It is always great to get a new permission to hunt on especially when it is just a few minutes’ drive from your house.
The landowner met me and my friend and showed a genuine interest in History in general and specifically that relating to the local area. After a chat of about half an hour he also said that we would be granted permission on the neighbouring fields which were owned by his brother. What a great start to our day even before we had got our trusted X-Terra 705’s out of the car. The fields were set in with beautiful scenery and with the grass freshly cut and the sun out it was excellent hunting conditions.
Targets at first were hard to come by and of the good signals all we were getting at first were buttons and lead. The coins eventually started to come but due to the soil conditions most came out “toasted” are barely recognisable. Still as always it was great to get out with nature and the finds as we all know are the bonus.
Eventually my friend and myself decided to detect on a small field in the middle of nowhere. Despite researching old maps and knowing there had been no buildings in the field we were still drawn to its landscape. The finds started to be unearthed and from the evidence we could identify the area to have mid 19th century activity.
Suddenly a got that sharp 36-38 tone in my ear that usually is rewarding. As I unearthed the clod I could see that shape and colour which could only be a silver coin. But what time period? I quickly got my phone out to record the moment as I usually do. Slowly and carefully removing the loose earth I was to behold the beautiful leaves and oak surround with the word One Shilling and 1851 being displayed. Knowing this to be a Queen Victoria I carefully turned the coin and revealed another excellent front displaying Victoria’s head.
Overjoyed and still buzzing I then began to realise that this coin had been minted during one of Ireland’s worst periods of history. 1845 – 1852 had witnessed the great Irish Famine were millions of people either died from starvation or left the country to go to the likes of America or Britain in the hope of a better life. I started to think of what might have been going through the persons mind when they lost that coin. The shilling back then was worth a day’s wages to a person and in that dreadful time period in our history. Could it have meant a family without food for a day or a week?
A few days later I was to return to the same field in the hope to find more “goodies” as I call the finds. At first I believed that myself and my friend and detected the area to good on the first hunt that maybe it would be a worthless exercise. However I was to be proved wrong. Modern and old coins started to be found and I knew that there were some areas that were still giving up items.
Bang, that sharp high pitched tone just like a few days ago hit my headphones. Could this be another goodie? I dug the clod and turned it over. The tone was gone and it wasn’t in the hole. Had I imagined it? I then turned the clod back over, grass side up, and moved my DD coil over it. Bang, the sweet tone was still distinct. Knowing there was some sort of metal worth retrieving I slowly started to try and identify where it could be. After a few minutes I could hear my Pointer buzzing and I looked down to see that sweet circular, silver coin. Again I started to film the event and I was amazed to have retrieved a beautiful 1854 sixpence my second silver form the same field within a 2 day period.
With a smile on my face yet again I returned home to do a bit of checking on the coins. To my amazement the 1854 sixpence was classed as a Rare coin and the shilling too being one of the least circulated shillings of the Victoria period. I was buzzing, what a great couple of hunts and what great coins to be recovered by my trusted Minelab detector.
Thank you Minelab for creating this superb machine. I have always got great pleasure on getting out with this machine and the rewards have paid off in multitude.
Gavyred – Northern Ireland, UK