Back to the farm metal detecting.

My Nephew and I had another crack at the farm today where he found the bronze age axe head last week. We were full of hopes and dreams but alas, nothing much turned up. All I managed was those items in the picture. A horse boss, a 1936 penny, a buckle, 2 naval buttons and my best find a Tombac button with a nice design on.


I really do like this Tombac button, normally they come out plain but this one has a good design on it. 18th century I believe so a nice little old relic there.

Some interesting facts about Tombac:
Tombac is the name given to a brass alloy with a high copper content and 5-20% zinc content.
Tin, lead or arsenic may be added for colouration.
Its a cheap malleable alloy mainly used for medals, ornament and decoration.
Tombac is easy and soft to work by hand.
Hand tools can easily punch, cut, enamel, engrave, gilt or etched.
It has a higher sheen than most brasses or copper and does not easily tarnish.


These other two buttons are Livery Naval ones. You can see the Crown and Anchor design on them. As far as I can make out with a bit of research these two buttons are RN Capt/Commander buttons with a date range of 1900-1950.




The farm site we go to is right on the edge of Dartmoor where granite boulders are plentiful. The generations of farmers here sure took advantage of all that granite and built some excellent walls around the fields as boundaries.
The fields are large all set for pasture and the grass is kept nice and short by the animals. Plenty of history there and really is a dream setting for metal detecting....... just have to hunt out the really good finds.