Bottle Digging Bug Bites Deep

I recently was fortunate enough to be introduced to the excitement of finding a rare Flint, Bell & Co Adelaide Green Maugham (round ended bottle). Well to be honest it was my wife that found it at a garage sale and since receiving a pretty hefty amount of money for it my interest in digging old bottles has been ignited. Back when I had my first business I remembered that Wayne the owner next door used to dig old bottles, I contacted him because I thought he may want to see the bottle before I parted with it. It turns out that seeing something that rare didn’t just spark an interest in me but it was enough to excite Wayne enough to get him back into bottle digging and since then we went to an old site I new of to see what treasure was there. The Flint, Bell & Co Maugham is the only one that is known to exist and therefore it was like finding the Holy Grail of South Australian bottles. The company Flint, Bell & Co were merchants of all sorts of items operating from premises in Rundle St & King William Street Adelaide in 1855.

This was a great South Australian find because it was a new discovery and looked like possibly being Bottle of the Year at the up and coming National Bottle show. Articles turned up from early news papers, firstly part of a cargo list with 1 case being shipped to South Australia by a company Flint, Bell & Co in 1852 as part of the Cargo of the Admiral Boxer, from Liverpool— 1 case, Flint Bell, and Co.; Now at first we thought this was saying that a case of Flint, Bell & Co bottles had been shipped over but later discovered that it was how the manuscript were written, a list of what was on board with the owners name written after it. Secondly, the two parties traveled to South Australia on the same ship in 1853 as you can see from part of the passenger list below.

Ship Calabar, 754 tons, Captain David Moodie, from Southampton 4th May 1853, arrived at Port Adelaide, South Australia 1st August 1853

Bell,  Jeremiah 39   107/2                                               paid own way

Mary 20

Amelia A. inf

Flint,  Thomas 31   513/1 Edinburgh                               paid own way

Amelia 28

Charles Bruce 4

Thirdly information regarding Flint, Bell & Co taking on a partner with the clip below showing the premises at Rundle Street in 1855. So it was almost official that it was a new discovery of a South Australian Company that set up business in Adelaide shortly after arriving together in 1853. Then the final pieces came together proving the authenticity of this Adelaide Maugham, Thomas Flint 1874-1859 and Jeremiah Bell – listed as merchants and import/commission agents of Rundle Street; seemed to operated between 1852-1855 although the company continued on trading under the same name when Jeremiah Bell left the partnership and they then operated as Flint, Deane & Co from April 1855 until Flint’s death in 1859.Thomas Flint also established the Adelaide Institution for Young Ladies The Institution for Young Ladies was run by his sister Mrs J M Bell [wife of Jeremiah Bell] assisted by his daughter Miss Amelia Flint.

The feeling I get when something like this is found, with such historical significance is nothing short of amazing, to be part of putting a piece of early history together is so rewarding. That is why I now have what they call, the bottle digging bug and fortunate enough to be able to dig many of the old sites I have been detecting over the last couple of years. Although I had been out on a couple of small digs with a friend from Whyalla I didn’t really think much of it until now, dare say due to the possibility of what can be found buried in old dumps. My first organised actual dig was with Wayne at a site where I knew there was on old dump in a small wash out of a ravine. We did exceptionally well and I am now well and truly bitten with the digging bug. We found over a hundred bottles ranging from between 1880 and 1940 with some being great pieces and others what they call over the shoulder bottles. The best was a Faulding’s pot lid that there are evidently only three known of including this one, this makes it quite a valuable item and sort after by collectors. We also found some great embossed pieces including a couple of Maughams, a H .J Wilson Port Victor (Victor Harbor) and a H . Pike & Co Oakbank in very good condition.

I will have to admit it it a great feeling to find detecting treasure but it is equally as much of a buzz digging bottles, I am officially hooked and it is now in my veins, Mwhaaaaaaa the bug bites deep. Stay positive and happy treasure hunting.

