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Just watched 5 minutes of the first program and had to turn it off and delete all subsequent recordings. Hopeless
I've said it before and I'll say it again- bring back 'Time-Team' (the repeats will do just fine) on a Sunday early evening in Winter, instead of 'come dine with me in the jungle on ice' or whatever utter crap they show these days.
 
Wouldn’t that make the pencils horribly unbalanced, with a lead weight on the end? Was it a thing in Victorian schools? Sounds unlikely to me..
By chance (hmph) I emptied the scrap lead pocket of my Detecto-pants™ in preparation for a dig tomorrow and found another horse head in a mud ball. Slightly different and not as nice as the original, it does show how a standard HB pencil would fit without much kerfuffle. I cannot though find any reference to horse head pencil toppers in olden times.

Horse_1037.jpg Horse_1038.jpg
 
By chance (hmph) I emptied the scrap lead pocket of my Detecto-pants™ in preparation for a dig tomorrow and found another horse head in a mud ball. Slightly different and not as nice as the original, it does show how a standard HB pencil would fit without much kerfuffle. I cannot though find any reference to horse head pencil toppers in olden times.

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There’s a lot of ‘em about. Still looks more likely sheared off a toy horse or summat to me. If it were for a pencil why wouldn’t it have a nice round hole?
 
My first guess is that the horse heads were broken off cast metal toys, figurines, or perhaps utilitarian items on which they were decorative additions (e.g., wall-mounted coat hooks). I don't think the head (alone) was the whole of the original object.
 
Could it be a badge or a button or part of a clasp of some kind?
 
Manx Museum Metal Detecoting Finds.

A exhibition highlighting items unearthed by metal detectorists on the Isle of Man has gone on display.

The collection at Douglas's Manx Museum features items from both modern and ancient times, including broaches, swords and a toy cannon. It includes items held by Manx National Heritage and others held by those who found them.

Curator of archaeology Allison Fox said it was a celebration of the variety of items found across the island. The display includes two Bronze Age swords that date back more than 3,000 years. Ms Fox said they had helped to give a "different idea" of life during the period as they had been "used in anger" and were not just for ritual purposes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-63014604
 
There’s a lot of ‘em about. Still looks more likely sheared off a toy horse or summat to me. If it were for a pencil why wouldn’t it have a nice round hole?
Did Victorian children even have pencils? I seem to remember stuff about using chalk on slates? For the plebs, obviously, maybe the monied classes had proper pencils, but would there have been SO many about to be finding all these horse's heads?
 
Did Victorian children even have pencils? I seem to remember stuff about using chalk on slates? For the plebs, obviously, maybe the monied classes had proper pencils, but would there have been SO many about to be finding all these horse's heads?

Of sorts.. You're right about slates.

Slates were used extensively in all schools. The hard slate material was generally set in a wooden frame, and writing was done with the aid of a slate pencil, also a piece of slate, which was sharpened to a point. The slate pencil made a mark of grayish silver on the slate, but could easily be erased with a cloth. Victorian children were expected to bring a sponge or rag to wipe it, but many just used their sleeves. The slate was used because paper was expensive, but it had several disadvantages. Obviously work done on a slate could not be retained. It could not even be taken home for homework or revision, since it would smudge so easily. In addition the slate, and more so, the slate pencil could break if dropped.

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By chance (hmph) I emptied the scrap lead pocket of my Detecto-pants™ in preparation for a dig tomorrow and found another horse head in a mud ball. Slightly different and not as nice as the original, it does show how a standard HB pencil would fit without much kerfuffle. I cannot though find any reference to horse head pencil toppers in olden times.

View attachment 59258 View attachment 59259
Maybe they were bottle toppers wrapped around corks? .. that explanation wouldn't fit for modern sized wine bottles though .. they also seem to be too small to be walking stick toppers ...

