tuatara
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Silvers on Crazy Ian's property (part 2) - More silvers, jewellery etc
It was a busy week. We had only 1 day off, and home chores kept piling up. So we were not planning any detecting trips over a weekend. However, Kylie (Crazy Ian’s great niece) brought us some bad news - her parents who were badly hit by superannuation funds crisis put his farm on sale. Then we had no choice but leave a horrible mess at home behind and meet Kylie on Crazy Ian’s property. At least the day wasn’t hot. The girl soon departed to do some shopping but not before she gave us a very lively performance impersonating her ‘favourite’ uncle. Kylie said that Ian’s most striking features were his grubby (literally) hands with long dirty talons and a shaggy beard that was always somewhat askew to the left. This colourful personality was digging his targets out of sand on the beach by a swift ostrich-like movement of his foot. He was also in a habit of picking fights with his fellow detectorists who had misfortune to turn up at the same location with him. In short, Uncle Ian and his bonnie lass Lucy Garrett were a source of constant embarrassment (as well as amusement) to his family. Though the performance was really good, we were glad when Kylie finally left. After all, we had some job to do. This time we also started beeping at the same spot as the last time trying to cross it as quickly as possible and get to the pond’s bank. But it wasn’t meant to be. We were at once stopped by a clear sweet signal of a bigger sterling coin close to the surface. ‘How could we possibly miss a good signal?’ asked my brother. I had not much time to shrug my shoulders because I was getting another big silver signal. When we saw in the hole a large silver disc, we congratulated ourselves on a half crown. As it has turned out, we did it a bit too early. Although unmistakably of sterling silver, the disc was too thin for a coin and had a pattern all over it. We rinsed the thingy in the pond and it was a brooch hallmarked 1915 Birmingham made by J Aitkin & Son. Its pin is missing and it will need some good panel-beating. However, silver is silver. Several steps aside, and we got our second shilling – Teddy’s 1910. Re-checking the hole we extracted 6 pence of 1891. It’s so worn out that Vicky looks almost bald and her crown sticks out like some sort of a horn. I called the coin ‘Horny Vicky’. Nearby we dug out 2 x 3 pence coins of 1910 and 1928. I pride myself on 2 challenging targets that were hardly audible – another 3 pence of 1910 and 3 pence of 1926. A cricket belt buckle was a very welcome addition to our haul. Of modern things we found only a 9 ct gold ring. We showed it to Kylie and asked her if it belonged to Crazy Ian. She was not sure but said that he used to have something like that when he was still married. We wanted to give the ring to her but the girl vigorously shook her head. She is somewhat superstitious and does not want to deal with any things that could be her great uncle’s. We bought her a bottle of bubbly and we hope for another opportunity to detect if the property is still available.
It was a busy week. We had only 1 day off, and home chores kept piling up. So we were not planning any detecting trips over a weekend. However, Kylie (Crazy Ian’s great niece) brought us some bad news - her parents who were badly hit by superannuation funds crisis put his farm on sale. Then we had no choice but leave a horrible mess at home behind and meet Kylie on Crazy Ian’s property. At least the day wasn’t hot. The girl soon departed to do some shopping but not before she gave us a very lively performance impersonating her ‘favourite’ uncle. Kylie said that Ian’s most striking features were his grubby (literally) hands with long dirty talons and a shaggy beard that was always somewhat askew to the left. This colourful personality was digging his targets out of sand on the beach by a swift ostrich-like movement of his foot. He was also in a habit of picking fights with his fellow detectorists who had misfortune to turn up at the same location with him. In short, Uncle Ian and his bonnie lass Lucy Garrett were a source of constant embarrassment (as well as amusement) to his family. Though the performance was really good, we were glad when Kylie finally left. After all, we had some job to do. This time we also started beeping at the same spot as the last time trying to cross it as quickly as possible and get to the pond’s bank. But it wasn’t meant to be. We were at once stopped by a clear sweet signal of a bigger sterling coin close to the surface. ‘How could we possibly miss a good signal?’ asked my brother. I had not much time to shrug my shoulders because I was getting another big silver signal. When we saw in the hole a large silver disc, we congratulated ourselves on a half crown. As it has turned out, we did it a bit too early. Although unmistakably of sterling silver, the disc was too thin for a coin and had a pattern all over it. We rinsed the thingy in the pond and it was a brooch hallmarked 1915 Birmingham made by J Aitkin & Son. Its pin is missing and it will need some good panel-beating. However, silver is silver. Several steps aside, and we got our second shilling – Teddy’s 1910. Re-checking the hole we extracted 6 pence of 1891. It’s so worn out that Vicky looks almost bald and her crown sticks out like some sort of a horn. I called the coin ‘Horny Vicky’. Nearby we dug out 2 x 3 pence coins of 1910 and 1928. I pride myself on 2 challenging targets that were hardly audible – another 3 pence of 1910 and 3 pence of 1926. A cricket belt buckle was a very welcome addition to our haul. Of modern things we found only a 9 ct gold ring. We showed it to Kylie and asked her if it belonged to Crazy Ian. She was not sure but said that he used to have something like that when he was still married. We wanted to give the ring to her but the girl vigorously shook her head. She is somewhat superstitious and does not want to deal with any things that could be her great uncle’s. We bought her a bottle of bubbly and we hope for another opportunity to detect if the property is still available.
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