Rewarded with a Silver Locket.

My best finds today with the 5p piece to show size comparison.

Today the SHMDC hosted a charity dig at Gappah Farm in Devon and with club members and some invites it was a very good turn out despite the weather first thing. Finds were slow coming but some hammered did turn up during the day.

I have not been out metal detecting for ages and really enjoyed today. Was great to be out and to meet up with members of the club again and meeting some new and old friends from around the net.

The going was tough with loads of foil turning up with every second or third signal but perseverance paid off and I was rewarded with a lovely small silver locket. Well, I think its a locket. Also had a couple of the usual copper grots and a few buttons, but I have also put up a couple of objects that seem to be a little interesting.

Top view of locket.

Side View.

Bottom View.
Sunday 23 August 2015.

Very quiet day.

FRONT

After nearly six hours of metal detecting a farm today on a club dig, the above object is all I had to show for it. Not even sure of what it is. At first I thought it was a large button but after cleaning I think it maybe a furniture fitment of some kind. If anyone has any ideas I'll be happy to hear them.
Size of it is 2.5 CM.
Yes a very quiet day for me. I did have a lot of junk finds but just couldn't hit on anything decent. Overall the finds were sparse with other members but did see a nice Bull head shilling found.
As the saying goes it has to be there to find it.

BACK
Sunday 12 July 2015.

Love Token Find.

Silver Love Token

After a month of no metal detecting for one reason or another, I was able to get out yesterday on a club dig. We had permission to detect some fields on a farm in Cornwall. The finds we few and far between but some interesting finds did come up including a nice silver hammered found by a fellow member. My nephew had a nice medieval thimble, also a medieval horse pendant was found and a possible Saxon stirrup end. Other finds were the usual grot copper coins, buttons, buckles etc,

Myself I managed the silver love token pictured above. As you can see the details of the coin are well gone and its bent in the typically wavy fashion. Still, silver is silver and I was chuffed to find it.

Total finds for the day.

Monday 29 June 2015.

Metal Detecting Rally.

Detectorists gather for a chat before the off.

Yesterday I attended a metal detecting rally organized by our club the SHMDC. It was lovely detecting weather with some glorious scenery and a great bunch of fellow enthusiasts. I just love these gatherings before the start of a dig as everyone is excited and full of anticipation of what they might find. It was also great to put some faces to names I often see on the internet.

Once we had paid and all booked in we had a briefing on what fields we could detect in. There was a good choice of ploughed and pasture. My first choice after the briefing was to head straight for the ploughed. After an hour or so on the ploughed and not finding anything that usual niggling  thought jump in my head. The thought that says 'that next field looks more promising'. And so that's how it went on for me, it was always the next field. During my field hopping I was bumping into fellow detectorists and asking them if they found anything. The finds coming up seemed to be mostly buttons and grot copper coins, I had found a few myself, but I was shown a lovely George VI half crown from one, and a Vikky shilling from another. So some decent stuff was being found and that always keeps my motivation going.

A pic of my finds for the day.

As you can see from the above pic I didn't find anything mind blowing, but I made finds and I'm always happy just finding anything. A few buttons there, a musket ball, three grot copper coins, £1.10 in decimal, and a very worn unrecognisable silver coin. So in the end I did find a silver, just wish it had some detail on.

At 3pm I had to call it a day as I had work early evening and back at the carpark I learn't of all the good stuff that had been found. About five hammered were found as well as other interesting coins, some milled silver , some lovely buckles, a silver ring and bracelet. So great finds were made around me it was just the case of I didn't walk over any of it.                                      

On the day permission was granted on a neighbouring farm for another rally in the near future. So will be looking forward to that.

Monday 18 May 2015.

Managed a silver today, but a grotty one.

George II silver sixpence dated 1743.

