After a day out detecting and getting my usual soaking from the rain I decided to make another attempt on my local permission. Thankfully this day was to see better weather and in the end an unbelievable find.
The day started off with the usual mix of rubbish and buttons. Even though I love to dig buttons the ones the I got were not very interesting and were of the same variety. As the day went on I discovered my first coin, an old Queen Elizabeth big penny, unfortunately nothing to write home about. While doing my video for my YouTube Metal detecting channel I was explaining the dangers of glass in the ground and the safety of wearing gloves, which like a bad boy I wasn’t wearing. When shooting the video and talking I was saying to myself, “I hope I find something good here or this video is going to be boring”.
A few signals later I came across my second coin. At first I did not recognise it as the front had a strange design, however when I turned it over I noticed the 3 Legs of the Isle of Man which is easily recognisable for us living in the UK and Ireland.
It didn’t occur to me to think at the time why a King or Queen’s head was not on this coin. I therefore put the coin in my pouch and continued with my hunt. Going home I did my usual quick clean of the finds and a video round up of what I had discovered.
My eyes were again drawn to this 3 legged coin and I asked my wife to do some online searching to see what this may be. After a few minutes my wife shouted across the room “Look, it’s an Isle of Man coin dating from 1709 – 1733 and it is rare”. I couldn’t believe my ears and eyes when I read the information online, it turned out that this had been my earliest recognisable coin found to date and I didn’t even know it. From the video at the end you can hear it in my voice.
Since the discovery I have recently contacted the Manx Museum in the Isle of Man to see if they have more information and maybe even add it to their collection. With the happiness I have got from this coin I would need the 3 legs to jump for joy.
Gavin – Northern Ireland, UK