First Of Nine Ruins, Coins & Relics To Boot

The first of the nine ruins was a great day out, with the temperature in Adelaide around 19 degrees and sunshine all day. As I neared the site I could see the remains of one wall still standing and the excitement and anticipation of the days finds was building. Time to crank up the CTX 3030 and get in to it, first target didn’t take long with part of a buckle surfacing, there appeared to be no embossing on it but I have had a few surprises after you wash them at home, not the case this time. There were no end of buckles and boot caps everywhere, maybe a leather worker/boot makers place as it is on the main bullock route from the mid 1800′s and not far from the old general store area. I love the picture below of the 3030 with the sun beams shining down on the detector, its not the best quality but looks awesome. I have included some pictures of the area I am hunting just to show how beautiful it is.

Out of all the sites I have been to this site probably has more relics and bits and pieces around it than most that I come across. As the day went on the relics and buckles just kept coming with plenty more area to cover next time. The CTX 3030 absolutely works a treat around the trash with its ability to separate the ferrous and non ferrous targets so well, the beauty of this is that the audio response is much more solid and crisp than with the E-TRAC.

Finding coins was a little difficult amongst the barrage of relics but once they started to flow they simply got better as the day progressed. The first was an 1863 Britannia penny from around an old wash room, and not far from there was a half penny dated 1878. Next good target was a dog registration discs dated 1885 to 1886, although it does have Dog Act 1884 on the front because this was the first year of issue. the link below will take you to a great site with plenty of information in regards to why the registration act was passed and when.

http://www.dogsncats.asn.au/webdata/resources/files/Website_version_NIEL_RANSOM_Collared.pdf

I then scored an 1855 Victoria Young Head Penny in pretty good condition for her age and long rest under the ground. The buckles kept on coming all day but it was great to see a couple of different shaped ones other than the usual standard harness buckles, the pointed one may even have been a belt buckle used on someones trousers. It was getting late but I had managed a couple more Britannia pennies during the hunt 1876 and 1883 but just before leaving I had a solid 12:38 which I thought may have been another buckle but it was a beautiful 1864 Victoria 3d, finally a silver to turn a good hunt into a great hunt. This coin was minted 100 years before I was born in 1964 and the first I have found from that year, I can only wonder how long it has been laying there in the dirt.

It goes without saying to finish on a silver at a site like this makes it all that more exciting for the return trip, happy hunting and stay positive.

Dog Tags, Relics & Coins

It was time to hit a few old ruins again just to mix things up a bit after coin shooting for silvers in parks. I have missed the excitement of the old finds from early settlers and although I didn’t find heaps it was great to be out in the fresh country air. I spent most of the afternoon at an old general store site that I have been over and over trying to find any coins amongst the trash. This would have to be one of the trashiest sites I have hunted and all I managed yesterday was about half a bucket of rusty iron and square nails. Just when I was starting to feel a bit like it was going to be a dud day, along came a farmer and shared with me about an old shearing shed and ruin that he new of. After gaining some more local knowledge and permission it was off to the ruin for a quick reconnaissance swing  before heading home. The site was surrounded on all sides by electric fences which was going to be a good test for the new CTX 3030 from Minelab because in the past I have had a lot of interference with the E-TRAC in these situations. First things first was to noise cancel and remove as much interference as possible, surprisingly the CTX 3030 was running quiet with very minimal interference. Sadly the site was pretty overgrown but it wasn’t long and I had found an old harness buckle, then another followed by an old dog registration disc from 1911. The farmer had told me that it was built around 1850 so there had to be some older targets around somewhere. The next signal was jumping around a bit as it was surrounded by trashy targets but with the CTX 3030′s latest technology it was apparent it was something good, first coin and it was an 1889 Victory 3d, that just made my day.

With the reconnaissance coming up trumps, I was happy to come back at another time, the grass was a bit too long and the afternoon sky was starting to grow dark with some big clouds rolling in overhead, it was time to call it a day. We all know how it is and I kept the detector on as I walked back just in case, you guessed it half an hour later another dog registration disc, a Britannia penny & half penny and a strange looking oriental type face with a fly on his head.

