DetectingWales.com

Hi Folks
I managed a few hours over the bridge on Saturday as I travelled to keep my brother company as he was horse riding for the day.  I found the two hammies quite close to each other in a section of a stubble field that me and Ron have walked over many times.  Other than the silvers I found the usual bullets and lots of scrap.  A nice relaxing slow paced couple of hours and only gridded a couple of hundred yards.  Any Id on the hammies will be appreciated as they are not in the best condition it may be quite difficult.   Cheers.   Tom.

 8) well done tom

The voided long cross is 'Walter on'   probably London - it's at least class IV.

Glad you had luck finding things - still looking for my hotspot :)

Thanks for the comments guys, and thanks again Roly for for the Id.  I'm hopeless at the Id part.  When you say it's a Class 1V,
Walter - on, What exactly does that mean please Roly.  Is there a king and what sort of date please.  That's the only way I can make sense of what I've found.  Thanks again and cheers.  Tom.

So, hammered coins are divided into types - essentially from the reforms of Henry II you have in order, short cross - the cross only reaches the inner circle on the reverse (not the king's head side) - then you have voided long cross - cross all the way to the edge of the coin, but two lines make up each arm, so there is a gap between them - these are, apart from some very early issues of Edward I, all Henry III, then from 1279 all the way to Henry VII (I know there are some later ones) you have the Long cross coinage - each arm is a single line, the cross reaches the edge of the coin.

Each type is then sub divided into different classes - it's a bit like cars - you might have a lot of models with the same name, but a Mk 1 Golf doesn't look like a Mk 4 Golf, but it's still a Golf :) So voided long cross for instance is Henry III, Class IV is just the 4th (major type - further subdivisions can be likened to facelifts for different models of car). - it helps pin down the date / type / catalogue number / rarity, etc - in this case as I must have thought I could see a sceptre in the king's hand it has to be at least class IV for the longcross. If you want to read more about this kind of thing then look at Spink's coins of England, or Wren 'The Voided Long Cross Pennies' (he also does short cross and Long Cross'.

The other bit is that for these coins, it tells you the person responsible for minting that coin and also the mint (the person responsible is unlikely to be the coin striker, just the official responsible) - so 'Walter' is the 'moneyer' - on is just their way of say at / from - and then there would be a mint signature - like Lund, Win, Glo, Oxon etc, which tells you where it was struck.

I read a lot of books, I look at a lot of coins, I see how other people identify things - the best way to learn it to use the resources available and have a go - try yourself and then ask if it is correct, or where you are not, there are many people who will help in the various means of identification. Like anything else, it is hard at first - just trying to read the letters can be hard - it's a strange font to modern eyes.

Hope this helps.

Excellent info Roly.  Just what I needed, a plain and simple description of what to look for.  Thanks again and good luck on finding that 'hot-spot'.  Cheers.  Tom