Sunday, June 15, 2014

Summer is here, the sun is out...


It's so nice to see that summer has finally arrived.  Not actually for a few more days, but who's counting.  I spent a few hours basking in the late evening sun a few days ago, idly looking to see what the river would give up.  Although the rare coins, toys, and lead seals still play hide and seek from me I did come back with a nice grouping of pipes.  Its neat that these little fragile clay smoking pots of yesteryear come bobbing up on a fairly regular basis, but sad to think that once exposed and released from their muddy grave their days are numbered as they are dashed against the rocks on the foreshore in the proceeding tides.  Taking them home is kind of a search and rescue mission.

So, these are my only post of a find for this trip, my quest for coinage continues!!

      a bakers dozen,  10 newer larger versions and 3 nice small bowl oldies

      Sundown on the Shard

                                                   The old and new intertwined

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

I Smell a Farthing!!


   Okay, that was a tasteless title.  Yesterday, the weather was spectacular in London, however due to track replacement on the two Tube lines I usually use to get to the foreshore, I was unable to browse my familiar shore.  I took a gamble and went the opposite direction as the tracks were open in the westbound direction.  I had met a mudlarker who had found some nice items by the Putney Bridge, so I headed there.  Wow, what a neat place.  Quaint, small, quiet, clean, scenic as can be, but not much in the line of discovery.  I would guess that there are some nice finds to be had, but a person would have to settle for less quantity and less frequency of exciting finds.  That's where the farthing comes in.  I picked up about 6 coins along my walk, and came upon the first farthing I have found.  It was nudged between some pebbles and a boat ramp.  Dirty at first, I thought is was just another wishful coin toss from someone recent.  Once home I  cleaned off the grime to expose a nice 1947 rendition of a King George VI farthing.  Funny that it is from the same year of the French Franc I found a few months ago.  A marble here, and a musket ball there, a couple of keys that are still being cleaned and I was done.  Not sure if I would return to mudlark there, but I certainly would to enjoy the numerous pubs, coffee shops and serene setting.  A few days before back on familiar ground I found a nice assortment of pipes, spanning all the ages.  The long one with a curved pipe shaft is the first I've found like that.  The top of an old water jug intrigued me enough to take it home, as it is quite large, has a nice black finish on it, and is made of clay.


 

                                                  Musket ball, dented from impact
                                                     clay marble, pea size
                                                 Lead trade token
                                              Nice metal button, center design brand mark?

               Farthing front

    Back side

                       Putney
                                        Great old lights and brick work
                            Life of Leisure!!