Detectingwales Rally 42 - " The Force was not strong in us"

[Neil]

The 42nd Detectingwales.com Rally saw us heading over the bridge once again to a parcel of pastures that had been gifted to us for the day courtesy of Yoda and Coin Demon. Thanks guys.

Getting to the farm was probably the hardest part, as the bridge less than a few miles away had been closed due to structural damage. This resulted in a 20 minute detour to try and get around the bridge following just two "Detour  Signs". A few of us struggled with the directions, but I think we all made it for the start of the day.

The location was steeped in history with plenty of stunning finds having been made historically in the surrounding areas, however for today we weren't to fair quite so well - you could say the "Force was not with us!"

After the normal gathering and a well deserved round of applause for Yoda, we were off onto the pastures.

The first find of note fell to Chef and answered an age old question in "What are those bronze rings we all occasionally find?" Now I have heard of everything from lambing rings, finger rings to even Celtic Bronze money (see Ebay and the amount of mugs willing to buy them!), but we had the answer in situ today. Chef had unearthed a horse bridle with at least three of them still attached. Job done, question answered - well done Chef! Now if we can only find out what those six stemmed lead spruces are . . .

I next happened across Woody who last week found his first hammered coin and this week found his first milled silver coin in the shape of William III shilling. As is often the case with this monarch, the coin was worn almost flat except for a little tuft of hair and the mint mark E, which is I believe Exeter or maybe Edinburgh.

Next in line came a Gurkha knife with a lions head pommel, known traditionally as a Khukri. It seemed an odd find for the area until later yoda explained that during the war numerous troops had been stationed nearby.

My turn next and under an old oak tree I found a nice livery button. I like these things and have built up a modest collection of them that I eventually want to research and mount in a frame. Any ideas on the family crest anyone?

Back at the parking fields a few more finds had materialised including a James II Gunmoney coin for someone - I never got to find out who - photo please. A counterstamped George III sixpence for Viking, a small coin spill of 3 coppers in the same hole for Deadlock along with an interesting carriage plaque that may be a bit more modern than it depicts.

Rambo was also amongst the cars with a whopper of an early Republican Sestertius in lovely condition - I can't remember who we thought it depicted. A cracker of a coin though in a barren Roman rally.

Another horse harness turned up and it wasn't long until it was being modelled by the former "Face of DW", Richard 16.5DD who we now
refer to as the "Horse of DW!"

A few of us braved another field further down the road, but it was mainly filled with rubble in the shape of tarmac.

The usual finds were turning up including buckles, buttons, copper coinage to George III, the odd musket ball, but not a lot of a great age apart from those already mentioned. I don't think the ground helped as the one field was strongly contaminated and the rest pretty hard to dig. It happens sometimes and its just one of those things we all experience with detecting. I am sure there were more decent finds deeper down but alas they aluded most of us.

The final find of the day went to a DW stalwart and a man most of us have consulted on this forum at some point or other. It is of course The Doc who pulled out a beautiful 18ct gold ring with Saphires and Diamonds. A cracking ring well deserved.

On a personal note a big Thank You to Chef and Coin Demon who being aware of my unhealthy obsession with buckles both gave me some stunning examples they had previously found. Very kind of you guys - I can assure you they have gone to a good home!

Thats about it - well done to everyone for coming along and to Yoda,Coin Demon and Relichunting for the land. We have a few more rallies in the pipe line a bit localer to South Wales for the next couple of weeks. I know TaffLaff is speaking to a farmer today, so watch this space.

See you all  in a field soon.
Neil

 

[Neil]

More

[Neil]

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[Neil]

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[Neil]

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[Neil]

Feel free to add any more photos guys.

Cheers
Neil

[relichunting]

The land was gifted to you for the day courtesy of Yoda,Coin Demon,and relichunting.
(myself), we have around 8000 acres that we share between us.

Sorry no hammereds or much was found but thats detecting for you. 

[JRD]

Some nice finds that guys - especially loving the Gurkha and of course Pete's gold ring. Cracking find well done mate.

[Kev]

this is the bell and part of trade weight with a letter A on it i found at the rally yesterday.....i dug the bell up around 18"
                                      please get photos in of finds from rally as im putting up the polls tomorrow cheers.

[Neil]

Sorry - Just re-read this and forgot to say a big thanks to RelicHunting as well for the day out - Apologies.

 A great way to spend the day with the usual cracking company.

Cheers
Neil

[dances with badgers]

weldone peeps

[Meatslicer]

I managed a piece of a bronze bowl, lots of IKEA bits and a 1947 penny, a pretty clean 303 bullet casing and some buttons. I saw someone with what looks like a possible roman grott or even an iron age bronze unit, Chef saw it too but dont know the chaps name who found it, sorry.

No roman stuff or saxon finds from the areas we expected to find some but they were probably too deep for us to get to. The ploughed field at the end of the land we had access to has an interesting dark bit of soil and squarish crop mark on google earth, near the crest of the hill. I found some roman looking pottery along the edge of the field where it had been moved by the plough.


Several bits of bronze slag from the same area probably means there was a bit of industry there too.
 
All together an interesting bit of land that I would have liked to have spent a bit more time on. I must admit it was the first time I have detected while being surrounded by running deer! It was cracking seeing deer run past two guys with their heads in holes and they didnt even see them.

Thanks to yoda, relichunting and coin demon for letting us all on. A good day out. Cheers guys.

Eric