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Tried sieving dirt through a wire strainer from my kitchen... found a Roman coin in 20 minutes
I was digging in my backyard near Chester last weekend and getting frustrated finding nothing but rocks. My brush was too slow and my hands were missing everything small. Grabbed a cheap metal strainer from the dollar store and poured all the loose dirt through it. Found a little copper coin from 300 AD stuck right in the mesh. Has anyone else used random household stuff to speed up their sifting?
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henry15014d agoMost Upvoted
Oh man, I wouldn't go buying a new shovel just yet. A little copper coin from 300 AD could have popped up on any random afternoon with or without the strainer. Your luck might just be the coin itself, not the kitchen gear.
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joseph4814d ago
Right, the coin itself being the lucky part makes a lot of sense. That little piece of bronze has been sitting in that field for 1,700 years, long before anyone thought of kitchen strainers. It probably just got nudged loose by the rain or a plow, and the strainer happened to be the tool that scooped it up. So the real magic is the ancient object, not the gadget you used to find it.
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craig.parker13d ago
Totally agree with you @joseph48, that coin has been out there longer than most of the things we think of as "old." It reminds me of a buddy who found a Roman brooch in his garden using a rusty old rake. He wasn't even looking for anything, just clearing some leaves, and there it was. Sometimes it's the simple tools that get the job done, even if they weren't made for it.
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