As the title says this was the first Rally of 2010 and the troops were massed at a secret location somewhere between Caerwent and Chepstow. Lots of history around here and I am happy to report that we found a fair bit of it!
Well over 50 die hard Detectingwales members turned up, all itching to get out and into the fields. After the usual talk and the award of a Years Free Rallies going to Roman Ray for guessing the weight competition we were off!
The first find was literally within feet of the cars and fell to Benny from Hereford. Its a long way to drive and he was rewarded rightfully so with an Edward hamster in good nick.
Next find of any note fell to me for a change
in the form of some silver filigree work that has been hand etched. Probably off a walking can or riding crop - a bit battered but I'll take it. After finding this I bumped into Benny again who by now was the owner of a partifact from a Roman brooch. This was only 20 minutes in so the it looked like it was going to be a good day.
Next I bumped into my old mate and detecting buddy Mark sporting a George III sixpence - which turned out to be one of three found today.
Quite a few Roman grots were coming out and I must have seen about 8 or so belonging to Admin, Bob, Kiwi and a few other people. I then had a decent condition one from the reign of Claudius which bizzarely I found exactly where a group were having a chat after they moved off.
I was in the woodlands when I had a chat with a guy who asked me about a toggle he found. Upon seeing it my first thoughts were "Thats no toggle mate - its a Roman ring!" He had cleaned it a bit so I am not sure its metal probably bronze, but looking at the photos I would get a second opinion my friend as it may well be of the precious metal we all dream about.
A lovely medieval buckle surfaced, quickly followed by a stunning Roman fibula found by The Doc It still has the spring intact, but is missing the pin - a nice find in anyones book - well done Doc! Can anyone ID it for him!!!
Richard 16.5DD had an interesting item that his mate promptly snapped in two whilst trying to straighted - the verdicts out at the moment, but it has an age. Any ideas?
The day was quickly moving on when all at once everyone I spoke to seemed to have either a hammered or a milled silver. There was a Henry short cross to Kasiter, another ham to Gadget, one to Beepy, and at least another four to various people. My brain was a tad pickled by now so I forget who found what.
A cracking Hawking Ring turned up with a stone set into it and some etching around it. At least thats what we think it is. Anyone have any ideas. The stone reminds me of a yellow saphire -which are quite rare stones, as they are normally blue. I know a little about yellow saphires as I bought one for the wife last year! I may be miles out, but thats my guess.
The day was coming to a close and I still kept hearing about more hammies including a Lizzy penny and a sixpence and some silver milleds including two joeys, and Mark with a William III vitually blank sixpence. Unfortunatley I missed a few of these as for once I was detecting.
The find of the day in my opinion belongs to Ozzyhead (Jo} who was over the moon with a cracking 1700 William copper in stunning condition. Well done to her - its a real beauty
A big THANK YOU needs to go to Rob (TaffLaff} for getting the land once again. Without him we would all have spent the day at home more than likely. Well done Rob - you are invaluable mate!
Also thanks to Geoff for the Vision to start this website in what was a wilderness time in Welsh Detecting. We all owe you a huge thanks for the friendships we have formed. Lets face it without Detectingwales a lot of us would be complete strangers.
Thats it for now - apologies if I got names wrong or missed out finds, but I am well and truley shattered!
Until the next one all I can say is "Happy Hunting"
Get comfy because here come the photos!
Neil
