Dig Log

Did i just find a hammered, some silver and a dead dude!?! ~ 31/03/2019

Wow – has it really been 2 whole years since my last dig log? I have a done a bunch of detecting in that time, but for some reason must have stopped writing logs. I do have a bunch of video’s but also stopped those for a while. I did have a break from detecting, not on purpose but just it was the way it was.

Since the last post, i’ve relocated from NSW, Australia to Berlin in Germany. I was lucky enough to be offered a job and we made the decision to up sticks and come (for me, back to) Europe. It took us a few month to get settled but i think we’re there now and i intend to make more video’s and now, keep this dig log up to date.

That said, last weekend i was able to get out for the first time in a few weeks. The winter finally seems to be over and spring really feels in the air. Saturday had been in the high teens, but Sunday, when i headed out was overcast an just over 10. It was for me almost perfect detecting weather. No mossies, warm enough to not wear a bulky jacket, but cool enough that you could detect all day.

I drove through these woods most weekends on the way to the shops, and after having rode heaps last summer, knew they had a bit of age from them from some of the houses in the area. I checked out the old maps and there wasn’t anything significant about them either. There is a small Military link in the area that i hoped would yield something, from people taking the air in the forest.

I geared up, having found a safe spot to park the car, and quickly broke of the trail in to the bush. I prefer to detect out of site, especially in a country i’m still learning the language. I never know whether people are being friendly or not when they approach. I got a few quick signals but just modern trash. The targets lessened as i got deeper in to the forest untill i hit a little patch which turned out to be 5 or so meters of a trail. I was surprised by a lady and her dog out the corner of my eye. I think as i was on the floor checking a target they didn’t see me and just went by. The first find up was a nice condition 1893 10 pfennig (pfg) coin. I was stoked a couple of weeks ago pulling my first 1800 coins, so was pumped to get another on the board. I have found a few this year now, and i think i had 2 in all my time in Australia.

I moved on, crossing the path and in to another section of wood. I could see the edge about 200 meters from where i was working parallel to it. At one point someone popped in, snuck around the back of a tree, did their business and left. Amazing what you see when you are out and about. A few mins later whilst working the same area i got a nice sharp loud signal on the XP Deus. From memory it wan’t high on the ID, mid 60’s maybe. I initially thought trash, but when searching for it with the Mi6 pinpointer it became obvious it was small. As soon as i saw it i knew i had something special. The Iron Cross is a distinctive shape. I cleaned it off, first seeing the 800 mark on the back, German silver mark. Turning it over i saw it was two Iron Crosses, a small pin, with the stick broken off the back. Wow. I could see the crown and 1914, 1st world war. Research shows it to be a pin worn in place of the actual medals probably on the holders civilian dress. Such a cool find, not that it’s silver, which is also nice, but a personal piece from a Veteran. Pity it has no service numbers of ID marks so i could try and find the family.

I worked the area a little more, the day was more of a scouting run, so wanted to cover a bunch of the woods to find the good areas. A few feet away, i got anther signal. Again, nothing amazing. I didn’t film this target either… always the way. Up came a coin. At first i though it was just a manky war time zinc or aluminium 1 pfg coin. It had the German eagle, but looked a little different. The other side, it looked like a fluer de lis. I didn’t have my loop, but posted a picture on Instagram to see if anyone knew what it was. The back was off stamped… was this a hammered? It was very thing… Is it billion!?! On getting home and giving it a light clean, and using the loop I was able to see a date… 1568… wait… 1568!!! No way. Some searches online showed a few examples of similar coins, all dating to that era. Not exact date matches, but with the same eagle and shield on the reverse. I believe it to be a coin minted under the reign of the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg Joachim II Hector in 1568. It is Billion silver. I think it’s called a Dreier (3 pfennig) . That makes it 451 years old, smashing my oldest coins by hundreds of years… This is why detecting in Europe is so great!

I found a few more coins through the afternoon as i made my way through the wood. A couple of between war coins, they are 1924/25 which seems to be the main year i find of those type here. One was in really nice condition.

As I was on the return leg of the days adventure, i had one of those moments every detectorist dreads… I think i stumble upon a dead body. I could see over in a small depression what looks like a sleeping bag, a coat, rucksack and a bunch of bin bags…. It looked like some poor homeless guy had setup his camp for the night, and didn’t wake up. I stashed my gear, took my trowel and ventured closer. As i got closer i was more and more convinced it was a dead dude. The coat was over the head end, it was bent in the middle, and a small lump where the feet are. No smell tho. Maybe the cold we’d had meant it hadn’t decomposed, or it was fresh meat… It wasn’t untill i got a few steps out i saw that under all the cover was paint tins… Thank god ( a few other choice words). Who does that! Who covers stuff up with a coat and a ruck sack. Oh my gosh. I was quickly on my way!

There was not too much to write home about on the road side of the wood, mostly trash from the traffic travelling through. As i got back to the area i started in, i did pickup a couple of nice knife handles. Just stainless steal (or something), but one was marked Aschinger and stamped Sport Palast, which i think are both important cultural institutions within Berlin, so some nice history there.

You can check out the video from the hunt as usual on my Youtube channel, and see all the finds on Instagram if that works better for you. Please do leave comments and subscribe/follow me. I love interacting with everyone, one of the reasons i do this hobby.

HH. Davo.

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.

Just not cricket ~ 01-01-2017

Happy New Years!  I did get out in the afternoon of new years day for a bit of a swing.  I had been wanting to revisit the old abandoned cricket ground during the summer to see if the grass and bracken had died down and more of the pitch had been revealed.  I took the opportunity on New Years Day to head down and take a look.