I have know idea what it is but sure is different and interesting. I had one more thing to do before heading back and that was to call in and see a land owner who the farmer told me about, he used to lease the land and there were heaps of ruins on it. Well turns out there are eight or nine ruins I now have permission to hunt, these were all on the main bullock route that runs straight through the property. So remember stay positive because if I hadn’t been at the old store site I may have missed this opportunity, happy hunting and keep the coil to the soil.

Voices Of Our Parks

It is always fascinating as to what you find when coin shooting parks with history that dates back to early settlement. Sometimes I try to visualise or put together what may have been happening when when I find different coins and items but as we know it is only speculation. Yesterdays finds were such a mixed bag and it got me to thinking about different generations and how even though the park is aging the people come and go to enjoy the day maybe with friends, family or just to sit and relax on their own. The way society changes is always intriguing as well because I look at the old coins like the 1907 Shilling and wonder how much it could have purchased back in the early 1900′s or how it even came to be in Australia. For example, one shilling in 1910 would buy you a medium takeaway coffee or approx 2 liters of petrol in 2012. It also gets me thinking about the changes in time and society in general, are we really that different or have people always been the same. I found pipes for smoking pot next to a couple of different trees and considered that maybe society is worse now than back in the 1800 or 1900 hundreds. Although if you read  the history of our early settlement and what transpired in some of our parks, it seems that some people have always been a bit this way inclined. If only they could tell their full story clearly instead of just the little bits and pieces of history that we dig up and try to put things together, often far from the real truth and quite obscure I would suspect.

When Colonel William Light in 1837 mapped out Adelaide it’s parks comprised of many acres, all over the city but within one generation they had been reduced yo only about one third of their original acreage. The remaining parks have become an integral part of the life and character of Adelaide.

“They have been loved and hated, used for recreational, institutional, legal and illegal purposes, but they have survived and been preserved to a large extent.”

It is often interesting when I find a concentration of coins from a particular era in one area of a park and then another era of coins in another part of the same park with no real clue as to why. Maybe it was a favorite picnic spot, tram stop, old market site, we can only wonder most of the time but this is what makes detecting so much fun. The park I am concentrating on at the moment has one corner in particular where I have found more old English coins including an 1877 Gothic florin, an 1806 George III penny and even a 1797 Cartwheel penny, yet the rest of the park consists of mostly early Australian pre decimal coins.

Happy hunting and stay positive, keep the coil to the soil and remember if you aren’t out there swinging the wand then you haven’t any chance at all of finding something amazing.

Robert Wells “Rumbler”

Not only did the New Year usher in a fresh start and expectations of what great finds lay ahead but it also brought with it some extremely hot weather in Adelaide. After sitting at home researching for a couple of days I finally headed off to my favorite relic hunting area to see if I was on the right track. My first stop was at an old house built in 1850 that was originally built and owned by some of the first whalers operating in South Australia. On arriving I approached the new owner who quickly confirmed that this was the house and the information was correct, he was nice enough to not only give me permission but told me who the farmer was that owned the land at the back of his house where two old ruins were. One of these ruins was the original house that was lived in while the main house was built and the other ruin was the stable, there were also some of the original livestock yards and a sheep dipping run behind them. The site was scattered with old peppercorn trees that would have to be well over a hundred years old, these are often a sign of where old houses stood in time past. My first target for the day was an 1894 – 1895 dog registration disc that wasn’t too far inside the block, a good start and possibly a good day ahead. I had only taken a couple of steps and another solid signal, too big to be a coin but definitely something that was worthy of a dig, it was my first intact barrel tap that I had found as they are usually broken. This was a great start and when you find targets like this you know that you are more than likely on a site that hasn’t been done or someone may have run an older detector over the site.

