Swan River Metal Detecting Finds

Posted by Billy on September 30, 2009 · Leave a Comment

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I was in Perth on the weekend just gone, and decided to do some metal detecting around the Swan River area, so I decided that I would head down to the Garrett Road Bridge where there is a nice picnic area which is popular with families, swimmers and kayakers and canoers.

I thought it would be a perfect spot to find some old coins, rings and other lost treasures.

It proved to be a great metal detecting spot, and I found plenty of coins, too many lead fishing sinkers, a long lost Avon Descent Medallion and a nice silver love hearts charm bracelet and a few other things.

As I have mentioned in my previous metal detecting stories, I really like to find old dog id tags (K9 Dogs that is) and I found one of those as well.

Sheeba's Lost Dog Tag

It had a phone number on the tag, as well as the dogs name which is “Sheeba” so I decided to give the owner a call, and she was very surprised that I had found it. She told me that it fell off Sheeba, around 4 years ago, whilst on a walk along the river bank. I was happy to hear that Sheeba is still alive and well, she is now 11 years old. But starting to slow down due to old age.

1999 Avon Descent Competitors Medallion - Found Near Garrett Road Bridge - Bayswater

So here is exactly what I found near the Swan River Metal Detecting:

Silver Love Hearts Charm Bracelet

Had a great couple of hours detecting there, I got there around 4pm with my girlfriend Natalie and our three little mongrel dogs, she played with them, whilst I detected, and when the mosquitos started to bite too hard, thats when I decided to pack up and head home to check out my lost treasure!

I am heading back there again in the very near future, but this time I will be taking my Minelab Underwater Metal Detector, so I can do some shallow water metal detecting.

I use a Minelab Excalibur Metal Detector when entering deeper water, it is 100% waterproof and a great detector.

The above finds I found using my Minelab E-Trac Metal Detector, it never lets me down and I always come home with something good.

Filed under Australian Decimal Coins, Australian Pre Decimal Coins, Brass, Coin Shooting, Coins, Finds Catalogue, Half Pennys, Hunting Sites, Jewellery, Lockets, Metal Detecting Finds, Necklace Charms, Penny, River Metal Detecting, Shilling, Silver, Six Pence, Three Pence, medallions · Tagged with 1946 Shilling, 1946 six pence, 1952 six pence, 1964 penny, bracelets, Coin Shooting, Dog Tags, half penny, medallions, pendant, Pennys, River Metal Detecting

Recent Silver Coins Found with Metal Detector

Posted by Billy on June 7, 2009 · 2 Comments

1958 Silver Australian Six Pence

A few days ago I went coin shooting around an old town hall, and managed to find only a couple of coins, the area I searched had recently been graded so I was expecting to find a few more, but only managed two coins.

Here are some photos of the coins after I cleaned them up.

The 1956 Shilling is quite rare, according to BlueSheet.com.au worth $200 plus apparently.

1956 Australian Silver Shilling

1956 Australian Shilling

Filed under Coin Shooting, Coins, Favourite Finds, Metal Detecting Finds, Shilling, Silver, Six Pence · Tagged with 1956 Shilling, 1958 Six Pence, Coin Shooting, Coins, Pre-Decimal, silver coins

Attention Australian Bottle Hunters and Coin Shooters!

Posted by Billy on May 28, 2009 · Leave a Comment

If you are an avid Australian Bottle Hunter and Coin Shooter like I am, I would like to recommend a couple of great websites that may be of use to you as they are for me.

BottleGuide.com.au

Bottle Guide Australia

This is a brilliant website for collectors and searchers of Old Bottles, there is nothing better than coming home from a Bottle Hunt and then to bring your old bottles inside, put them on the floor next to your computer and then to do some research on the bottles you have found.

You do a keyword search of the bottle you have found e.g. “Fremantle” and Bottle Guide will present you with a list of all bottles which have Fremantle stamped on them, then you can browse through the photos of bottles listed and find the bottle you have found on the day, if it is on their database, the database will give you information on how much the bottle is worth, the rarity of the bottle, past auction results and prices paid for that bottle. And so much more.

See attached image for an example.

Bottle Information Page on BottleGuide.com.au

BottleGuide.com.au is not free though to search for bottle prices and bottles on their database, it costs $33 AUD for a one year membership, but it is well worth paying that outlay, you can pay via paypal, cheque, credit card or postal order.