Today I was out on our club dig. The finds came slow for everyone as far as I know. But one member did find a silver hammered coin very early into the dig so that encouraged us. I did manage a silver milled coin of George II dated 1743, a silver sixpence. Okay it is pretty worn and a bit bent with a hole in it, but a nice find, silver is silver. My rest of finds were just four grot copper coins, five buttons and a plain shield.
Not a great day findwise, but enjoyable.

Total decent finds.

Sunday 3 May 2015.

Gawd I need some land.

A penknife, two decimal 1ps, a George V penny, a George VI farthing, and a hawking bell.

A lovely day today so I thought to myself its a shame to waste it, so off detecting I went. Looking at what I found I would have been better off working in the garden or doing something else productive.
I know the saying a bad day's detecting is better than a good day in work, Also I know about all the fresh air and good exercise I've just had. But at the end of the day we go detecting hoping to find something good. Something we can really look at and think all those hours was worth it. I'm sure you know what I'm getting at, just that one good find that puts you in a really good mood for the rest of the day.

With the tides being wrong for me today I only had one option and that was to visit an old haunt of mine which I have done to death. Hoping that there was still something decent there to find, something I may have missed. As it turned out if there is still something decent to find there then I've missed it again. Its no good, I have to hold my hand up and admit I do get frustrated on these 'not much turned up' days like today.

Still, that's metal detecting for you. Does it put me off...does it 'eckers like. Already looking forward to my next detecting outing where ever that might be.

Thursday 30 April 2015.

Back to reality.

Oh well, back to reality, nothing amazing to show but a few finds to keep us interested.

I had a return visit to my Nephew's permission yesterday hoping for some great finds like that Edward III hammered coin I found last time. We concentrated in that same field feeling sure we would hit something amazing, but alas, all that came out were mostly grot coins and buttons. Mind you, I was pleased with one button with a design on which looks well old. Made of copper I've had it ID'd as 18th century.
My Nephew did manage a very worn Queen Victoria silver 3d and just as many grots and buttons as me.

I've just noticed this in my scrap pouch from yesterday I'd forgotten about. What looks like just a large lump of lead is in fact a Palm Guard from the 18th-19th century.
. They are described as a leather worker's cast lead palm guard. One surface is flat and the other is convex with a central circular indentation. The guard would have been wrapped in cloth or held in a pouch and used to force needles through the tough material while protecting the user's palm. The indentation would prevent the needle  from glancing off the surface.

Monday 27 April 2015.

St. George's Day nets me four Georges.

First of all Happy St. Georges Day all. I had a brill day myself out metal detecting for five hours and as luck would have it I dug four different Georges. George II, George III, George V and a George VI, plus Victoria and Elizabeth II, making six different Monarchs in all. All together I dug 29 copper coins, mostly halfpennies and managed to winkle out one silver sixpence. Some of the older copper coins had some good detail and with a light clean I was able to get the dates. Dug some cheap jewellery that looks nice but not the real thing. Also some other bits and pieces making for a happy busy session.

This is the George V sixpence I dug today (50% silver). Dated 1921. After finding all those copper coins I just knew there must be a silver somewhere and towards the end of my dig I was rewarded with this one in splendid condition.

Here are the oldest and best of the copper coins, Two George II halfpennies c. 1727-1760, George III halfpenny dated 1807 and penny dated 1807, Victoria halfpenny dated 1853 and penny dated 1858. It was nice to find these with some good detail on as normally they come up grotty as hell.

Some bits of cheap jewellery. The military badge is of the East Surrey Regiment which I'm pleased with, will clean that one up.

Yup, I enjoyed myself today. After owning the Deus now for just over a year I've finally settled on a program I like. I've used various settings I've copied from around the net but always revert back to this one I used today. If anyone reading has the Deus and wonder what settings I use I have outlined them below:

When I arrive on site I switch on and go into the Deus-Fast program.
In the Deus-Fast program I go on Full Tones.
Drop the Discrimination right down to 0.
Turn the Sensitivity right up to 99.
I then Ground Balance using Tracking.
Everything else I leave as factory Pre-Set.

