The two first trips to the forest this week gave me some of the best finds this season. I had a couple of short days at work and was wise to spend the rest of those days in the old gebirgsjäger camp. It is a camp picked over well even before my first trip to it. God knows how many diggers have been there through the years but still good things are being found. Recently a bunch of helmets were dug up there by some other digger, and I found two lids there not long ago. So I was very surprised to get the finds I did earlier this week.
The Fisher picks up a not great signal from a depression in the ground and I decide to dig it. Two large items lay under the soil. A lid for a frying pan or kettle, and a small kettle. I rummage around with the pinpointer to one of the sides and grabs a handfull of soil to remove it, and feel a pointed piece of metal. I shake the soil away and see the blue enamel on a Nordfront- or Lapplandfront Cross. It was pretty damaged though. Bent backwards so the front plate had come off and gone missing, and one of the arms of the swastika had been twisted and broken off. I spent a good while trying to find the front plate for it in the area, but the Fisher didn`t pick up any matching signal.
I moved on and dug signals along the way. Only rubbish. After a while I get a cluster of signals and find the remains of a fireplace under the berry bushes. Burnt food tins, broken and partly melted glass and unrecognisable bits of metal. I close it up and sweep the detector around it. I get a brass signal. I tear away some moss and roots and grab a brass screw. I give it a check with the pinpointer and tunnel in a little with my fingers to reach for the cause of the signal I get. A sharp and pointed corner is all I feel but somehow I am 100% sure of what it is! I always get sure like that, but am most of the times wrong, helmets being car headlights, hammers being pistols etc. But this time I really am right. I drag out from the side of the fireplace an Iron Cross!! What a crazy find! Upon closer inspection I see it has been lucky to survive the heat. Bubbles in the metal has begun to appear, and two corners are partly melted. The damages gives it some real character. Later I gave it a light wash and it is a little black from soot. I think I will keep it like it is and dont clean it further. I dug around some more and ended up with a handfull of gaming pieces, a belt support hook and a 10 pfennig coin.
A couple of days later I was back in the Gebirgsjäger camp to try my luck again. I wander around for a bit and find an ashtray, some harness from a horse, a plate from a field kitchen and half of an esbit burner. Next to a small birch I get a mixed signal. When I get down there I see that someone had dug there, and an armlength away I spot a freshly dug food tin. Someone had dug it up and left the other signals down there untouched. I open up a small patch of berry bush covered ground and scrape a little bit in the soil. There was another food tin, and uniform buttons, D-rings, an ashtray, a lighter, cigarett case, gaming pieces and a belt buckle catch! Out comes a very nice Göffel, some bottles and when I remove a rock I have to blink twice. It looks like the soil has writing! I can read "Gott Mit Uns". I take away some more soil and fine roots and uncovers a really nice denazified Heer belt buckle. And the best part is it was made from aluminum, not the boring steel! I dig out another catch, a cork opener, two pocket knives and fishing lure before the spot is depleted.
The rest of the week went on with biking and berry picking with the Girlfriend, lots of berries, and today was spent in another camp together with Jimmy, but we`ll get back to that bit tomorrow :)
The Fisher picks up a not great signal from a depression in the ground and I decide to dig it. Two large items lay under the soil. A lid for a frying pan or kettle, and a small kettle. I rummage around with the pinpointer to one of the sides and grabs a handfull of soil to remove it, and feel a pointed piece of metal. I shake the soil away and see the blue enamel on a Nordfront- or Lapplandfront Cross. It was pretty damaged though. Bent backwards so the front plate had come off and gone missing, and one of the arms of the swastika had been twisted and broken off. I spent a good while trying to find the front plate for it in the area, but the Fisher didn`t pick up any matching signal.
I moved on and dug signals along the way. Only rubbish. After a while I get a cluster of signals and find the remains of a fireplace under the berry bushes. Burnt food tins, broken and partly melted glass and unrecognisable bits of metal. I close it up and sweep the detector around it. I get a brass signal. I tear away some moss and roots and grab a brass screw. I give it a check with the pinpointer and tunnel in a little with my fingers to reach for the cause of the signal I get. A sharp and pointed corner is all I feel but somehow I am 100% sure of what it is! I always get sure like that, but am most of the times wrong, helmets being car headlights, hammers being pistols etc. But this time I really am right. I drag out from the side of the fireplace an Iron Cross!! What a crazy find! Upon closer inspection I see it has been lucky to survive the heat. Bubbles in the metal has begun to appear, and two corners are partly melted. The damages gives it some real character. Later I gave it a light wash and it is a little black from soot. I think I will keep it like it is and dont clean it further. I dug around some more and ended up with a handfull of gaming pieces, a belt support hook and a 10 pfennig coin.
A couple of days later I was back in the Gebirgsjäger camp to try my luck again. I wander around for a bit and find an ashtray, some harness from a horse, a plate from a field kitchen and half of an esbit burner. Next to a small birch I get a mixed signal. When I get down there I see that someone had dug there, and an armlength away I spot a freshly dug food tin. Someone had dug it up and left the other signals down there untouched. I open up a small patch of berry bush covered ground and scrape a little bit in the soil. There was another food tin, and uniform buttons, D-rings, an ashtray, a lighter, cigarett case, gaming pieces and a belt buckle catch! Out comes a very nice Göffel, some bottles and when I remove a rock I have to blink twice. It looks like the soil has writing! I can read "Gott Mit Uns". I take away some more soil and fine roots and uncovers a really nice denazified Heer belt buckle. And the best part is it was made from aluminum, not the boring steel! I dig out another catch, a cork opener, two pocket knives and fishing lure before the spot is depleted.
The rest of the week went on with biking and berry picking with the Girlfriend, lots of berries, and today was spent in another camp together with Jimmy, but we`ll get back to that bit tomorrow :)
Destroyed Nordfront Kreuz.
The Iron Cross.
I was so happy to find this :)
Not a bad haul.
Esbit burner part.
Ashtray and dinner plate.
Harness.
Goggles.
Göffel, with the owners name engraved.
Wine opener.
Lighter, cigarett case and pocket knives.
Fishing lure.
Buttons and gaming pieces.
Mr. Snail was observing my every move.
The destroyed badge.
Partly melted Iron Cross.
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