Antique Religious Medals
Next is a photo of six more religious medals, all found this weekend. Carol said most of hers were in the rocks about eight inches down and about 2 feet from the wet sand. She was also pulling a lot of wheats.The two copper ones I found, we really like the center top one.
On the back it says, "St. Gabriel's Retreat House, Silver Jubilee, 1927 - 1952." It seems we are finding a lot of jewelry from the 1950's. Too bad the cut is closed up now.
The other copper medal says, "St. Anthony's National Shrine, Graymoor Garrison, NY." This medal is blessed by Fr. Anthony S. A.
(Fisher/Cuda)
Old Vintage Silver Religious Rings
Here's some old religious rings we found. Only three of them are actually silver, the other is copper. Black from the water. Three of them have Mary on them, the fourth is a St. Christopher. All found in a fresh water lake. (Cuda)
Religious Medal Ring
This second ring is really nice too, but very old. It's heavy religious ring, with Jesus on the front, a cross on one side with rays coming out of it, and a heart with fire on the other side with something written above it.
But when I cleaned it the surprise was on the inside, where there is Mary and Baby Jesus with halos around their heads. Mary has something in her hand that may be a scapula.
This second ring is nice and heavy. It is a vine design, and says sterling inside.
The fourth ring I haven't attempted to clean. It's thin and old and looks pretty fragile. See how black it is?
That's the way all these rings looked when they came out of the salt water. I even noticed tonight that the silver chain I wear around my neck is black! I guess it doesn't take long!
We had a great weekend for silver finds. Four more rings and a lot of silver coins. We think the one on the right is a Brownie ring. The center left is similar to a spoon ring. They are all pretty old, yet cleaned up nice. All found in the water. (Barracuda Pulse)
Silver St. Christopher Medal
We found our first St. Christopher medal this weekend. Carol found it in the dry sand, yet it had a thick black coating on it, like it was in the water and somehow washed to shore. The other medal is real small, and has Mary on it. It's too corroded to make out anything else.
History: Before the 1969 reform of the Roman calendar, Christopher was listed as a martyr who died under Decius. Nothing else is known about him. There are several legends about him including the one in which he was crossing a river when a child asked to be carried across.
When Christopher put the child on his shoulders he found the child was unbelievably heavy. The child, according to the legend, was Christ carrying the weight of the whole world. This was what made Christopher patron saint of travelers and is invoked against storms, plagues, etc..
His former feast day is July 25. In 1969, the Church took a long look at all the saints on its calendar to see if there was historical evidence that that saint existed and lived a life of holiness. In taking that long look, the Church discovered that there was little proof that many saints, including some very popular ones, ever lived. Christopher was one of the names that was determined to have a basis mostly in legend. Therefore Christopher (and others) were dropped from the universal calendar.
Silver Religious Medal and Chain
I was really surprised when I found this. The medal was the first signal and I thought to myself, The chain must be here too. But when I scanned the spot, I couldn't hear any more signals. So I started checking several feet away in a circular pattern. Then I went back to the same hole and rechecked it. To my amazement there was a signal. And when I dug it, it was the chain!
The funny thing about chains when you find them is they always seem to hang out of the scoop when you pull it out of the water. There isn't a clasp on it. It's long enough to just put over your head. This is the first silver chain we have found. The medal is silver too and pretty big, about 2 inches long. It was pretty tarnished and we cleaned it up.