2013 finds Sarn

[Sarn]

The other week I went down to the local creek bank. Got a solid hit on my detector and started digging. It didn't take too long to dig far enough for my handheld pinpointer the detect the metal object. It went off in every direction that I touched so I knew it was a large object.

I dug a bit further and noticed that it was a big piece of metal and decided to abandon the dig thinking it was just your standard piece of trash. I filled the small hole back in and walked off to try my luck elsewhere. As I did so I got this nagging feeling that I should go back and dig it up. The surface of the object that I had found obviously wasn't a can and didn't seem like a piece of modern trash. Being right next to the creek I started thinking that perhaps it was a relic from canberra's pastoral days. I went back and decided to dig some more.

An hour later, using my trusty, dull $3 garden trowel I managed to dig up a substantial amount of the item revealing a curved thick sheet of metal. It wasnt jagged at all but had a smooth surface all around. My heart was racing, did a find a buried lockbox? The shape of the item i had managed to uncover reminded me of the curved lid that old chests used to have.

The area was also conspicuous. Right near a creek, perfectly In between a strand of four large old trees. It's location was smack in the center of the two middle most trees. In my eyes it was a perfect marker to remember where you had buried something of value, and indeed, in the old days people did use natural landmarks to help identify where they stashed their prized goods.

I dug further, cutting through roots, digging up all manner and sizes of rocks, revealing more and more of the large object. By now I was about an hour and a half into the dig (bemoaning the fact that I did not bring a shovel or a pick - or even something a little better than a blunt gardening trowel.

As I dug further I managed to reveal the edges of the item, while it was reasonably thick there were no sides to form a box, and the shape was all wrong. I resigned myself to the fact that it wasn't the buried treasure that I had convinced myself of. but having put so much time and effort into trying to dig this sucker out I decided to continue.... In the end, after consultation with my husband, we decided it was a plough blade. It had the right shape and dimensions used for blades during the 1900s. Unfortunately I ended up hitting large rocks that I was unable to crack or budge with the tools on hand and had to abandon the dig. I know exactly where it is though, using the conspicuous tree markers, if I ever decide to complete the excavation.

 

[Twapster]

No idea

 

[Ramjet]

Great story and pics Sarn
Its a shame your persistence didn't pay off with a treasure chest.
I hope you go back and retrieve it.

Ramjet

 

[Sarn]

I intend to one day, I am reasonably convinced that it is from a plough, not sure what exactly I would do with it once I took it home though lol. . Was fun digging it up, lots of highs and lows, but even the lows were tempered with the idea that what I was digging was likely to be an item that someone used 50, or maybe even a hundred years ago. I love that sort of stuff, sitting there wondering about who owned it and how it came to be buried deep beneath the soil. It's fascinating.

 

[Ramjet]

I like the idea of painting relics black and mounting on wood or similar.
Hang in the BBQ area or Man/Lady cave

Like in this thread...

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=2673

 

[Sarn]

Finally updated iOS so I can upload photos. Here are some pics of some of my finds, they are a little outdated and have found a lot more (modern) coins since then...still chasing the pre decimal.

As with these sort of things 99% of what you find is trash, pull tabs, cans, bottle lids, foil etc - we are a messy species. But sometimes you find something interesting. Here are some of the finds that I find interesting, most of you guys will prolly think its junk though lol.

I haven't really had much opportunity to go out, and when i Do it's often with the kids who have the attention span of a goldfish. Have been out a couple times late at night ate at night to local parks, all by my lonesome in the dark. I enjoy it, but get a little paranoid at times lol. The last time I went out in the evening was a couple weeks ago, spent about an hour there only managing to detect a 10m 10m region...the reason being, some poor gardener over 20 years ago had a coin spill around a garden bed. All the coins were deep and found a 2 c coin which confirms that it happened at least 20 years ago.

Other interesting items (to me anyway) are toy cars. , a big arsed sinker that was used in a small creek...I mean really? That sucker could be used to catch a shark! A hinge from a cabinet, what's interesting is it was found next to a creek with no housing development where it was found - perhaps i should go back there, maybe the hinge was used on a lockbox for a buried cache lol. a 1960s cam shaft rotor head for a sprinkler system from the 60s (apparently its collectable and i appear to have misplaced it, so for the second time its its 50 year life it has been lost lol) and a metal ring that I found next to an old metal button. The ring reminds me of something that old farmers would use on saddles or plows that a horse would pull. Both items were over 6 inches deep and had been there a long time. In my optimistic mind I am reckoning that they date back to when Canberra was pastureland, so 1800s to 1900s.....but then I Am an optimist I sit here imagining a convict pulling a plow, stopping by the creek to have some tucker and losing his button and metal strap fastener.

Today I found, I cant call it a button because it has no holes, but, I believe it's something from a naval uniform.... I found it near a naval transmitter station.

Anyway I'm having fun, just wish I Could get out more.

Edit: I have about 50 more modern coins since that coin photo was taken, and the large coin is a 1978 100 rupiah Indonesian coin that appears to have been whacked by a lawn mower.

 

[Sarn]

I like that idea, I have a pool room I can display it in.(aka a shed with a pool table in it lol not sure about painting it black though as I prefer a more natural (even if rusted) look.

 

[casper]

ah! the ol' bent coin.........

I used to carry a carefully bent penny just like that one, just like my dad did, and he like his dad. Why? simply because you couldn't spend it - you would often find yourself "down to your last penny" but you wouldn't go "broke"

casper

 

[Sarn]

ah! the ol' bent coin.........

