Tag: Coins

Decompression ~ 01-02-2017

After an epically stressful few days at work, i headed out to my local beach for a bit of time to process everything that had been going on.  Nothing like a cool evening to help decompress and blow away the stress.  Whist i didn’t find all that much at all, it was just good to be out and thinking about not a lot, just waiting for those beeps and the thrill of the dig.

I combined this post with the weekend of the 4/2/2017 too, as i only really found spendables, i dropped them all on to the “pending shelf” when i got home and can’t recall which coins i found when.

The only exception was a Cat digger, which i definitely found on the weekend, but left at the beach for a kid to enjoy.  My boys have way too many toys that they don’t play with as it is!  It was also kind of large and i didn’t fancy filling my pouch with it

I ended up with $19.45, which for a few hours of digging on the beach isn’t too bad.  It was definitely worth the time, just for the stress relief if nothing else.  This was made up with $2 x 10, $8 x 1, $0.50 x 1, $0.20 x 3, $0.10 x 3 and $0.05 x 1.  I also picked up 3 fishing weights, a car key and a Volcom tag.

Random Relics ~ 22-01-2017

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

 

Big Park Hunt ~ 07-01-2017

Last minute decision to head out to a park I pass whilst on the way to the shopping centre we go to.  I dropped a note on a Facebook group asking to see if anyone else wanted to come down for a swing, but most people were tied up that morning it seems.

When i arrived the council were doing greenwaste tree chipping, which took out the corner of the park i was initially most interested in, as it did have an old house there in the 40’s.  It was on the corner of 2 main roads so would have been hunted heavily, and full of junk anyway.

The park it’s self has a few old cricket pitches on it, it also houses the circus when it is in town, so i was hoping for a bunch of spendables.  Speaking to a guy on the Facebook group later that day, he said he’d had a $100 off it a moth or so prior.

I ended up with $9.95 in spendables (2 x $2, 5 x $1, 4 x 20c, 1 x 10x and 1 x 5c)  Nine Brown Buggers all up too.

After spending a bunch of time in the first half of the park and really only pulling up the spendables and so much canslaw it wasn’t funny, i moved through to the back part of the park.  I noticed straight away that there wa a section of park which either had been left as bush, or had re-vegetated to some extent.  There were a bunch of older big trees in here too, which served as my targets.

This area was much better, less canslaw and I was soon in to the pre-decimals.  All around the bases of the big trees, they are always prime targets in my hunts.  I ended up with three Penny’s (1943, 1949, 1951) and two Half Pennys (1946 and 1948).

I also dug a few random bits and pieces, a key and an oval brass ring (CCR?).  There was also half a cog, from a clock or something, but as i pulled it out i thought i’d found my first Rising Sun badge and got super excited. As i cleaned off the muck i realised I hadn’t filled that bucket lister 🙁  The cog is still kinda cool though.

It was a full day, super hot, but i had 30 good recoveries so was happy with the results.

I got a permission for my Birthday! ~ 04-01-2017

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me!  Today was my Birthday so I was able to get out for a hunt.  I didn’t really plan anything other than i was going to head out and so decided to head to a fairly busy beach south of me, which i knew had been busy on new years eve.  I hadn’t been there before so didn’t really know what to expect.

It was overcast when i arrived, which was nice, but soon warmed up.  As I got out my car the dude next door to me had a good stare and said G’Day.  He spent the next 3 hours watching me grid up and down the thin beach in front of him.  That’s the life!  I had a chat to him when i was done, and he was eating his 3rd pie.  Nice bloke.

I quickly found the towel line and worked that, it gave up $7.75 in spendables (2 x $2, 2 x 1$, 5 x 20c, 2 x 10c, 1x 5c)  I then worked a long the back edge to one of the entry points and found a junk surfy necklace pendant.  It is very shiny with glass bits, had me going at first but is just a junker.  I also found the normal random spoon.  This was quite a fancy spoon though, made by “The One” who on investigation make quite nice cutlery sets

I headed home for some lunch, and check in to see if my boys wanted to come and do some detecting in the arvo.  They said they were quite happy sat on the couch, so I left them at home and headed back out myself.

There had been a spot i’d done some research on, but was on private property.  The places i have detected up untill now have all been public land, parks and beaches etc.  I’ve been to ask permission on a couple of private blocks before but always bottled it at the last moment.  This time though i was set in my mind to see it through.  The lady I asked didn’t really understand, she had a french accent so it took a little explaining.  She told me i wouldn’t find anything but junk but was free to look anyway.

I knew the block had been around from early 40’s arial images, but was split sometime between late 1940’s and early 1970’s but the actual land hadn’t changed significantly.  I was hopeful of finding something

The ground was littered with targets, most deep iron sounding, but with a few interesting ones picked between.  I wanted to make a good impression so kept my digging limited and looked for good targets with the hope of finding an interesting relic to show the lady i asked.  After digging a few random car parts, junk iron and can-slaw, i pulled out my first nice relic.  A old lighter.  It crumbled as it came out in to a couple of pieces, but is largely intact.  You can see it on the instagram feed if you look.  The cardboard or canvas around the shell is still there.  Sweet!

I also pulled out what i think is the tank or innards of another lighter, along with a bullet casing and a tyre vale cover.

Was only about an hour and a half’s hunt, but i didn’t want to outstay my welcome.  The lady didn’t seem to get how nice the find was, thinking some local children had been out the back of the place smoking!?!  Oh well.

I’ll be back there for sure, and it has given me the confidence to start door knocking for permissions in the area.

First Beach Hunt of the New Year ~ 02-01-2017

Had an evening spare and work on the horizon so decided to head out on to the local beach to see what was about.  New Years seemed really busy down my local beach so thought there would be some rich pickings.

I started fairly late and the beach was starting to empty when i got there, but over the next hour more people started to arrive.  I’m guessing it was to see the sunset.  I had to move out of the towel line which really impacted the results.

I did grid an area completely near the main exit, but with little success.  I’m guessing as it had been in use by a group who never seem to drop anything.

This was the first time i really detected on in to dark with a headlamp.  It was easy enough on the beach, but i’m guessing would be much harder if you were were working in the bush.  Hats of to you guys who do early and late hunts!

I finished off with $6.85 (2 x $2, 2 x $1, 1 x 50c, 1 x 20c, 1 x 10c 1 x 5c) and 2 x 1c coins.  Also picked up a few fishing weights as normal.