Detecting Wales Rally 73 - All Hail Emperor Dawson

[Neil]

Detecting Wales Rally 73 All Hail Emperor Dawson

A return to Shepton Mallet was on the cards, as we knew it was soon to be ploughed and inaccessible for a few  months.  A short notice rally was duly arranged thanks to the ever so helpful farmers who own this site.

An early start for most saw everyone arrive by 9.15am and shortly after we were in amongst the stubble, fossils, hail and pasture. 

A beautiful early morning turned into a day of strange weather with intermittent hail throughout the day. It must have hailed at least five times in the 8 hours we were there, often scattering detectorists for the cover of trees and hedgerows.

When the hail stopped for five minutes I bumped into Wayno’s dad DB4 who was sporting a lovely silver late Victorian buckle ring. They must have been quite vogue at some time as buckle rings often turn up made of copper, silver or gold. They normally have the large buckle catch on them, which this one doesn’t – quite the different design and a great start to the day.

More hail, and I bump into Cheffy and Justin – one of whom has just found his first ever coin. I’ll let you guess which of the two it was.  Justin in case you were struggling was the answer, and he also had a 1400’s buckle and a giant ‘fossilised Snail’ which he kindly gave to TaffLaff.  Cheffy not to be outdone had a silvered Roman coin in his hand, and was the first of the day to smile back at us.

Throughout the day a few grotty hammered also put in an appearance for Dragons Breathe and  John Sheely who kindly gave the farmers wife his Lizzy clipped groat at the end of the day. Grotty was also the theme for the Romans that is until Jeff the Wizard rocked up with a stunner of a siliqua that has been pierced in antiquity. Just like the buckle rings, there was a point in time when Roman coinage was fashionable to wear – we’ll probably all be doing it next year!

He who you normally hear before you see, aka Rambo had kept his shirt on today and had unearthed a nice example of a George II farthing to add to his blossoming collection. The prize of the day though belonged to his partner (not in the romantic sense I hasten to add) Dawson!

We were all hanging around the cars chatting with the farm owners at the end of the day, when I spotted Dawson idling over with a “I’ve got something nice in my pocket look”. He wasn’t lying either as he pulled out a cracker of a 2nd century fibula with the scarcity of having its pin still intact. As Cheffy pointed out the catch plate had snapped and that how the Roman lost it nearly 2000 years ago. A prized find for any Roman collector.

Other finds were drifting in, but by now I was frozen and we headed home with a crazy Dylan following our every move. Hope you enjoyed the deliberate detour via the housing estate in Bridgewater!

Thanks as always go to Taff for finding the land and the wonderful farmers for having us again. I am sure we will return once the plough has worked its magic and replenished the farm.

We have a number of irons in the fire at the moment with farms all over the place  lined up from now until November, so keep checking in at Wales’ Number One Detecting Forum.

Keep The Faith
Neil

[Neil]

Somme more photos

[Neil]

Again - my computer is on a real go slow today!

[alun]

We'll done guys those are stunning finds, especially in those conditions. We'll written Neil nice read

[Neil]

Last ones

[jaydogg]

Great looking rally guys, nice finds. Another quality report there Neil. 

[handyman [Alan}]

Gosh, that brooch is absolutely stunning!

Yet again another excellent read and well done everyone who found something.

[matthewbullingham123]

Very nice finds Again, especially Jeff coin and that roman fibular! All that was missed the first time! Just goes to show you cant dig everything!

[rookypair]

Superb write up yet again Neil, thank you.  Well done to those who came away with a finds and there were a fair few beauties found.

Rookypair

[bristolminelab]

many thanks for another great day out

[Dungbeetle]

Nice write up Neil, it looks like you all had a good day despite the weather. Well done.

[probono]

That fibula is very nice.

It's good to see a(nother) siliqua - unusually it looks as if it hasn't been clipped, so probably converted into something wearable soon after it was made - and right at the end of roman rule in these islands too.

I'd have liked to turn up to this one, but I'd already arranged somewhere else for the day (managed a denarius and a debased shilling of Edward VI, so not too bad.....)

[Dale]

Great finds lads looks like the farm produced again

[big jim]

Nice write up with some gorgeous fines

[colin]

great report as usual neil you always come up with a good heading,some really nice
finds surfaced again and still more there probably well done to all