You're having delusions of grandeur again. - Susan Ivanova Well, if you're gonna have delusions, may as well go for the really satisfying ones. - Marcus Cole
<< <i>1689 ... would be nice to find a William & Mary piece right off the bat. >>
Sure would.
Look what's come up, just this month:
Not sure if the reverse scratch is contemporary, or if it happened during the recovery. The latter would be heartbreaking for the digger. Nevertheless, I'd be a very, very happy guy, regardless!
<< <i>BTW, though I don't know the exact location of the fields we'll be hunting, I'll be staying in a converted barn (built in 1715) in Wrabness, Manningtree, Essex. >>
WOWZERS! You get the entire BARN???
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly."
I really want to say 1648, so I'll say 1648. Charles II would be a nice first piece. I almost said 1976 since it is my birthday the day after you get there (11/2) but that's just crazy now.
Good luck Rob, and hope you have a great (and safe) trip!
My English uncle once found an 1853 seated liberty dime in his yard in Yorkshire, in northern England. Wouldn't you love to know how it got there? >>
10 cents! That would have been a treasure to me.
When I was young we used to 'ave to get up out of our shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.
I've missed this thread's resurrection and didn't get to PM him a goodbye. Hope he PMs me from England, because my partner will be in London from November 10 to 26, and she can certainly make things a bit easier for him. Plus, he can contact me via Skype, once he sees her, if he does in the end.
I do not have much computer access here and so updates will be sparse while I'm on this side of the pond. Right now I am on a borrowed (and very unfamiliar) MacBook.
Here's the short summary so far.
Day one was a half day. By the time we got to the field I had been awake for thirty hours, had just traveled four thousand miles, and was rather jet lagged.
The finds were practically nil. Just two rusty-crusties. I was startled to find how sparse signals are in these fields. One can walk across a hundred-acre field and make a full pass without getting a single signal. Not at all what I am used to from the States.
In fact, I was quickly to find that despite my utopian dreams of detecting here, it is really tough, HARD WORK. These guys make it look easy, but it's anything but.
I am with a group of six guys, all Americans, all using the same model of machine- a state of the art $2500 detector- the Minelab CTX 3030. My Garrett GTI 2500, which was state of the art ten years ago, is practically quaint by comparison. Additionally, though I am the second youngest in our crew, I am the least physically fit. These guys hump it in all conditions for 11 or 12 hours a day. I'm good for about six.
Day two was my first full day in the field. I still found NOT ONE SINGLE COIN. My barn leader, Sal, found a nice James I halfgroat and somebody else got a nice Roman sestertius which I believe is Antoninus Pius. (Update: it was Marcus Aurelius.) The edges on it are a bit ragged but the surfaces are otherwise great for a dug bronze and the portrait is sharp.
I at least broke into the medieval period with a half of a crotal bell and a tiny, crude lead gaming token that has a cross on it. Also some Georgian flat buttons, one with some gilt remaining.
But no coin. I began to worry about my "coin jinx".
The weather was nice, actually. Mild temps, though the wind was strong and had a little bite to it.
I got initiated into the "Use A Hedgerow For Your Restroom" club, and despite prior warnings, managed to get both hands and one buttock in stinging nettles. Very nasty, but not as bad as our Georgia fire ants!
Day three dawned damp and cold, and I was very sore. Though I felt ashamed, I stayed at the barn while the rest went out. I took a nap and did not get to the field until after Sal returned to get everybody's lunch.
We went to a field in stubble. Somebody got a broken hammered silver penny. I got zilch. It was rough.
Then we went to "Roman Hill". I got a small Georgian button and some modern trash.
Finally we ended up at a field they've codenamed "MC". I immediately liked the look of the place. The ground was perfect with light green grass (newly planted winter wheat, actually) and nice and smooth. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. I found an area which actually produced signals. Instead of walking half a mile between signals, I was getting them every 50 to 100 feet. Georgian buttons and small bits of lead starting coming up, along with an oval-shaped medieval mount of some kind. I forgot to bring a headlamp, so after dark fell, I was groping around a bit. The last signal produced a coin. Though I couldn't see it, I could feel it was round and rather thin. No telltale shank on the back like a button would have.
I knew I'd broken the coin jinx at last.... three days in.
And, as I had suspected, my first coin was old.
And silver.
And hammered silver, at that. Yeah, baby! Nice one, too.
But that's all I will say right now. Not just to tease you and keep you in suspense, but also because this coin is from a period I'm not quite as confident of in my attribution skills.
Again, THANK YOU ALL for your help in sending me here. This is literally the trip of a lifetime for me, challenging though it is for me, physically.
(At least I haven't had a cigarette since I left Georgia. Figured this was as good a time as any to try quitting again.)
I will try to post again before the week is out, but my Internet access is limited as I do not have anything but a really tiny tablet with me (which is too small to type on).
There will be no video posted until after my return. Couldn't do it from here with the equipment available.
