DetectingWales.com

Detectingwales.com headed to pastures new today and the village of Wraxall, an area steeped in Roman and Medieval occupation.

I arrived at 9am promptly with my detecting buddy Mark in tow, only to find almost everyone else was already there! You are a keen bunch!

The first hour took the normal course of events with a great impromptu overview of the area courtesy of Chef. Well done matey - much appreciated and then we were off!

The farm was huge with numerous pastures, two enormous stubbles and some marshland for us to play in. I personally dont think we made a dent in the farm and would love to come back some time.

It was nice to see once again lots of new faces and it was particular nice to watch how welcome they were all made by various members. I think our friendliness really makes a difference, and encourages people into our fold.

Onto the finds and the person to draw First Blood was Rambo! I never got to see the find as he seemed to have been too camoflaged for me to find him, but I am assured its a hallmarked silver bangle/chain.

Another find of note came soon after from our very own Mr Handyman and was around 10  {hallmarked 925) and glass silver beads. A lovely find and one for your bride to piece back together I dare say.

The first hammered coinage of the day fell {as it usually does} to Dr Halford and was an Edward IV I think.

Next was Roman Rays brother, Mark who had travelled down from Scotland once again and was rewarded with a hammered coin and later a 1921 shilling.

I then paused to watch 2 bulls in the distance galloping after a group of detectorist, who fortunately all escaped unscathed! In fairness to all involved the bulls had managed somehow to get through an electric fence, and the farmer soon returned them to their home.

Nobby next appeared with his very fetching pink headphone lead and a George III bullhead in his hand.

He was quickly followed by a chap I think called John (who already had detecting rights on the farm}. Nice to meet you mate and good to chat - sorry for DW arriving en-mass! He had a cracking barrel tap in his hand that I am pretty sure is an early one as it has an inbuilt sprinkler instead of a hollow entrance and an arrow lock. My obscure knowledge on these comes from working too long in Cardiff's pubs for you!

Next came Viking with a lovely silver stud of some age and his buddy Saxon had found his first ever Jetton from the Krauwinkle stable - that guy got everywhere!

My favourite moment of the day belonged to a new member called Villan, after his love for the mighty Aston Villa. He had travelled more than 3 hours from Cornwall and was rewarded for his journey with his first hammered ever! What a hammered coin to have your cherry plucked by - it was a Charles II Shilling! Over the moon for you mate! I commented that I personal never find big denomination hammereds - well 10 minutes later that all changed!

As a rule the organising team of Rob, Admin and I never, ever, ever find any decent finds on DW Rallies. Everyone else does and thats great news, but we seem to find bugger all! Probably something to do with us talking, taking photos and checking everyones happy. Anyway that all changed today.

I was working the bank in the "Roman Villa" field when the Explorer treated me to a crisp noise that I haven't heard for a while. A little bit of digging and up popped a James 1st sixpence in stunning condition dated 1604. I was a tad in shock as prior to this afternoon, my highest hammered denomination had been a clipped groat. To say I was exstatic was an understatement!

Once I calmed down, I was met by a few others and saw some more finds including a smattering of Romans belonging to Shungav and Viv.

Along came Nordine - the happy Frenchman, who had a smile as wide as the Seine and in his hand a George III bullhead shilling. It had also popped his Georgian silver cherry! By now though my camera was no longer working, so please add your own photos guys.

Heading back to the car I met my buddy Mark who had a silver hat trick in his pocket of a silver spoon, a silver watch and a Vicky sixpence with the number 28 above the date. Anyone know what thats about?

Back at the car, more hammered tales arrived of finds by Tyna, Andrew and others. A gold ring had also turned up, along with another Charles shilling, a French silver coin and a rumour was doing the rounds of a gold hammered coin. We had to leave, so I never found out if that was true or not.

A great day out in splendid company - really enjoyed myself - well I would say that wouldn't I!

Until next time my friends

Neil  

More

And again!

And some more

Ah go on then. Heres some more!

Moreski

And again

Well done Villan!

and more

more again

A few more

Last one , and who had this lovely william half crown ???  Sorry thewre are some hammered missing. If anyones is not up, please feel free to add. Also if we havent got your name on the find please let us know so we can list Find of the rally correctly

i had a nice 1858 shilling

 ;DBravo Nomad , you and Pipster are top man and thanks a lot for your help .Nordine

It just goes to show how big that farm was I only saw some finds when I got back to the car park. Some lovely finds did come up, but sadly not for me.LOL
In the last few years I have gone past the bling stage and now love finds that ask questions, So I love Ceri's 2Ore, but who found the US dog tag? looks as good as the day it was lost. it dates to WWII, the T44 part is the date of their tetanus injections. try looking on Facebook for another Elizabeth Strobel that possibly was named after a relative or contact the US embassy as they will be able to trace her.
So well done all and heres to the next one. ;)

Had a silver button and some sort of bronze fastener type of thing but the hammered escaped me today!
Still,had a great day out and had a nice dinnertime pint in the pub over the road so all in all I was quite content!
Cheers!

