Johnny Lovetoken aka Jaydogg and I headed to the murky Vale of Glamorgan in South Wales this morning in search of ancient finds.
The first few farms we visited were not available due to either crop being in place or farmers generally not being around to ask. So with heavy hearts we headed off to one of the first farms I ever secured. Back in those days we were both using the Muskateers, so we thought it would be worth visiting 4 years later with our Explorers.
On arriving at the farm - the farmer treated me like a prodical son returning and reminded me
" You never need to knock - just go on" I asked him if we could go in the field which had his quite a substantial herd of cows in? He replied in his normal cheery manner
"Don't ask me. Ask the cows!" Job done.
We skirted around the side of the cows and ended up in a smallish paddock to the side of the beef steaks. After what seemed to be only a few minutes Johnny is shouting to me and doing what looked like star jumps in the distance. I hurried over to him and found an elated Johnny with a Queen Mary (1553-1558) hammered coin in his hand in fantastic condition. We initial thought it was a groat, but are leaning more towards a sixpence. It turned out that it was a good 12 inches down and the signal intermittent - so well done mate on persevering with it and justly rewarded! A stunning find in fantastic condition.
I returned to my machine, took a few steps and out popped my first ever Georgian fob seal - I was well pleased as its one to cross off my list. Next up popped a strip of silver filigree with some flowers carved into it.
The rest of the morning was spent digging pidgeon rings, Georgian coppers, musker balls, buttons etc. I also found A Pwhelli 1950 Butlins Badge that was unusal.
We left the farm after a few hours vowing not to leave it so long next time and headed to another one we have nearby. Again a mixture of copper coins and I had an interesting guilded brooch.
I left my most unusual find though to the end of the day and thank God I did as it was pretty heavy. I received a signal near a hedge entrance between fields and dug down and down and then even further down, with the signal getting stronger all the time. By now I had visions of a hoard - particularly when I could see some green bronze sticking through. It turned out to be quite an old bridal bit that is complete. Anyone have any idea on its age. I am guessing pre Georgian, but I may be wrong - bloody heavy and my largest find to date!
Cheers
A knackered Neil
