military finds in april

I'm not posting as much as I would like, but then this is meant to be a hobby, to be picked up and put down at one's whim. We have been making some very nice progress on our 2 small pasture permissions, but as yet have not secured any others. A number of landowners I have written to have replied very promptly, and in a polite and friendly manner, declining my request, but giving legitimate and good reasons for doing so. A local farmer is already plagued by nighthawks and trespassers digging holes all over his land without permission, and so was understandably reluctant to give any credence to the claim of legitimacy to these rotters.

On our local pasture permission some good finds have been emerging , and here are a couple from this week.

The first emerged from about 4" down, after giving a faint but consistent pip on the C-scope 3. He is a little lead soldier, which is apposite, as little lead soldiers happen to be my other main hobby.

 I would guess this chap is late 19c, depicting a cavalry man of the time, or possibly earlier in the century. His head and the horses legs and tail were missing , and the horses head bent right back.  He is of a style known as a semi-flat, so almost 2 dimensional but not quite. We are starting to think the field in which he was found was a popular picnic destination in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is just far enough out of town to be a pleasant walk there and back, making a day of it, and stopping for a picnic in our field which has a lovely view of the valley below. Coins from the reigns of George II, III, William IV and Victoria have surfaced, along with an eighteenth century love token and late 19c silver matchbox and teaspoon (I will post these finds in the future). This little soldier may have dropped by some young lad on such an excursion.

One of the great things about this hobby is placing a possible story to the finds. How or why did they end up in the ground?

The next artefact (in the metal detecting world a coin is a coin, and anything else is an artefact), needs little explaining, but was equally interesting and perhaps a little alarming. This gave a strident signal, and digging down about 6" I pulled out the case first and was somewhat taken aback to see it was still filled with propellant (explosive) just visible at the damaged end as a grey black granular substance. The bullet came next and it still appears to be coated in red tracer paint, which would have burned white hot when the bullet was fired. So perhaps this was a misfire ejected from the gun of an aircraft overhead. I think the bullet is from an Allied aircraft, and the groove at the base of the case indicates it was from a belt fed machine gun. I will be doing more research, but perhaps the bullet was fired during the Baedecker Raids on Bath on 25-27th April 1942 by aircraft or anti-aircraft guns trying to defend the city?

a month down the line....

we have been putting the C-Scope 3mxi through it's paces on both our permissions, and initially were turning up horse shoes, wire and BOATs (bit off a tractor). However on the 21st March we were at our permission in an old orchard in Gloucestershire and Arthur unearthed this rather nice artefact, about 12" down. 

which we believe to be a late 16 or early 17c pewter spoon. The fig shaped bowl, hexagonal stem and pinched end point to these period. the makers mark in the bowl shows 3 spoons. Also in the same hole, were pieces of slipware which was popular at the time mentioned.

Just before Arthur found his spoon, I had a very faint signal at the foot of an ancient apple tree, and this little fellow popped out from about 3" down.

To my eye, he looks from the same period as the spoon, with a Jacobean style you might find on dark oak chairs or overmantles of the time.

There was this pottery in the same hole, and we have found more of the same since at the foot of other apple trees in the orchard. It is tempting to think of Wassailing and general merriment taking place in the orchard over the years, with bowls of cider being quaffed (quaffing is the same as drinking but you spill more) and either smashed accidentally or as an offering.

Either way, the few remaining trees in the orchard were smiling on us that day (which happened to be the Spring equinox) and yielded some of their treasure to us. I think we had better make a libation the next time we go.