Metal Detecting a 100 Year Old Australian Stone House
Beautiful Turn of the Century Australian Stone House
A few days ago I got permission off a local farmer and his wife to go metal detecting at an old stonehouse on their property, no doubt one of the most beautiful stone houses in the district.
I took a beautiful photo of this house a few months ago, and knew that I’d have to return one day to do some metal detecting for old coins and relics.
So finally I had a day off and eagerly drove out to the house with my E-Trac Metal Detector, Garrett Pro Pin Pointer, my trusty shovel and my sifter and plenty of water, as it was a bloody hot day!
One of my most favourite things to find while metal detecting is old dog licence tags, usually made out of brass.
I have found around 20 of these Dog Licence tags so far, since I started metal detecting, and I hoped to find one today.
These Dog Licence Tags are issued to dog owners, so that if the Dog is found it can be returned to the owner, even today the same thing happens, except the dog licence tags these days are made out of a crappy plastic, not like the good old days when things were made to last.
Well My luck was running high, and just near a old stone shearing shed, I found one with my detector, one of the best ones I have found so far.
1930 - 1931 Dumbleyung Road Board Dog Licence Tag
If you click on the image to the right, you’ll see a bigger and better photo.
This is the first of these tags I have found with a clover leaf design, usually most of the tags I find are in a triangular shape.
I also found a another dog tag just the other day, this one was also really nice, another unique design, and this tag originating from Wagin, some 40km away from Dumbleyung.
I spent around 4 hours at the old house, it was a really good day, nice and peaceful, just how I like it.
I found some really nice coins, and found my first English Farthing, dated 1926.
I also found some pennys, a couple of six pence coins, some nice buckles and other interesting things.
As well as that, I also found a really nice old bottle dump, basically a big pile of dirt, but plenty of signs of really old Marble Bottles, Codds, and other rare bottles… I just wish I had a bobcat or a dingo, if I had one of those, I could get underneath the soil to get the good bottles.
I am actually thinking about hiring one from a local bloke for the day, $250 a day he charges.
Feel free to watch the YouTube Video I made of the day below.
Pumping the Ghost Town Water Well – Part 2
Finally Pumping Water out of the Ghost Twon Water Well
Today my mate Rob and I went out to the old ghost town water well today and finally started pumping out the water of the disused water well.
It is so deep, it’s amazing how the settlers must have dug it out by hand over a hundred years ago. The water in the well is now not fit for consumption, it is putrid and very smelly, and a bit salty, not that I would taste it.
The reason I want to pump out all of the water is to basically see what maybe on the bottle of the well after a hundred years and more. I am hoping that maybe there would be a heap of old bottles sitting at the bottom.
Rob reckons I am crazy, but I told him, that you never know whats down there, and I mentioned to him about kids getting up to mischief back in the old days and throwing bottles in the well, just like we used to do when we were kids … get up to mischief! And then he saw the possibilities of what might be at the bottom of the well.
Rob operating the water pump
Anyway, we pumped a lot of water out today, not sure exactly, but we reduced the depth by about 7 metres of out, so I don’t know how many cubic metres that would be. It took around an hour, I was hoping that we could pump it all out today, but it must be bloody deep down there.
Not sure how many metres would be left, I reckon probably another 7 to 10 metres in water depth. It is extremely dangerous, the edge of the well is unstable, and if you fell it, you’d be dead for sure I reckon. From the top of the well to the current water level, I reckon it would be a 20 to 30 metre fall.
To be honest, I don’t really plan on going down there when all of the water is pumped out, but I do plan on hopefully lowering down a good spotlight and my video camera, that way I may be able to find out whats down there. My torch is good, I can still see things down there at the moment, but once most of the water is pumped out, then I’ll get a better idea.
Hoping to go back out there and finish the job within the next couple of weeks.
Very Deep and Dangerous Water Well
Old Water Well Update
Just a quick note to say that I went out to the Old Ghost Town Well with the water pump a couple days ago.
Since I am new using my friends water pump, I did not use it properly, as I was supposed to add water to the top of the pump to help with the suction. I did not do this and it did not work…. I’m such a dumbass!
I thought maybe it may have been a gravity issue, but my friend told me about adding the water to the inlet to help with the suction. So now I know how to work the water pump properly, I’ll be heading back out to the well hopefully at the end of the week.
You learn something everyday!
