Night detecting with the Explorer SE Pro

[Goldpick]

I've had the halfpenny pretty much confirmed as a KGIII era coin on another forum, either an 1806 or 1807 date.

Just beat my oldest coin date by a good 50 years, not expecting to better that any time soon (cmon cartwheel penny). Now back to the forum's oldest coin, are we down to 1807 yet.

 

[Ramjet]

Well done GP. Congrats on your oldest coin so far.

 

[Goldpick]

Thanks Ramjet, it was the last thing I was expecting to pull out of the ground from that location, other oldest coin from there was late 1800's from memory. Maybe I should start digging those pulltab targets that I so often ignore, may be some old gold coins lying around the place.

 

[silver]

Mmmmmm,... maybe we will see you sporting a sov or a half soon GP.

 

[Goldpick]

Hit another old coin last night, this time much closer to home - an 1882 Victoria halfpenny, along with an old suspender button, and a WW2 redcross badge inlaid with enamel. Struggling to get more from this site, though if you go very slow detecting around the junk, a few gems pop up from time to time.

 

[Sandta]

Love the graphics on the button
and of course the Brittania

 

[Goldpick]

The button and HP came out of the same hole, which explained the confusing ID's I was receiving initially. This is an old house site where a dozer of front end loader had scraped the topsoil into a pile, and all the heavies had basically settled into the ground at the base of the pile. So far I have had a few Victoria era pennies and half pennies from here over the last 6 months, but not a single silver coin.

 

[treasureman]

Looks like it was dropped in uncirculated condition. Nice coin and button. How deep was the HP?

 

[Ramjet]

She's in goo d condition for her age. Don't tell her I said that.

 

[Goldpick]

Looks like it was dropped in uncirculated condition. Nice coin and button. How deep was the HP?

Probably only about 3-4" deep, all the older coins found here were relatively close to the surface, but some being masked by other non-ferrous junk and iron.

 

[Goldpick]

The local beaches were still badly sanded in last night, but still felt like heading down for a refreshing walk along the beach with detector and sand scoop in tow. Bugger all coins, and just one large sinker, though hit a really good target halfway down to the waterline. That turned out to be what I though was just some beads on a stiff bit of string, though got it home and cleaned it up and bit and to my delight is actually a genuine sterling silver Pandora bracelet with a few charms. ( the 1c & bent 2c were from a park afterwards)

The silver braid on the bracelet is quite stiff due to being full of sand, and also a bit tarnished, so the ultrasonic cleaner and electrolysis should bring it back to life, will see how I go.

 

[Goldpick]

The Pandora bracelet cleaned up real well despite looking very tarnished. The electrolyte was black as the ace of spades when finished the elctrolysis, and the combination of the ultrasonic cleaner and some silvo completed the cleanup.

Ultrasonic cleaner doin its thing - mmm, black!

Catch works fine!

 

[Ramjet]

It did come out pretty good. What liquid is in the ultrasonic cleaner?

 

[Goldpick]

A very special liquid with miraculous properties - tap water, not even detergent, though it would have paid to put some in. :lol: Essential the electrolysis loosened the black coating on the silver, and the ultrasonic cleaner removed the gunk from the hard to get places within the braids and catches. The silvo just give a final polish to remove any remaining tarnish.

The ultrasonic cleaner is just a Jaycar cheapy, it died last week when I got too much water on it, so left it out in the sun for a day and it has revived itself thankfully. It's excellent for cleaning dirty finds where you cannot got into nooks and crannys, or if you just can't be bothered to do it by hand. Though it's no go good for removing heavy tarnish or hardened oxidation of any kind.

 

[Goldpick]

Had a bit of a multi park visit tonight, trying to seek out those rougher, less well used spots that might hide a few gems. Most spots were crawling with BB's, except one spot which didn't look old enough to hold anything of worth, ended up producing a 1927 halfpenny and an amazing condition WW1 T.B. Soldiers Aid Society lapel pin. The only reference I can find for this particular pin is on the MuseumVictoria website, and even that doesn't have pics, but the description matches to a T.

The badge was manufactured by K.G. Luke of Melbourne.

The T.B. Soldiers Aid Society was formed in SA in 1921 to aid soldiers suffering with tuberculosis, particularly as they did not receive war pensions after WW1 to support themselves.

The other small gold badge is labelled with "Eye support a star, Blindsports Australia".

 

[Sandta]

Wow ... That soldiers aid badge could be very significant then
Nice find

 

[Ramjet]

What Sandta said. It's in superb condition. Nice work.

 

[Goldpick]

Haven't been out for a while due to shifting house, so this is probably my last hunt for Adelaide (maybe) before relocating. Unfortuanately it wasn't a treasure trove, more like a 1 & 2c hunt, though did come up with a 1945 penny and what maybe looks to be a 1924 half penny. Other items include a metal comb, a Lesney horse float truck (part of), a fence top spike, and two dog tags, one of which was detected inside a fallen log limb????

Anyway, may look at cutting back on the detectors and reinvesting in a single new unit, plus a PI for the goldfields considering I will be a lot closer to VIC.

 

[Goldpick]

Couldn't help myself but to slip another quick detect in, once again close to home in a local park I've only visited a couple of times.

Seems to be a good spot for WW1/WW2 era gear, with an army button found last time and a couple of silvers. This time produced possibly a WW2 era Junior Legacy pin, and another small pin of unknown origins. Only two pre-decs, a 1933 half penny, and a 1921 sixpence, and a modern Australian flag silver pendant amongst other odd ends. Good to finish up with at least one silver.

 

[silver]

Nice to see early silver GP, and the Aussie flag looks good in 925 as well,... my last couple of hunts I used the coin mode and let the tecta scan through the thick rubbish area that I was in to pick out a few silvers that had been elusive(obviously) for me on other occasions.