Gold Coins and Old Bottles

For some of us one of the most exciting and thrilling things is to find a ghost town off the beaten track. If you have a metal detector this is an ideal place to use it in. it may still be possible to find some left behind souvenirs, jewelry and coins that might have been left by the original occupants. When looking in these places you should look behind any trash dumps and behind areas as well as inside the ruins. You can also look inside the walls; many times people hide stuff inside walls and completely forget about them.

If you do find any coins in these places they will most likely be very old and will in many occasions be valuable.

Many times there are also old bottles around old ruins for those that are into collecting bottles. A lot of people do not see that old bottles can actually be worth money and choose to ignore them. If you are into collecting bottles to find the ones that have mottled color from the sunlight because these are more valuable. Rare bottles can be worth over $300 dollars. Try to find the bottles that have pressed lettering on them, and specifically those that use to have bitters on them.

If you want to get an estimate of exactly how old a bottle is you should look at the seam or the mold line on the side of the bottle. All you have to do is run your hand carefully along the bottle and you will be able to feel it. If the seam runs up to the top of the bottle, it’s not an old bottle. However, if the seam ends at the shoulder, which is where the bottle’s curve to the neck is, or even halfway between the shoulder and the top, make sure you keep that bottle and get it appraised by a reputable collector.

You can also look for any imperfections in the bottle or for poor workmanship done on it, which can be told by the thickness of the bottle, if the neck has a slight angle to it, if you notice any bubbles in the glass etc. All of these things would be indicators that they were not machine made but rather hand made.

Keep in mind to take precautions and be careful when searching through these types of places. Old mine shafts and wells can many times be very dangerous and some are even dangerous traps because there may be a like of creepy crawlers such as snakes and spiders all over the place. If you at least want to get rid of the snakes in the area just make a lot of noise, this will cause the snakes to slide away; just be careful because snakes will strike if they are not warned of your presence first.