The above settings can be a little noisy but I don't mind that, I like to hear all that is under me. I find the iron low tones and the higher good tones easy to tell apart. I only dig on the good higher tones if the numbers show 25 or over, anything under 25 I leave. I always dig a faint tone which don't show any numbers as these are possibly good targets just on the edge of the detecting range, they are the deep targets.

Thursday 23 April 2015.

***UPDATE***(Saturday 25 April 2015)

After having doubts about the above pendant just being a cheap piece of jewellery I posted it up on the MDF Metal Detecting Forum and low and behold it turns out to be a  silver Jerusalem Cross Pendant. Its not complete, but it turns out its a far better find than I thought. I'm happy with that :).

Club dig, nothing great in the finds pouch.

It was great to be out in the open fields again today, great company, lovely weather, fresh air and exercise. Just wish my finds pouch reflected the same. Still, I did have some finds including a brill toy car, wheels still go around. Nice big bullet and I rather like that tiny buckle. The three copper coins are a George V penny dated 1920, a William III halfpenny dated 1701 and a mystery one.

This King William III would have been a very good find if it was in better condition. But alas, so faded and worn its pretty much worthless.

Sunday 19 April 2015.

At last, a decent Silver Hammered coin.

A King Edward III Half Groat - Edward III was born 1312 - Came to throne 1327 - Died 1377. 

Chuffed to bits me, I've gone and dug myself a really nice silver hammered coin. Over two years metal detecting and the only hammered coins I have to show for it are worn or battered....until today.

I've been off sick from work for over a week now, even missed a club dig last Sunday because I didn't feel right. Well today I felt quite well and when my nephew phoned to say he has the day off and do I fancy a trip to one of his permissions I could have kissed him, I was itching to get out.

It was a glorious day, wall to wall sunshine, no wind and very warm. I promised myself not to over do it, no climbing steep hills, rambling for miles or climbing loads of gates. I just picked a level field and took it slowly. Maybe that's how I found this hammered, just going gently along, who knows.

We both dug a lot of grot coins and loads of buttons as well as other bits and pieces but for a change the find of the day went to me when I unearthed this Hammy. I was using my XP Deus 3,2 in the Deus Fast program on full tones.

As you can see from the above pic I dug a few grot coins on the left and loads of buttons on the right. The Hammy taking center stage with a thimble above.

These two buttons show the family crest of the Trelawney Family from Cornwall. Its shows a gun dog with the motto 'SERMONI CONSONA FACTA', which translated means DEEDS AGREEING WITH WORDS.

A large grotty Cartwheel Penny showing a multi ringed pattern which I have no idea why.

Also dug this thimble and tiny button.

Tuesday 14 April 2015.

Any Old Iron.

Another typical days detecting for me again today. No decent finds to show but some finds all the same to keep me interested. It was a club dig and between us all a few good finds did come up like a Victorian silver threepence, a silver hammered groat and a silver pocket watch. All the other finds were like mine above, just run of the mill. The only coins I did find were four decimal and four copper grots.

I've dug many cartridges in one hunt before but never so many bullets in one session. These all came out in a corner of a field along with some broken cartridges.

This object above is known as a shoe/foot patten. Pattens were worn attached to shoes to protect the wearer from muddy ground. 

Edward IV London Groat.

Now the best find of the day was made by my nephew AGAIN, He's getting to be a jammy git. This has to be his best hammered coin yet, a groat, and its a beauty, just look at the detail with a lovely dark tan to it. We were both using a Deus on the Deus-Fast program on full tones and he walks over this. Oh well, not to worry, I dug three horseshoes and he never dug one, so I beat him on horseshoes.

I can't grumble mind, it was a glorious day weather wise and was lovely to feel that warm sun on my face, spring is here at last.

Sunday 22 march 2015.

Possible 18th/19th Century Fob Seal.

