A couple of days ago I stated on a thread started by Nick (NBates)
http://www.detectingwales.com/index.php?topic=13950.msg130446;topicseen#new that I believed the scabbard he had found complete with the end of a blade, was probably no more than 20 years old, if from normal soil as I felt certain that the leather would have deteriorated.....welllllllll! I was wrong as you will see, so Sorry Nick
Popped out yesterday just for a couple of hours as it was a glorious day, decided to go back to the old club site which has produced hammies and Roman but I have had a few barren days the last few times and haven't been back for a good 6 months.
But fields never cease to amaze me with what they still throw up given different weather, temperature, length of grass etc. Well nothing to set the world alight but my first surprise came with all the lead I was digging, this from a site that should of been cleared of this years ago, these fields have been detected for over 30 years by the local club, (maybe the farmer meant cricket club
)
First find worth mentioning was a grot (Galley Quinarius) of Allectus minted at Colchester.
Then a heavily gilded mount, probably only post medieval but the thickness of the gold gives it the feel of something older;
Next up came what I think is my best sausage token to date, it's condition is helped by the way the patina has built up in some places and not in others.
Now comes the reason for the apology, I found only one buckle, a trapezoidal from the late 17th century and yep you guessed it, firmly attached is a small part of the leather strap that it was used on. So scrub my 20 years and add another 280 lol And yes this was from normal drained soil
