My biggest silver oldie in a little cache - UPDATE

tuatara

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Jan 21, 2010
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I made 2 visits to an ole farm that belongs to my acquaintance. At least there I didnā€™t have to look for a sweet spot with the detector. Some of my keepers were just lying on the ground among the turfs of grass and included a half of a sterling silver with green enamel cigar cutter ca 1920ā€™s marked ā€˜Stg Silā€™. I hoped its second half was stomped into the soil somewhere nearby. But, alas, Iā€™ve never managed to find it, though, searched all the area around. Next to the cigar cutter I saw a slightly squashed ring. For a couple of secs I believed that it was also silver. However, it turned out to be some older style alum. At the turn of the last century they considered alum quite a trendy material ā€“ bright and light. Then out came an ornate brass ladyā€™s sash buckle marked in the middle ā€˜Czechoslovakiaā€™. After a while I received a challenging signal and assumed that the object was of a very unusual shape. It was - a battled Australian ā€˜Rising Sunā€™ slouch hat badge of the WWI era. I hardly had time to think that I wanted a collar badge for a set when my wish was granted. On the top of that, I unearthed a rather worn-out dog tag of 1917. Later other finds of the same era emerged: a large General Service British Commonwealth military coat button backmarked ā€˜E.Armfield Birminghamā€™ and some little badge with a sort of Maltese cross in the middle of it. Those were followed by a wee bronze medal ā€˜Strike Hard and Strike Againā€™ that was issued by Western Australia at the outbreak of WWI in support of England. There were also a lot of English coppers around dating from 1902 to 1918. On my second visit I started with a small but clear signal and dug out a rivet, my first one in a row of four. I walked away from the fifth, even smaller signal and found a patented horse gear (June 1897), probably a part of a saddle (?). No more targets and I returned to that iffy signal that I had rejected before. Unlike a rivet it was growing stronger with each dig but changed to some shriller tone that I associated with alum or roofing. I didnā€™t expect anything good so was digging very carelessly and, oops, scraped a big silver coin which at first I took for a Teddyā€™s florin. I flipped it to the other side and saw that old Russian double eagle. Well, I rechecked the hole, and the strong signal was still there. Next in one handful of dirt I was holding 2 rather big British silver coins ā€“ shillings of 1883 and 1897. Both are veterans of circulation but the dates are still visible. I rechecked the hole again, now with higher hopes, and, voila, the hole wasnā€™t exhausted yet. To cut it short, there were 3 other quite big silver coins remaining in the honey hole ā€“ 2 Australian shillings (1917, 1922) and some other huge coin. I was hoping for a crown but it was not meant to be. However, now my biggest silver oldie is a Russian rouble of 1898 minted in Brussels (2 asterisks mark on the coinā€™s rim) which is mildly scarce. I believe that the honey hole was kidsā€™ cache of the 1920ā€™s. Probably their Dad brought some European money from front for them to play with, and they combined it with their pocket money. Or maybe the farmer planted big silver coins to grow a big and nice silver tree.
 

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Upvote 0
Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

awesome!!! I'll bet you will find lots more great stuff there.
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Nice work digging those great relics and coins :headbang: :o military badges & declaration of war token are :icon_thumleft: Congrats and many more finds ! 8) 8) CMD
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Wow! :o Those are some incredible finds tuatara :icon_thumright:
Great looking silver and I really like the cigar cutter! :notworthy:
Great storytelling and nice photos too.

I like that slogan:

"STRIKE HARD AND STRIKE AGAIN"
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

awesome!!! I'll bet you will find lots more great stuff there.

Thanks, already found. 3 sterling silver items (a cane cap, a Swiss wrist-watch and a bracelet) and more of silver coins, medals and militaria.

I like that slogan:

"STRIKE HARD AND STRIKE AGAIN"
I like it too and will make it my motto :icon_sunny:.
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Nice capture ;D congrats :thumbsup:
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Old farm? Or old military camp? The amount of military-related relics suggests the later, I think.

A large silver Russian coin amidst English silver in the hole might suggest a camp, too. Methinks that farm has some secrets its been hiding. You seem to be uncovering many of them!!
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

I'm impressed!!! I bet you are hitting that site again real soon.
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Old farm? Or old military camp? The amount of military-related relics suggests the later, I think.

A large silver Russian coin amidst English silver in the hole might suggest a camp, too. Methinks that farm has some secrets its been hiding. You seem to be uncovering many of them!!

Methinks that many farms here stationed military camps during WWI and WWII.

I'm impressed!!! I bet you are hitting that site again real soon.

Today I recovered a lot of silver even that elusive huge coin - English half crown - and a money holder with silver coins. I will soon post it separately.
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

I had to nominate this for the banner. Awesome find!!!
DANGLANGLEY
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Awesome finds. I'm sure there are more relics hidden in the ground. Keep searching.
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Great site you found there,looks to me some or all of those goodies were in a house fire.Buddy and I found similar ww1 buttons, medals and uniform decorations by the dozens.The site had also been victim to a fire.We were getting eyeball finds in the soil and ashes, even after 75 years. :) Congrats on your recovery of finds.
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Well done..."Detect Hard and Detect Again" :laughing7:
Bunker
 

Re: My biggest silver oldie in a little cache

Awesome finds Congratulations :icon_thumleft:
TTH
 

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