Minelab Safari/Quattro Forum

Hi all, spent an hour at an old school site in the bush the other afternoon. Didn't find anything around where the school building had been but there appears to the outline of a residence adjacent and thats where I found the coins. Pennies 1903, 1906, halfpennies 1900, 1903 and 1906, buckle, brooch and watch. I'll have to go back and finish it off. There's also two stone lined toilets pits so a mate and I might have a look for some bottles as well.........Thanks for looking...........Ken.

Wow Ken, love those finds. Some of your relics are very similar to mine, like the circular decorative one next to the watch. Onle mine also has a bit of chain attached to either side, off tiny loops. I'm wondering whether it was attached to some item of clothing. Yours does have a loop at one end.
Angela

Hi Angela, it appears to be a brooch. It has had a hinged pin at one end that would have been pushed through the clothing and the pin then went under the loop at the other end..........Ken.

Hello Ken, I managed to find a photo with the same similar elic I spoke about. It's the middle left of the photo, the one with the loops. Just thought you might find it interesting. I may have posted this photo once before, quite a while ago.
Angela

Hello Ken. I see that the English pennies and halfpennies look in reasonable condition and dont deterate as bad as some of our pre decimal copper coins. The English coppers seam to clean up without much trouble and have a nice patina and were in good condition on average. I found quite a lot of the English coppers and silver and our early coins about four or five years ago. There was two parks joined together and it turned out to be a virgin area and had never seen a detector. With a pub on one side and two streets and some houses as frontage there were two cricket pitches in one half and the other side had a soccer field. I found out that the park area was started in the sub division of that area round 1856. I spent about four months detecting it every second day from daylight to dark using a string line. I set the sovereign up to only accept the twenty and fifty cents coins plus the one and two dollars coins of our modern money at this setting I got all the old copper and silver coins both English and Australian with a good mix of silver and copper. the one and two cents coins came in at a high reading around the old copper coins so I had to dig them as well so as not to miss the old coppers. All up I found Two thousand four hundred and fifty eight coins and out of that number were eight hundred and ninety two pre decimal coins. I also found over five hundred dollars in one and two dollar coins some rings and a stack of buttons and badges and other items. The suburb was just out side of the Brisbane city centre. I kept a record of my finds and a drawing of the park on the computer so I would know where I had been. There were coins every two foot or closer. You can imagine how I felt working this park. I used a turf tool that cut a plug on three sides and folded it back and dug the dirt out on to a sheet of plastic and then replaced the dirt and folded the turf back once the coin was found and you wouldnt know that the ground had been disturbed. The plug was three inches on each three sides. The oldest silver was a Gothic florin and was minted in 1847 and was about one eight larger than the normal florin and the date was in roman numerable. The oldest copper was 1864 penny. The two half of the park that I will post. All the best. Stan. From Australia.

Hi Stan, the coppers had a bit of cancer but didn't clean up too bad considering the amount of time in the ground. They seem to come out worse if the ground is a bit ashy. Your park plan is a beauty, you certainly went to some trouble but it was obviously worth while. I use the same method in the schools, cut a small plug, take out the coin, put the plug back and put my foot on it. No ones complained yet. It's raining here at the moment so I might slip back out to the same site in the next couple of days and have another look. All the best......Ken.