I like to also use bottle guide when looking at bottles for sale on Ebay, you can get some great bargains from sellers or are unaware of the bottles value that they are selling.

They currently have over 10,000 bottles on their database.

So if you love bottle hunting, make sure you join bottle guide!

BlueSheet.com.au

The same goes with what I said about Bottle Hunting, I also love coming home with the old coins I have found to see if they have some value to them. So once I sort them, then I go to BlueSheet.com.au and browse through that dates I have found.

This site is great also, before I found BlueSheet.com.au I used to go to a couple of websites which did show current valuations, but their information was out of date, and BlueSheet.com.au coin values are always up to date and accurate.

Highly recommended for coin collectors, coin hunters, or people with a big jar of old Australian Coins laying under their bed!

BlueSheet.com.au cost me $26.95 AUD for a 12 Month Subscription, but they have many more membership options.

BlueSheet.com.au Half-Penny Prices

BlueSheet.com.au specialises in the following Australian Coin Valuations

EARLY AUSTRALIAN COINAGE

   NEW SOUTH WALES (1813)
HOLEY DOLLAR (1813)
DUMP (1813)

AUSTRALIAN GOLD

   ADELAIDE ASSAY OFFICE (1852)
ONE POUND (1852)
FIVE POUND (1852)
   HALF SOVEREIGN (1853 – 1920)
SYDNEY MINT (1853 – 1869)
YOUNG HEAD (1871 – 1887)
JUBILEE HEAD (1887 – 1893)
OLD HEAD (1893 – 1901)
EDWARD VII (1902 – 1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1920)

   FULL SOVEREIGN (1853 – 1931)
SYDNEY MINT (1853 – 1870)
YOUNG HEAD (1871 – 1887)
JUBILEE HEAD (1887 – 1893)
OLD HEAD (1893 – 1901)
EDWARD VII (1902 – 1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1931)

   TWO POUNDS (1887 – 1902)

JUBILEE HEAD (1887)
EDWARD VII (1902)

   FIVE POUNDS (1887 – 1902)
JUBILEE HEAD (1887)
EDWARD VII (1902)

AUSTRALIAN COMMONWEALTH COINAGE
   HALF PENNY (1911 – 1964)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1964)
   PENNY (1911 – 1964)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1964)

   THREEPENCE (1910 – 1964)
EDWARD VII (1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1964)
   SIXPENCE (1910 – 1963)
EDWARD VII (1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1963)

   SHILLING (1910 – 1963)
EDWARD VII (1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1963)
PATTERN (1927)

   FLORIN (1910 – 1963)
EDWARD VII (1910)
GEORGE V (1911 – 1936)
GEORGE VI (1937 – 1952)
ELIZABETH II (1953 – 1963)

COMMEMORATIVES (1927 – 1954)

   CROWN (1937 – 1938)

GEORGE VI (1937 – 1938)

   KOOKABURRA PATTERNS (1919 – 1921)

HALF PENNY (1920 – 1921)

PENNY (1919 – 1921)

Filed under Australian Decimal Coins, Australian Pre Decimal Coins, Bottle Hunting, Bottles and Jars, Coin Shooting, Coins, Half Pennys, Metal Detecting Essentials, Metal Detecting Tips, Metal Detecting Tools, Penny, Shilling, Six Pence, Three Pence, bottle collectors · Tagged with bottle collecting, bottle collectors, bottle dumps, Bottle Hunting, bottles, Coin Shooting, Coins, jars, Pre-Decimal

Pre-Decimal Australian Coins Found Metal Detecting

Posted by Billy on May 12, 2009 · Leave a Comment

I am a bit of a perfectionist, so I am keeping a record of all Pre-Decimal Australian Coins I have found Metal Detecting since I started this Blog.

I’ll keep this list up to date, and as we all dream of, lets hope I find a valuable coin.

