Another fantastic hunt

Sunday morning , weather was superb and I was at my farm site at 6.15am. I headed straight for the hot spot and started going over the area again. This time I concentrated on the clumps of smaller trees and the areas between them. I know that there could still be a lot to find as I have been picking the easier areas, in the open and under the larger trees.
Well the targets come thick and fast in this place so I was digging my first within 5 minutes....probably more like two!

 The first hit  that I had was a small brass buckle. It was at 200mm and in a nice soft spot. It was quickly recovered and I continued....for one swing and then I was digging again. In the picture above you can see the buckle hole covered up and the next target is marked with the digger. Nice!

This turned out to be a 1942 1d in fair condition  and only 100mm down . I literally just flipped it out of the ground.

Okay so now I had my hand....or ear "in" and I started to pick up the pace. I carried on for another 2m or so and the next target rang in my ears, this time closer to a small poplar and indicated at 10 inches. I started digging and hit a root almost immediately. I battled for another few minutes and recovered a small musket ball.

It is considerably smaller than the other two which I have found so far. Roots can be a real pain, but they do tend to hold nice finds. Depth was around 250mm.










I thought I would just include the next pic to show you what my holes look like once I am done, when you hunt on someone else's land it is important not to leave ugly ground scars. I like to fill my holes, tamp then down firmly and then camouflage them with the local ground covering be it leaves, grass or even small branches .

The picture left is the hole once I have" fixed it up." They obviously don't all end up perfectly but you should do your best to minimize the visual impact of the digging.









 I moved over to a larger tree and immediately got a crystal clear signal indicated at 12 inches. This time the roots are ridiculous. I decided to take a few pictures of this dig as it is probably the most difficult one I have ever done.

The digger marks the pinpoint on the target.

Starting to get somewhere, removing the soil in between the mass of roots.

Another 5 minutes work and the target is still pinpointed at the same place directly under the center of the roots mass.
Finally I scratched it out of there and it was another "1800's" penny. The dates on these coins are mostly illegible because of the deterioration of the coin. The depth was at 250mm. This whole process took the better part of 20 minutes , so I decided to up the level of the discrimination for the rest of the hunt. I basically notched out 'hot rocks" and iron. Only  good signals from now on, I can always clean up the iron later.

  

The coin perched on a root. a smaller root is visible below it.

About 3m further my next customer was singing to me and it was indicated at 15 inches. One root ran directly over the target and my heart sank.....not again! But as it was the root was on its's own and posed little problem on this one. The find was a silver 1945 6d and it was far down, over 400mm .
Quite a nice coin in very good condition! I don't think I will battle finding deep caches with this machine. The depth is excellent and the pinpoint is very reliable.

The next target was a bit "iffy" but I decided to give it a bash anyway and I am glad that I did because it turned out to be another Penny, too corroded to date in the field so it would have to be given a clean at home.

Not wanting to waste any time I continued and it wasn't long and I had a strange looking button in my hand.

Another followed shortly and the battery on my phone died.....end of the pictures for now.

I continued hunting for another hour and a half and the finds came one after the other. I  finally called it a day having found, 4 buttons,2 musket balls,1942 1d, 1943 1d, 1945 6d, 2 brass buckles and 3 1800's pennies.

I went home and started cleaning the finds up over a cup of  Java. I took some pictures this evening and here they are, I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed recovering them.

1943 1d

Left is a picture of the large odd looking plain copper buttons that I found, they where really deep and really loud!

The button in the front is plain and flat. The large"puffy" buttons look very "Napoleon" and are both dented in the front in a similar way.

Another view with the British button for a size reference, these really are big buttons. The top button is the flat one and just visible in the lower left is the fourth button found today. It is brass and quite heavy an has a lip around the back.

The last button is heavy and made of brass. It has no markings on either side and the little eye on the back is missing.

The first 2 old pennies today are in similar condition...........terrible! I found three of these today alone.

On the one I can get partial date....18??

 

I really can't wait to find one in a better area, where the ground has not ruined the coin to this extent. . I nicked this one while digging out of the roots....really have to be more careful.........or patient!

This picture shows the different sizes of the musket balls, I had no idea that they came in different calibers.....

I thought a musket ball was a musket ball. Once again they seem to have a conglomeration of soil around them and you actually have to crack or peel them like a nut!

The two small buckles are quite nice, they are always nice to find and look great in display cases.

And finally the little silver 1945 6d. This is going to clean up very nicely. Some more "bling" for the display case.

Well that just about wraps it up for another hunt. Thanks again for having a look at my finds. I think things are going to get more exciting when I start hunting in the dams, time to put the CZ21 to the test in fresh water.

I think that the people on this farm must have used the dams as recreational areas and the murky water and thick reeds might hold some worthwhile treasures....not the friendliest environment mind you, I can think of a lot things that I would rather do than scratch in the mud at the bottom of a 300 year old dam.....but the potential is too good to be ignored!