I continued to pull a multitude of relics from all over the site but every now and then I would have to get out of the sun and work the areas under the trees. It was on my second run under the trees that I got a booming signal, again it was solid on the E-TRAC with a tone ID of 12:45, again too big to be a coin but you just can’t ignore these. I dug about 5 inches to find the target still in the ground but close according to my propointer, I slowly loosened the remaining soil to reveal a half round brass object about the size of a tennis ball, it had some markings on it so I carefully dug under it to lever it out. I had no idea what it was but it looked like one of those little bells that you find on an elves boot, but this one looked like it had been on steroids. After a clean up and some research at home it turned out to be my best relic find so far, it was a horse bell made by Robert Wells who was a British bell-maker from about 1760 to about 1826, even though they cast hand bells, church bells, clock and room bells they however, were famous for “rumblers” they cast with a distinctive RW maker’s mark and ornate petal design. This was an amazing bit of history because I have never heard of one being found in Australia, I contacted a couple of friends who are into detecting relics who also hadn’t heard of any being found here only in England.

The Crotal bell is about the size of a tennis ball.

http://classicbells.com/info/History.htm

I was starting to overheat with the temperature now pushing up over the old century mark, I decided to give the site a real fast scout around to see what was around for a return trip at a later date. I headed out behind the ruins to where the livestock yards were and found targets everywhere, after retrieving numerous harness buckles I had another one of those too big to be a coin signals, a quick dig and out came a full stirrup, these are usually broken as well. There was one more area I wanted to try by an old peppercorn tree towards the back of the main house before calling it a day, it didn’t disappoint with a great 12:45 signal that sounded very much like a coin. With summer well and truly upon us the ground was rock hard and even though the target was shallow it took some digging to retrieve it, a beautiful 1858 Victoria Young Head Penny surfaced to give me my first coin for the day. I then hit an unusual patch, no more than about a meter square with three 1942 half pennies and a 1942 penny that looked like they may have been in a bit of a fire. Enough was enough so I started to head off knowing that this spot was going to produce some more excellent finds, as I rounded the corner the farmer was there and we had a bit of a chat and I showed him what I had found. It was at this point that I was even more convinced of how good the E-TRAC is as he told me how someone had detected this spot about 20 years ago, I figure they either gave up because of all the  buckles and bits of brass or they simply pulled a few easy targets and left the rest behind. It doesn’t matter why but I do know that I am so looking forward to going back after the cows have eaten all the long grass down in about a week’s time to add to these awesome finds.

Oh The Pit, The Glorious Pit

Sometimes when you name a place you really are just looking for a quirky name, although I never thought for a minute that it may actually be bottomless. If you are amazed at the place, then take a few minutes to think how I feel when I go there time and time again and continue to pull great coins. I have been going to the bottomless pit for over a year now and today I manged another nine silvers. The started well with two sixpences in the first 3 targets and it just kept getting better as the day went on. It was drizzling with rain all afternoon so I concentrated my efforts on an area under the trees and the corner that I call the penny spot as there have been at least forty found in that area. Today I managed another florin and managed to dodge the cursed 1947 florin yet again but I was close with a 1946. I wont go on about the day but the total of coins was 42 bringing the over all total for the bottomless pit to 2901 leaving me very confident that I will crack the 3000 mark quite comfortably. I did say to a few people that I think I will find another 100 silvers at the pit, that was 35 silvers ago with no sign of it letting up anytime soon. 

It may be hard to understand but I am passed the stage of smiling when I find silvers at this spot, I just tend to lean back and scratch my head and wonder how the heck am I going to make this sound believable. I only have one thing say, “IT IS WHAT IT IS”, happy hunting and coil to the soil.

Transvaal War

It isn’t everyday that I find something that makes me sit back and consider the Australian men that lost their lives for our freedom. Although today while I was enjoying a beautiful day in the park popping a few great coins out, including a Cartwheel penny from 1797, and a couple of really nice condition sixpences 1910 & 1943, I came across a small medallion. I was detecting around the base of a tree when I got a solid 12:45 but it was right on the edge of a piece of lead (found this out after removing the medal), it would have been a bit hard to detect in audio response normal but hunting with audio response long on it made it clear as a bell. I dug down around 6 inches and this beautiful little medal came out, all I could read was good luck and the words Australian, at home after a quick soak and light rub it turned out to be a Transvaal war medal. The Transvaal war was actually the Boer war as we now it and if you follow the link below it has all the information.

http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/53007/medal-transvaal-war-good-luck-australian-contingents-australia-1899-1900 

It reads that over 15,000 served over there, 1400 were wounded and 518 killed, poor buggers it must have been terrible. That is what I love about detecting it can take you on such a journey and teach you so much by just one interesting find. This is my seventh cartwheel penny in the last couple of years and they still amaze me at their size and weight, I wish I could just find one good one with a clear date.

