Buttons and other interesting finds.

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This is an enamelled piece. It is stamped "Snap-on" and "Made in England". No idea of age.
 
my mate told me he got them all out this spot so i went there then sent him this photo :lol: moral to the story never believe anyone who said they got it all .

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this one was not in good nick 1797 cartwheel penny can just see the george on the rim, but sure a bit of history and a buzz to find.

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mmm....shiney! said:
Eureka Moments said:
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Dug this little fellow the other day. It's 67mm or just over 2 and a half inches wide.

Either came off a hairy-nosed wombat :P or a pit pony which was used in the old mining days.
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Found a couple like this, was told it could be off the heel of a boot.
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I stand by my theory. We still have local breeders of the little height-challenged ponies.

Ive found a fair amount of horseshoes. They seem to come in roughly three sizes.

Normal, for human carrying type horses.
Small for taking equipment in and out of mines.
Large for friggen big draught horses. These were mainly used for carting brewery-fresh products to thirsty miners and pulling a bloody huge great quartz crushing wheel around.

I do see your point though shiney. It isnt quite curved as a horseshoe should be? Any underground mines in the area you were?
 
The cartwheel pennys are buggers to try and clean. The lettering is stamped into the cartwheel rim, not in relief as for most pennys and coins.

Top buzz to find a coin pre 1800 I reckon. Bucket list material. :)
 
thanks!

yeah most of the detail is gone been in the ground so long and being pure copper seems it just turns back in to dust like its trying to go back where it come from.

but yes sure is a piece of Aussie history if only these old things we find could talk bet they all have interesting stories to tell !
 
Quite a few years ago I was detecting around an old farmhouse, that had been standing for 100 + years. Looking for the opportunity finds to any forgotten cash box/coins that may have been left from the past, also tuning my ear into the new detector that I had at the time. After many frustrating hours of digging nails, tins, .22 spent cartridges, shotgun cases, and worthless bits of metal shards that even Steptoe & son would have pushed a stiff upper lip at, I was bushed..... The flies had defeated the soul, my ears hurt from the constant detectors chatter from the junk beneath my feet. I thought to myself, one more hour as I sat down to have a cold one with the cocky who owned the farm. "Then" it corked me in the eye! To the back of this house was a massive dead tree. Not knowing what I do today these trees were gathering places for BBQ, family meetings, child's playground. So head full of hunch the old tree was do or die for me.

No sooner had the coil made contact with soil around that old tree the whap whap sound filled my ears..... right next to the trees base! Gotta be a good sign. That Yes feeling hit my heart as i dived for the pick & shovel...... It was a sound Very different to all others encountered on that day.
My excitement was immense , I was even ready to totally takeout the dead tree to get to my reward :cool: Smashing the soil open, with pick, and constant phrase bugger off flies still lingers in my head today........Moments pause! As I dug half the object up. What the F@#k is this! My excitement immediately went 5 floors to Defcon1 white faced with shear terror This bloody thing I was picking to death was a artillery bomb :o

Turned out later, the sucker was fake/dud/practice round. The farmer associated with my find has 1 very live round that he keeps under his farm bulk fuel tanks! It was ploughed up from one of his fields.

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interesting story about the bomb :) lucky it was a dud.

i read somewhere 1 detectorists a year gets killed in the UK digging unexploded bombs, don't know how true that is but its a scary thought.
 
uuuuuuuumm said:
interesting story about the bomb :) lucky it was a dud.

i read somewhere 1 detectorists a year gets killed in the UK digging unexploded bombs, don't know how true that is but its a scary thought.
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Yes! the duds have rounded heads like what I have shown in the pic. Live suckers have like a web shaped nose cone.........Dont bash that type. ;)
 
Silver Soul said:
uuuuuuuumm said:
interesting story about the bomb :) lucky it was a dud.

i read somewhere 1 detectorists a year gets killed in the UK digging unexploded bombs, don't know how true that is but its a scary thought.
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Yes! the duds have rounded heads like what I have shown in the pic. Live suckers have like a web shaped nose cone.........Dont bash that type. ;)
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i will file that away as some good advice :D
 
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This item has an image of a phoenix rising on it. It was originally gilded but no idea what the base metal is. Also has letters under the bird..."M", "B" and either "C" or "Co".

It may be a sliding lid for a snuff box, but Im only guessing.
 
Eureka Moments said:
I do see your point though shiney. It isnt quite curved as a horseshoe should be? Any underground mines in the area you were?
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Not sure about underground where we prospected, the bloke I went with grew up in the area and said the old prospectors would follow a quartz seam from where it was visible on the surface, but I don't think they got very deep. We found 2 of those "horseshoes", about 3 or 4 km apart on the day but the old fella said he's seen plenty of them before. He was the one that told me they were off boots.

I think the copper mine was underground.

In 1862, a 10 feet high wall of solid copper ore was discovered at Copperfield. Queensland's first copper mine opened and continued until the 1880's when the best quality ore was mined out. The site of Copperfield township, six kilometres south of Clermont and Peak Downs Copper Mine is testimony to the changing fortunes of the mining history.

The last of 22 chimney stacks still stands. The bricks were made in Clermont by Welsh Tradesmen. The glossy finish was achieved by powdering glass and sprinkling on the surface. North Copperfield was located on the northern side of the chimney and South Copperfield was about one kilometre down from the chimney on the left side of Rubyvale Road.
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http://www.queenslandholidays.com.au/things-to-see-and-do/copperfield-store-and-chimney/index.cfm

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When he was very young, my old mate remembers his dad going to the old copper mine after it had closed scrounging around and filling hessian bags with the ore and sending it away to the refinery (in Brisbane I think). He has a a photo when he was 2, of his father holding him, legs astride at the very tip of the last chimney. He's 76 now.
 
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