A morning at the beach 23rd October 2010

[Neil]

I was at a loose end this morning and thought I know I'll head to the beach for a spot of detecting. Always nice to have a change, and I always seem to do well on the beaches.

After about an hour of finding exactly 39 pence in change I was close to giving up, and thought I'll give it to my next coin and then head home to the PS3! Anyway as I stumbled across the beach I became concious that the sand/shale in this one area was certainly darker than the rest of the beach and when looking at the steps in front of this area (100 paces away} it was noticeable that it was banked up the steps. Hang on - have we got an area of the beach thats gone down to its base layer?

It certainly appeared to be as my next beep was a Edward half penny folowed by a 1918 silver joey, an enamelled RAF badge, 1948 two shillings, a vicky farthing, 1933 joey (easy Chef!)' two 1948 sixpences and about another 4 pre decimal coins. Next came a lead driver - what he was driving was anyones guess, followed by an ornate chicken brooch thats a tad battered.  I then had a Johnny Foreigner (I think German - "I mentioned it once, but I think I got away with it!") stuck in some Iron residue.  Final find of the day was a live bullet - that will be heading to my local nick shortly.

All the finds pictured came out of an area only 5 metres square on a huge beach. I kept asking myself when is the gold going to turn up, but alas it was not to be today. Its funny how beaches and tides and long shore drift works. I found literally nothing of any age for two hours and then couldn't stop pulling pre 1950 stuff out for the final hour.

The heavens emptied eventually and sent me running for cover, but as the Mayor of California once said "I'll be back!"

[shunggav]

brill report neil good finds there mate

[falcon.]

Cracking finds there maybe next outing you will find gold!!

[Roman (Ray)]

WELLDONE NEIL BUTTY..
lovely finds for a mornings detecting mate.great stuff neil..ive been wanting to try a bit of beach detecting myself..my problem is getting to the beach..lol.
again welldone mucker.
ray.

[Val Beechey]

Well done Neil. Great finds there. I am surprised at the condition of some of them, though. They look as if they've come out of soil. Do you think there was a land slide somewhere along the coast and they have been washed in.
Theres a section of cliff by Amroth that is constantly dropping chunks and bearing in mind the Graves that were exposed by St.Davids the same way I often wonder what might come out next It's a bit dangerous though so I keep clear.

Val

[Neil]

Hi Val - Beach coins always come out like that.

More faded than soil if the are 50/50 or post 47!

Pre 1920 are always black and generally worn.

Gold comes out pristine if its a high carat or coated if its less than 18ct (but easily cleaned)

Coppers always green - but when rubbed look like new coppers.

Thats salt water for you and the best part of 50 -100 years sat in it!

Neil

[Val Beechey]

Thanks for the info Neil. I've only found a couple of 'old' coind on the beach and they looked as if they'd been in a sand blaster.
They say salt water's good for the feet though

Val

[Terra (Mike)]

Good productive visit to the beach ,,,,, i was going to say you struck gold, ,,,, but apart from that , nice collection  there,,,,, unusual to get age of the beach, as they are normally detected away, you must have found a sweet spot, like you said it had been stripped,,,,, bonus

[goldquest]

Good write up fantastic finds, it's always nice to find the older coins well done 

[geordiefred]

A nice selection of finds there m8, good to find the older stuff when beach detecting
Well done 

[Pipster]

A great report Neil and some super finds looking forward to our day out 

[Al.Thepastfinder, ( Alan )]

 same again, just packing in and then wham lol, nice one Neil  nice r.a.f. badge too, good detective work
Alan

[dragonsbreath(Paul)]

Thats the sort of beach day i like well done Neil...

[dances with badgers]

good one .just goes to show its all about reading the beach layout.i could do with a morning out like that.good luck on that elusive gold.i am still managing to avoid it .lol

[James]

nice finds!! i tried a the beach last week when i was away in Brixham all i found was a bronze oar guide! did see a statue of William III and the "supposed" paving stone he first stood on British soil.