Detectingwales Rally 39 - The bucketful of buckles rally

[proconsul]

Despite the threat of a major storm approaching the UK over the weekend, the day of the rally dawned bright and pleasant. The massed ranks of the DW faithful gathered just outside the little village of Keinton Mandeville and prepared to scour the countryside for the usual historical relics.

The area has a long and varied history so more or less anything could have come up but sadly there wasn’t the same kind of cascade  of hammies that appeared  at our previous rally in Penmark. Having said that a variety of finds did turn up, including a smattering of hammies.

After the usual meeting to let everyone know which fields were available, the members dispersed to start their search. Most of the fields were easily accessible but unfortunately one or two were ringed by electric fences. However quite a few people managed to negotiate these obstacles and gained access to these particular fields.

The first find to come up was a nice medieval strap end found by ianjohn12 in one of the fenced off fields. This was followed by a number of Georgian coins and quite a few musket balls. The musket balls that came up during the day seemed a little larger than usual. Military perhaps?

Nomad pitched in early on with a very nice sword hanger and followed up with a William III copper halfpenny and a George V silver florin. The first hammered coin of the day was a penny of Henry V.

One of the more unusual finds of the rally was a silver Turkish coin found by mikethefob. This had a hole through the middle and the suggestion was made that this had come from a charm bracelet. Heather made her challenge for ‘find of the rally’ by turning up an ancient, complete mussel (eyes only). This possibly goes back to the eighteenth century and even possibly back to the Romans?

Speaking of the romans, one or two roman grots started to appear in one of the fields during the morning. There were rumours of a roman brooch to go with them but I did not see this.

Later in the morning our FLO Laura appeared to take up residence in the marquee kindly provided once again by bigxhoni. It was nice to see members keeping her busy with finds to record.

After lunch the decision was made to open up some more fields, stubble this time, although they were a short car journey away from the main rally site so Rob led people to the new site in a couple of convoys.

Finds immediately started to appear at the new fields. One of the first was a nice spectacle buckle and this set the trend for the rest of the afternoon. Buckles galore of assorted types appeared. These fields must have witnessed a lot of medieval trousers falling down!

One of the nicest buckles to come up was a snake buckle in very nice condition found by jtalbot0001. These are always difficult to date as they were used from Roman times right throughout history with very little change to the design. I seem to remember wearing a belt with a snake buckle as part of my cub scout uniform when I was just a lad… But anyway this one had a nice patina to it so could possibly be early.

Towards the end of the afternoon another hammie appeared, in nice condition, one of the Henrys I believe. Melonhead and Ozziehead started to make some nice finds including, I am reliably informed, a Roman fibula. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of this so perhaps someone could upload a pic of it.

When we were leaving at the end of the rally my van got well and truly stuck in a rut so I’d just like to say thanks to the members who helped push me out. Laura the FLO left some finds with me to return to the members who had found them. I returned as many as I could but I still have some left. I will bring them to the rally next week. Could anyone who hasn’t had their find returned please collect it from me then.

Geoff

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[Chef Geoff]

Nicely written up Geoff, not one of the most prolific DW rallies but great weather and a good turn out by some great people.
My only find worth posting came right at the end and took the form of a Roman nummus of Constantine the Great but I thoroughly enjoyed the day.

[Chef Geoff]

Just a few of Melonhead, Marks finds. First a nice Rose farthing from the 1640's then a silver cuff link also from the 17thC and with a makers mark and the last a saw a nice Roman 1stC Fibula. Well done Mark.
And just to say that Jo had a cut piece of a silver ring which did look old.

[davtec (dave)]

very nice finds i wish had made the rally

[Jassy]

well done everyone!some nice bits there!

[colin]

Thanks to Tafflaff and Geoff for organising the rally didn't find much myself but that's the way it goes.really like the sword hanger because I got a complete one with one of the loops missing just like the one found yesterday.thanks

[Villan (Neil)]

Great write up there Geoff,cheers  Some nice finds there,well done to all involved 

[sinky]

well done to all who found the coins and other nice stuff no hammered 4 me but hay ho another day outhere somewhere had a few old buttons not the chocolate ones we ate them he he . i cant make the other rall as we will be in exmouth devon 4 a week so any rallies after that im in for them good hunting outhere folks and thanks 4 a nice day sinky .

[wayne]

nice day out in the westcountry,lovely picturesque view ,of Glastonbury's tor and surrounding area,from the top fields.no great finds to talk about just the normal ,bits of copper,lead,grots etc.enjoyed the day and company,thanks guys.