Transposition coin

[Saffron]

Late this afternoon I had to go and collect the tumbler I had bought for cleaning coins.

While picking it up I fell in love the chap had the cutest little Westiepoo (a cross between a white West Highland Terrier and poodle), it was just so adorable and extremely friendly, but sadly I had to leave it behind.

I also had a look at some of his fantastic collection of finds, especialy the roman coins and broaches, (considering my record finding roman I probably went green with envy).

Although I had no intention of going detecting seeing these finds gave me inspiration and as on the way back I had to pass one of my permissions which normally I would never detect at the weekend as its a livery yard / ridding stables, but as it was nearly 6 o'clock and I knew that due to lockdown restrictions they were very quiet (only owners of horses stabled there allowed) I thought I would give it a short session.

The other day when looking through my record of finds I noticed that in addition to the 2 cartwheel pennies that I had found close together in the little paddock by the track to the farm and stables that I had also found a George III 1807 halfpenny in it. Well considering how small the paddock is and limited finds on this permission the 3 coins from 1797 x2 and 1807 which I knew had all come from the same area strongly suggested a purse spill, so could be more around especially as the paddock is a nightmare to detect due to mineralisation and scrap (I strongly suspect that it used to be the field used for burning all the farms rubbish ).

Well I was determind to make up for my total lack of silver this year so taking note of the recent "A question of attitude" thread I went in all positive knowing just where to head for and confident there would be more to find.

Well this paddock is always a nightmare to detect, but even by its standards it was bad today!. Rather than running the Nox at a sensitivity of about 20 (out of 25) which I do no most of my permissions I had to drop it down to 15, (and in one place 10!), so knew that I was losing depth but I still thought the goodies would come as most finds in this paddock are fairly shallow.

Eventually the conditons and rubbish are getting to me and the positive attitude is starting to be replaced by dispair !!, this combined with the rapidly reducing light result in heading back to the car (all of 25yds away). But on the way get a signal that is worth digging ... and its a coin !!

By a guess at the size is it a 2p?, all I need would be decimal!, but soon see its not a modern decimal .... even the numbers 1791 in the date are right for George III (which is what I was looking for) ..... but in the wrong order .... a 1971 original large 5 "new pence".

Move on a couple of yards and another signal ... it gets worse - a massive great horseshoe Although this is an equestrian permission its very rare I dig horseshoes as I am normally able to identify them but this was an old one from a working shire horse by the size.

So much for the "A question of attitude" idea.

Evan

[Bors]

At least you got out detecting Efan .
At the moment I`m not going to be able too after a few days hammering the concrete at the edges of the path in my front garden and laying edging stones , I`m now paying the price with excruciatingly painful lower back pain and shoulder pain & worst thing is I`ve only done half the length of the path up to now and still have another 12 ft to go. with hindsight I realize now I should have hired a Mini Jackhammer and saved myself all this Pain & hard work. BUT fact is I didn`t !!

[Dave The Slave]

Transposition, not an everyday word, although i did know the meaning.
A coin is better than no coin, plus you searched more of the ground.
Cheers,
Dave..

[alloverover]

I had a 2p the other day Evan, with the rust spurting out from inside it..........I did have a few hammered as well though but I did have them toward the end of a session that produced not much more and continued detecting with the same fervour as I had started with

[Easylife]

With hindsight I realize now I should have hired a Mini Jackhammer and saved myself all this Pain & hard work. BUT fact is I didn`t !!

Yes, I wondered what you were playing about at Pete. You just can't beat using the right tool for the job, I'd have lent you my Kango!

[Bors]

Yes, I wondered what you were playing about at Pete. You just can't beat using the right tool for the job, I'd have lent you my Kango!

Yeah, it`s just too late now I`m half way through it.

[Saffron]

At least you got out detecting Efan .
At the moment I`m not going to be able too after a few days hammering the concrete at the edges of the path in my front garden and laying edging stones , I`m now paying the price with excruciatingly painful lower back pain and shoulder pain & worst thing is I`ve only done half the length of the path up to now and still have another 12 ft to go. with hindsight I realize now I should have hired a Mini Jackhammer and saved myself all this Pain & hard work. BUT fact is I didn`t !!

Yes, at least I got out and found a coin.

Very sorry to hear about your back. You take care and be sensible with it, as I know once you get a back problem they are apt to keep reoccuring.

I know we all have been in the situation where we think we can do a job without the hassle and cost of hiring equipment but the time, effort, and hard work that having the right tools save makes it worth while to do so.

Evan.

