Haven’t had such a good day in a while!

sandgroper

Elite Member
Joined
May 18, 2016
Messages
4,233
Location
Western Australia
I finally had a day off school today, so I did my research and came up with the plan to hunt a few curb strips on the way to an old house site, before finishing the day off at an old park I’ve been to a few times before. The forecast was rather disappointing; 100% chance of rain and only 17ºC (62F), but that wasn’t going to stop me.

The first target for the day was a 1952 halfpenny followed by a 1913 halfpenny on the same verge. More than two hours passed until I found my next old coin, half of that time I spent under trees waiting for it to stop raining, but I still managed a few dollars in modern coins.

The next old coin was also my first silver for the day, namely a 1902 English sixpence. On the same verge I also found a 1951 penny. Shortly afterwards I arrived at the site and noticed how overgrown it was, quite surprising as the house had only been recently demolished. There were plenty of high tone targets around, so it probably hadn’t been detected before. 20 minutes into the hunt I get a solid 12:45 on the CTX, at a depth of 5cm, so I was really hoping it’d be a silver coin. I scrape away the top layer of soil, and there it was, a silver rim. Turned out to be a 1916 shilling, I was quite happy to have found it, as I don’t often find these earlier shillings. I got a bit carried away with trying to make out details on the coin, and before I knew it, it started pouring down with rain. Thankfully there was a bus stop shelter nearby, and I got there just in time so I wasn't entirely drenched! :lol:

15 minutes, and a well deserved lunch later, I was back on the site. The weeds were now quite wet, so it didn’t take long until my shoes were soaked. I had almost finished gridding the site, when I got a 12:36/37 on the CTX. Turned out to be a bent piece of brass - or so I thought. I was about to throw it to my other junk, when I saw some patterns on it. Upon closer inspection, I found out it was a rising sun hat badge! It’s a little bit bent, but I don’t care, it’s my first and it’s been on my bucket list for a long time now, so I was super thrilled to have found it. These badges were worn by Australian soldiers in both World Wars. I found another halfpenny at this site, and I had more or less covered the site (was only a small house) so I moved on, to a park I’ve been to a few times in the past.

The first good signal was a 1951 threepence (I’m cherry-picking the best signal). Over the next two hours, I dug quite a few pennies and halfpennies, another silver threepence (1899) and an old “Western Australia Police Force” button. It was almost time to head home, but I had noticed another verge beside the park which I wanted to quickly go over. I walked over there, turned the detector on and noticed how chattery the detector became (probably from nearby interference). On my second swing, I got a 12:45 at 5cm right next to the path. Thinking back to how earlier in the day the same signal was a shilling, I thought to myself “no way this is another shilling”. And sure enough, it was another shilling, 1922! I haven’t found an early Australian shilling in nearly two years, and now I’ve found two on the same day! Needless to say, I was stoked!

Overall, I had an awesome day! Found 15 old coins, the rising sun badge, a police officer’s button and $18.73 in change!

Ty for looking, if you’re still reading here, thanks for bearing with me, I know it’s a rather long post, but these days don’t happen often. Good luck out there! :)
 

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Last edited:
Wow, great looking coins! Here in Montana I find a few early Canadian Large cents, once in a while a silver Half Dime with that old King image, your Aussie stuff looks really cool!
 
Great Hunt and Post! We like the details of a hunt as you have so eloquently written...Its as if we were there with you!

Thanks Mud! Glad you liked it :)

It does sound like an Awesome Day you had there Sandgroper.. It is days like this that keep you coming back again and again.

Congratulations !!

Thank you! Hoping to get back out there soon :)

Congrats on a great hunt.

Thanks bubbaron! :)

Wow! That's great hunt. Congrats.

Thanks mate! :grin:

Man those coins look fantastic! Congrats, looks like an awesome day for sure!

Thank you! :)

Wow, great looking coins! Here in Montana I find a few early Canadian Large cents, once in a while a silver Half Dime with that old King image, your Aussie stuff looks really cool!

Thank you! Yes that's King George V, I've noticed too that Canadian and Australian coins are similar in some ways.

Congrats on the vintage silvers, crossing the hat badge off your bucket list, and the rest of the day's digs...excellent hunt!

Thanks Cptn! :)

Awesome assortment of finds right there mate!

Thank you! :grin:

I like the coins with the kangaroos on them. :grin:

Thanks! Those with the single kangaroo on them are the later pennies and halfpennies. :)
 
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