I used to carry a carefully bent coin just like that one, just like my dad did, and he like his dad. Why? simply because you couldn't spend it - you would often find yourself "down to your last penny" but you wouldn't go "broke"

casper

Lol, I love that idea. Such a positive outlook on life I think I am gonna have to carry that coin around with me.

 

[Sarn]

Oh, and those coins that don't look as grubby as the others, I cleaned with a cheap, second hand ultrasonic cleaner. It did take three passes though. Having said that, I wouldn't recommend using on older, more valuable coins. I am not sure if it was the natural corrosion or the cleaner, but some of them came out pretty rough. Besides coins have more character if they show a bit of wear IMO.

 

[Silver_Fox]

I wouldn't hang it on the wall, scrub it up, bingo, there's a small bush BBQ plate!


SF

 

[Sarn]

Now why the hell didn't I think of that! good idea.

 

[Silver_Fox]

I do what I call 'Laundering' of my coins
I use hot soapy water to get rid of the dirt. Then at lunch time I head down to the local Coke vending machines, pop in $2 of dirty coins, press eject, presto, clean $2 coin comes out. Money is now laundered!

Should start a topic on how people 'Launder' their dirty modern currency they dig up, I'm curious now...

SF

 

[backcreek]

Hay Sarn,
It looks to me like the side of a large cast iron cooking pot. A property I shoot on in Cunnamulla has a few laying around the old shearing shed which burnt down around 1900.

The other week I went down to the local creek bank. Got a solid hit on my detector and started digging. It didn't take too long to dig far enough for my handheld pinpointer the detect the metal object. It went off in every direction that I touched so I knew it was a large object.

I dug a bit further and noticed that it was a big piece of metal and decided to abandon the dig thinking it was just your standard piece of trash. I filled the small hole back in and walked off to try my luck elsewhere. As I did so I got this nagging feeling that I should go back and dig it up. The surface of the object that I had found obviously wasn't a can and didn't seem like a piece of modern trash. Being right next to the creek I started thinking that perhaps it was a relic from canberra's pastoral days. I went back and decided to dig some more.

An hour later, using my trusty, dull $3 garden trowel I managed to dig up a substantial amount of the item revealing a curved thick sheet of metal. It wasnt jagged at all but had a smooth surface all around. My heart was racing, did a find a buried lockbox? The shape of the item i had managed to uncover reminded me of the curved lid that old chests used to have.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1545/1385276998_image.jpg

The area was also conspicuous. Right near a creek, perfectly In between a strand of four large old trees. It's location was smack in the center of the two middle most trees. In my eyes it was a perfect marker to remember where you had buried something of value, and indeed, in the old days people did use natural landmarks to help identify where they stashed their prized goods.

I dug further, cutting through roots, digging up all manner and sizes of rocks, revealing more and more of the large object. By now I was about an hour and a half into the dig (bemoaning the fact that I did not bring a shovel or a pick - or even something a little better than a blunt gardening trowel.

As I dug further I managed to reveal the edges of the item, while it was reasonably thick there were no sides to form a box, and the shape was all wrong. I resigned myself to the fact that it wasn't the buried treasure that I had convinced myself of. but having put so much time and effort into trying to dig this sucker out I decided to continue.... In the end, after consultation with my husband, we decided it was a plough blade. It had the right shape and dimensions used for blades during the 1900s. Unfortunately I ended up hitting large rocks that I was unable to crack or budge with the tools on hand and had to abandon the dig. I know exactly where it is though, using the conspicuous tree markers, if I ever decide to complete the excavation.

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1545/1385281012_image.jpg

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1545/1385281940_image.jpg

https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/1545/1385281552_image.jpg

 

[Beagleboy]

Great story sarn. I hope you go back there and get it out of the ground so we all know what you've found.

 

[Ramjet]

I also keep 'interesting' finds. Toy cars and guns etc.
I even keep all the poull tabs and bottle tops. Throw them in a bucket.
The button with no holes is may be an older type which had a loop on the back to attach it to the garment it came off?

 

[Twapster]

Might be a big yellow nugget hiding under there!

 

[Roscoe]

That is a big chuck of metal all right. Could it be a keel from a boat? I have no idea just a thought.

 

[Sarn]

Sorry for the delay in response, haven't been online all that much recently.

Hay Sarn,
It looks to me like the side of a large cast iron cooking pot. A property I shoot on in Cunnamulla has a few laying around the old shearing shed which burnt down around 1900.

It had smooth, rounded edges all around and didn't look to be broken or cut at all.

Might be a big yellow nugget hiding under there!

One can hope.

That is a big chuck of metal all right. Could it be a keel from a boat? I have no idea just a thought.

I live in Canberra, inland. While it was next to a creek, the creek is shallow and quite small, nowhere near big or deep enough to accommodate even a raft lol (not sure what it was like before the damns and lakes were built though tbh).

I personally think it's something like this: the general shape is right, and if it does have a lower 'blade'/extension' for lack of a better term) then it would explain why I couldn't pull it out even though it appeared as though I had unearthed a lot of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:OldPlow2006-05-21.JPG

I might have some time tomorrow and thinking of going back to finish the job.

 

[Sarn]

The button thing doesn't appear to have any markings to indicate that it had a loop in the back. It looks like something that may have been glued on or held into place by something else. I can't see anything on it that shows a way to fasten it. Here is a pic of the other side