***UPDATED INFO***
Well, I got the call from my jeweler this morning. He managed to get the back off. It took two days of soaking. The inner workings are, most regrettably, “toast.” The buildup of rust had leeched into the threads, thus the difficulty in removing the back.
The good news is that it is, indeed, an authentic Illinois Watch Works “Santa Fe Special.” Here’s a pic with the back off.
This is what it should look like …
I was able to get the serial number … 2885910,
and based upon pocketwatchsite.com (http://www.pocketwatchsite.com/illinoisserials.html), this number dates the manufacture in the year 1916! I remain amazed that I found a watch in the ground, that old, in such amazing condition.
It sure looks like pure gold. But … the bad news is that is is 10k gold filled. crybaby2
So, there are probably 5 or 6 grams of actual gold in the watch, but that’s about it. And I don’t know if it could be extracted, or if anyone would fool with it.
All that to say … basically, what I have is a really shiny conversation piece.
But I’m still counting it as a “Gold find” for 2012. laughing7
Oh, well. Solid AU was a little too much to hope for, I suppose. Guess I’ll go cry by meself for a while.
Thanks for keeping up with my little saga. notworthy
I’ve been out on several short hunts lately. No stellar finds in recent weeks, but I have gotten onto a few decent digs.
Here is my latest video, with story and pics below.
I hit up an old school in my community that was only used for about 10 years. It was just after the “age of silver,” around 1965-1975 or so. I didn’t hold out much hope for finding anything good. But I managed to dig 57 coins, including 7 wheats and these two “bonus” silvers!
I also dug this old “Senior Key” from 1988. My heart skipped a beat when I rolled it over in my plug. I thought it was gold at first. It is initialed on the back, and with just a little detective work I managed to find out the name of the owner. She still lives here in this community. I’m waiting to get her number from a friend and reunite her with her lost jewelry this week.
Finally, yesterday I hunted a trusty cornfield with my buddy, Western KY Digger. I pulled several flat buttons, pieces of buckshot and various small lead pieces, as well as a brass o-ring and j-shaped hook. Hard digging, but lots of fun. Digger dug a rather large flat button and the biggest zouave button I’ve ever seen.
Thanks for reading and looking! I hope to have more for you next week. I’m working on permission for a couple of new spots.
I managed to get out for a quick 2-hour hunt Monday afternoon. I hit an area in the back of a church where I have permission to hunt. There was SO MUCH trash that hunting was very difficult.
But, wouldn’t you know it … my very first target was silver! A 1944 Washington quarter. I was stoked, and ready to hit the spot with gusto.
Then I dug a most curious find … a weird 1900 medallion / badge from Memphis, Tennessee, commemorating the city’s population in 1900. A strange find, indeed, for rural western Kentucky. Obviously, it must be a relic from the original home on the site, since the church building was not constructed until 1957/58.
Here’s a pic … any info on its origin or purpose will be appreciated.
Then one last strange find. It is a piece of lead, about 3 1/2 inches in length. And it actually looks like someone heated and poured lead through a harmonica reed! Has anyone ever seen anything like this? Here are a front and top view?
Let’s start with the latest episode (#12) of Kentucky Diggin’
Well, I took a friend from church (Kevin) detecting this afternoon. He’s never detected before, so I trained him with my back-up ACE 250 and we headed for the field.
We hunted what we thought was an old homesite on a friend’s farm. There are several old graves there. The main tombstone shows that person died in 1834 … so it’s an old site. Also, there are several slave graves marked with plain stones.
After we started hunting, the landowner (Tim) went to talk to the little old lady who owns the pasture next to him to get permission for us to hunt there, as well. She informed Tim that it wasn’t an old home site. Instead, she said that it was an old one-room school/church … think “Little House on the Prairie.” She gave consent for us to hut there, so we started swinging in the grass. I was excited, because a church/school means more people traffic … and more opportunities for buttons, jewelry, and (of course!) coins.
