Diggin the Past".

My Mercs were: 1939, 1943 , 1945
The oldest wheat was a 1920.

Thanks again Andy & good luck to you guys out there tomorrow. If Joe digs any 1800's silver please hit him over the head with your shovel and leave him there! :tongue3:

-Dug-

P.S. I really like cruising in your Hispanic Titanic land yacht. :occasion14:

MaineRelic · Feb 6, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

Looks and sounds like you guys had a very fun Hunt ! Gotta love a kids ability to lose things

MaineReic

KOOTNEY KID · Feb 6, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

Merc Merc hooray! :laughing7:

Goes4ever · Feb 6, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

The mercs are awesome, but love that toy!

ModernMiner · Feb 6, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's a Motorbike

Antiquarian said:
Very cool finds guys!
This is my favourite piece . . . looks like it might have
been part of an early 19th century English baby rattle!

Dave

Dave,
I'm thinking you may have nailed it. I found this one when I typed in "18th century baby rattle" in Google. The little danglers look identical!

This particular picture is of a 200 year old whistle/rattle combo.
Silver rattles( teething-sticks ) have been traditional christening presents for well over 200 years. Sometimes called Elizabethan inventories, rattles were a combination of a whistle & bells to create a noisy toy that could amuse a child for hours. Silver was known to kill bacteria and was known as a natural antibiotic and preventative against infections which would be a very good reason for its use in items given to babies.

-Doug-

ANTIQUARIAN · Feb 6, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's a Motorbike

ModernMiner said:
Antiquarian said:

Very cool finds guys!
This is my favourite piece . . . looks like it might have
been part of an early 19th century English baby rattle!

Dave

Click to expand...

Dave,
I'm thinking you may have nailed it. I found this one when I typed in "18th century baby rattle" in Google. The little danglers look identical! This particular picture is of a 200 year old whistle/rattle combo.
Silver rattles( teething-sticks ) have been traditional christening presents for well over 200 years. Sometimes called Elizabethan inventories, rattles were a combination of a whistle & bells to create a noisy toy that could amuse a child for hours. Silver was known to kill bacteria and was known as a natural antibiotic and preventative against infections which would be a very good reason for its use in items given to babies.

-Doug-

Great research work there Doug! :icon_thumright:

I've seen these before in antique shops here in Canada and when complete, they're worth a ton of money! (Thousands!)

As your article above mentions "Silver was known to kill bacteria and was known as a natural antibiotic and preventative against infections which would be a very good reason for its use in items given to babies".

How did this item register on you detector?
Is it actually silver?
Are there any identifying hallmarks on it?
Are there any holes in it where it looks like there might be something missing on it?

The dangling little bells gave it away for me. The one you found has obviously had a hard life and it's incomplete, but it's still a great example of it's type! (If it really is a baby rattle)

Dave

ModernMiner · Feb 6, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

Antiquarian said:
ModernMiner said:

Antiquarian said:

Very cool finds guys!
This is my favourite piece . . . looks like it might have
been part of an early 19th century English baby rattle!

Dave

Click to expand...

Dave,
I'm thinking you may have nailed it. I found this one when I typed in "18th century baby rattle" in Google. The little danglers look identical! This particular picture is of a 200 year old whistle/rattle combo.
Silver rattles( teething-sticks ) have been traditional christening presents for well over 200 years. Sometimes called Elizabethan inventories, rattles were a combination of a whistle & bells to create a noisy toy that could amuse a child for hours. Silver was known to kill bacteria and was known as a natural antibiotic and preventative against infections which would be a very good reason for its use in items given to babies.

-Doug-

Click to expand...

Great research work there Doug! I've seen these before in antique shops here in Canada and when complete, they're worth a ton of money! (Thousands!)

As your article above mentions "Silver was known to kill bacteria and was known as a natural antibiotic and preventative against infections which would be a very good reason for its use in items given to babies".

How did this item register on you detector?
Is it actually silver?
Are there any identifying hallmarks on it?
Are there any holes in it where it looks like there might be something missing on it?

