Got back to detecting after a week off. Had a few too many beers watching the soccer!
I decided to go back to a local park which I had detected on before, but taken my middle son out with me. He’d done most of the swinging that day and so I guessed we missed a bunch and didn’t cover the whole park.
It isn’t a massive spot, probably 20m by 50m grassed area. I know it hasn’ been built on (to my knowledge) since the village was established and it looks like it had the old village dump at the back of it. I was hoping that it had been used through the life of the village.
First hit was a 1972 matchbox car, which fell apart as i pulled it out, then on to a John Walker and Sons cork bottle top. It was a cool little find, i don’t think there is any great age to it, but I like Whiskey so it’s a keeper for me. I did look online and a dude was selling one in mint condition for $150 US! Crazy! I’m sure mine is worth less than a buck…
Next decent target other than 1c and 2c coins was a mashed up old brass tap. I has a nice bit of character to it, a keeper for my collection. I started pulling out some interesting relics at this point. Next was a small decorative star shaped object, it wasn’t a pin, perhaps decoration of something. It was in a hole with a pull tab, so happy with that save.
As i reached the back of the park i noticed a small foot track round the back of the bushes, likely to be a spot where the local youth hang out and have sly durries without the watchful eye of Mums and Dads. The trash in the area of V-Cans and cigarette butts certainly alluded to that. A little deeper in the bush i found a spot where i’d come from the other side and was finding old bottles (see my earlier youtube video’s). We’d had a bit of rain in the past few days and there had been a bunch of earth wahed out. On the top was a smashed Codd bottle. Fantastic. I knew there was earlier stuff here from the late 1800 bottle it’d found previously, but it was neat to see there could be some other cool bottles underneath the dirt. I wasn’t setup to dig for bottles, so will have to head back again another time.
Returning to the park proper i found what at first i thought was a cog. On cleaning it up it was too light and delicate and it had some fancy on it. It almost looks like a lid or draw pull, another sweet find.
The i pulled out my first pre-dec of the day, a 1954 Roo Penny. It was in pretty bad shape, the park was damp both times i’d been there so it had rotted away pretty bad. This was followed by a little pad lock, not great age to it, but it was in decent shap, just missing the latch.
Underneath a tree i started finding a bunch of lead round sinkers, and then out popped a little old lead toy cannon. I’m thinking a bunch of young lads might have been playing with their toy soldiers and knocking them over with the lead shot. Such a cool little toy.
I like military history being form a military family, and a Rising Sun badge is on my bucket list. Whilst this isn’t that, and when i dug it wasn’t sure if it was military or not, i’ve now confirmed my next find is military related. It’s an insignia badge from either the 2/6th or 2/7th General Military hospital form World War 2. I can’t make out the middle color being purple or blue which would give the exact one it belongs too. Such a cool find!
I carried on with another good find, this time a Silver 1946 Rams Head shilling, the 2nd and final pre-dec of the day. It has a big stain on it, but it was still my 2nd ever Shilling so i’m not complaining!
I started heading back to the car, and by the entrance to the park got a solid coin signal. I popped out what i know now is a Japanese 500 Yen coin. Not sure of age, but i’d say pretty modern. A further scan of the area popped me out 2 more in a spill, so 1500 Yen all up! Nice.
It was a productive little hunt. I’m sure there are a few more things in there, especially down the back where i think it must have been an old tip or something. I’ll deffo be heading back to look for bottles, and i’m sure i’ll have a swing with the detector at the same time.
Check out the video