Metal Detecting Local Farm House
Old Brick Australian Homestead
A few days ago I got permission from a local farmer in my district of Dumbleyung, in Western Australia, to see if I could do a bit of coin shooting on his property around a abandoned farm house.
I was pretty happy he said yes, and yesterday I found the time to go out there with my metal detector. It was pretty hard going, as the wild oats growing around the house are pretty high, the ground was quite hard in spots, and I was a bit worried about getting biten by a wandering snake.
Over the last couple of days, the weather has been quite hot, reach the low 30° and thats what brings the snakes out around here, especially the first few hot days as summer apporaches, will bring them out of their hybernation.
There is actually another house on the same property, and that house is much older than the house I detected around, so I decided to save the best house for my next metal detecting journey.
Anyhow I found a few nice old coins around the house as per below.
1916 Australian Penny
See more of my metal detecting photos
Probably much more laying around the house, but it was hot and getting prickles stuck in my socks was really annoying, so I packed up and went home after around an hour metal detecting the house.
Metal Detecting the Dog Beach
Dog ID Tags and Australian Decimal Coins
A few days ago I wrote a post on Metal Detecting the Swan River in Perth – Western Australia and found some great metal detecting finds.
Well a few days ago I was back in Perth for the night and decided to head back to the same location, but this time around 5oo metres from the last spot, a place where people exercise their dogs on the sandy river bank.
And guess what I found? Yep your right, heaps of lost dog id tags, plus around $10 in loose clad (coins)
When out metal detecting, on a river which is used by fisherman, expect that you will find pleny of old fishing sinkers, and I do find hundreds, and they are a right pain in the ass! But I keep them… might come in handy one day when I need to make myself a new boat anchor, I have many kilograms of lead I have found!
Here some of the sinkers I found on the same day
Heaps of Fishing Sinkers
Local Sportsground Metal Detecting Finds
Stubbs Park Sporting Pavillion - Dumbleyung
Today I decided to do a bit of coin shooting at my local sportsground – Stubbs Park – Dumbleyung.
Stubb’s Park is probably around 80 – 90 years old give or take a few years, and has been put to great use in those years, ranging from many sporting activities, such as Horse racing, Horse Trots, Australian Rules Football, Netball, Hockey, Cricket, Tennis and much more. The park is also used for our towns annual show, the Dumbleyung Gymkhana, so there is plenty of reasons to go there and hunt for lost coins.
Sports Ground and Fair Ground Metal Detecting Finds
Click to Enlarge Photo
Unfortunately the ground is rock hard there, and most of it has been cover in bitumen and tar, so finding coins was rather hard.
But I did find a couple of nice old coins, and a few bucks worth of dollars.
This is what I found today.
- 1952 Australian Shilling
- 1953 Australian Shilling
- Numerous Modern Day Australian Coins
- Small Steel Button “Militaires Equipments”
1952 Australian Shilling
Swan River Metal Detecting Finds
Swan River Metal Detecting Finds
Click to Enlarge
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:
- 1999 Avon Descent Competitors Medallion – Found Near Garrett Road Bridge – Bayswater – Front
- 1999 Avon Descent Competitors Medallion – Found Near Garrett Road Bridge – Bayswater – Reverse
- Extremely Corroded 1919 Australian Penny
- 1964 Australian Penny
- Sheeba’s the Dogs’ - Dog ID Tag
- Very Corroded Australian Half Penny (Date Unknown)
- Junk Brass Pendant
- 1946 Australian Shilling
- 1952 Australian Six Pence
- 1946 Australian Six Pence
- Silver Love Hearts Charm Bracelet
- Numerous other coins – $2 – $1 – 50 Cent etc
- Australian Six Pence Coin Date Unknown as I need to clean the coin. But you can see what 50 plus years of salty water immersion does to a silver coin.
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.
Recent Silver Coins Found with Metal Detector
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
Sorrento Beach Metal Detecting Finds
Sorrento Beach Metal Detecting Finds
I was in Perth the other day and decided to hit the beach for a few hours of metal detecting. The night before a big storm front came through so I knew I would have a good chance of finding some jewellery and coins.
I decided to go to Sorrento Beach, because I had been there before doing a search for a guys lost wedding ring, but unfortunately could not find it, so I go back to the beach, hoping I still may find it by some miraculous chance.
Anyhow, I found plenty of coins and a few pieces of jewellery including a small silver toe ring.
Small Silver Toe Ring - Sorrento Beach Find
