Saturday Afternoon Farm Hunt

For the last couple of months I have been hunting a farm in the Durbanville area when time permits.
The farm is rich in history , with the first title deed being 1698 from non other than Simon van der Stel himself.
Another interesting piece of history is that Napoleon's secretary , The Count Del Las Cases spent 3 months here in the year 1816. He was put here when the British authorities became wary of a plot to rescue Napoleon from
St Helena. He described it as being at the very extremity of human civilization and referred to it as " the Desert of Tygerberg"
The farm has been in the present owners' family since 1852 and although the farm has undergone some considerable changes over the years, there remains a good deal of land that has not been hunted.

Maybe I should just make it clear that by hunt, I mean with a metal detector not a rifle! For those readers that are not familiar with the hobby most of us refer to the search as a "Hunt"...for obvious reasons.

The farm is mostly  covered with vineyards but there are still a few
natural fields and  one large wheat field.

After getting permission from the owner, I started hunting various parts of the farm in order to get a better picture of what was going on where
during the past.


I have worked four areas of the farm so far and they have all produced interesting finds, some spots more than others. The farm is blessed with some awesome oak trees and poplar forests. A small stream  also cuts through the property.

It is at the base of one of these giants, in a small clearing that I have concentrated my last two hunts.
Well it has turned out to be the richest part of the farm so far and I have named it "The Bank".
I really don't know what went on in this little patch but people have been losing coins here for quite a while.
The earliest coin at this spot has been a 1936 silver sixpence, in excellent condition for the punishment it has endured.

1936 silver Sixpence

This 1936 sixpence was cleaned
and turned out pretty good.
The dark coin to the right is a 1942 silver 2 Shilling, and this is typically how it looks straight out of the ground.

 All in all I have recovered coins from 1936,1942,1951,1961,1962 and then some from the 1970's and 1980's in this  small area.

After getting a decent signal next to a tree today I kind of figured out why the 1800's coins are probably so elusive. Below is a shot I took with my phone of the target, once it was uncovered. It turned out to be another 1961 half cent.But just look how far it was down and I still had to pry it from underneath that root.

1961 half cent and the dark area above it is the hole it came out of. It took me a while to eventually find it.
This coin  cleaned up very nicely.




Other items that I have found here are a collection of buckles and buttons , and a really old spoon. The marks on the spoon are quite badly affected by the ground and I am still working on pinpointing a date on it.



Also some bullet casings and a very large calibre bullet head.



From the other areas I have hunted on this farm , some of the better finds are pictured below.




This is the hand forged brass trigger guard from an early rifle, I really searched the area but could find no trace of the rest of the rifle.
Below is a VOC  coin from 1793, and a 1916 silver George 5th 3 penny



So that is my story for today, I was out there for about three hours and I think that I will be trying a new spot
on the next outing. I think I have pretty much covered this area and taken the good stuff out of the ground.
Next I am going to don my wellingtons and get started in the stream, the early farm inhabitants would have used the stream  for washing , bathing and the collection of water for the house. Now it is just a matter of finding out where they did what.

Summer in South Africa

Well I woke up to a really beautiful day, Summer in South Africa, you gotta love it!
I started with the usual  tasks of the day and was settling in nicely when the call came through. HELP....S....S.....S.....SNAKE!
Well this is the first one for the Summer and I can just tell it will be a busy one! You see every summer I get calls about snakes in peoples gardens, sheds and even in their cars.So you may ask ..."well what has this got to do with metal detecting?" And my answer would have to be.."Quite a lot actually!" You see the hobby of metal detecting usually takes you right into their territory and you are the guest in the scenario. So I thought I would include this little story , and put in my two cents worth.

This mornings customer was a juvenile mole snake, a very handy creature to have around but sadly often mistaken for the Cape Cobra( especially in this colour phase) and killed on the spot!
This leads me to the reason I have added this  post here.PLEASE PEOPLE ! don't kill our snakes.
Snakes do not attack people, they are shy and will move away from you so if you're out detecting and you happen across a snake just leave it alone and move off in the other direction.
Making noise alerts the snake to your presence and allows it to move away before a meeting actually takes place.
Never attempt to capture or corner a snake if you are not fully prepared for the consequences  and especially if you are not experienced in this field.
Find a herpetologist in your area and keep their number handy.
When out in the field wear protective footwear such as hiking boots. Although it won't protect you from a puff adder bite it will help with the other smaller fanged species.
Which brings me to another point....A basking or hidden puff adder is quite likely to remain put and rely on it's camouflage to avoid you....so KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR THEM! If you stand on it , the chances are it's going to have a go at you.
So why protect snakes....simple really, snakes generally eat the critters that we don't want around for example, mice rats and moles. So if you kill the snakes you are actually just increasing the food source and attracting ....you guessed it......more snakes.Some species of snakes like our Cape Cobra will actually feed on other snakes even from it's own species.
So you see there are a great deal more benefits to having snakes than may meet the eye.

This was taken in between a switch of hands, snakes should actually not be left unsupported or hanging when handling them, they are quite delicate and you can easily injure them

Herpetologists should explain the importance of these creatures  to their clients . Take some time to put the  public at ease and give them some info on the species in question.

 Snakes are really cool creatures, this young mole snake was so layed back that I had it on my shoulders while I fixed the damage I had done to the lawn while retrieving it. You may ask "Why interfere in the first place?" This is a memorial park , where many people come to visit the graves and memorials of their loved ones and unfortunately snakes are a little unnerving for some. So we catch them and release them on a farm a short distance from here

For the past few years I have had the help of a man Friday named Moses. Moses was absolutely terrified of snakes when he first started with me. Well just look at him now! This morning was a serious breakthrough for him and he actually handled the snake. It just goes to show how education can completely alter a persons perception of something that they are really petrified of.

He ended up holding the snake in the car all the way to the release site and I could actually see something "switch on" in him. Pretty cool really!

The spell is broken!

Well we released the snake and watched it glide to safety. Job done and one snake saved.

Oh and please remember that even though a Mole snake is not venomous, it can inflict a painful and lacerating bite...often requiring more than a few stitches! But this is more with the larger specimens, and believe me I have seen some huge ones! Usually dark brown to black, these colours may vary according to age and location and even light beige specimens are found from time to time.

Pointing it in the right direction.

I always make sure that it gets to a place of safety  before leaving.

So if you are out metal detecting or doing whatever it is you do in nature this summer, please respect the place of all creatures in the food chain. Leave snakes alone and they will leave you alone it really is as simple as that.

I am always available in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town  and welcome pictures that you would like identified.

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Check out www.metaldetect.co.za for the fully range of metal detecting equipment that we provide.

My metal detecting service is at  www.beachhunter.co.za , it includes this blog, where is will post info on my latest hunts & finds.

Oscar