Thanks for a great day everyone!! Sorry I wasn't there a little earlier for the start so I could listen to Chef. Have put up two pics of my finds, one of the pictures being some flints, one looking very much like an arrow on the far right, I have found another example like this before in an area which is about a 10 minute drive from where we detected today, but as I am no expert, I am not too sure if it is one? Anyone else pick up any flints? The other picture shows the Lizzy Penny (my first, so happy) I found, along with the Cufflinks, I'm so glad I didn't lose the links!! The Lizzy, if I am not mistaken, looks to have a Bell Mint Mark, so it would date the Penny to 1582-1600. I also found a button hand engraved and a Sixpence dated 1928 George V, oh, and two Musket Balls for the record. Thanks Rob for taking a picture of my links in the clod of mud, and Jeff for taking my Lizzy pic, much appreciated! Cheers, Jon

Unfortunately I couldn't make this one but, in the true spirit of DW it looks like a great day was had by all with some nice finds being produced. Well done with the hammered Neil. ;)

Great report Neil, and well done on the James sixpence.
 Well done to everyone else on some great finds.

Here is my hammie cleaned up. It's an Edward IV penny, Spink 2128

What a great day ;D I would like to thank everyone involved in organising  the rally for an excellent day.Turning up knowing nobody,it only took two minutes for Davtec and Bobkoi to come across and say hello,top fellas.Bob,thanks again for the magnifying glass,that was very nice of you. I was made to feel really welcome by everyone,thanks a lot.Nice to meet you Pipster,Tafflaff,Nomad,Rjm,Neil,Geoff,Chef,Saxon and everyone else I chatted to ;)
Neil,I'm chuffed for you to fella,your sixpence is an absolute cracker :o I was smiling all the way home after finding my first hammered,brilliant day out.
I will look forward to the next one I can get to,All the best Neil / Villan

Are you sure Peter, I think you better put it up in the ask the Doc thread  :D

Here's my best artefact, a nice gilded livery button.

And here is Tyna's hammered, which was her first ever find on land with the Deus. it didn't look like silver at first, but it appears to be a York penny, possibly of Edward IV.

Great report Neil, as usual, and a great day all around methinks. 

Had a great time - as usual.  A big thank you to DW for all the hard work put in to give us all yet another interesting dig.
 :-*

Well, this is our entry from sunny Northants. Thanks for a great day everyone, good to meet new faces, [nice coin villan! well done].

i attach the pics of the medieaval bell, the glass beads and a miscellaneous selection of a georgian 1/2d, a modern buckle and a 'roman paintbrush?'

cheers, c u at the next one

Mr & Mrs H.

How is it i dont believe you Al,my mrs is in Stratford and its whoosing down there ;DThose beads are looking great mate and i like your Medival ding dong.

some fantastic finds there , its nice to beable to look at them well done everyone,  mickycoin  mick ;D ;D

my coin

neil another great write up,and as rallies go it was another really cracking one and what a load of great finds,again thanks to all the admin for that and the smashing crowd of blokes and ladies that turned out,looking forward to meeting every one on the next rally.viv

This was my first but definately not my last rally with DW had a great day didn't find anything of great note,but had a great time,friendly people too.

great report yet again neil.another great ralley folks in great historic pedigree.not alot to show for it myself but a great day in all.welldone to all who did come home with something.the only thing i came home with.is a new forum name given to me by sir tafflaff
weather i like it or not..i cant wait for my first roman coin.im gonna rub it right in tafflaffs face.lol my time will come mr taffy..lol.
again welldone to everyone.cant wait for the next one.
kind regards.
romanless raymondo..

Thanks Tafflaff ,Niel and Geoff for another super day out,good company  and plenty of signals.Managed to get my 2nd roman (grot-can just see head} and several geogian coppers.Glad to see the hammies still coming out even though they seem to bypass me! :) :)
Al :) :) :)

It was worth travelling for our cwtch boyo  ::)

or yes tyna.i would have travelled alot further my loves.lol..see you both soon take care.
ray.

I love you Raymondo  - you are my hero.  :-*.  :-*

Anyone heard anything about this gold coin that was supposedly found?  Or was it another case of detecting Chinese whispers?  ???

This is much better than cold hard Ground!
Did you hear about the Rolled Ploughed ground?
Did you hear about the Mould Colin found?
Did you hear about the Old coin found?
Did you hear about the Gold Coin Found ?  ::) ;D

Lol,  ;D

Thanks to all concerned for a great rally, dug till i was kn--------d, great day in good company and was rewarded with a nice Edward 1st penny. once again a great day Guys.

                 jonny    ;D  ;D  ;D

Another interesting and well run rally. Home improvements kept me away with a late call on a favour but as usual an interesting array of finds. Nice to see some flints in the pictures and some unusual finds as well. My favourites are the Saxon Strapend not an every day find and the lovely 2 Ore coin. What is that doing in a Somerset field. Nice report Neil and some nice pics from Neil and Rob. Well done all see you in Cardiff. World War 3 will not stop me being their.

yet again a very good write up Neil what would we do without you , some very nice finds for sure all across the board finds to. glad it was another great DW rally and nice to see it was another friendly rally great to see the regulars welcoming the new folks . ;)

 ;D  just playing with another camera i got /my coin part 2

Here you are Nordine your coin in the field before cleaning, well done on your find m8 pleased for you happy hunting.
cheers
Fred

hey Nordine he's got napolean stamped on his neck ;D

 ;D  new tattoo Rob look good no

 ;)  thanks Fred for the comment, wow a big difference after the cleaning , just use some water and a soft towel thats all and will not do anything else to it.cheers .Nordine.

Cracking coin! Yeah anymore cleaning and you'd ruin the natural toning of the coin. Nice find that Nap!

Hiya Neil,

The little no 28 above the date on the 6d is the die number buddy.

No no more cleaning Benny to be honest i only cleaned that coin to a minimum even some dirt still on it and will leave it this way.Cheers.

Napoleon.