Tag: minelab

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

 

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