The dangling little bells gave it away for me. The one you found has obviously had a hard life and it's incomplete, but it's still a great example of it's type! (If it really is a baby rattle)

Dave

Thanks Dave,
I think this piece attached to another piece since there is a loop at the other end. It may be silver plated, but it's not corroded, so it must be a decent base metal too. I was looking at it under my microscope, and although there are no identifying marks, it is neat to see the old school craftsmanship that went into making it. None of the small pieces are uniform, and the soldering and filing is old craftsmanship.

As far as what it register on my machine, that was just "beep".

I used a Tesoro Umax and it has no display. Over the years I have become pretty darn good at pretty much figuring out a signal by the tones. This was a solid signal too.
I am very happy with this piece, and greatly appreciate you helping me out with the ID. :occasion14:

Have a great week,
Doug

ModernMiner · Feb 6, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

MaineRelic said:
Looks and sounds like you guys had a very fun Hunt ! Gotta love a kids ability to lose things MaineReic

Thanks Maine.
I love finding old toys. I've found a few nice WW1 and WW2 toy soldiers in the past too. :thumbsup:

-Doug-

KOOTNEY KID said:
Merc Merc hooray!

Goes4ever said:
The mercs are awesome, but love that toy!

Thanks guys. :thumbsup:

ANTIQUARIAN · Feb 10, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

ModernMiner said:
Antiquarian said:

ModernMiner said:

Antiquarian said:

Very cool finds guys!
This is my favourite piece . . . looks like it might have
been part of an early 19th century English baby rattle!

Dave

Click to expand...

Dave,
I'm thinking you may have nailed it. I found this one when I typed in "18th century baby rattle" in Google. The little danglers look identical! This particular picture is of a 200 year old whistle/rattle combo.
Silver rattles( teething-sticks ) have been traditional christening presents for well over 200 years. Sometimes called Elizabethan inventories, rattles were a combination of a whistle & bells to create a noisy toy that could amuse a child for hours. Silver was known to kill bacteria and was known as a natural antibiotic and preventative against infections which would be a very good reason for its use in items given to babies.

-Doug-

Click to expand...

Great research work there Doug! I've seen these before in antique shops here in Canada and when complete, they're worth a ton of money! (Thousands!)

As your article above mentions "Silver was known to kill bacteria and was known as a natural antibiotic and preventative against infections which would be a very good reason for its use in items given to babies".

How did this item register on you detector?
Is it actually silver?
Are there any identifying hallmarks on it?
Are there any holes in it where it looks like there might be something missing on it?

The dangling little bells gave it away for me. The one you found has obviously had a hard life and it's incomplete, but it's still a great example of it's type! (If it really is a baby rattle)

Dave

Click to expand...

Thanks Dave,
I think this piece attached to another piece since there is a loop at the other end. It may be silver plated, but it's not corroded, so it must be a decent base metal too. I was looking at it under my microscope, and although there are no identifying marks, it is neat to see the old school craftsmanship that went into making it. None of the small pieces are uniform, and the soldering and filing is old craftsmanship.

As far as what it register on my machine, that was just "beep". I used a Tesoro Umax and it has no display. Over the years I have become pretty darn good at pretty much figuring out a signal by the tones. This was a solid signal too.
I am very happy with this piece, and greatly appreciate you helping me out with the ID.
Have a great week,
Doug

Hi Doug,

This piece definitely has some serious age to it! I'm thinking it might have been made by an early metal craftsman in an attempt to replicate an English baby rattle for one of his children? :icon_scratch:

Of course I might be completely off base on my assumption too! :icon_scratch:

Cheers,
Dave

traverdog · Feb 11, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

Neat motocycle but I love those mercury's.

ModernMiner · Feb 11, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

traverdog said:
Neat motocycle but I love those mercury's.

Thanks TD.
I really like that cycle too. I normally find cars, trucks, or soldiers, but never a motorcycle.
-MM-

civilman1 · Feb 11, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

Damn Doug.....I guess I was out for a few sick but I don't remember this or the other post :dontknow:

Congrat's on the Triple Merc's and the Moto.....kickin butt already

ModernMiner · Feb 11, 2011

Re: Triple Merc's and a Motorbike

civilman1 said:
Damn Doug.....I guess I was out for a few sick but I don't remember this or the other post Congrat's on the Triple Merc's and the Moto.....kickin butt already

Thanks Joe.
I get lucky sometimes. That may be the most silver I've found in one hunt.

-Dug-