Australian Penny

· 1911 Australian Penny x 1

· 1916 Australian Penny x 1

· 1921 Australian Penny x 1

· 1922 Australian Penny x 4

· 1923 Australian Penny x 1

· 1924 Australian Penny x 1

· 1932 Australian Penny x 1

· 1935 Australian Penny x 1

· 1936 Australian Penny x 1

· 1938 Australian Penny x 1

· 1939 Australian Penny x 1

· 1941 Australian Penny x 1

· 1942 Australian Penny x 5

· 1943 Australian Penny x 5

· 1944 Australian Penny x 2

· 1945 Australian Penny x 4

· 1948 Australian Penny x 7

· 1949 Australian Penny x 1

· 1950 Australian Penny x 1

· 1951 Australian Penny x 4

· 1952 Australian Penny x 1

· 1954 Australian Penny x 1

· 1955 Australian Penny x 3

· 1964 Australian Penny x 2

Australian Half Penny

· 1911 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1913 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1916 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1920 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1921 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1922 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1923 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1928 Australian Half Penny x 2

· 1930 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1931 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1932 Australian Half Penny x 2

· 1933 Australian Half Penny x 2

· 1938 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1942 Australian Half Penny x 2

· 1943 Australian Half Penny x 5

· 1945 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1947 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1948 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1949 Australian Half Penny x 2

· 1950 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1951 Australian Half Penny x 1

· 1953 Australian Half Penny x 1

Australian Three Pence

Australian Six Pence

1921 Australian Six Pence x 2
1923 Australian Six Pence x 1
1942 Australian Six Pence x 1
1951 Australian Six Pence x 1
1961 Australian Six Pence x 2

Australian Shilling

1954 Australian Shilling x 2
1948 Australian Shilling x 2

Filed under Australian Pre Decimal Coins, Coin Shooting, Coins, Finds Catalogue, Half Pennys, Penny, Shilling, Silver, Six Pence, Three Pence · Tagged with 1910 Three Pence, 1911 half penny, 1911 Penny, 1913 Half Penny, 1916 Half Penny, 1916 Penny, 1920 Half Penny, 1921 Half Penny, 1921 Penny, 1921 Six Pence, 1922 Half Penny, 1922 penny, 1923 half penny, 1923 Penny, 1923 six pence, 1924 Penny, 1928 Half Penny, 1930 Half Penny, 1931 Half Penny, 1932 Half Penny, 1933 Half Penny, 1935 penny, 1936 Penny, 1938 Half Penny, 1938 penny, 1939 Penny, 1941 Penny, 1942 Half Penny, 1942 penny, 1942 Six Pence, 1942 Three Pence, 1943 Half Penny, 1943 penny, 1943 Three Pence, 1944 Penny, 1945 half penny, 1945 Penny, 1947 Half Penny, 1948 Half Penny, 1948 penny, 1948 Shilling, 1949 Half Penny, 1949 Penny, 1950 half penny, 1950 Penny, 1950 Three Pence, 1951 Half Penny, 1951 penny, 1951 Six Pence, 1952 penny, 1953 half penny, 1954 Penny, 1954 shilling, 1955 penny, 1955 three pence, 1956 Three Pence, 1961 six pence, 1964 penny, Add new tag, Coin Shooting, Coins

1941 East Africa Shilling Found

Posted by Billy on May 8, 2009 · 1 Comment

1941 East Africa Shilling

I had another great detecting day today! I usually try and plan my day ahead so I can get a few hours in detecting to relieve my metal detecting addiction, so I get all my jobs done around the house and by around 2pm I am ready to head off detecting.

I am not working at the moment, I am having a planned long holiday, I have not worked for over a year, since leaving the Navy and it has been pretty good. I am doing all the things I have wanted to do for a long time and I am really enjoying my freedom at the moment. Thats why I am posting on this blog everyday about the stuff I am finding, because some of you must wonder how I find the time to go out detecting every day.

So today I went for a long drive on the isolated gravel roads around my district in search for good detecting places, hoping to find old abandoned homesteads, did not come across any, so on the way home I ended going to a couple of places that I had known about previously and thought I’d give the detector a few hundred swings!

The first place is one of my favourite old houses in the district, a beautiful old house, probably around a hundred or so years old. I really love this place, the house is beautiful with so much potential to renovate, I just love the long open verandah and I really love the beautiful Australiana style tin roof.

