Mate at work mentioned the German Gold Train yesterday, which I cunningly steered onto detecting - And would he mind if I had a firkle around his garden (since he lives in an older area of town) Turns out the house was only moved onsite in the 60's along with a few truckloads of fill, but I'm always in for new ground, and you never know, eh?
Rocked up today just as he and his wife were heading out, but they were cool with me wandering around the grounds and wished me luck as they drove off. The expression on their faces was the usual "Weirdo..." that we've all seen.
The house takes up about 90% of the small semi-suburban property, with most of the available area either under concrete or house. A thin grassy strip led down one side of the house to the handkerchief-sized lawn at the back.
Determined to make the most of what little dirt there was, I put the sniper coil onto the ATP and set to work with a slow,tight overlap. If anything
was there, I didn't want to miss it.
Had iron audio off, there'd be more than a few nails and was only chasing juicy signals.
First up was a 1989 20c, no surprises there. Then a few leadheads and Ali trimmings from a nearby window upgrade around an '86 50cent. I had achieved coinage, so was cheering up a bit after the initial "Why bother" when I saw how little dirt there was.
Lifted a deep 1c just as I got to the gate to the 'lawn'. I say Lawn, but I mean maybe 4x8m of oxalis and very wet, mushy soil. I decided to not dig anything the X-Pointer couldn't see from the surface to avoid making a mess.
Had a quick scan under the deck, couple of tear tabs, but otherwise quiet.
Worked along the drop zone just under the edge where the deck overhung the lawn and got a weird signal. High but jumpy with a few intermittent iron thuds. Signal was scatty no matter which angle. The X-Pointer couldn't see anything but there was something about it. If I find myself repeatedly scanning and listening to a signal it usually turns out to be worth a dig.
I squelched the pointer into the mud and probed around, yep, there it is 3" down and on the tip of the probe. I decided it was worth pursuing.
Did a deep stab and lift which enabled me to slide the fingers in under the groundcover and caught what I thought was thin string between my fingertips. Something metallic might be tied to it so I pulled it out. The 'string' wasn't and I was staring at a silver chain in my palm.
Sent a TXT to my mate, "Has your wife lost a silver chain?". "Yes, years ago". Cool, I'll clean it up and give it to him on Monday.
Carried on around the garden, for a couple of sinkers and a some more old decimals. It didn't take long! So I revisited the areas of the earlier finds, but met with radio silence. There were other signals, but the mushiness of the ground would have made a helluva mess so I left them.
Was just packing the car as they returned from wherever.
Handed his wife the grubby necklace, "It probably looked better than that when you lost it!"
Conversation ensued as to when and how she lost it, about 10yrs ago which would fit the depth.
Then she hands it back to me with, " I haven't missed it, you keep it"
What a nice lady :)
Where there's dirt, there's goodies :)
HH
MW
Edited by user Friday, 21 August 2015 9:13:44 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
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