DetectingWales.com Rally - Number sixteen - Yatton - The Milled Silver Rally

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The day of the Yatton Rally dawned bright and sunny as the DetectingWales faithful made their way over the border to England. The sunny weather over the preceding few days had convinced a few of our members that summer had arrived and some even arrived in shorts! If Gok Wan had been there he would have no doubt questioned whether shorts and wellies should really be worn together, but we'll gloss over that...

After the usual pre-rally briefing most people started detecting in the parking field and within two minutes, just a few feet from the cars, the first find was made by Handyman and Mrs Handyman - a William III sixpence in decent condition and still legible - anyone who's had experience of William III coinage will know how rare that is.

Then, a couple of minutes later Chef (Geoff) made the next find and what a beauty it was! A gold posy ring complete with inscription. The ring is an absolute cracker and made everyone who saw it sick with jealousy (or was that just me?). Opinion on the date of the ring has yet to be confirmed but estimates range from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century. Chef thinks it was a child's ring because of the small size. It may, of course, have belonged to a small woman with tiny fingers.

The farmer appeared during the course of the morning and Chef showed him the ring, pointing out that the farmer would be entitled to half of the value of the ring as it was sure to be deemed treasure trove. The farmer seemed delighted with the find and went off with it (and Handyman's William III) to show his daughter-in-law.

We had held back a few fields that were considered to be the most likely Roman 'hotspot' until the afternoon, however that didn't stop several of the members turning up Roman coins on the fields that were available in the morning. Legacy Hunter (Debs) had two but didn't realise until she showed her finds to some of the other members.

There seemed to be lots of coinage in the ground, particularly Georgian grots but some nicer condition Georgian coinage did surface. Roman (Ray) had a nice George III penny and Passingclod (Andrew) and his daughter Hollie dug up a really nice George II penny.

After lunch the 'Roman' fields were opened up but the expected barrel loads of Roman brooches and coins unfortunately failed to appear. Some people bucked the tend and made some nice finds on these fields, including Searcher who unearthed a nice George III 'Bullhead' sixpence and a couple of nice buckles.

We were quite surprised, given the number of signals in the fields, that no hammered seemed to be appearing. However during the latter part of the afternoon this all changed and the hammered started to appear. Benny was first off the mark with a little hammered halfpenny. Then soon afterwards Legacy Hunter (Deb)'s screams of delight left most of Somerset in no doubt that she had struck hammered with a lovely Elizabeth I groat. She then compounded this shortly afterwards with a really nice William and Mary sixpence. Deb's husband, Ozzyhead (Steve) struggled to conceal his pleasure at her success.

The floodgates then seemed to open and the silver coins started coming thick and fast. George III bullhead silver coins came up all over the fields and Farmer Phil found three William III coins in nice condition.

Coins weren't the only things coming up, however. Roman (Ray) found a really nice military cap badge and the bowl of a silver spoon. Lots of thimbles were surfacing, buckles were being found right, left and centre and right at the end of the day Mark came up trumps with a bronze Saxon strapend.

Thanks to everyone who came along and thanks for making an effort to fill in your holes and replace grass divots correctly.

Geoff

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[Sexy Legs (Leighton)]

Great write up, Geoff. Tonnes of good stuff found today.

And as for wearing wellies with shorts. If I was famous, everybody would be doing it.

     

[willow tree]

some wicked finds were unearthed at the rally today keep em comming gutted i could,nt make it , see you at the two day rally good luck to you all willow tree   

[The Doc]

Great report and pics Geoff, and thanks to you and the team for another great day. There were at least three other hammered found - I saw a short cross penny, heard about a damaged Henry VIII, and also had one myself.

Here's mine - it's a Henry VIII 2nd coinage sovereign penny, struck by Bishop Wolsey at Durham. It has TW beside the shield, and mintmark crescent on obverse only, struck 1526-29, Spink 2352

Sorry the pic isn't great, will get a better one done in daylight tomorrow. I'll also get pictures of the rest of my bits - there are a lot of them - it was non-stop digging all day

[Legacy Hunter]

Admin this picture is of my finds not beachboys vivs lol there was so many that Tafflaff said that he would forget who found what lol
had another great day it was lovely to meet everyone and had lots of chats during the day with different people, and when I found my first hammered in the afternoon I think every one heard me shouting and jumping up and down lol
debs

[Legacy Hunter]

i forgot to attach the photo lol hear it is
debs

[bymatt666 (byron)]

great write-up geoff.....what a haul was found there.....i hope the same luck will prevail at the two dayer...... ....well done everyone  .....byron

[Neil]

Well done guys! Looks like a great rally with some cracking finds. Nice report Geoff - you may have stolen my report writing crown!

I will hopefully be at the 2 Dayer! I have managed to do some beach detecting without a detector in Bali - more on that to follow, but I found about 10 silvers! 

Just on my way to Cambodia from KL in 2 hour time.

Laters
Neil