Today's Metal Detecting Spot 1 - Beautiful Old Australian Homestead

I found a couple of interest things worth keeping at this place as follows:

1955 Australian Penny
1948 Australian Penny
Australian 1 cent coin
Refill Only Mobile Oil Badge off a fuel tin with the Mobile Red Horse.
Warranted Superior Saw Button
Silver Teaspoon
and the usual shotgun cartridges and bullet shells

Warranted Superior Saw Button

Warranted Superior medallions are found on secondary lines manufactured by Disston and other major saw makers with other brand names on the etch. Some smaller 19th century saw makers may have bought sawnuts and medallions from the bigger factories.

After 1900 or so the “small guys” were actually secondary lines of the “big guys.” The small companies were bought up by bigger ones and some of their products were continued for a time. Harvey Peace is one example. Most American saws from the 20th century, regardless of brand name, were made in the works of Disston, Atkins, Bishop, or Simonds.

In the case of Disston, their replacement medallions were stamped Warranted Superior rather than “Disston.” I would speculate their rationale was they didn’t want their name on lesser-quality saws. Brand identity and loyalty in the U.S. was much stronger in the first half of the 20th century than it is today. Source: http://www.disstonianinstitute.com/medallionpage.html

The next old place I went to is where I found quite a few old Australian coins, including an usual but thrilling find of a East African Silver 1 Shilling coin using my Minelab E-Trac Metal Detector.

I have had this minelab detector for around 8 months now and I am finally getting the hang of it, pre programing it for certain coins and learning how to discriminate properly. I learnt a few good e-trac metal detector tips tonight via watching youtube.com videos, so youtube.com is a great resource for learning how to use your metal detector.

The second old place is basically just old ruins of an old homestead, very old and a beautiful spot on top of a hill with views to die for

Today's Metal Detecting Spot 2 - Old Australian Homestead Ruins

Anyhow, here is what I found at the second old house:

1943 Australian Penny
1953 Australian Penny
1910 Silver Australian three pence
1941 Silver East Africa Shilling
and the usual shotgun cartridges and bullet shells

Mobil Flying Red Horse Oil Tin Badge

1941 East Africa Shilling - Reverse Side

Another great days metal detecting

Filed under Australian Pre Decimal Coins, Auto Finds, Badges and Pins, Coin Shooting, Coins, Favourite Finds, Finds Catalogue, Foreign Finds, Metal Detecting Tips, Old Houses, Penny, Shilling, Silver, Three Pence, Unusual Finds, YouTube.com · Tagged with 1948 penny, 1955 penny, auto, cutlery, foreign coins, Old Houses, pennies, Penny, Shilling, Silver, sixpence, spoons

Metal Detecting Finds Display and Storage Cases and Coin Display Cases

Posted by Billy on April 15, 2009 · Leave a Comment

Tool Compartment Organiser - Simple way of storing your Metal Detecting Finds - Coins - Jewellery & Rings

There is nothing better than finding a nice gold, platinum or silver ring, or an old coin, or an old piece of jewelry when your out metal detecting on the beach or out bush, you might spend a few hours detecting, and find something that you would really like to share with your friends.

But where do you store all your small metal detecting finds? In a shoe box? Or maybe an old wooden box or even an old ammunition box, or even an Old Treasure Chest

I like to store all my old coins, rings and jewellery which I find on my hunts in a simple “Craftright” Tool Compartment Organiser, which I bought at Bunnings in Perth, I have 4 of them, I think they cost me around $20 each and does the job for me perfectly.

It is nothing fancy, but does the job of a place to store the old pennys and coins and rings I find, and I do have alot of coins which I have found, a couple thousand or two, both pre-decimal and modern day.

I am one of those people who keeps just about everything I find, even modern day currency, maybe one day all the one dollar and two dollar coins I find will buy me a new top of the range Minelab Gold Metal Detector

There are plenty of choices for Coin and Jewellery Storage Boxes at Bunnings or other hardware shops which you can get for a very cheap price of under $30.

Or if you have a valuable collection, maybe you should invest in a good fireproof safe, I have seen excellent safes where you can get them actually put underneath the floor of your house, hidden under the carpet in a secret location, a great place to store your valuables.

And for the antique and relics you find, the larger items you could always shoe them off to your mates and family by using a nice Glass Display Cabinet similar to the display cabinets you see at antique shops.

Have a look at Bunnings next time your there or any of the many Hardware stores around your local town and find yourself something to store all your Metal Detecting Finds.