I am still recovering from the expedition with Baard this weekend. He had located a promising and interesting piece of forest. A small camp for a Heer/Gebirgsjäger unit not far from his summer residence. We had looked at the area a bit with maps and lidar so we sort of knew where to start and in what directions to move. The first thing that met us was an old Fiat decomposing on top of a hill. Baard loves these old wrecks so he took pics of every centimeter of the clenodium.
The first signs of any Wehrmacht activity on the site came from some german batteries, bottles and food tins. A nearly intact pionier axe was the first good relic to be dug up that morning.
Baard had moved up to the mountainside and called me over. He had found tunnels! There were several entrances, all supported with large railbeams. The tunnels were U-shaped and had concrete on the floors, and we also spotted electrical insulators bolted to the mountainside so they had power up in these caves. We don`t know yet what they were used for.
We soon realized that we were a little bit astray and moved a few hundred meters south before we found an area where the frequency of signals was much higher. It didn`t take many minutes before we had found a large patch with signals all over. Some wire and buckets stuck out from the ground so we just went to work from each our corner. It soon proved to be a fireplace with a thin layer of relics just under the grass. Immediately chess pieces and food tins appeared and so did broken bottles and all sorts of rusted and twisted scrap.
"Trench art!" I heard Baard call out. He had dug up this beautiful ashtray, or just tray, made from a hammered piece of brass mounted on an ice cleated horseshoe. Not long after he found another piece. This time also a horseshoe with the ice cleat bolts, a black cloth covering the opening and a wrought iron leg mounted on the back, a photoframe. Then he pulled out a Madsen machine gun magazine. It had been thrown into the firepit fully loaded and several of the rounds had detonated and blown up the magazine.
I countered by uncovering a piece of porcelain with the Heer eagle on. We were both holding our breath as I took the plate out of the soil and sighed in happiness when we saw it was complete. On the edge of the fire place Baard had double luck when he got his first badge ever. A SA sports badge!! Its needle was even working. And he topped it by digging up a perfect Luftwaffe marked fork!
The next hours we strolled around looking at the bits of old metal laying around, old car frames and semi modern car parts. We located a few spots with lots of signals and potential dumping pits for another day.
The holiday is coming to and end for Baard so unless we are having luck with weather and work one of the next days, this was our last dig together this year. But we had a great time and some good finds this round :)
The first signs of any Wehrmacht activity on the site came from some german batteries, bottles and food tins. A nearly intact pionier axe was the first good relic to be dug up that morning.
Baard had moved up to the mountainside and called me over. He had found tunnels! There were several entrances, all supported with large railbeams. The tunnels were U-shaped and had concrete on the floors, and we also spotted electrical insulators bolted to the mountainside so they had power up in these caves. We don`t know yet what they were used for.
We soon realized that we were a little bit astray and moved a few hundred meters south before we found an area where the frequency of signals was much higher. It didn`t take many minutes before we had found a large patch with signals all over. Some wire and buckets stuck out from the ground so we just went to work from each our corner. It soon proved to be a fireplace with a thin layer of relics just under the grass. Immediately chess pieces and food tins appeared and so did broken bottles and all sorts of rusted and twisted scrap.
"Trench art!" I heard Baard call out. He had dug up this beautiful ashtray, or just tray, made from a hammered piece of brass mounted on an ice cleated horseshoe. Not long after he found another piece. This time also a horseshoe with the ice cleat bolts, a black cloth covering the opening and a wrought iron leg mounted on the back, a photoframe. Then he pulled out a Madsen machine gun magazine. It had been thrown into the firepit fully loaded and several of the rounds had detonated and blown up the magazine.
I countered by uncovering a piece of porcelain with the Heer eagle on. We were both holding our breath as I took the plate out of the soil and sighed in happiness when we saw it was complete. On the edge of the fire place Baard had double luck when he got his first badge ever. A SA sports badge!! Its needle was even working. And he topped it by digging up a perfect Luftwaffe marked fork!
The next hours we strolled around looking at the bits of old metal laying around, old car frames and semi modern car parts. We located a few spots with lots of signals and potential dumping pits for another day.
The holiday is coming to and end for Baard so unless we are having luck with weather and work one of the next days, this was our last dig together this year. But we had a great time and some good finds this round :)
Pionier axe.
Soup container lid.
Tunnels in the mountain.
A food tin was quickly filled with gaming pieces.
Trench art ashtray.
Porcelain plate.
Baard with his find of the day.
SA Sportsbadge.
Luftwaffe fork.
Soup ladle.
Screwdriver.
A cast iron stove.
Baard speculating how he is going to transport this home. He will make a shelf from it.
I began the week with a few days off work, so I took one of them and used it for some good old relic hunting. I went to a camp which had housed an artillery unit. Earlier I had found a few nice things there, like EKMs and some medals and badges but the last time I visited I didn`t get any good finds, but I hoped that luck would be with me.
