Maybe a small cannon ball, some nice finds and many pictures, UPDATE and ID...

Bavaria Mike

Gold Member
Feb 7, 2005
8,340
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Bavaria Germany
Detector(s) used
Minelab XT70, Fisher 1280, Garrett Ace 250 and MH5
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I had a good weekend! Was off Friday for Veteran’s day, got in about 3.5 hours but, I just couldn’t get my coil over anything good, two musket balls and a lead seal was all, crossed that field off my list. Saturday was a better day for finds in spite of the light rain, lots of interesting targets! Today I hesitated to do a hunt as we had 38F, sideways rain fall and wind. I figured what the heck, in a month or so I won’t have a choice. Tried detecting the field from yesterday but it was a non starter so I went to a battle field defensive position from 1704 where I found a nice cannon ball and the forest would block the rain and wind some. When I arrived, the rain stopped and the wind died off, hallelujah! Enjoyed a good 1.5 hours there then the rain came back however, I made a few nice finds. Here’s the pictures, below is a field I hit Friday just 200 meters from where the original town was founded 998 years ago, it gave up nothing other than a few iron pieces and an ox shoe, there is a stream to the far right so I think it could have been a marshy area back in the day. The town moved in 1250 AD approximately 1 kilometer East.
11Nov06field.jpg

Coins were not abundant but, I did manage a worn out 1826 copper 1 Heller coin.
11Nov06coins.jpg

Three glass beads in one day spread out on the field, I was thinking a strand was lost here as I have found a few here but, they are made differently from different periods. Two are rolled and the far right one has been dipped. The far right one is exactly the same type and color I found near a Celtic grave site over 100 miles from here.
11Nov06beads.jpg

Obverse of two lead seals.
11Nov06lsealO.jpg

Reverse of two lead seals.
11Nov06lsealR.jpg

Eleven musket balls, several large caliber and a few small calibers.
11Nov06mballs.jpg

A few relics, the wide pieces remind me of soldier medals and I’m almost certain they are/were.
11Nov06relics.jpg

Some interesting jewelry, thought they were just wadded up pieces of wire at first. The left piece may be made of 9K gold, very heavy for its size and has held up well in the field. The middle piece looks like the G-Clef musical note and was fashioned this way. The right piece still has some gold plating.
11Nov06jewel.jpg

This was a tricky find, swung over the target and hit a bad then good signal, back over it good then bad signal. Dug up a 4” iron spike then swung over it again being curious, good signal and dug this up. Rare to get two targets on a plowed field in the same hole but, it happened three times on this field. A very interesting find, looks like silver and the red stones look like real rubies and it is very heavy, the size of a dime. Glass gets a rough dull surface from being pushed around in the dirt, these rubies are still shiny and the piece looks old and intact. I’ll have it checked soon. This is the obverse with eight red rubies.
11Nov06rubyO.jpg

Reverse with a single ruby. I wonder what it was?
11Nov06rubyR.jpg

The following finds are from this afternoon. A crusty 1851 copper 1 Kreuzer, reverse has very little definition.
11Nov06k1851.jpg

Two religious pendants, they were deep.
11Nov06relpen.jpg

I really believe this is a small cannon ball made of lead as I have seen many small cannons in museums and castles, always thought what wimpy little cannons they are. The cannon’s size is about 3’ long. Found it 30 meters from the defensive position, incoming! The large caliber musket ball and dime are for size reference. Any info on the cannon ball is welcomed. HH, Mike
11Nov06cball.jpg


Here’s an update on what I thought was a small cannon ball. It was actually fired from a weapon called a hook gun dating to late Medieval and later so it may be older than the battle fought in 1704. I did find it just about 30 meters behind a defensive/offensive position that was attacking a castle but, a military mind probably found this site perfect at any period. The castle is approximately 500-600 meters from this position. There has been 3 battles fought here and the 1704 battle was the latest. The small cannon ball is crudely made so it was probably from an earlier battle and not from 1704, maybe from the early 1600s. The ID I got describes the ball perfectly, quote “early balls for this gun were often filled with iron pieces/balls” mine has iron pieces and balls in it. Here is a picture of a hook gun, shoulder mounted and the hook to absorb the recoil. HH, Mike
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Re: Maybe a small cannon ball, some nice finds and many pictures...

Thanks for the nice comments everyone! Dharmacy, thanks for the ID help on the ammo round holders, much appreciated! Should have known after 8 years in the military, I have had to shuck many rounds off of these similar holders and load magazines on the shooting ranges. It might be awhile but, I will post what I find out about the rubies or garnets. HH, Mike
 

Re: Maybe a small cannon ball, some nice finds and many pictures...

Great digs Mike! ,Please keep us posted on the red gems.
 

Re: Maybe a small cannon ball, some nice finds and many pictures...

Nice jewelry, Mike,

Why are those austrian kreuzer coins always dated 1851? Have several already of the same year

HH Sand
 

Re: Maybe a small cannon ball, some nice finds and many pictures...

Hello Sand, that is a good question as I have found several 1851 Austrian coins as well. I do not know. Maybe a historical time? Like the 1875 coins we find so many of. I have little time for research now but the ground will freeze and then I will have time for researching many questions I have. I hope we can get out together before the big freeze, I will try to make time for it! HH, Mike
 

Re: Maybe a small cannon ball, some nice finds and many pictures, UPDATE and ID.

Updated with a picture at the bottom of the post that fired the cannon ball! HH, Mike
 

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