After the short walk up the old roadway to the pitch it was obvious that most of the bush was still there.  Whilst some of the ferns had died off, some of the grass had grown further.  I setup gridding the opposite direction from last time, as well as knowing better how to dial the machine in, i was hopeful of pulling out the same kind of silver as last time.

First hit was a old bolt.  It was pretty chunky so not sure how i missed it last time.  It did mean that at least there was hopefully stuff stillt o be found.

It took a while to get the next hit.  First coin of the day.  1 Dollar.  At least we were off and running.  On rechecking the hole i was still getting a 33 TID, which normally is $1 or $2 coin.  Pulled it out, 2c. Gah.  Oh well, at least i was still pulling things out.

I had a couple more hits, more 2c coins, but not much else other than ring pulls.  I decided to move on down to the area i didn’t detect last time.  This section when i got down to it was really boggy.  All i pulled out was soft drink cans.  A little further around at the base of a cliff i got another solid signal.  I pulled out what turns out to be a Derringer Cap gun.  One side had almost rotted away, but the other side was in quite good nick.  A sweet little find.  I can imagine a young lad running around whilst his Dad played cricket letting off the caps.

I also checked out the hillside on the way back to the car.  I think if there had been anything on the hill it would have washed down in to the gully/drain at the bottom, which i didn’t fancy getting in to with the snakes and leaches.  I did find a couple of platforms a bit higher up, but they were covered in modern trash and it was just way to noisy for me to pick through that late in the day.  Might be worth a trip back when i have more energy.

It had been lightly raining most of the day, so i thought i’d pop down to my local beach to try my luck after new years evening.  I got there and it was packed!  What are people doing hanging out on the beach int he rain.  Crazy.  The entry way provided most of the goodies, 5 bucks odd in spendables.

I did jump across the lagoon on to the side where i had detected previously but struck out, where the old shacks once stood.  One of the first hits i got was a 1949 Penny.  I was just happy to find something there, it means i was in the right spot and was probably just a bad setup on that day with the detector.  It’d be worth going back again and hitting it real low and slow.  Once we’ve had some rain in the autumn i’ll head back so the grass dosn’t take a beating.

Overall a nice new years arvo out and about with a good selection of finds.

Evening beach hunt ~ 28-12-2016

Decided to head out after work for a few hours to my local beach last night.  It has been packed over the festive period and I thought there should be some goodies having been left behind.  It was very warm, so it was nice to be by the ocean with a nice breeze coming in.

The hunt started well picking up $1.50 in a spill on the entry way.  I worked my way around the soft sand checking the other entrances.  Not much doing, picked up a further $3.20

Quite a few people came over and asked some questions.  There is a lot of foreign people on this beach for some reason they all ask whether i need a license or such, or if i’m employed by the government?!?  I even got asked one time if i was security looking for bombs…  the mind boggles as the places people have come from that makes them think such things.  I guess the camo shirt and shorts doesn’t help 🙂

The beach was fairly empty when i got there about 6pm, but started to fill up again for sunset, so I wasn’t really able to work the towel line.  High tide was late morning so i wasn’t able to hit that, and the low tide wasn’t that low either.

As it got dark I headed back to the foreshore, but has left it to late and it was getting too dark to see.  I picked up another 70c on the foreshore and called it quits about 8:45pm.

I’ll probably get back down there after the new year when I have a bit more time and hopefully it’s not as busy

Old Dam ~ 27-12-2016

Christmas is over, and I needed a detecting fix!  I had half a day on Tuesday to head out as it was a public holiday.  I had wanted to get back to the dam since the end of last summer.  A friend had told me it was empty again so i decided to go down and check out the other bank which i didn’t get to last time.

It’s a nice downhill KM walk from the car to the dam, the bush here is idyllic.  You can just imagine all the kids and families which have walked up and down here to the dam since the early 1900s when the dam was established.

Although only about 25 degrees, the humidity was killer.  The empty dam was a sun trap too.  Luckily i had my camel pack which kept me hydrated through the day, i did forget top pack food though, but i think i’d eaten enough over the festive break already.

First find of the day was a Half Penny.  It was just under the surface on the rocky bank of the dam.  A good sign for things to come.  The area is used for motorbike riding and 4×4 so there is a lot of modern trash, mainly can slaw, so it was a little noisy.

The other thing which kept me busy throughout the afternoon was these tiny little bullets.  I’m impressed the Minelab Xterra 505 was picking them up.  Loud and Clear!  I don’t mind finding these bigger ones, which look kinda cool, but these little lead things take ages to pick out of the sand, even with the “Garrett Carrot”.

The next interesting piece and soon to be annoyance was a membership token/fob for the local workmens club all for the year 1982/83.  I soon found another couple just down from the first.  Then a stash of about 6 just to the edge of a large rock.  In the course of the afternoon i think i totted up about 30 of the buggers, all around the dam.  In fact my last signal as i left was one, it was like they were mocking me!  I’m not sure why there were so many.  Perhaps a group of guys left the club at the same time, maybe they graduated an apprenticeship, maybe a mate died and as a sign of respect they threw them in the dam.  Maybe they were stolen and just ditched.

I also picked up a couple of modern coins, which is always good.  I think this will likely be my last hunt of the year and takes my total of spendables to close to $200.

Overall a great afternoon out in beautiful surroundings.  I’ll be digging in to the history and story of the membership fobs and will update you all when i know more.

Happy Hunting in 2017!
Davo