Lappland Shield Hoard & a Sealed Box
Two weeks ago, when I was writing my last expedition report, winter was on the approach. Temps plunged to nearly ten Celsius below zero and snow covered everything above the tree line. Some of the frozen crystals even made it down into the valleys and blanketed everything. The nights were clear and fresh, and the sky became a green ocean of Aurora Borealis.
At the same time I got the flu and was knocked out most of the week. It was the best time to be sick though, as no searching or digging could be done anyway since the ground had turned into concrete.
As it often happens with this first touch of winter, it gradually becomes milder, and after some days of cold it had transformed into spring again. Some sapplings got confused of the sudden warm and cozy +10 Celsius and began sprouting. Stupid trees.
This of course meant that as soon as I had nuked the germs with large amounts of vitamins and gentle head pets, and was back on my legs, I went to the woods with the metal detector. I needed to continue the search in the pine forested pioneer camp where I had been interupted by hunters. I began by cleaning up the rest of the S-Mi.35 adaptor spill. I must have picked thirty or forty more of them, plus a large pile of the rubber gaskets to go with the adaptors. The weather was strange, warm with 10 degrees and strong winds threatening to knock down the trees.
I moved through the camp until I reached a swamp, or partly dried up pond. I had searched this spot early on in the season, and then the water level had been much higher. Along the edge I found a few rifle casings and a K98 bayonet. With scabbard and leather frog.
In the swamp the detector picked up several signals. The first was a K98 bolt, and nearby was a full ammo pouch.
A long iron signal made me believe I had found a rifle, but as I felt around in the freezing liquid mud I knew it was a panzerfaust. It was missing the warhead and it was no propellant left stuck in the tube, so I could safely place it together with the rest of the finds.
Other than more rifle rounds there were a few more signals towards the middle of the swamp, but I will need logs, or a long and dry summer to be able to reach them without using a dry suit.
K98 bayonet. K98 ammo. K98 bolt.
The last find of the day was a pretty cool one. Sitting directly under a tuft of grass was a Zundmittel box for S.Mi.35. I grabbed it and could feel that it was full of something! And sealed boxes is, as you can imagine, extremely exciting.
Back home I pried it open without destroying the locks and was ready for a life changing find as I lifted the lid. Instead of looted and forgotten Fabergé eggs and jewelry from the Tsarina, brought back and hidden by a soldier, it was several packets of 6.5 mm rifle ammo which filled the box. Well, at least I got a couple of adrenaline kicks from it, and a good box that will clean up nicely in an oxalic bath.
Cardboard box with 6.5mm rifle rounds. Not the treasures I had hoped for. Things were in surprisingly good condition.
As much as I wanted to go searching every day I had to do a couple of shifts at work, and it amazed me how they had been able to keep it going with me being sick at home. But somehow they had, and were glad I returned. I could hear it through their insults.
A couple of seasons ago me and the GirlfriendWife had lunch next to a large earthen cellar in a gebirgsjäger camp. I think a field kitchen had been located there because that day I dug up a few dinner plates, cutlery and some other kitchen related bits from the cellar.
That place have been on my mind all season, but I never got around to it. Until a few days ago.
It is a bit of a stroll to the site, and it took a while since I was digging signals along the way. It was leftovers from wehrmacht activity all over and I collected a mess kit, a rifle cleaning kit and toothpaste tubes and suddenly the stroll had reached its end.
Gas mask canister. Doramad toothpaste. Mess kit and rifle cleaning kit.
I scanned the floor and edges of the cellar. Circa one fourth of it was a big jumble of signals, while the rest had some single signals strewn around.
One by one I opened the single signals, which were food tins, a large water pitcher and rusted rubbish.
What was left was a "dumping pit corner". From the soil came several partly melted mess kits, melted and broken glass, from bottles and windows, cutlery and broken Norwegian marked porcelain. Everything was in a relatively thin layer, mixed with soot and charcoal. Behind a glass egg cup and a broken coffee mug was a field kitchen dinner plate turned upside down. I dragged it loose and with it came two bits of aluminum.
Large water pitcher. Glass egg cup and a coffee mug. Field kitchen dinner plate.
-Those bits had a peculiar shape? Isn`t it Lappland Shields? My mind stuttered to myself before rebooting. This isn`t real, I thought as I picked them up, kinda expecting them to dissolve like in a dream. But after a closer inspection they turned out to exist and actually be two unfinished Lappland Shields. They had been cut to shape, but had no engravings.
I continued scraping the soil and two-three more shields fell out, and with a few more I ended up with seven blank ones! Such an amazing find! Incredible! And still, why not even one with engravings!!? Gotta love the humor of the Relic Gods.
With an extra ear out for aluminum signals I spent some time in the surrounding area before I gradually maneuvered myself in the direction of where I had parked my van. My backpack got considerably heavier when I dug up a large 21cm casing, and a much smaller 7.5 cm casing. A good find, often tossed away by relic hunters, was a kettle carrier from the field kitchen kit, a Handbügel.
The last signal of the day resulted in a small dumping pit from where I picked a few gaming pieces, a clock house and a denazified Luftwaffe fork.
It was a really nice bonus week of digging season, with probably the craziest find of the season, and it looks like next week too might offer some chances for trips out with the detector.
Thanks for reading! Take care and have a great week! :)
A row of blank Lappland Shields. The best find this season. A few of the finds. Denazified Luftwaffe fork. Producers markings. A mystery piece. BMW marked. WaA 163 marked. I would love to know what it belongs to. Heavy brass ca 7.5 cm long. S.Mi.35 gaskets. K98 bayonet sticking out of the ground. Gebirgsjäger snow shoe. K98 ammo Leather ammo pouch. A small scissors. Empty Gewehrgranate. Empty zunders. Gas mask canister. Gas cylinder. Rubbish in a zink bucket. Barrack stove. Another mystery piece. Almost looks like a Notek flap. Partly melted mess kit. Porcelain. Egg cup. Broken plate. Göffel. Some cutlery. A lighter. 21 cm casing. Handbügel. Smoke candle. 7.5 cm casing. Relics in the mud. Canteen. Clock house. Gaming pieces.
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