The Weekend Wanderers Metal Detecting Club Picture Gallery

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all of the Weekend Wanderers members who have given me permission to display their finds on this web page.

Club member Nicholas Pertwee found the beautiful gold coin shown below on a recent club dig in North Hampshire.

It is either a Half Pound or a Crown of 1566-7 (with the lion mintmark) but the British Museum should be able to tell me more. It's bent, having been used as a pendant judging from the hole. The word PROTEGET in the inscription on the reverse omits the letter O.

The coin shown below was sent in by its finder as being his first ever Gold coin find.

The coin was found on a Hampshire club dig and its finder tells me the picture doesn't do the coin justice as the coin is in excellent condition and only slightly bent. The coin is an Edward III Gold Quarter Noble minted in London between 1356 and 1361. The Obverse shows EDWARD,DEI,GRA,REX,ANGLE which means - Edward by the grace of god King of England.
The reverse shows EXALTABITURINGLORIA which means He shall be exhaled in Glory.

Gilly Smith sent in the pictures below of a lovely William IV gold sovereign, dating from 1832, which was found on a recent club dig in Oxfordshire.

Thanks to Udo van den Brock for sending me the scans of a recent find of his from a club dig in Northampton.

The pictures above show a half sovereign of Queen Victoria dated 1893 in lovely condition.

Club member Terry Moir was lucky enough to find this gold Guinea of George II dated 1735 and silver Victorian sixpence dated 1883 both in almost perfect condition on a recent club dig in Bedfordshire. Both were found in ploughed land, the Guinea was approx 4 inches below the surface and the sixpence a little deeper at approx 7/8 inches.

Terry is a relative newcomer to the hobby, having been detecting only since April of this year. Both the coins were found using an XP ADX 100. - Thanks for the pictures and text Terry.

Club member Richard found the coins shown below on a recent mid-week dig in Buckinghamshire with his Laser Hawkeye

The picture above shows a Hammered silver short Cross and a Queen Victoria Gold half sovereign dated 1872
Not a bad days detecting !
This picture was taken in the field and thanks to Alan for the use of his glove for a backdrop.

Ken asks " Can any expert in Wanderers throw any light on why this coin has been counterstamped "

Club member Jason Gill found the lovely coin shown below on a recent outing. Jason has only been detecting for 3 months and is obviously thrilled with his find and so he should be, well done Jason.

The coin shown above found by Jason is a 1762 George III half Guinea

Obverse: George III - Design by Richard Yeo.
Legend: GEORGIVS III DEI GRATIA
Reverse: Crowned Shield - Design by Richard Yeo.
Legend: M B F ET H REX F D B ET L D S R I A T ET E; 1762
Edge: Reeded - milled diagonally.
Size: 22 mm (diameter).
Composition: 22 Carat Fine - 91.67% Gold, 8.33% Copper.

Jerry tells me that the coin was about 10 inches beneath the surface of some pasture land and the farmer was well pleased with the find and that he will of course get half of the value if he allows Jerry to keep the coin. Thanks for sending me the picture Jerry.

Thanks to Rob for sending me the scans above of a very nice George 2nd he found on a recent Weekend Wanderers dig.

The lovely Gold Noble was found on a recent Wanderers dig by Julian Barber, thank you for letting me show your find here Julian.

The coin is a 1/4 Gold Noble of Edward 3rd and dates around 1350 as you can see the coin has been damaged but it looks like it will easily straighten and is pictured above as dug.

The Gold Sovereign pictured above was found recently on the coast by WWDC member Terry Waghorn. It is dated 1858 and looks as good as on the day some poor soul lost it. Thanks for the excellent pictures Terry .

Many thanks to Weekend Wanderers club member David Roberts for sending me the pictures and text below.

Found on the outskirts of Oxford, this shilling has had a chequered history.
Let's first of all go back to James II who on his abdication moved to France then landed in Dublin in 1689. To support a campaign in Ireland he needed coinage to pay his troops and supporters. Having insufficient silver he initially produced the following denominations - half crown, shilling and sixpence in bronze/brass. The source of metals available at
the time being guns, church bells and kitchen utensils etc. This resulted in the coinage being known as gunmoney and for want of a better word a " token" currency - as it could later be redeemed for silver should he regain the English throne. Produced between 1689-90 this coinage is unique as being the only issues which included a month as well as the year, in order that the gunmoney could then be redeemed in some degree of order.

James was defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690 and he fled back to France. However, with the capture of the Dublin mint, coinage was produced for a limited time at Limerick.

The coin shown is an early Dublin issue, just prior to March 1689, but sadly the month has either been removed from the reverse or just worn away with time. I would like to think that, perhaps, some unfortunate person tried to cash this in early but it wasn't honoured and so it was brought back to England and either lost or thrown away.

David Roberts November 2000

The Silver half crown dated 1899 and pictured below was found on our Broughton dig by Weekend Wanderers member Alan Brooker with his Whites XLT.

Alan also found the Silver Florin shown below on the same dig and this one is dated 1890.

The silver coin pictured below was found on our Broughton dig by a Weekend Wanderers member.

I have shown the obverse and reverse of this William 4th Groat ( fourpence) dated 1836. ( Seabys 3837)

The lovely George 2nd half Crown pictured below was found at one of our Buckinghamshire digs recently.

The picture above shows a very nice 14th century Jetton found recently on a Wanderers dig

Weekend wanderers club member Brian found this beautiful gold Sovereign dated 1846 using what else but his Minelab Sovereign.

The pictures below show the obverse and reverse of a coin found on our March 30th dig in Buckinghamshire by Jim. We believe it to be a Jetton, do you know different ?? if you do please let us know.

As you can see these are not the best pictures I have ever taken and I'm sorry about that because this Jetton is like no other I have ever seen before, it is in very good condition indeed and quite a substantial coin. If you can shed more light on this coin please e-mail us. Thanks to Jim for allowing me to show this coin here.

04/02/2004 - I have just received an e-mail from Gerry Buddle and Gerry tells me that " it is definitely a jetton. It is French, from the mid-to-late 15th century. The IHS on the obverse stands for 'IESU HUMANUM SALVATOR' (Jesus, Saviour of man) and is a quite common type for this period. These were sometimes called 'Black death' tokens, as they were held to be lucky in preventing the plague, though of course this example dates from well after the great black death epidemic of the 14th Century". Thanks Gerry.

Take a look at this coin, isn't it lovely. It is a gold 1/3 of a Guinea of George 3rd dated 1800. This coin was found by a Weekend Wanderers member at our Buckinghamshire dig on 30th January.

I would like to extend my thanks to Mr. Denny Woodthorpe for the following response to my plea for information about this coin. There seems to be so little information available on Jettons I have decided to included Denny's full reply as I am sure lots of people will find this information both interesting and very useful.

This is probably a Hans Krauzwinkel type Jetton. They were, originally, used as counters on a "casting board" which was a kind of abacus or ready reckoner. Jettons were made in this country in Medieval times (as long ago as Edward I, I believe), but yours is later (perhaps 16th or 17th century) and from the Low Countries. Many people believe they must have had other uses as well as counters as so many of them turn up. It could be they were used as a local token in some areas. They were also used as gaming counters up until the 17th and 18th centuries. Early English Jettons are often (or even usually) pierced by a hole and I have one with a rivet still in it. This indicates they were used to decorate something, but this is probably a secondary use. They couldn't have been designed to be fixed to something, as they are decorated on both sides. Jettons from the low countries are, unfortunately, not worth anything and are usually in very bad condition. They are, however, interesting items and there is still a lot we do not know about them.

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