https://www.google.co.uk/search?source=univ&tbm=isch&q=antique+horse+head+metal+detector&fir=D__zY1-Hc4rRkM%2Cq2gFUuGZX8MRYM%2C_%3BVssiaQO3IxJVBM%2CqhJ03r75iknrfM%2C_%3BqJaEkFBg25-m-M%2CqhJ03r75iknrfM%2C_%3Bvopblv7B-6LhfM%2CS2ESAoYo6P02tM%2C_%3BQbB4hMYHsxFNIM%2C4Z4rD22cmYI_jM%2C_%3BCGQqdVdtU1MnLM%2Cnv0RhcYwEXpZMM%2C_%3BLARg_2faCN8i_M%2C4Z4rD22cmYI_jM%2C_%3BN2XjkbAu8MCVGM%2Cbhoo0qTHhshlxM%2C_%3BOxylxjpCk0E22M%2CaX9GzXwWkjzAmM%2C_%3BsNS4xL8FTwj5HM%2C4Z4rD22cmYI_jM%2C_&usg=AI4_-kR6trOsRTmAn38IOZ9zWNT8cfqBfg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj7k63O87D6AhU1oVwKHauGB8UQjJkEegQIAxAC&biw=1463&bih=730&dpr=0.9
 
My first guess is that the horse heads were broken off cast metal toys, figurines, or perhaps utilitarian items on which they were decorative additions (e.g., wall-mounted coat hooks). I don't think the head (alone) was the whole of the original object.

My first thought was a head from a mounted toy soldier; cheap, often hollow, metal toy soldiers were ubiquitous boy's toys for many years and, according to my dad, many ended up decapitated in battle and buried with full military honours :salute:
 
By chance (hmph) I emptied the scrap lead pocket of my Detecto-pants™ in preparation for a dig tomorrow and found another horse head in a mud ball. Slightly different and not as nice as the original, it does show how a standard HB pencil would fit without much kerfuffle. I cannot though find any reference to horse head pencil toppers in olden times.

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lt might be the head from a 54mm / 1:32 scale model horse. This is/was a popular scale for toy soldiers etc.

lf so, it’s just broken at a weak spot in the casting.

maximus otter
 
lt might be the head from a 54mm / 1:32 scale model horse. This is/was a popular scale for toy soldiers etc.

lf so, it’s just broken at a weak spot in the casting.

maximus otter
Has anyone measured a casting mould to see if the hole fits? This does seem the most likely explanation to me. Lead is so soft that I can see boys 'turning' horses heads to give them a different stance and the head eventually breaking off.
 
lt might be the head from a 54mm / 1:32 scale model horse. This is/was a popular scale for toy soldiers etc.

lf so, it’s just broken at a weak spot in the casting.

maximus otter
I see there are many examples I found online of old lead horses which were the toys of the day - very like the examples found by @Bad Bungle, seems 99% very like that's what the broken heads are.
 
Metal detectorist finds 600 year old gold coin on farm

Mick Edwards, 62, was spending his 35th wedding anniversary in Etchilhampton, Wiltshire, when he unearthed the Portuguese coin.

Thought to be the first of its kind ever found in the UK, the civil servant was gobsmacked when he saw the coin from the reign of Manuel the First, between 1495 and 1521.
Inscribed with the phrase ‘In this sign shall we conquer’ in Latin, the coin was expected to sell for £30,000 but sold for £16,000 at the Noonans auction in London yesterday.

The coin — which is 36 millimetres in diameter and weighs around 30 grams — was buried around 10 inches in the mud.

It’s made of gold looted from Africa by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama.

Edwards, from Peterlee, County Durham, said he plans to split the cash with the Wiltshire pasture landowner.
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Many many people were on the Dig today (Winchester: 3 and 1/2 hour round trip) and many many wondrous things were found. Not by me obviously, but I did find something shiny in the potato field (from the days when coins were 92.5% silver).

Shilling_1134.jpg Shilling_1135.jpg
 
By chance (hmph) I emptied the scrap lead pocket of my Detecto-pants™ in preparation for a dig tomorrow and found another horse head in a mud ball. Slightly different and not as nice as the original, it does show how a standard HB pencil would fit without much kerfuffle. I cannot though find any reference to horse head pencil toppers in olden times.

View attachment 59258 View attachment 59259
If it's made from lead and if that is a trace of coloured paint on it, could it be a broken horse from an early (1930s to 1950s) Escalado game?

