Children see things a lot more clearly than adults. They have several advantages. The child in you is agreeing with me – your grown-up side is already thinking up exceptions to the claim.
When I saw a fellow trudging around in the construction pit with his metal detector looking for buried treasure, it made me think of my childhood find – Unburied Treasure. Adults need that mechanical search aid. The dyno-tuned multi-frequency radar-pinging metal detector. Because we grown-ups know nothing is out there in plain sight.
A kid would just jump down in the dirt and look.
Not all treasure is made from metal, as every child understands. That’s part of their advantage over adults. They have an energetic curiosity that is seemingly eroded away later in life, reduced in varying degrees by experience and expectations. Adults know what to look for, but our focused searching causes us to overlook everything else – and we come away empty handed.
Kids have no preconceived notions. No built-in bias. No suspicions. Children are innocent, but adults are gullible. The grown-up in us won’t allow childlike-behavior in someone taller than a yardstick.
Children see things a lot more clearly than adults.
They have younger eyes. They are seeing things for the first time – looking with New Eyes.
They are lower to the ground.
I believe that’s what helped me find my treasure coin. Frontenac, Kansas – a little town near Pittsburg in the southeastern corner of the state. Frontenac was to Pittsburg in the way that Krebs is to McAlester in southeastern Oklahoma. A little community that began with Italian immigrants. We had a house there while my dad pursued his degree.
What a find it was! Resting on its edge in the summer grass, tilted just enough that the afternoon sun caused a glint of light. I picked it up and brushed it off. I had never seen anything like it. Where could it have come from?
Even as a first-grader, I could apply some detective logic. The yard had been mowed recently, and I figured my newly-found treasure coin would not have survived a bout with a power mower. It had to have been recently dropped.
I immediately looked around, swiveling my head in every direction. Nah. That was foolish-thinking. There hadn’t been any adults traipsing through the front yard. The piece was too sturdy and mysterious to be a kid’s thing. Anyone could see that.
Finally, I came up with the only reasonable conclusion. Somebody was flying over in a plane and dropped it. (Remember, I was in first grade…)
The token has been among my junk ever since. Used to keep it handy so I could pop it out and ask, “Ever seen anything like this?” Wasn’t showing it off. I just wanted to know what it was, and what all the symbols meant.
As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one wondering.
It took until the Age of the Internet, but the background of my Egyptian coin finally came up on a Google search.
There still is no definitive answer, apparently. But in 1905, Sears & Roebuck (as it was called back then) offered a “gentleman’s fob” in their catalog. A “fob” was a medallion or ring that was attached to a pocket-watch, or a set of keys, to help keep track of them. Men’s vests had a “fob pocket.”
No. 4C16186 The latest craze.
Gentlemen’s fob, imitation Ancient Egyptian design,
silver plated, oxidized finish, on German silver.
Length 5 1/4 inches
No. 4C16187 Same as No. 4C16186 but gilt finish.
Price, each … $0.12
6 for ……….. .66
12 for ……… 1.25
You can see in the image that the medallion part of the fob is identical to my childhood treasure find.
According to the website BrianRXM,
“They have appeared for years on Internet coin and metal detecting boards, on Ebay, at coin shows, and even in the movies.
There have been sightings in Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Uruguay, Pennsylvania, and, yes, Egypt.”
There was a big Egyptian craze in the late 1800s, in the days of the oversized steamer trunks and camel expeditions out into the pyramid-infested desert sands. Maybe the token was an off-shoot of that – in fact, the catalog described it as “the latest craze.” The Sears version was “German silver,” but most appearing since then are brass or bronze. No artist or manufacturer has ever been identified for certain.
They pop up on eBay from time to time, but it just isn’t the same – the idea of buying one.
When I reach that age of enlightenment, that time of life when material things have no more allure, I believe I’ll have someone drive me through a neighborhood filled with with playing children. In my hand, I’ll be carrying my lucky Egyptian treasure coin. When I spy the perfect location, I’ll reach my arm out the window.
And I’ll pitch that mysterious thing into a grassy front yard.
Come visit, with or without your treasure hunting machines.
McHuston
Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main Street, Broken Arrow OK!
