A pretty lady walked into my life - 5.5.15

Trooper Bri

New member
Met up with Lee yesterday for some digging.
1'st stop was an old farm turned public park. We puttered around for an hour with nothing to show for it other than a Zincoln at 6+ inches. Come to find out later in the day, despite the natural looking rolling hills, it had been graded and filled. So, we went back to the craziest place on Earth for a couple hours. Spoonland.

Lee was on the board pretty quick with a spoon. It took 10 minutes, but I matched him with my 1'st plated spoon of the day. One with a name on the handle: Stueck's. Google is having a tough time with it. I'll take a close up of the handle, it's not the easiest to see in the pic.
ADwalker4.jpg

Just a minute or two later I get another odd VDI and up comes a mystery item. Looks to be part of a toy pistol or cap gun maybe. #79, and "de in USA" are the only stampings left.
ADwalker9.jpg

And a couple minutes after that, she came into my life. A gorgeous tone bouncing around 88-91. I dug the plug just shy, and found it with the pinpointer. Cut out and around it and dumped it next to the plug and called Lee over. A few brushes (the dirt is real dry. we need rain), and there she was. My first half-dollar, and one I really wanted too! A Walking Liberty, 1943. This has to be the last beautiful coin the US made for circulation.
ADwalker1.jpg

ADWalker2.jpg

Managed a couple more plated spoons and some sort of plated art-deco buckle possibly. Unfortunately one of the ends broke on it. D'oh.
ADwalker6.jpg
ADwalker3.jpg
ADwalker8.jpg

Not sure what Lee's tally was, but I came over when he had something small and deep. Turned out to be a pressed penny from the New York World's Fair. The top says Italian Pavillion. 1939 and 1964 were the two years for it. Guessing it's from 1939.
ADwalker5.jpg
 
mate i was so glad to be there when you dug that walker and to look up from 60 yards away only to see you doing the silver dance on your knees was bloody priceless !!!!.
is it wrong to get as much joy out of seeing someone else get a great find as it is for your self ? coz mate im over the moon for ya mukka !!!!.
Ive got a funny feeling me and you are gona find some brilliant stuff this year mate.
 
Congrats on the walker! The first one is always special. The other finds are pretty cool too. The gun looking fragment reminds me of early howitzers. Maybe it is a toy one of these?

9p2inHowitzerSomme.jpg
 
Bri, a fantastic coin and I agree, the last beautiful coin made. Really happy for you and I'm sorry that I missed the "knee" silver dance. If Lee said it was priceless then I'm sure it was. Any thoughts on why there are so many spoons there? This couldn't be the Stealth Diggers spoon graveyard could it?????
 
One spot I hit was like the first place you hit. Nothing but cans there for some reason. The toy looks a bit small, aannnddd it looks like it says #780 if you can zoom in. Your eyes might not be what they used to be. Nice walker. Sounds like the VDI being steady that no one who has detected the field put the coil over it before and "just missed it", otherwise it would have been gone already being a definitive target.
 
Congrats on your first Walking Liberty Half Dollar, Brian! :thumbsup02:

They truly are one of the most beautifully designed US coins. :yes:

I'm sure there will be many more half dollars in your future! :thumbsup01:
 
Nothing looks better in the hole than big shiny silver :cheesysmile: Funny, the only coin I ever took a picture of as it still lay in the hole was that exact same coin/year. Doesn't get much better than that! Congrats!! Hope to meet up with you and the bulldog again soon.
 
great coin Brian , congrats on the beautiful walker :clapping: Spoons in a field can only mean lots of kids playing out in the dirt like i use to when i was a kid in which case a lot of upset mothers with missing table ware :rofl: or there might have been many family picnics or reunions going on back in the day. keep at it
 
Congrats on the walker. And of course good job getting some more spoons. That place really is spoonland, hopefully there's some more sterling silver spoons out there. HH
 
Thanks everyone! She's pretty, even if a little beat up from the soil.
YTobverse.jpg

Here's a better pic of the spoon handle, and it's tied to a historical building in CT. The spoon itself is local, Meriden Britannia here in Meriden.
Stueck's Modern Tavern in Middletown is where it's from. They were in operation from 1914 to 1939. Here's a link to the state page of the property. http://historicbuildingsct.com/?p=11796
Stuecks.jpg

StuecksTavern.jpg
 
thats cool to tie the history of that spoon to an actual tavern and the time period and to still see the building standing :groovy: a local historical society would probably love to have that one .
 
Congrats Brian. Beautiful coin. I know exactly how you felt when you dug it. Found my first silver half today, a 1942 WL- they must be sisters.:grin:
I pass that building in Middletown every week day heading to & from work. Interesting to know there was a tavern there prior.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
23,573
Messages
238,108
Members
3,786
Latest member
HistoryFanBG
Back
Top