What Have You Found While Remodeling?

I'll admit that I'm not exactly a handyman -- my remodeling skills begin and end with half-hearted painting, including a time-honored technique I call "structural spackling." So it was with great trepidation that I approached a home improvement project some years back -- tearing out a couple of huge faux-brick planters that were built into the middle of the living room. It was a big job for a lightweight like me, involving a lot of clumsy chiseling and struggling to cut through chicken wire.

But there was an upside: inside the planters I found assorted classic junk -- a lace handkerchief, chewing gum wrappers from defunct gum companies, old newspapers, a few coins, a bent fork, and plenty of fossilized cat poop. Also while removing some truly heinous wall paneling, I discovered the legend: "David Clure paneled this wall" scrawled in pencil. Mr. Clure, couldn't you have told us when you paneled the wall?

Having had my own minor remodeling adventure, I read Steven Frank's remodeling blog post with great interest -- remodeling his Portland kitchen, Steven found all kinds of great stuff and documented his finds with photos. (Pictured in this post is a Toby Tortoise trading card he found -- note how Toby appears to be weeping while fleeing in terror. Cartoons were different in the 30's, I guess.)

My friends also report interesting remodeling finds -- a few years ago, I saw a collection of over a hundred ornate, colorful glass bottles that had been stashed underwater, in a sort of sump tank built into the floor of a shed. Who stores a bottle collection in a hidden underwater lair? Wait, don't answer that. The question today is: what have you found while remodeling? Share your finds in the comments!