Inspired by my disappointment that this thread wasn’t about what I thought it was.
What cool things have you found on your daily travels? Several years ago, a UW-Madison student as part of an art project scattered several hundred little statues, about a foot tall or so, made of concrete reinforced with rebar, around town. The idea was that as people found them they would write in or email her about finding it, their thoughts on the statue or whatever else they wanted to say and their comments would be gathered as part of the final project. I found one and it’s a really cool little figure. Very modern primitive. I’ve had it on display ever since.
I have a blurry pic of the statue but I’m not sure if I ever scanned it. I also have one of me holding it. Problem is they are on my old computer and I haven’t gotten around to transferring the files from my old computer to my new. If the thread survives for a couple fo days I’ll post the one or the other.
I don’t know if this fits, but I have loads of fishing gear that I’ve found or recovered while out. I also once found an entire CD book full of CD’s on the side of a road while I was walking. Not exactly to my taste, but I did get a live AC/DC CD out of it that I still have.
I have a lump of kauri gum {think amber} the size of my head that I found on a West Coach beach. Sadly, it was misplaced a couple of moves ago, so I’m really hoping it resurfaces on the next move: apart from anything else, it’s quite valuable these days.
I’ve got a strange action figure. Well, “action” is over-stating it. The only thing that moves is it’s left arm. It’s an older man, dressed like a butler, or maybe a doorman - sort of formal outfit, but bright red. In his left hand, he holds an ear of corn. If you rotate his left arm so that he’s holding it above his head, his head flips around and he turns into a green skinned alien. Very bizarre. According to the printing on his feet, he originally came with a Burger King Kid’s Meal, but I can’t imagine what he was ever meant to be.
My old girlfriend and I found it one day in the ruins of a smashed television receiver while walking through the woods along Morrison Creek in Oakville. I extracted it from the mess and claimed it as my prize.
The girlfriend is but a fond memory now, but I still have the tube. It stands on the windowsill in my apartment.
Forgot to add where I found it: It appeared mysteriously at the bottom of a box during my last move. No idea where it came from, or how it ended up in a box of my stuff. I’d never seen it before.
I found a Marvin the Martian figure in a vacant campsite. One of my girlfriend’s most cherished souvenirs of Hawaii is a little green army man* that she found washed up on a black sand beach.
How about two Indian head nickels? One is dated 1935 and the other is from 1937. About a year or two ago, I bought something at a 7-11 near work, and received the nickels in my change. I have them stashed away.
A coworker of mine scored a much better find just a few days ago. He found an 1896 silver dollar, just lying on the sidewalk.
We have the tail vane of a Aermotor windmill. We found it out in the desert at an old well site where the windmill head had crashed to the ground after the gearing seized up.
My husband found a large (10’x14’) carpet rolled up on the side of a little-used road while he was walking. After ensuring it did not have a body in it, he dried it out (it had been rained on) and we used it for years!
I once found a working, new-looking pen on the ground outside while walking. Just a cheap plastic stick pen, but it was green, and it was a personalised one - it said “Lynn” on it.
