<p><strong>Not too long ago I was able to get a week off from work.</strong> I planned to drive west of Charters Towers here in Queensland Australia to an old goldfield town site that I had recovered many relics from. Namely old English coins, Chinese Coins and relics by the bucket full which included old bullets, buckles, buttons and some beautiful old cricket belt buckles.</p> [split] <p>I had camped at the same place the last 11 to 12 years and it was also a great time to get away from the rat race and recharge my batteries. I normally go by myself and spend an average of 3 to 4 days doing it rough. I just put an old tarp up with my swag, two burner gas stove, a couple of esky’s and a chair.</p> <p>I had recovered quite a few relics by day three which included a few large rifle and pistol cartridges, buttons and a few buckles but what I was really after was an old English coin or a token. I have detected many coins and a few tokens from this site and due to the type of the soil they were all in excellent condition. </p> <p>This was the first trip that I had taken the X-TERRA 705 as I would normally use my old Minelab Sovereign XS. Now with the Sovereign XS I would mainly dig the high tone signals which usually meant they were good targets. The old Sovereign was now my back up detector.</p> <p>Now with the X-TERRA 705 it was like detecting a new site as I was digging everything from 20 up on the digital readout and it was amazing what I was picking up on ground I’d already gone over in the past with the old Sovereign XS. </p> <p>I had finished lunch and had then read a book for half an hour when I decided that sitting on my backside wasn’t going to find me that English coin or token. I refilled my Camelbak with water, grabbed the detector and pick and then walked out from the tarp. I looked around then turned the detector on and started walking. </p> <p>I had just passed the campfire when I had a good tone signal that read 24 on the meter. I put the detector down after pinpointing then swung the pick. The clod of earth landed near my feet so I knelt down then I grabbed the detector by the shaft and ran it over the hole. No signal so the target was in the clod.</p> <p>The clod was in two pieces so I picked up the top half to run it over the coil when I saw it. All I could do was stare at what I’d recovered. Looking at me and feeling the sun for the first time in many a year was a Gold Sovereign. I had to blink a couple of times as I just couldn’t believe my eyes. </p> <p>The Sovereign was within three metres of the same place I had camped for the past 11 years. All that time I was particularly camping on top of a Gold Sovereign. I’ve been told by every person I had met that the one coin they want to find is a Sovereign and here was mine.</p> <p>I slowly picked up the coin and could see that it was a Shield Sovereign but the Obverse side where Victoria was and the date was covered with dirt. I soaked the coin with water from the hose of my Camelbak and as the dirt fell away I could see a beautiful young Victoria and the date 1863.</p> <p>After what seemed a few minutes I went back to the tarp where I wrapped the coin in a bit of paper towel and put it in my bag. I then walked back to my detector, picked it up, walked a couple of paces and I got another good signal. Another Sovereign I hoped but it turned out to be a tiny 1871 English Threepence.</p> <p>Two beautiful coins within spitting distance of my camp. I just couldn’t believe it. From then on I was digging everything. I was in detector heaven.</p>