Only just got around to doing a post of my metal detecting trip last Sunday because of long stints at work. I was out again with my Nephew on his pay permission. It was very slow going with any finds few and far between. Up until yesterday I thought I had not found anything interesting, until I got the above object identified. It turns out it could be a guilded 18th/19th century Fob Seal. If so a first for me so chuffed with that. My other finds were just run of the mill but always nice to find something.

My other finds: An iron slug, couple of buckles, penknife, two musket balls, the possible fob seal, three grot copper coins, and a few buttons.

My nephew stole the show again with another hammered coin, and what a beauty it was. An Elizabeth 1st hammered three pence dated 1580 with lovely deteail, shown below.

Tuesday 17 March 2015.

Is this a Snake Buckle?

Couldn't resist popping out today for a bit of detecting as it was such a nice day. Managed four hours in a wooded area local to me and enjoyed the few finds I made. Okay, not much to get excited about but I'm sure I've dug a snake buckle. I've always wanted one of these but this one doesn't seem to have much detail on like some I have seen.
Looks like a snake doesn't it, or is it my eyes wishing it to be.

Another mystery find was this Goat object on the right here. I think its a goat. The handle seems to be made of bronze but the shank seems to be iron which is rusting away. I'm thinking something like a letter opener but really have not got a clue.

Below is my total finds for today. Those military badges must have looked good in their day, sadly all bent and buckled now.
Also dug another hand grenade bottom, couple of buckles, couple of grot copper coins and a couple of decimal coins.

Tuesday 10 March 2015.

My Tally from the Rally.

This George V Shilling dated 1921 saved my day.

We the South Hams Metal Detecting Club held a mini rally yesterday at a small Village on the edge of Dartmoor. Thank you Jason for organizing it. The amount of £200 was raised for the Village church and I believe we got some more land out of the day for another dig in the future when some crops are off. So some nice ploughed land to look forward to.

My other finds from yesterday: Barrel Tap, Grot Copper Coins, Bronze Plant Label, Watch Winder, Tiny something? Tombac Buttons.

The land we had yesterday was all pasture and I found it slow going at first, just finding the odd grot coin and nothing of interest. There was a time around midday where I started to doubt my settings I have been working on. But I noticed I was finding bits and pieces of non-ferrous targets.  A copper halfpenny I dug was easy 8/9 inches deep with a lovely clear signal, also noticed I was finding very large objects as well as tiny ones. So I put it down to not walking over anything decent and carried on with my settings as they were. It was well into the afternoon when I was rewarded with a bit of silver, well, 50% silver, a George V Shilling dated 1921. Shown in the first pic above. I was happy with that as these modern'ish silver coins always perk me up.


This bronze looking name thingy had me puzzled until I was at home and able to google the writing. Turns out that H.P. General Jacqueminot is the name of an old Hybrid garden Rose. First bred in France in 1853. How many of you budding gardeners knew that.
So I think I can safely say that this item is an old plant label, and not the name of some famous General who may have lived in the Village as I thought.

Hows this to show that the Deus is capable of finding the smallest of objects. Here is a tiny disc shaped coin with the letters that look like VM, or if you turn it upside down it could say WA.
Only measures 1cm, took me ages to find it with my pinpointer in the mud yet my machine was giving a good signal. Also lost the blooming thing twice with my clumsy fingers trying to take a pic of it. What it is I'm not sure, maybe a token type of some sort or a button.

Monday 9 March 2015.

Enjoyable day's detecting yesterday.

My best four finds: Silver St. Christopher, Livery Button, Love Token and Roman Grot.

Yesterday I was out with my nephew all day on one of his pay permissions and had a good time hunting. The best find of the day was made by him, being a tiny silvered hammered coin, but I had four finds I was happy with. The first place we hit was the field where I dug four Roman grots a couple of weeks ago. I did manage to dig another Roman grot but that was all that came out so we moved onto the other fields. It was slow going at first, walking what seemed miles over large fields that were very quiet. It was well into the afternoon when things picked up.

