Fisherman Prayer Medal

  I love those old prayer medals.  Religious medals are behind only to coins when it comes to silver finds in my collection. 

  I enjoy these types of posts.  There are so many different types of religious medals that we could easily post pics of a thousand different ones.  I have found that the oldest are usually the best made while I have found a few newer ones that are plated over a foam substance. 

 

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  I am sure that I am not the most knowledgeable poster on this board on this topic.  I only know that the scapular medals that I have come across are more cheaply made the later that they were produced.  I have come across medals that are solid silver that I am sure are at least fifty years old.  I have also come across some that were silver or even aluminum coated over a foam substance that must have been made much more recently.

  As far as your medal goes, I like the way the back ground was made.  It gives it an old feel.  Perhaps someone else can comment on how the various techniques of making these medals have changed over the years?  That might help you date it.  Also, I don't see brass used much these days so if your medal is solid brass, then it might have a chance of being from earlier in the 1900's. ( I guess).

  I would also wonder how brass ages in your local soil.  Our soil is very moist nearly all year long so things like copper pennies don't last nearly as long as they would in the desert for example.   I really don't know how brass ages at all so I would be curoius about that.  This hobby has opened up so many different avenues of research that I have been learning much more than I had thought when I started coin hunting.

  Most of the time, I just try to imagine the age of a piece by the area that I found it in.  Your medal is definitely a very original piece that I would be happy to add to my collection.

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That's a really neat find!

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		Quote:			Posted by Cyberborikua
	Thank you for your thorough response. I love this kind of responses for they really build on what we post. As I'm cleaning the medal, it is giving me a soft brass color, but some parts look more nickelish. I'm not even sure at this point what material it is made from, but it is certainly a solid metallic piece. I found it in an old picnic area of a forest preserve, close to the river, under an old tree. All parks and preseves in Chicagoland are early 1900s or older. I know it is a lovely piece anyone would love to have in a collection. I love this piece too because I have found many, many other religious items, and this medal is one of my best finds. Thank you for looking and sharing your thoughts.

  I will try to find my group pics of religious medals that I have found so far during my first year with a detector.  There isn't anything really impressive, but they are mine and I am proud of them.  You will see what I meant by a silver or aluminum coating over foam.  I recall that I had two scapular medals next to each other and you can see the recent cheap one with pits after cleaning while the old one is pitless and a little tarnished due to the silver.

  I will try to see if I have the pics here at work.  I think that I should be wearing one these days since we have a flood bearing down on us as I type.  We started prepping for it yesterday.

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