<p><strong>My wife always says: old socks are no longer mended - they are thrown in the garbage!</strong> In the past however, women took the time to sew and to embroider, and if my finds are anything to go by, the women would sew in the forests, clearings and meadows. Thanks to the metal detectors, I have been able to find these lost (or discarded) thimbles. </p> <p>Throughout history, thimbles have been made from various materials: gold, silver, bronze and copper, or in other alloys and even non-metallic materials. The oldest thimbles were made from bone, horn or ivory but they are not detectable because they are not metallic. </p>[split] <p>The thimbles I have found are more or less ancient. For example, thimbles with triangular imprints made out of bronze are often from the Roman period, and the truncated or rounded bronze thimbles are of the 17th - 18th century. The golden one seen in the photo is from the end of the 19th century; and the silver one dates from the last war</p> <p>Most of the thimbles shown in the photo were found with my faithful E-TRAC. My wife is an embroiderer, but I selfishly keep my thimbles in the display cabinet - when she will mend my socks that I wear in my detecting boots, we shall see if I will lend her my golden thimble! </p>