Wouldn't you know I'd dig this first coin after dark on an evening where I left my headlamp in the van. So the video I shot of the moment might be useless.
But there will be plenty of video, and there are still three and a half days left!
Very cool! Sometimes it is more about the experience than the finds. But, if you found an early silver then it is all about the history. Can you even possibly imagine who could have dropped such a coin? And how? Simply romantic!.....Good luck with the rest of your trip and take it all in!
Canna imagine what the loss of a penny back in Edward I's day must have been like - well no eating tonight - a losing penny was like losing a $50 bill now.
In memory of my kitty Seryozha 14.2.1996 ~ 13.9.2016 and Shadow 3.4.2015 - 16.4.21
What an excellent first coin find! I was a wee bit off with my 1965 guess . Happily so. Later you can tell us which of the coins is yours. It sounds like a fabulous experience for you and I'm super glad to be able to read about it. Do you get to keep finds or only after a museum has 'declined' the find? Just curious about that part.
perhaps with the next detector alarm you guys could find an old beer tab, still alive, still connected to a long forgotten underground beer pipe........l
Great read Rob and great find. Coincidentally, I got my first ever hammered English Silver Penny this week also..............but I dug it out of my PO Box instead of some old dirt in England like you did. Can't wait to see a pic of yours.
I suppose it's pretty close to 5 in the afternoon over there right now as I type (it's almost 12 on the US east coast) and you've been swinging and getting your fingers dirty all day. Hope today's finds were great as is the rest of your trip. We're all anxiously awaiting to see the videos.
@ Elite CNC Routing & Woodworks on Facebook. Check out my work. Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
Comments
Happy Rock Wrens
You're having delusions of grandeur again. - Susan Ivanova
Well, if you're gonna have delusions, may as well go for the really satisfying ones. - Marcus Cole
<< <i>1689 ... would be nice to find a William & Mary piece right off the bat. >>
Sure would.
Look what's come up, just this month:
Not sure if the reverse scratch is contemporary, or if it happened during the recovery. The latter would be heartbreaking for the digger. Nevertheless, I'd be a very, very happy guy, regardless!
I'm not too sure about this being the first coin you'll dig but I am very certain about the date.
edit:typo
www.brunkauctions.com
1916
but I hope it will be much much older.
<< <i>BTW, though I don't know the exact location of the fields we'll be hunting, I'll be staying in a converted barn (built in 1715) in Wrabness, Manningtree, Essex. >>
WOWZERS! You get the entire BARN???
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
Good luck Rob, and hope you have a great (and safe) trip!
<< <i>how did the coin get there? >>
I doubt we'll know how the coin got there. We're just guessing what its date will be, in advance.
Unless I dig one that's buried in a box, with a note explaining how it came to be there. That would be interesting.
<< <i>1853.
My English uncle once found an 1853 seated liberty dime in his yard in Yorkshire, in northern England.
Wouldn't you love to know how it got there? >>
10 cents! That would have been a treasure to me.
When I was young we used to 'ave to get up out of our shoebox at twelve o'clock at night and lick road clean wit' tongue. We had two bits of cold gravel, worked twenty-four hours a day at mill for sixpence every four years, and when we got home our Dad would slice us in two wit' bread knife.
Obscurum per obscurius
Obscurum per obscurius
I've missed this thread's resurrection and didn't get to PM him a goodbye. Hope he PMs me from England, because my partner will be in London from November 10 to 26, and she can certainly make things a bit easier for him. Plus, he can contact me via Skype, once he sees her, if he does in the end.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Cheers, as they say!
Sorry it has taken a while to post.
I do not have much computer access here and so updates will be sparse while I'm on this side of the pond. Right now I am on a borrowed (and very unfamiliar) MacBook.
Here's the short summary so far.
Day one was a half day. By the time we got to the field I had been awake for thirty hours, had just traveled four thousand miles, and was rather jet lagged.
The finds were practically nil. Just two rusty-crusties. I was startled to find how sparse signals are in these fields. One can walk across a hundred-acre field and make a full pass without getting a single signal. Not at all what I am used to from the States.
In fact, I was quickly to find that despite my utopian dreams of detecting here, it is really tough, HARD WORK. These guys make it look easy, but it's anything but.
I am with a group of six guys, all Americans, all using the same model of machine- a state of the art $2500 detector- the Minelab CTX 3030. My Garrett GTI 2500, which was state of the art ten years ago, is practically quaint by comparison. Additionally, though I am the second youngest in our crew, I am the least physically fit. These guys hump it in all conditions for 11 or 12 hours a day. I'm good for about six.
Day two was my first full day in the field. I still found NOT ONE SINGLE COIN. My barn leader, Sal, found a nice James I halfgroat and somebody else got a nice Roman sestertius which I believe is Antoninus Pius. (Update: it was Marcus Aurelius.) The edges on it are a bit ragged but the surfaces are otherwise great for a dug bronze and the portrait is sharp.