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Finding nothing and nearly drowning in mud at Marsh Gibbon (an exaggeration for dramatic tension) followed the next week by finding nothing and dodging light aircraft at Marsh (ditto) and then last week finding nothing and forced to outrun a Stadler Class 68 locomotive (that actually happened), it was with relief that 100 acres of tilled farmland in Oxfordshire yielded stuff worth keeping after only 6 hours.
Two favourites today: my first proper roman silver coin - a denarius with a woman on it ie Julia (Domna Augusta), the wife of Emperor Septimus Severus. On the reverse is the Goddess PIETAS who according to Godchecker.com was the roman Goddess of Piety and Duty (and nothing to do with pies). Date around 200-207 AD and it's very nice even though it has a dent. That can happen after 1,800 years of ploughing and me stabbing at random with a shovel.
Second item was a tiny pin ornament, possibly Victorian - but I dug it at 10:30 am on Remembrance Sunday (today) so I'm calling a poppy on that.
Julia Domna_02.jpg Julia Domna_01.jpg
Poppy_01.jpg
 
Fantastic finds bungle well done.
Makes it all worthwhile when you get something like that
Thanks for that, certainly found at the right time for me. Will send the coin to the FLO as soon as I hear what happened to the last item (saxon brooch) I sent 7 months ago. There's some rumbling on FB and the forums of top-end stuff going missing from storage prior to verification and evaluation by PAS - expect story to follow.
 
I’ve been admiring some of the finds posted here! I’d be chuffed to absolute pieces with some of the things you’ve found.

I‘ve thought for a while now how much I’d enjoy a hobby like metal detecting. I just love hunting for things, I always have, even if it’s just unusual pebbles, driftwood or sea-worn pottery and glass on a beach. I’d get something out of just finding things with a bit of history even if they are worth nothing, like an old button or buckle. I even collect old bits of pottery I find in our own garden (there’s a lot as there used to be a couple of pottery works next to here), one day intending to use them in mosaic work. When we were on Lindisfarne last year as I was strolling along I found what looked like a really old coin, I was so excited and couldn’t wait to find out what it was… turns out it was a 1970s penny! Oh well.

I saw an interesting programme about mudlarking on the Thames recently and love the programme River Hunters. The husband and I enjoy Detectorists too, it’s such a feel-good programme that fair warms the cockles. Great to hear they are doing a special :)
 
geocaching?
That just doesn’t hold the same appeal to me as searching for something in the ground which once had personal meaning to somebody or is of historical interest etc or finding natural ‘gems‘ like fossils, or glass and pottery that has been tumbled by the sea for many years.

I did actually buy a metal detector decades ago off car boot sale but it beeped at everything, I didn’t pay a lot so kind of knew what to expect.
 
I‘ve thought for a while now how much I’d enjoy a hobby like metal detecting. I just love hunting for things, I always have, even if it’s just unusual pebbles, driftwood or sea-worn pottery and glass on a beach. I’d get something out of just finding things with a bit of history even if they are worth nothing, like an old button or buckle. I even collect old bits of pottery I find in our own garden (there’s a lot as there used to be a couple of pottery works next to here), one day intending to use them in mosaic work. When we were on Lindisfarne last year as I was strolling along I found what looked like a really old coin, I was so excited and couldn’t wait to find out what it was… turns out it was a 1970s penny! Oh well. :)
I doubt there's a detectorist on this forum who isn't nodding their head in recognition and agreement with these sentiments. The mystery to me is why I came so late to this hobby. You don't need to even dig to find stuff, as field-walking for pottery, fossils, sun-bathing relics is pleasing exercise - the time spent on the internet researching a find is usually longer than the time it took to recover it.
A silver denarius was great last week, but also found half a dozen musket balls (the dread shotgun cartridges of yesteryear), half a buckle, a sea-urchin fossil and a sheep's tooth. A good day.

Sand Dollar.jpg
 
I run a local archaeology group and spent yesterday sorting through 3 years of finds from a dig on the site of a medieval bishops palace selecting objects to display at our imminent open day. Amazing the fun you can have wading through 600 years of assorted detritus!
 
I doubt there's a detectorist on this forum who isn't nodding their head in recognition and agreement with these sentiments. The mystery to me is why I came so late to this hobby. You don't need to even dig to find stuff, as field-walking for pottery, fossils, sun-bathing relics is pleasing exercise - the time spent on the internet researching a find is usually longer than the time it took to recover it.
A silver denarius was great last week, but also found half a dozen musket balls (the dread shotgun cartridges of yesteryear), half a buckle, a sea-urchin fossil and a sheep's tooth. A good day.

View attachment 60912
Whenever I’m out walking (a regular pastime as we’ve got dogs) I’m always searching too. I’ve got various things on display at home which I‘ve stumbled across on dog walks from very old keys to hag stones. I also pick up things like interesting feathers or skeleton leaves for use in my art and craft work.

Loving your sea-urchin fossil find!
 
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