The first signal that rang out from the metal detector was very good. Nice and clean. I often expect junk, even from relatively good signals, but now I was almost sure there would be a good item. I opened the forest floor and out jumped a visor cap wreath and cockade. It almost looked new. The red cloth in the center of the cockade was still intact and vibrant. I was very pleased to find this as I never did before. I once found a denazified cap eagle that I probably will put in a display together with it.
I dug free a full gasmask canister from under a root and together with it was a few signal flares, a food tin, toothbrush and a metal tube for tablets. Nearby was a canteens drinking cup and a small tobacco tin.
The weather was very insect friendly so the warmer I became the more intense the pleasure of their company got. I tried to keep them away by dousing myself with the bug repellant, but some of the bewinged ones seemed to be turned on off the stuff.
An iron signal made me believe the Luger on my wishlist was about to come true, but it was a large waffle iron. Then a patch in the forest made the detector go nuts. It seemed to be a spill of different metals, probably a fireplace or a garbage pit. Soon burnt wood and broken glass showed between some twisted and rusted bits of metal. But this time the flames hadn`t had time to consume everything that had been thrown on the fire. I lifted up a porcelain plate and under it was a near perfect metal dish from the german field kitchen kit. An officer belt buckle, with a green patina came out between some charcoal and so did gaming pieces, coins, a wallet and a very nice fork with the eagle stamped on it. A bakelite powder tin for the Gebirgs Geschutz 36 was in perfect condition. A couple of items manufactured in early plastic had lay far enough from the heat to recieve any damage from it. Those were an officers whistle and a rosodont box. Now the rosodont toothpowder box was the find of the day for me. It was made from a yellow part and a grey part, which I have never seen before. And of course seeing Baard finding these in red, white and blue had made me a bit envious since I ever only found black/brown ones.
A few of the other bits that hadn`t been consumed by fire were bits from a stack of maps, a badly damaged Lapplandfrontkreuz and three candles from the Einheitslanterne kit. Also a small porcelain saltshaker shaped like a chicken was very nice to find as I had found the one for pepper last time I dug in the area.
The small burnpit had yielded good but I kept looking for another few hours until I ran out of steam but I only found a few tent pegs, a measuring tape, a faucet and a piece from a headset.
Thanks for reading and have a great week :)
The first signal that rang out from the metal detector was very good. Nice and clean. I often expect junk, even from relatively good signals, but now I was almost sure there would be a good item. I opened the forest floor and out jumped a visor cap wreath and cockade. It almost looked new. The red cloth in the center of the cockade was still intact and vibrant. I was very pleased to find this as I never did before. I once found a denazified cap eagle that I probably will put in a display together with it.
I dug free a full gasmask canister from under a root and together with it was a few signal flares, a food tin, toothbrush and a metal tube for tablets. Nearby was a canteens drinking cup and a small tobacco tin.
The weather was very insect friendly so the warmer I became the more intense the pleasure of their company got. I tried to keep them away by dousing myself with the bug repellant, but some of the bewinged ones seemed to be turned on off the stuff.
An iron signal made me believe the Luger on my wishlist was about to come true, but it was a large waffle iron. Then a patch in the forest made the detector go nuts. It seemed to be a spill of different metals, probably a fireplace or a garbage pit. Soon burnt wood and broken glass showed between some twisted and rusted bits of metal. But this time the flames hadn`t had time to consume everything that had been thrown on the fire. I lifted up a porcelain plate and under it was a near perfect metal dish from the german field kitchen kit. An officer belt buckle, with a green patina came out between some charcoal and so did gaming pieces, coins, a wallet and a very nice fork with the eagle stamped on it. A bakelite powder tin for the Gebirgs Geschutz 36 was in perfect condition. A couple of items manufactured in early plastic had lay far enough from the heat to recieve any damage from it. Those were an officers whistle and a rosodont box. Now the rosodont toothpowder box was the find of the day for me. It was made from a yellow part and a grey part, which I have never seen before. And of course seeing Baard finding these in red, white and blue had made me a bit envious since I ever only found black/brown ones.
A few of the other bits that hadn`t been consumed by fire were bits from a stack of maps, a badly damaged Lapplandfrontkreuz and three candles from the Einheitslanterne kit. Also a small porcelain saltshaker shaped like a chicken was very nice to find as I had found the one for pepper last time I dug in the area.
The small burnpit had yielded good but I kept looking for another few hours until I ran out of steam but I only found a few tent pegs, a measuring tape, a faucet and a piece from a headset.
Thanks for reading and have a great week :)
A beautiful find.
Trapped under a root.
After a little work it had been freed.
A small tobacco tin.
This is going to be restored and we ll make gebirgs-waffels on it.
Porcelain- and metal plate.
Belt buckle.
Coins and gaming pieces.
Wallet.
Powder charge tin.
Fork.
Whistle.
Rosodont.
Bits of maps.
A melted cross.
A chicken saltshaker.
Tent pegs.
Faucet.
Measuring tape.
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