http://www.democraticunderground.com/1026423Oh my.
grasswire (35,060 posts) Wed Sep 12, 2012, 07:04 PM
Do you like to DIG?
What could be more fun than a real treasure hunt? American Pickers are always looking for "rusty gold" -- what are you willing to dig for?
One of our *watchers* on the right-wing web site tells of a box of black stuff her mother dug at a sale -- took it home, polished it all up to reveal sterling silver pieces. That's digging! Her mother found a lot of heirlooms that way.
Today I had a little digging fun. A neighbor told me of a house up the street that is being renovated; the new owner had pulled all kinds of stuff out of the basement and there was a box of sheet music included. Today I was out walking the border collie and saw this fellow outside. Sure, he said, I could come in and look at the music. Hoo boy. We dragged it out. We sweated. We sorted. I only found a few pieces that are useful to me, but we had a lot of fun and I taught him a lot. How to read roman numeral dates. What the years of World War 1 and 2 are. That Franz Liszt is a classical composer. Who Al Jolson was, and how the world felt about him. And all about blatant racial stereotyping in the early twentieth century popular music.
He decided that he would trade the several pieces of music for apple pies, although I offered to pay him cash instead. Works for me. I love to make apple pie.
Vinca (21,960 posts) Thu Sep 13, 2012, 08:18 AM
1. I love to dig.
Last weekend I was rooting around the back of an old barn that hadn't been gone through in decades. It was a yard sale after an auction company had taken out all the good stuff. I found all kinds of great stuff and it was fun! So much fun I went back the next day and poked around for a couple of hours more.
grasswire (35,060 posts) Thu Sep 13, 2012, 12:23 PM
2. should have had a camera crew with you. Ha!
Might find the jackpot some day. I'm still looking for that atomic era tray.
Vinca (21,960 posts) Fri Sep 14, 2012, 08:15 AM
3. This was the house of a long time dealer/packrat.
I had sold things to him before and when you walked into the house it was obvious he was a hoarder. The place wasn't dirty, but he and his wife lived in trails. He had a great eye and I can only imagine what they took to auction. It was the kind of place you might hit it big with an overlooked copy of "Tamarlane" or something. For years I had seen him at every yard/church sale in the area and I'll miss him. I expect I'll end up like he did . . . picking to the end. No trails, though.
You know--and some here might remember--four summers ago, while the William Rivers Pitt was being studied by a soil scientist, there was at the same time a guy doing doctoral (Ph.D.) work on prairie archaeology.
Both of them were here all summer long.
The budding prairie archaeologist--he now works for the Department of Roads--was sometimes wandering around with one of those "metal detectors," and found a lot of stuff (this property had never been "searched" before), which he kept in cardboard boxes on the back porch.
Tons of stuff; it was all junk to me. I didn't want to have anything to do with it.
At various places, but generally where family outings were held circa 1875-1970, he'd once in a while come across an old coin or a few coins at once. His deal was tools and equipment; he could for example find a 1.5" piece of steel and immediately identify it as having come off a 1924 Model T for example (myself being dubious, he made it a point of proving it to me; after about half a dozen times, his professional credentials satisfied me, and thereafter I just took his word for it).
He didn't know anything about coins, but knew I did, and would show them to me. The deal was, if I wanted anything he found, after he'd listed, identified, and photographed it, he'd give it to me (he never found anything I wanted).
He found lots and lots of old coins (in addition to ordinary coins); Indian Head cents, Indian Head five-cent pieces, one two-cent piece, three half-dimes, a few Barber dimes, quarter-dollars, and half-dollars. Mostly copper, but some old silver. His prize find was a $20 gold piece. I told him it was common circa 1900-1933 to give a $20 gold piece to someone upon graduating from high school (at least in Nebraska and Pennsylvania), and speculated somebody'd probably lost it during a graduation picnic or something, circa 1927.
What surprised me was the number of coins that had dropped down outhouse holes, 80-100 years before.
