Helmet, Porcelain & Coins

Inka
Jun 22
4 min read

The week passed so fast that I only got a couple of digs done, but even so quite a few very nice finds landed into my backpack.

I began the week continuing with the dug-out in the slope I had started previously.

As soon as I removed some of the soil the first find appeared, a ring, made green from all the years buried. It had no engravings or decorations.

The dug-out had been set on fire, but very little of the things coming out of it seemed to have been affected much of the heat and flames, so perhaps it had begun raining which killed the flames,,we will never know.

One of the items that showed some burn marks was the body of a compass, and also a melted EKM, which had no numbers punched in. A few other blobs of melted zink and aluminum was probably very interesting EKMs and rare officer belt buckles I would have loved to find..

In just a couple of hours I dug up several RAD marked fish knives, a cooked M39 egg grenade, a small brass bell, parts of a pocket watch, a tail light from a vehicle or a motorcycle, two pressed wood tent pegs and a porcelain coffee cup. The cup had really nice markings, but it was partly broken.

After I had backfilled and cleaned up the site I took the Nokta Legend around for a searching, and through the following hour I dug up some more relics. In one hole I dug up four steel göffels together with several blinds for karbid lanterns and nearby were a Kriegsmarine button, a small box for some radio or electrical elements and a blank stainless steel erkennungsmarke.

brass finger ring — *Ring with no decorations.*

german officers compass — *A wehrmacht compass.*

german porcelain — *This is always such a great sight when digging.*

german coffee mug — *Nice markings on the mug.*

small metal box — *Small metal box with the text: "Luxor Dr.phil. Max UlrichG.m.b.H. Leipzig C.1"*

One of the next days the GirlfriendWife wanted a leg stretching, and since the weather was comfortable we filled our backpacks and headed out directly after work. We went to the place from last week where I had found medals and a helmet.

We found a nice and sunny spot and established our base there, and off we went, armed with metal detector and insect hunting equipment.

First I found a couple of cream tubes, and when I crossed a small stream the detector picked up a signal from the water. I double checked thinking it could just have been my shoe or shovel, but there was a strong and steady signal from the depth.

Even if the air was warm, the water was coming straight out from the North Wall, freezingly fresh. I dragged my soaked arm back into the air and attached on the end of it was part of a helmet and its aluminum liner band. Un-expected.

I followed the stream towards where it came from while scanning the side of it. On a small plateau it was a bit marshy and in the middle of the watery place the detector picked up something interesting again.

I felt around under the water and grabbed onto something feeling like a crate. It was very heavy and it took some soaking before I had it on dry land. It was an intact Sammler 2B 38 radio battery. Very cool! I ever only found small broken bits from these, so it was great finally getting a whole one.

A little bit away from the wetness I got a whole mass of signals from a small patch under a tree. Here I dug up nine or ten german coins, a leather pouch they probably had been kept in, an Eastern Front medal and several cream tubes!

Together with these things was also a small but very interesting piece. A four centimeter long tube, with lenses in both ends. A very small binocular, or actually Monocular! If anyone is sitting on knowledge about such an item I would love to get more info.

Not more than two meters away I had to dig again. This time a strong iron signal. In my mind it was gun, or a horseshoe, but a little scraping of sand revealed the rim of a german helmet! I pulled it out of the soil and could see both green lacquer and white winter camo on it!

Now the GirlfriendWife signalled that I had spent my allocated time for fun in the forest for the day, and that I should start wrapping things up. Naturally I fled in the oposite direction, deeper into the lush and green, waving the detector side to side in front of me. A food tin here, horseshoe there, steel göffel under that root and a very interesting find under the next.

I had found a sealed zunder box. And it was something inside it. It was heavy and it rattled. I brough it over to our base, and we opened the box together. Excited as kids infront of a mountain of christmas gifts.

The lid came of without breaking and inside was not the riches I had hoped for, but still very cool, a horse comb and a whole bunch of coins. Some of the them were made of iron, so everything were rust colored. Most of the coins were Finnish, and in a sad condition, but the rush of such finds are unbeatable.

The weekend brought warmth and summery weather, so it was spent relaxing at home, around the garden and in the nearby forest looking for chaga mushrooms and other goodies.

Thanks for reading. Enjoy your week :)