[Saffron]

Well despite every thing there were some positives, 1) as I was driving past the permission I did not have to travel there like I normally would, 2) I got some fresh air and a little bit of exercise, 3) in the last few minutes I saw a herron and a barn owl.

I know we all (probably rightly) fail to get excited about coins like this, but 1971 was a significant year with the move to decimal coinage on 15th February 1971 (I am slightly surprised that I saw nothing to mark the 50th anniversary last month). Roughly 2 thirds of the current UK population would not have been alive at that time, and hence not know about LSD (pounds shillings and pence before anybody thinks of an alternative meaning)

When you compare the size of this coin with the current 5p, it might seem silly to have such a large coin, but it was introduced in 1968 and was the same size as the shilling that it was to replace, (likewise with the original large 10p which was introduced at the same time being the same size as the florin which it replaced).

With the 2 cartwheel pennies having been found so close together, although at different times, I had always suspected a coin spill and when I realised that the small paddock had also produced a 1807 1/2d from the same general area it convinced me. IF correct about the coin spill it seems possible to me that those 3 coins would not have been dropped alone and there could be silver there. But the ground conditions and trash make it a nightmare to detect.

So following on from the "possitive attitude" theme I will return with the small coil, which will aid seperating the trash out and due to the much reduced ground coverage enable me to run a more sensible sensitivity level, then grid that small area and I will find silver.

Evan

[Bors]

Yes, at least I got out and found a coin.

Very sorry to hear about your back. You take care and be sensible with it, as I know once you get a back problem they are apt to keep reoccuring.

I know we all have been in the situation where we think we can do a job without the hassle and cost of hiring equipment but the time, effort, and hard work that having the right tools save makes it worth while to do so.

Evan.

Absolutely spot on. By saving a few quid one way you pay dearly the other way .

[figgis]

Maybe that paddock falls into the "if it ain't there you ain't going to find it" camp, Evan

[Saffron]

Maybe that paddock falls into the "if it ain't there you ain't going to find it" camp, Evan

Figgis, I know exactly what you mean. For the rest of the permission that is probably the case, although I have found a couple of silver sixpence love tokens and the odd other little bits on other parts of it.

But this little paddock has always given me the feeling from day one that there is some thing worth finding in it.
Firstly its very small, just under 1 acre, and I find paddocks this small are always productive.
Secondly its adjacent to the track to the old mill from the main road to the nearest very small town, so all the local farmers would have used it when taking corn to be milled.
Thirdly I have already had a few reasonable finds from it, including my only 2 cartwheel pennies and a livery button from the lord of manor for the local very large estate.
Fourth all the scrap shows it has been heavily used in the past.
Fifth, and I know its not very scientific but just that constant gut feeling that you sometimes get about a field - and I fail to get about any other field on this permission.

I just have this horrid feeling that in the end I will have to resort to griding a 10x10 area and digging every signal ... down side of this approach is I might need to hire a skip for the scrap. If that fails expect to see a new thread .... Nox 800 for sale (shaft bent double, coil smashed).

Evan

[figgis]

But this little paddock has always given me the feeling from day one that there is some thing worth finding in it.
..........
I know its not very scientific but just that constant gut feeling that you sometimes get about a field - and I fail to get about any other field on this permission.

A feeling it would be wise not to ignore. I have the same feeling about a similarly barren field but nothing so far. Perseverance is the key

Let's hope your guts prove to be right, fellah.

[Easylife]

I have a seemingly barren grass field that I have only taken two short wanders in and not had a single target. That can be quite a good sign as there is unlikely to be any modern trash but maybe a few old bits. I had almost forgotten about it but the grass should be short now so I'll give it a good look next. I would only expect just a few targets at best but I've had a few Roman and Saxon bits close by which is quite inspiring. But if nothing shows at all that is still fine as I'll know just how it is!

[Bors]

Depends on how big the field is I suppose . If its up to a thousand yards square that's a helluva Big field to search ,especially if its like your suggesting, nothing coming up but hoping that one or two solitary "good" finds will crop up somewhere without NO guarantee that will happen. Talk about searching for a needle in a Haystack.

[Easylife]

Depends on how big the field is I suppose . If its up to a thousand yards square that's a helluva Big field to search ,especially if its like your suggesting, nothing coming up but hoping that one or two solitary "good" finds will crop up somewhere without NO guarantee that will happen. Talk about searching for a needle in a Haystack.

I have a 50 acre field like that where all of the targets are in the first quarter then nowt! But this one is just 3 acres, there is a BA axe head lurking around there somewhere!