English silver and some ANZAC history

With a forecast of showers this morning, I set off to my favourite park in search of some history. I started in a corner of the park that I hadn’t been to before, but after a number of rubbish targets and a dog ID tag, I moved back over to the other side of the park to an area that had been producing some coins lately.

One of the first targets was an old .303 calibre bullet case, I like finding these because they often have a code stamped into the head which identifies when and where they were made. This one was no exception with “M.F VII 28” stamped on the head. This identified it as having been made in the Small Arms Ammunition Factory No 1, Footscray, Melbourne, Australia in 1928.

Next were a couple of $2.00 coins, then a solid lower tone signal caught my attention. On digging it up, I initially thought it was a two cent coin from it’s size, however I noticed a small hole in the top and writing on it. Without my glasses I had to wait until I was home to investigate further.

It turned out to be a small commemorative medal, on one side was written ” Western Australia 1915, God Speed The Allies”, on the other was written “Struck In Honour Of Our Boys At The Dardanelles”. The Dardanelles is a  60km long straight connecting The Aegean Sea with the Sea of Marmara.  Because of the strategic importance of this area, on the 25th of April 1915 the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps made an invasion landing on the Gallipoli peninsula at ANZAC Cove, this is where the ANZAC legend was born.

After this nice little bit of local history, I soon had a solid high tone which turned out to be a 1941 threepence. Then only a short time later, that familiar high tone again revealed itself to be a nice 1909 Edward VII threepence. One more battered one cent coin was recovered before the rain set in, and I decided to call it a day.

 

All up, despite the weather it was an enjoyable morning finding an interesting assortment of items.

Until next time, keep your coil close to the ground!