But that wasn’t what I was finding. Kevin was digging his share of iron targets giving a false high VDI. I wasn’t digging much at all until I came across a toe plate.
Curious … I only associate toe plates with Civil War sites.
So I kept digging. Then I started digging reeds … first an accordion reed, then a harmonica reed, then a large piece of smashed lead.
In the back of my head, I dared to think that I might be on a Civil War site. Mind you, this spot is about one mile north of my hometown. We had activity here … the courthouse was overrun twice. Surely patrols moved and camped throughout the area.
But I wasn’t holding my breath …
Then a few minutes lated I dug this curious piece from under a large root. It gave an 86-87 VDI … high quarter range. It had a mysterious-looking heart on it. And I didn’t know what it was … figured it was a ladies’ belt buckle, a brooch, or something like that.
Here are pictures:
Like I said, I didn’t know what it was until I got home and did some research.
And I found this!
It’s identified on this relic site as a “2-Inch Lead-Filled U.S. Cavalry Heart Bridle Rosette!!!!”
It’s an authentic piece, dropped from a U.S. Cavalry horse!
Here’s another image of a clean pair from another site:
Before I left the field, I dug another toe plate. Here’s a pic of everything:
I can’t believe it!! I’m just stumbling onto good stuff!
So, now that I know what’s out there, I’m headed back on Tuesday with Western Kentucky Digger!
Well … let’s get started with the newest episode of Kentucky Diggin’!
I hunted yesterday for a couple of hours at an old homestead house. No joy on that one. Dug a 1942 Wheatie and some relics, but nothing earth-shattering.
So, this afternoon, I went back to my old hotel. I had only been hunting 20-25 minutes when I stumbled across this amazing find. A U.S. Marine Corps uniform button!
I need some forum button “experts” to weigh in and tell me a date on this button. It’s about 29.5 mm in diameter.
Two questions? How old is it, and how can I clean it?
A few minutes later I dug this awesome spoon …
The back is marked, “Am’n Sterling Co.” But it doesn’t look sterling. Another mystery. Here’s the mark …
Besides a pile of old trash and various “whatzits,” I did manage to pull my one and only coin for the day … an 1893-O Barber Dime! It’s my fourth silver of the year (all dimes, and all in the 1800′s … interestingly enough), and the fifth silver found on this site.
Here are the pics …
Thanks for looking! Be sure to go to my YouTube channel and hit the “subscribe” button!
Let’s begin with my video from a couple of days worth of hunting …
I went looking for a change of scenery on Sunday. Decided to hunt an old homestead on the family farm of one of my church members. I hadn’t been there long before I dug a 1944 wheatie. That got me excited, knowing that silver has to be luring there somewhere.
A few minutes later, a well-meaning but uninformed relative of the land owner encouraged me to leave (pretty much ran me off). I didn’t put up any fight … just told her that it was no problem and that I would get everything cleared up. I made a call to my friend who rapidly ironed everything out. So, I’ll be heading back there soon. No worries …
Anyhow, I had about an hour before I had to be somewhere, so I went into town to hit an old lot that I hunted a year ago, but have not hit with my new MXT … I wanted to dig those lower VDI singals. Just managed a wheat and a 1967 Lincoln.
Then, yesterday I returned to the site of my old hotel. Here are the highlights of those digs:
I dug two more of the key tags!! Rooms 26 & 50! That makes three that I have dug on the site. Pretty awesome. Seriously, though, when I saw that first big disc I thought I was on an old copper. But the key tags are an awesome find.
Another interesting find was an old Frankfort Arms .45 bullet … not just the lead, but the fully encased, powdered and primed bullet. The head is marked, “FA 26.” Any info on the approximate age of this pistol round would be most appreciated. Here’s a close-up of the mark:
My final relic find was a 1920′s era (time of the fire) “Pompeian Bloom” lady’s rouge compact. It’s still hinged, and the hinge (unbelievable) still works! It was full of crud, and the mirror was gone. But I still found it to be an interesting find.
