As a result, I found myself bouncing from one end of the farm to then next in search of the next "superfield", occasionally returning to the field on the hill or the field of buttons. On one of my trips to the field of buttons, I came across crisp, stable, "78" tone under a pile of sugarcane leaves. Out came a battered thimble with the end missing.
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| Broken Thimble |
Not far from the thimble I was greeted by a sharp 60s signal which turned out to be a 4-hole button lying on the surface. I didn't name this field the Button Field for nothing. I have probably found more than half the buttons in my collection in this field. Alright, I am fairly new to the hobby but I still find more buttons there than any other item in this field. What's interesting is the number of countries of origin that have been represented in this field alone. England, Scottland, France, America, South Africa and now Australia. The latest button has "GR Brown, Eaglehawk" on the front. Eaglehawk is a suburb of Bendigo in Victoria, Australia. I found an exert from the Bendigo Advertiser dated March 2nd, 1898 stating that GR Brown had opened the shop next to his tailoring establishment to show an assortment of fashionable goods never seen before.
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| GR Brown 4-hole button from Australia. |
One of my recent finds had me taking to the forums to set my mind at ease. I have dug these up all over the farm and can count four, including this one, that I have lying with the hoes, hinges and square nails in the pile of semi-interesting items I haven't decided what to do with yet. I just had to know what it is. As I mentioned to my online friends, this item is strangely familiar which could be due to me having found so many of them.
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| Primus Burner |
The replies were unanimous. This is a primus burner. The primus stove was invented in 1892 by Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist, a factory mechanic in Stockholm. As this was the worlds first pressurised paraffin stove he decided to call it "Primus" meaning first. On a side note, there is a brand of primus stove called "Optimus" and their stove is called the "Optimus Primus." I can't help but think that this is where the writers of the hit comics and sci-fi movies "Transformers" got the name for their lead robot "Optimus Prime."
As mentioned in last weeks post we have been going to the beach and giving beach hunting a go. We spent a good few hours on the beach last weekend and it got me thinking of the future of this amazing hobby. I absolutely love finding old relics, personal items and old coins. I've mentioned before that the pride and care taken in the craftsmanship of some of these old day-to-day items is something that you just don't see anymore. Even something a simple as a lipstick tube would have been made of shiny, polished brass and engraved with ornate designs.
I've often heard my American counterparts speak of "Zincoln" or "Stinkin Lincoln" pennies referring to the modern coins made inferrior materials that just degrade into nothingness in a few years. Sadly our modern coins have followed this trend and are also made of similar materials. Our brass looking lower denomination cents are bronze plated steel and our "silver" coins are nickel-plated copper. The salty seawater and the waves ensure that most coins recovered from the beach do not end up in our "spendy" jar. Most of them are trash. Some barely look like coins anymore and it got me thinking of what my grandchildren or great-grandchildren will be finding if they metal detected. Will the hobby still be around and will there be anything worth finding?
Back to the beach hunt. Once I discovered that iron signals could be coins on the beach and put that together with my knowledge of how the R1, R2 and R5 coins sound I was off and together with the Treasure Whisperers we did quite well.
Well, the superfield is still out there somewhere, and I'll keep looking for it. You can rest assured that I'll tell you about it when I find it.
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| The sun sets as the Fiery-Necked Nightjar calls me home from my quest to find a superfield. |
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