Detectingwales.com Rally 69 - Mud, Mist, Cold and Gold!

[Neil]

Mud, Mist, Cold and Gold!

A 7am start today saw Jaydogg and I winding our way along the M4 heading towards deepest, foggiest, Sodbury for a day with DW masses playing on stubble and pasture.

We arrived early to find the keenest already patiently waiting for us. Following a bit of race and chase trying to find the field (which we had already driven past) in convoy style around 10 vehicles arrived together.

It was a real meeting of the clans today as we had loyal members from as far as the Wirral joining us, along with members from the Czech Republic and Denmark, oh and of course numerous of our Anglo Saxon cousins who were not fortunate enough to be born Welsh.

Into the fields on what started out as a beautiful sunny, but bitterly cold day was soon to turn into a scene from John Carpenter’s The Fog! The first hour or so everyone seemed to be digging all over the place, but not a lot apart from coppers, musket balls and the everyday farm dross was coming up. At one point I surveyed the field with Nobby and the lesser spotted TaffLaff (welcome back mate) and counted 26 people digging at the same time!

About an hour after the start, I was on my knees digging a particularly annoying signal – it was there and then it was gone, and then it was back again. I started digging with about 30 or so members dotted around the field in plain view of me. I finished, looked up and every man, woman and goat was gone! They had all been replaced with a thick foreboding fog.  I don't know what happened in Sodbury today. Something came out of the fog and tried to destroy us. In one moment, it vanished. But if this has been anything but a nightmare, and if we don't wake up to find ourselves safe in our beds, it could come again. To the detectorists in fields who can hear my voice, look across the pasture, into the darkness. Look for the fog!

Midday arrived and back at the cars some of the early departures had braced the bitter cold long enough and were heading towards the warmth of their homes. That is they would have been if they hadn’t got stuck on mass in the now defrosted ground that had turned shall we say a tad muddy. A lot of heaving and pushing involved all the cars being freed from their grasp and released to the safety of tarmac. Well done all involved – a great effort.

Whilst eating lunch Mike appeared from nowhere in the style of the shop keeper from Mr Ben to announce that there was a ‘Rally Rumour’ doing the rounds that a large Hammered Gold coin had surfaced.  Lots had seen or heard about it, but it took me some time to track down the lucky finder – Antique Boy!

Before I got to Antique Boy, a hammered coin finder in the shape of Dawson appeared on the horizon with tales of his mate Alan finding a Half Crown of Charles 1st – you know the dancing pony type! When I saw Alan not only did he have a cracking chunk of Charlie silver in great shape, but also a beaut of a bronze medieval seal matrix. The legend and motif will be clear given a bit of toothpick time. Can we have a photo please when its done?

My quest for Antique Boy continued into the pasture field to only be interrupted by the member Dom clutching a half sovereign dated 1914 – a hefty lump to lose on the eve of the First World War and in great nick.

I eventually found Antique Boy who had stopped shaking by now, having prised from the earth at a whole 2 inches a whopping big hammered GOLD coin of James 1st. A breath taking find, fit for the hands of a noble man. I am sure some of our learned readers will be able to add a few more details about it. A great find for a relative newcomer to DW rallies – don’t expect one every time!

Numerous other finds appeared throughout the day include an early buckle to John Talbot, a trefoil Tudor hook (damaged) for Proconsol, the receiving end for Jaydogg (nod of the hat for the  rally name mate), Livery buttons (nice one for ManicDev), scarce small coinage of James II, two jettons from the school of Hans Van Sausage Eater, George III Soho penny 1806, and even a silver ring for myself.

Finds I heard and saw photos of that Rob will include later are a Roman fibula, Roman coinage, a hallmarked silver napkin ring and for want of a better description a hallmarked silver salver the size of Rob’s hand.

Come 3.30 I needed to make tracks as I had another engagement to attend in Cardiff. As we left there were still 40+ in the fields, so I dare say a few more finds will show up over the next few days. Feel  free to add them to this post.

A huge thanks to the farmer who was truly interested in the finds and well done all of you that donated stuff to him – I know he was grateful.

That’s the first rally of the year done, and speaking to Rob I know of at least another four lined up for the next few months. On that note well done Rob on getting the farm, and Geoff as always on making the day run smoothly.

See you all in a field soon and remember stay away from the FOG!!

Keep the Faith

Neil

[Neil]

More photos

[Neil]

Go on then, here are a few more.

[Neil]

I got a feeling you are waiting for one find in particular!

[16.5DD (richard)]

Great to see gold but gutted no Saxon pennies

[Tafflaff (Rob)]

some more, sorry if duplicates of Neil's

[DEADLOCK]

great rally report neil well done guys

[Mike]

great report as usual mate and some lovely finds made , enjoyed the day as always with good company .

my finds were a bit ordinary today but I did manage an open top thimble c.15thc , a 1st for me so im happy . looking forward to the next rally   thanks to all involved

[The Doc]

Well done - some great finds there and a great report Neil.

The finder of the half sovereign looks like DomR to me.

[Dale]

Great finds!!! Looks like I missed a very good rally
Well done on the hammered gold James 1st third coinage half-laurel mm Trefoil

[legio11augustus]

cracking day out , its amazing what an array of finds materialised off those fields...some fantastic finds , great write up and good quality pics ..well done to those with the wow factor finds ..me personally would have good signal then it would try and  reject then go over it again and give a good signal... so i had a merry dance .but managed to winkle out a few ..thanks to all organised and donated there time in bringing another great dw rally

[dances with badgers]

ooooh nice

[wayno]

WELL DONE TO YOU ALL VERY NICE FINDS LOOKS LIKE A GOOD DAY

[handyman [Alan}]

well done on the report Neil, yet another good read. Also, very well done to the finders.

I hope everyone attending had a good day out.

Sorry to have missed this one, see you on the next one.

[pontyboy]

Some nice things came up. love the Seal and Gold Hammered.