A
Toad and a
Hammered Coin
As the harvest is upon us, I decided to head back to the site where I found a broken Lizzie hammered a few weeks ago. Only to find that the grass had grown quite a few inches since my last visit. It was detectable, but I decided to have a look around to see how the harvest was going. The wheat fields are still in crop but it looks like its ripe for cutting soon. With my options running low I had a look at one last field to find it cut and ready for a good search. The stubble was quite high in places and I'm not a big fan of stubble, but this certain field has given up some nice finds in the past so was well worth a go.
I arrived at the site at about 10:30 am and by the time I was ready to detect the time was approaching 11 o'clock. Armed with my XP Goldmaxx Power I was ready to start. I made the decision to switch the machine into silencer 1 and set my sensitivity to the 12 o'clock position. As I knew I wouldn't be able to get the coil head low to the ground as I would like, I kept my swing speed slow and careful.
The signals on this particular field are never in abundance, and you have to work it to get a decent target. My first find turned out to be a run of the mill button, and as usual I came home with quite a few buttons.
When I first gained permission on this site, the farmer was telling me some of its history over a cup of tea, and he mention that there used to be 'hovels' on this field. He gave me a rough area where he thought the used to be, and after learning this information, I always find myself heading in that direction.
On my way over to the hovel area I found some more buttons and also a large lead pot mend. In times gone by, our ancestors would use lead to mend their pot or pans and when we find these mends, it is easy to recognize the shape. Normally the mends I find are in circular shape with a smaller lead circle on top.
After an hour of not finding very much apart from coke and lead dross, I changed direction and headed to the other side of the field. A few feet into my new line, I got a good signal under a pile of straw. I gave the straw a scrape with my foot and out jumped this little toad (or frog?) I gave me a bit of a fright as it was the last thing I was expecting to see. I carefully picked him up and took him to the edge of the field where the grass was long and damp. It was a very hot day, and I didn't want him to get cooked or eaten by a bird.
The find the toad was sitting on turned out to be another piece of lead, but karma must of thanked me as a couple of feet away I got a great signal which turned out to be a tiny hammered coin. It measures 10 mm in diameter and the inner circle measures 7mm. I have a feeling its an Edward farthing, from the London mint.
After the excitement and giving my thanks to the Detecting Gods lol, I decided I would stay in the same area and see what I could winkle out of the ground. I set my bag down on the edge of the field as a marker, and set about giving the area a good search. I stayed in the same area for the rest of the day and the finds I managed to make were great.
Even though I spent my day in a small part of the field, it was a really enjoyable session. I can not wait until the land has been ploughed and rolled so I can spend some more quality time on on there. As soon as I have researched the finds I will update this page with their identifications. Once again, thank you for taking the time to read my scribbles. Until next time,
Happy Hunting