I at least broke into the medieval period with a half of a crotal bell and a tiny, crude lead gaming token that has a cross on it. Also some Georgian flat buttons, one with some gilt remaining.
But no coin. I began to worry about my "coin jinx".
The weather was nice, actually. Mild temps, though the wind was strong and had a little bite to it.
I got initiated into the "Use A Hedgerow For Your Restroom" club, and despite prior warnings, managed to get both hands and one buttock in stinging nettles. Very nasty, but not as bad as our Georgia fire ants!
Day three dawned damp and cold, and I was very sore. Though I felt ashamed, I stayed at the barn while the rest went out. I took a nap and did not get to the field until after Sal returned to get everybody's lunch.
We went to a field in stubble. Somebody got a broken hammered silver penny. I got zilch. It was rough.
Then we went to "Roman Hill". I got a small Georgian button and some modern trash.
Finally we ended up at a field they've codenamed "MC". I immediately liked the look of the place. The ground was perfect with light green grass (newly planted winter wheat, actually) and nice and smooth. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. I found an area which actually produced signals. Instead of walking half a mile between signals, I was getting them every 50 to 100 feet. Georgian buttons and small bits of lead starting coming up, along with an oval-shaped medieval mount of some kind. I forgot to bring a headlamp, so after dark fell, I was groping around a bit. The last signal produced a coin. Though I couldn't see it, I could feel it was round and rather thin. No telltale shank on the back like a button would have.
I knew I'd broken the coin jinx at last.... three days in.
And, as I had suspected, my first coin was old.
And silver.
And hammered silver, at that. Yeah, baby! Nice one, too.
But that's all I will say right now. Not just to tease you and keep you in suspense, but also because this coin is from a period I'm not quite as confident of in my attribution skills.
Again, THANK YOU ALL for your help in sending me here. This is literally the trip of a lifetime for me, challenging though it is for me, physically.
(At least I haven't had a cigarette since I left Georgia. Figured this was as good a time as any to try quitting again.)
I will try to post again before the week is out, but my Internet access is limited as I do not have anything but a really tiny tablet with me (which is too small to type on).
There will be no video posted until after my return. Couldn't do it from here with the equipment available.
Wouldn't you know I'd dig this first coin after dark on an evening where I left my headlamp in the van. So the video I shot of the moment might be useless.
But there will be plenty of video, and there are still three and a half days left!
A Hammie!!
I won't be cruel.
I'll spill what I know.
It is an Edward long cross penny.
Trouble is, I dunno WHICH Edward. Eddie One, Longshanks, I believe.
Unlike some of the other guys' hammies, this one is intact, despite a small cut one one edge.
It would be considered rather generic and ho-hum in most numismatic circles but is pretty nice for a dug one. Needless to say, I am thrilled.
I think I will make the club webpage with this find so watch the November finds page tomorrow.
http://www.colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk/2013Novfinds.html
Sorry about present and future typos but I am now on my tiny $40 tablet and can barely type, let alone post links.
Simply romantic!.....Good luck with the rest of your trip and take it all in!
-Dan
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
Cathy
8 Reales Madness Collection
perhaps with the next detector alarm you guys could find an old beer tab, still alive, still connected to a long forgotten underground beer pipe........l
I suppose it's pretty close to 5 in the afternoon over there right now as I type (it's almost 12 on the US east coast) and you've been swinging and getting your fingers dirty all day. Hope today's finds were great as is the rest of your trip. We're all anxiously awaiting to see the videos.
Too many positive BST transactions with too many members to list.
More mud on me and my boots this morning than all tbe soldiers in the trenches of WW1 had to endure.
It would have sucked really bad if not for the finds.
The greenie had a readable date so someone won the YYouTube contest. I don't think many entered.
DPOTD-3
'Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery'
CU #3245 B.N.A. #428
Don
It also made the club website.
<< <i>1641-3 Charles 1st hammered silver penny - mintmark 2 dots >>
This is my Eddie.
<< <i>1300-1310 Edward Ist hammered silver penny - Closed E, outcurving h- Cross pattee - Crown 1 - Type 10 cf3 >>
This morning's greenie was a 1750 George II farthing.
<< <i>This hammie.
It also made the club website.
<< <i>1641-3 Charles 1st hammered silver penny - mintmark 2 dots >>
This is my Eddie.
<< <i>1300-1310 Edward Ist hammered silver penny - Closed E, outcurving h- Cross pattee - Crown 1 - Type 10 cf3 >>
This morning's greenie was a 1750 George II farthing. >>
Cool finds so far
That's our winner.
And closest to 1750 won the Youtube contest.
Back to the abbey site tomorrow. The place that skunked me so badly on Day one.
But I was really tited that day.
That's our winner.
And closest to 1750 won the Youtube contest.
Back to the abbey site tomorrow. The place that skunked me so badly on Day one.
But I was really tited that day.
Way to go lordM, it sounds you are having a great time.
World Collection
British Collection
German States Collection
Best of luck for the rest of the week!