Total finds for the day.

While detecting along the top of a large sloping field I started to dig a couple of Georgian copper grots and a lot of buttons. A good sign of a bit of activity, so we concentrated on that area.
It paid off, as that's where I dug the silver St Christopher, the Livery Button and the Copper/Bronze Love Token. It was also the area my nephew dug his hammered coin.

Nephew's Hammered Coin. His first hammered this year.

Bits from today's hunt.

Today's finds: Whistle, 8x1d, 2xhalfpennies, 6xdecimal, little red bell, scouts badge, doggy tag with the name PETE, sixpence dated 1945, squashed thimble and 2 buttons.

I was itching to get out hunting today with my Deus because for the last couple of days I've been putting a program together. The results I had in my back garden testing looked promising, so I wanted to give these new settings a proper run.
So this morning I set off to my usual haunt where nothing old ever comes out and I've hit this site so many times in the past I thought it would be a good test site, just to see if I could winkle anymore out.
Well I was chuffed to bits with the result. I dug a good mixture of finds, from the small sixpence to the large copper pennies. The signals were sharp and very easy to spot the ferrous and the non-ferrous targets. In fact I didn't dig any iron, the only trash I dug were broken bullet cartridges, bottle tops, foil and bits of tin can.

The George VI sixpence dated 1945. Though only 50% silver content I was still happy with it.

Also on today's hunt I did something I've never done before. When I had set the Deus program up, I put the control panel away out of sight inside my jacket pocket. I hunted with just the audio sounds and left the low iron signals and dug everything else. I never looked at the numbers at all.
Okay, it was a bit of a noisy hunt as I worked with full sensitivity and no discrimination, but it was great to listen to what was beneath my feet and home in on the good signals.
Yes, I enjoyed today's hunt. Looking forward now to a club dig on an old farm somewhere to really test it out some more. I feel more confident now and feel like I'm starting to really understand this Deus machine and use it to its best performance.

A small scout's badge which I thought was a nice find.

Thursday 26 February 2015.

Post-Medieval 'Dog Nose' Silver Spoon. Dated 1712.

Dog Nosed silver spoon dated 1712 with the initials I-W-S-C inscribed.

After 2 years my one and only treasure find is finally coming to a close. I dug this silver spoon on pasture with my Ace 250 back in February 2013. Because it had a percentage of precious metal and was over 300 years old, by law I had to declare the find.

During these 2 years I have had 5 letters keeping me informed on the progress of the spoon through the system. 1 to say they received it, 2 to say it was declared treasure, 3 to say a museum is interested, 4 to say there will be an inquest and 5, 'this week'  the amount of the reward.

The amount of the reward is £60, split 50% to me and 50% to the landowner as normal. As I found the spoon on a detecting buddies permission I am giving him 50% of my share. Hence I come away with £15.
Just about covers my expenses for the running around I did to deliver the spoon.

Anyway, not a great treasure find like the ones that have appeared in the press recently, but on a personal level I feel proud I have a piece of history that will be sat in a museum for all to see.

Tuesday 24 February 2015.

Hapless day's hunting.

Today's finds: Modern large 5p, modern 1p, a musket ball and three buttons.

Arrived at our club dig this morning and started detecting at 9.30am. At 2pm I was on my way home. Nothing was coming out and once the rain set in my spirits were soon gone as myself and my equipment got covered in mud.. I did hear of a couple of nice finds from fellow detectorists, but for the majority it never happened.

There you go, that's metal detecting for you. As it says on the top of this page, its not all gold and silver. Off now to log into the detecting forums and drool over the decent finds that must have been found around the country. 

Roll on the next hunt :).

*UPDATE*

Just got this from our club's site. One member had this lovely Roman turn up today. Hadrian early second century silver Daneri. Well done that chap.

'oooooh, to find one like this, I live in hope.

Sunday 22 February 2014.