{"id":11382,"date":"2019-12-09T02:53:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T07:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/?p=11382"},"modified":"2026-08-09T16:22:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T16:22:44","slug":"two-fer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/?p=11382","title":{"rendered":"Find 5: First Hole Silver!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"top\" \/>\r\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\">After what felt like weeks of being stuck indoors, it was a pure delight to get back out onto the fields. The air was fresh, the ground was workable, and the anticipation was high. My very first signal was a crisp, clear, high-conductive tone. Digging down, the soil gave up its secret instantly, and I couldn&#8217;t help but smile at the sight: a beautiful George VI sixpence. First hole, first target\u2014F.H.S.! First Hole Silver!<\/p>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\">A short while later, the detector sounded off with another fantastic, repeatable response. My heart was hoping for something medieval, but my brain was whispering, <i data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"164\">&#8220;Don&#8217;t get your hopes up just yet.&#8221;<\/i><\/p>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\">What came out of the clod was a George VI two-shilling piece, or &#8216;florin&#8217;. While not an ancient piece of local heritage, and struck in cupro-nickel rather than pre-1947 silver, it emerged from the earth remarkably bright and clean. Most importantly, it wasn&#8217;t the ubiquitous aluminum pull-tab or piece of modern farm iron! It\u2019s these small, satisfying victories that keep you sweeping.<\/p>\r\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"6\"><b data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"0\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/a2ee87f5-616c-4dcb-b78d-aefdea3b3076.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"275\" height=\"313\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/d1cc3433-70ce-4f5f-8a4f-1a0cf6cd7e3d.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"294\" height=\"279\" \/><\/b><\/h3>\r\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"6\">\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"6\">\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"6\">\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"6\"><b data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Coinage of George VI<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\">The florin\u2014worth two shillings or one-tenth of a pound\u2014has a long tradition in British currency, first introduced during the Victorian era as an early attempt at decimalization.<\/p>\r\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"8\">\r\n<li>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,0,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"8,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Obverse:<\/b> Displays the left-facing bare head portrait of King George VI, surrounded by the Latin royal title.<\/p>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,1,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"8,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Reverse:<\/b> Features the crowned royal cipher flanked by the thistles, shamrocks, and leeks of the home nations, declaring its value as <i data-path-to-node=\"8,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"137\">Two Shillings<\/i>.<\/p>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<li>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8,2,0\"><b data-path-to-node=\"8,2,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">The Metal:<\/b> Following the Second World War, the silver content of British circulating coinage was reduced from 50% down to cupro-nickel in 1947 to help repay war debts\u2014placing this particular issue right in the post-war transition period of mid-century Britain.<\/p>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h3 data-path-to-node=\"9\"><b data-path-to-node=\"9\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Reflections from the Field<\/b><\/h3>\r\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10\">While other detectorists might dream exclusively of Gold Staters or Roman hoards, recovering two pristine mid-century coins in a single session\u2014starting with silver on the very first hole\u2014made my return to the Wiltshire fields feel truly special. It was a wonderful reminder that every layer of the earth holds a story, and the joy of discovery isn&#8217;t always measured in centuries, but in the thrill of the signal.<\/p>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div dir=\"ltr\">\r\n<figure><\/figure>\r\n<div>\u00a0<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After what felt like weeks of being stuck indoors, it was a pure delight to get back out onto the fields. The air was fresh, the ground was workable, and the anticipation was high. My very first signal was a crisp, clear, high-conductive tone. Digging down, the soil gave up its secret instantly, and I [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11488],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-metal-detecting","missing-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pDxlf-2XA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11382"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14951,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11382\/revisions\/14951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vrharbor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}