Wonderful Worthless Treasures

Recently I was digging around in my yard with a rather cheap-o Radio Shack metal detector that my Mother-in-law gave me. While not expecting to find much I was pleasantly surprised to unearth a 1941 penny and a rusted spur rowel, all within a few minutes work. While these relics are not going to allow me to retire early (a 1941 penny isn't worth much, especially in the condition I found it) they are quite special in my own mind. Things like this tend to make me wonder, "how did the spur get there?" And "who dropped this penny here so many years ago." Relics make me want to know more about the place I call home and give me a sense of touching the past that you just can't find in a newer home.

Over the last 4 years of living here we have found buttons, magic cards, 19th century ink bottles and various bits and pieces of pottery. When we were in the process of buying our home the seller shared with us that her brothers used to drop marbles down a hole in the floor of the master bedroom back in the 1950s. Well, it didn't take me long to find my way under the house searching for those marbles. Sure enough, just as she described were a handful of vintage glass treasures sitting in the black dirt as if they had just been dropped down that hole yesterday. Another link to the past that will stay with this house if we ever move. Along with all of the original wallpaper pieces we salvaged which were peeling from the ship lap walls.

If you have the desire to do a little digging, without doing too much damage to your Zinnias, I think you'll find that it's a lot of fun. And once you find some little something, it's very addicting. And please share with us what you have found. I'd love to start a new feature here of Wonderful Worthless Treasures of Waxahachie.

copyright ©2010 by Kent Brewer