Oh well my day will come when I finally get one in good condition but until the I’ll keep swinging and enjoying this great hobby. Coil to the soil and stay positive.

Barrosa Peninsula Cross Plate

At one time or another we have probably all been a bit guilty of becoming complacent when we are out detecting, until something comes along that just blows you away and if you allow your imagination to run wild it opens up so many more possibilities. This was the case for me recently when I ventured back to a site that has produced some amazing relics including a Robert Wells horse “rumbler” bell, half of a silver nurse’s buckle, a silver pencil case and some other very old relics. I can remember when I first started finding pre decimal coins and the excitement that you get when you find your oldest coin to date and then you beat it and find an even earlier one and so on and so on. The problem is that if you are not careful after a while you start to get a bit complacent and once you have found an abundance you start to want better finds and fortunately we have silver coins that pop up every now and then to keep things interesting. This is what happened on my return to this relic spot, I was finding a few of the usual relics with some Commonwealth of Australia half pennies thrown in and an 1855 Victoria Young Head half penny and I can remember thinking to myself that I wish I could just find a big English silver or even a gold sovereign.

So here I was with some great finds wandering around just going through the motions when all of a sudden I got this really loud signal that actually made the E-TRAC overload because it was almost right on the surface. I raised my coil up a bit and went back over the target, it definitely was too big to be a coin but it sure did sound like another one of the horse bells but a lot shallower. I carefully started to remove some dirt and only about 2cm down the edge of a plate appeared, so it wasn’t another horse bell, maybe it was a cricket buckle? As I removed the remainder of the dirt out came a brass looking plate with a crown at the top and Peninsula written across the bottom, I had no idea what it was so I dropped it in my bag and kept detecting. Curiosity and the 34 degree day got the better of me after about 5 min or so I found a shady spot under a tree and gave the mystery plate a thorough going over to try and work out what it could be. The clasps on the back were unlike anything I had seen on any buckles I had come across previously and the writing across the top said Barrosa, now this got me a bit excited because firstly I didn’t think we had ever had a Barrosa Peninsula and secondly Barrosa was spelt differently to our well known Barossa Valley in South Australia. The drive home was filled with possibilities, was it that I had found some information in regards to our early settlement that the historians had missed (silly me), I still kept tying the crown in with the postal service maybe that was it, by the time I had arrived home my head was spinning. I quickly gave it a light clean and took some fresh pictures so that I could send them off to a couple of friends of mine in Melbourne and the ACT, surely Jarhead from Canberra would know as he loves his history. Waiting, waiting, waiting but no reply came, by this time I was surfing the net to try and shed some light on this plate.

I typed in Barrosa Peninsula South Australia but nothing was making sense, then I stumbled across some information saying how Colonel Light had named South Australia’s Barossa Valley after the battle of Barrosa; “It is fairly well known that the name Barossa, identifying South Australia’s famous wine district, the Barossa Valley, is derived from the name originally bestowed by Colonel William Light, in 1837, to the Barossa Range. It commemorates the Peninsular War Battle of Barrosa that took place between the French and a mixed British–Spanish force on 5 March 1811. This was a decisive engagement which attempted to break the French army’s blockade of Cadiz, then the Spanish capital.”  Finally I had a breakthrough so I typed 67 and Barrosa Peninsula into the computer and there it was, the 2/67^th foot battalion fought in this campaign. I still had no idea what the plate was until I finally came across some pictures with all different uniforms of the soldiers of that era and lo and behold it was a cross plate from this battalion, worn across the chest on the cross belts. Finally I knew what it was and where Barossa Peninsula was as well, wow what a find indeed this was almost 200 years old and a very rare find on Australian soil. So when you start to get a bit complacent with your detecting, remember that you are only ever one swing away from the find of a lifetime and that’s what it is all about.