Finally, just as I was about to leave, I got a solid 57 VDI “screwcap” signal. On that hill, this usually means an Indian Head penny. Turns out this mean, green 1892 Injun was my only coin find for the day:
Once again, I went back to my hotel site. I tried to work a couple of new parts, but as I dug tin cans, beer cans, and car parts in clay, it was evident that I was working a trash-dumped. bulldozed zone of the property.
So, I moved over closer to the actual building site … sort of on the right side of the original building if you were standing in front of it and looking at it.
I dug mountains of trash metal, then got this perfect 79-80 VDI at two inches. I was excited when I turned over a spade full of deep, dark soil. And I was even more excited when I saw this beautiful lady …
It’s my first Liberty Seated! I am so stoked.
I am running a bit behind on my silver goal for the year. I want to dig 52 this year (average one per week). This makes #3. But they’re all good ones. *1892-O Barber Dime *1805 Draped Bust Dime *1853 Liberty Seated Dime
I’ll take it!
Enjoy the video, and please take time to subscribe to my channel so you can get updates on future vids.
Blessings to all … and thanks for looking & watching.
**Size Update – Ring weighed in at 14.1 grams, or 10.575 grams of pure gold … .339994441295 Troy Ounces (just over 1/3 ounce). The jewelry place offered me $220 for it. Yeah … right …
I’m keeping this baby … it has too great an old story!
So, as usual, I made my way back to my old mineral springs hotel site yesterday afternoon. I only had three hours to hunt, but I wanted to get some dirtfishing time in because bad weather is moving in tonight.
I decided to hunt near the top of the hill where the building sat. I actually focused on an area slightly behind where the “later” part (built in 1885) stood. I worked near a small cluster of trees.
I had only been at it for about fifteen minutes when I got a solid, repeating VDI of 74 on my MXT. Looked like a solid penny, so I dug, expecting an old wheatie. I cut a nice, big plug … and my head almost exploded when I saw this staring at me out of the bottom of the plug …
Holy Shamoley! That’s gold! And not just any gold. It’s BIG Gold. Here’s a shot fresh out of the dirt that I captured from the video.
It is so HEAVY! I mean, it’s the biggest gold ring that I have ever, personally, seen. Just a little under a full half-inch in width …
Here it is in my lovely wife’s hand …
It is 18k, and bears the mark of, “Mermod & Jaccard Jewelry Co.”
I did some research on the mark, and found this information on a site describing some art deco silver pieces made by this company:
Quote:
The “Mermod, Jaccard” mark is that of a company that was founded in St. Louis in 1829 by Louis Jacquard. He was joined by A.S. Mermod in 1845 and Goodman King in 1865, and the company became Mermod, Jaccard & King Jewelry Co.
So … the company existed under the names of “Mermod & Jaccard” only between the years 1845 and 1865. That means this ring was manufactured just before or during the Civil War!!
The ring has a fancy script-inscribed name inside, but I cannot make it out due to what appears to be heat damage. Indeed, even if the ring were an inch or two deep in the ground when the building burned, it was close enough to incur some damage from the intense heat.
Needless to say, I am seriously stoked about this find. I hope to be able to find someone nearby with a scale tomorrow so I can get an accurate weight and calculate the exact gold content. I weighed it on a small scale at the hospital where I work a part-time job, and it totaled it at exactly 0.5 ounce, but I don’t trust that measurement … seems a wee bit hefty (but close!).
Honestly, I’m not sure if this ring will have more value in its gold, or in the fact that it is a 160 year-old antique. From that perspective, I’m not even sure how to get it checked out.
I also found some other whatzits and a 23mm flat button that had me thinking “half cent” for a while … but only left me broken-hearted.
Thanks for looking, and enjoy the video. And give some thought to hitting up my Youtube channel and subscribing.
But the key tags are an awesome find.
