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Coins & Vehicle Parts

Writer's picture: InkaInka

german coin on birch branch

The amount of yellow leaves on the ground has increased rapidly lately, the green hillsides are getting more and more yellow and red, and the days are growing shorter. I think it is safe to say that Summer did its job and Autumn has taken over.


Even though summer is my favorite season, the periode from now till snow falls is incredible. The colors in nature are changing day by day and sunrise and sunset are spectacular shows. In the dark nights we`ll also be able to observe the green and purple Aurora Borealis waving across the sky. The North is certainly a lovely place to live.

In the old Wehrmacht camps searching is getting a bit easier too during autumn. The vegetation is wilting away, making the ground with its traces of barracks, dumps,ditches etc visible and the ground becoming wet from rain and dew is actually making signals from buried metals stronger.

Early in the week me and the GirlfriendWife went to collect more blueberries. After a while I needed a break from that so I went back to the car and took out the detector for a quick run-around. I ignored all the crappy metal and opened up a couple of nice and clear signals. The first ones were food tins and a large bolt, but I ended the short search with a great find.


Next to a pine tree was the one half of an Erkennungsmärke! I looked around for the second half but I only got a pair of belt support hooks and another food tin. On my way back to the berry collection point I found laying on the surface the transport frame for a HHL magnetic anti-tank charge.

This is just a simple metal triangle that were removed from the strong magnets before use. This was probably dug up by some other digger and discarded since they didn`t know the rarity of the item. Good for me.


A few days later I drove to a forest where the Gebirgsjägers had a vehicle workshop to look for Notek lamps. I have found several of them here before and would love more of them as they are very cool.

I was soon digging a signal which were a bit stuck under roots. It was a large and heavy wheel chock in very good condition. I have never found such one before so I was pretty surprised. The next signal was also a great find. A Tetra fire extinguisher!


Like any other camp, this place is also full of wires, bolts and junk which all gives of interesting signals and makes the day pass while digging them, so it probably went an hour or two without interesting finds.

Just when the motivation was getting low enough so that I began noticing my wet feet and the cold air, a very strong and big signal rang out from the Fisher. This piece of metal was stuck a bit deep under a tree, and some glass and rubbish came up with the soil, making me hope it was a dumping ditch. Unfortunately it was not, but the metal was a part for a Krupp Protze, a lightly armoured vehicle often used for towing guns.

​ Before I got too hungry to continue I found a pair of speakers, a small lamp, the lid from an ammo container and closed the day with a german coin.


I had another day off work and went back to the workshop since I didn`t manage to find any Noteks. This morning began with the first signal being a small dumping pit, or more like a fire place. Here were parts from a gasmask, stripper clips with full rounds and some with empty 7.92 casings, a Norwegian tobacco tin, a partly melted silver or Neusilber spoon, the handle from a mess kit and a pink toothbrush.


A few signals later I dug up the top from a S-Mi 35, the anti-personell mine the allied nicknamed "the Bouncing Betty", so now I ll have to try find the other parts from it.

​ Along the fenceline of the camp I picked up a few uniform buttons, a toothpaste tube, a pair of D-rings and buckles from a Y-strap.

Before I reached the corner of the fence I had added a Heer axe, an ashtray and a rifle cleaning kit to the collection.


I walked back towards the area where the vehicle parts seems to grow like potatoes and there I dug up a grease pump, a battery box, some wrenches, a mystery part and a large `winker` (early turn signal). The winker was in very good condition with no rust and all color intact.

On my way back to the car I took the route along the fenceline again I grabbed with me another ashtray, a Finnish coin and an inkwell,and found an empty M24 head. It had a large rusted hole, but the half of it that had faced into the ground was intact and seems to have paint left under the rust.


Tomorrow looks like it will be sunny and I am planning another day out in the woods, and later in the week another interesting trip is already being planned together with the GirlfriendWife.


​Thanks for reading, and enjoy autumn. And remember that if you see something you could use for your restoration project, or for your collection/museum, feel free to reach out :)


half german id tag
EKMs are very exciting to find :)

HHL transport frame.
HHL transport frame.
fly agaric mushroom


metal detector in the woods

box of fresh fruits
..and lunch one must have :)

rusted m24 grenade
M24 head.

metal part
The large "winker".
field grey winker

producer logo on winker

fog towards the mountain

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