Big Silver Big Smile

I thought the park where I found the 1874 threepence a few days ago had to have some more silvers, but I was totally surprised and blown away by what I found today. It was slow going for about the first half hour with only a couple of brown buggers and a penny. I moved to the other side of the park where some really old trees where and within 5mins the coins started to flow with a couple of pennies and then a nice 1942 sixpence. Great a silver, I love that because it gives you confidence that there could be more and I was right, the next three coins were all silver. I found a threepence and right next to it about a foot away I got a really solid 12:45 – 11:45 and it sounded sweet, quick dig and a beautiful 1881 shilling seen the light of day for the first time in a very long time. Things were really looking good, so I circled the tree spiraling outward as I went and then another really good solid signal, what can I say out comes a florin but not just any old florin, an 1877 Gothic Florin. Oh yeah what a way to make the day get so much better, my second in the last year and both dated 1877.

My day wasn’t done yet, with a few more pennies, some relics, buttons and thirteen dollars to cover my fuel in the next hour I was pretty happy. What a great day! I was getting exited with the way things were going, if only I could pull a 1930 penny to top things off, so far the pennies were dated 1929, 1932 and 1933, but alas it was not to be. It is amazing how it only takes that one sweet spot to change the whole outcome of your hunt and it happens so often if you just persist.

It wont be long before I’m back to see what other great finds are there so till then, happy hunting and coil to the soil.

Coins & Relics

It was an interesting week out and about as I chased down my hundredth silver for the week. It seemed that everyone of my spots had been hunted out but it just wasn’t making sense, I had found silvers at them just last week. If it wasn’t for the mid range tones I would have thought something was wrong with my detector but I decided to check everything anyway, turns out the coil was playing up. The bad news is I just spent three days wandering around feeling a bit useless and that I had lost my mojo but the good news is that my spots aren’t hunted out. A new day, change of coil and off to a small park for about half an hour were I managed an 1874 threepence (nice way to bring up # 100), then off to a quote for one of my clients, followed by a quick stop at one of the sites I had been to in the last three days, bingo a 1954 ram shilling. So armed with a big smile and my mojo back, I was back in business.

Saturday was my wife’s birthday but you would have thought it was mine because after spending a lovely morning with her she informed me that our eldest daughter was taking her out for lunch, wait for it and a movie. I could hardly hold back the smile, this could only mean one thing, it was time for some old site coin & relic hunting in the country for a few hours. It wasn’t long and I was at a location I have been waiting to go to for awhile, there was nothing left where an old house once stood but the foundation. The first target was an 1865 Britannia penny, this was followed by a stream of relics but no more coins, there were a couple of interesting pieces of jewelery amongst the buckles, rivets and bits though.

I spent another hour here and found an old buckle that has a series of holes around it but know pattern at all that makes me think maybe it had something attached to it and an old barrel tap broken in half.

The day was getting on and I wanted to try the another site that was the general store back in the mid 1800′s where I have had some great finds. There is heaps of old rusty iron and lead in the ground so I only spend short amounts of time there hopefully sniffing out some small silvers. The usual old iron and bits of lead were coming out thick and fast until I got a really solid signal, now with the ground being so hard I was using the pick to break through the crust and let me say I am glad it was only a Britannia penny and not a big silver. As I scraped the dirt out of the hole it was quite obvious that I had hit the coin and bent it like a boomerang, it pays sometimes to take a bit more time pinpointing. I have put the finds for the last few days in one picture, everything but the silvers and two Britannia pennies were found at the old site yesterday.

Hope you enjoy and happy hunting, keep the coil to the soil but only if it’s working properly. Good luck and just think your next find could very well be your best.