What treasures have you found renovating?

[mic-d]

I've just demolished a verandah floor on a 1915 queenslander in prep for rebuilding it and found an 1866 english penny and an Australian 1917 halfpenny caught under one of the window sills. Not worth anything but it's curios to think that they've probably sat there for nearly 90 years, unmoved and waiting to be discovered. Which made me wonder, what little treasure have you discovered?

Cheers
Michael

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

A few years ago we renovated an old weather-board farmhouse and found a silver spoon under the door sill. A bit more work and we found thrupenny coins under the window sills; we reckoned 'twas originally constructed by an Irish owner/builder. "Silver" used to be put under (or over) entry points to keep the boojums out.

The new owner had us put 'em all back under the new fittings, which was perfectly fine by me; I've enough hassles without adding boojums to the list.

[ozwinner]

It was custom many moons ago to put a 2 bob (2/-, 20 cents)on top of a chimney when buildng it.

Al

[katydid]

Apart from chunks of building refuse, old nails, bits of tile etc. etc. I have dug up heaps of old stuff all not worth a stuff!!

[bsrlee]

Cleaning out the garage (work-in-progress) - a large 1950's (600x1200) hand painted Coca-Cola shop sign plus Dad's old business sign. Piles of dust, dead leaves....

After I get the gardening stuff rounded up, I get to go thru 60 odd years of accumulated junk hardware - I already have a taker for the old slotted screws!

[Slow6]

my only find was a chimney full of dope while painting up a &&&&ty rental flat.
the dope was no good (been there for years) but I pulled every last bag of it out thinking that the next one might just be cash.. lol, no luck.

[journeyman Mick]

It was custom many moons ago to put a 2 bob (2/-, 20 cents)on top of a chimney when buildng it.

Al

Al,
worked with a Finnish chippie some years back who told me that it was traditional to put on a bottle of vodka for the brickies when they built a chimney - otherwise the chimney wouldn't draw. He worked on one job where the tightasre owner refused, result - house full of smoke:eek: . Called them back and put on a bottle, they polished it off then got on the roof and dropped a brick down the chimney - straight through the piece of glass that had been built into the flue to block it off

Mick

[mic-d]

I gave the coins to the owners and told em your stories, which put the wind up them! The coins will be going back They were telling me the last builder found a bunch of really old newspapers during an earlier reno but kept the best for himself, so hopefully I've earned a few brownie points there. (I didn't tell them that I also found a 1930 penny tho)

Cheers
Michael

[ozwinner]

Called them back and put on a bottle, they polished it off then got on the roof and dropped a brick down the chimney - straight through the piece of glass that had been built into the flue to block it off

Mick

Хорошая идея Mick
http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

Al

[Wood Butcher]

Not really renovating but when my folks where building their new house they had to dig into the side of the hill on their property. When the backhoe was cutting in they found 5 buried deposits of tallneck beer and wine bottles. Also buried with each collection of grog bottles was around five Alka-seltzer bottles.

[journeyman Mick]

Хорошая идея Mick
http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr

Al

Hey Al,
I went to the Babel fish link and they don't have enough languages, no Suomi (I think that's what the Finns call their language)

Mick

[ozwinner]

Hey Al,
I went to the Babel fish link and they don't have enough languages, no Suomi (I think that's what the Finns call their language)

Mick

I thought Vodka , Russian.

Al

[gnu52]

Have found coins in the frame work, near new titan chisel on a nog , interesting papers under lino, 30's fashion catalogue under bath ( Still dry), sawn off .22 in a wall, a lot of builders/ carpenters names usually in chalk , a lot of syringes & sharps in odd holes :eek: , some rag/sponge paint effects from the 20's on vj sheeted over with asbestos fibro (Guess they thought it was an improvement) , a few skeletons; snake, possum & rodent but nothing related to the .22 and last but not least a wall full of used sanitary products thoughtfully placed there through a hole under the nog line. :mad: Thankfully the studs were 450 centres which limited the volume . HepB shots required on that job.
In concrete floors we have found an endless array of bottles, rabbit trabs, old steel pipes, fence posts, bed ends, a stanley level, old gears and a heap of sundry scrap steel. Almost anything to avoid buying mesh. Oh, & a slab with mesh where the chairs were empty 3X bottles. Historical.
We also found a cellar when digging post holes. Put the Hitichi & pick point into a hole, pulled the trigger and the thing disappeared. There was a complete cellar down there that wasnt recorded anywhere. Red faces for the soil testers.
Regards, Bill

[Clinton1]

3 sticks of Powergel under Mums house.
Always wondered what the summons and warrants the cops were trying to serve on the previous owner were for.

[stevebaby]

my only find was a chimney full of dope while painting up a &&&&ty rental flat.
the dope was no good (been there for years) but I pulled every last bag of it out thinking that the next one might just be cash.. lol, no luck.

How did you find out the dope was no good?