Tuesday 19 May 2009

Gardener unearths Treasure - Lots of It!

Today's UK Daily Mail newspaper carries a fantastic illustrated feature article on a lady gardener who has found all manner of treasure in her garden including coins, jewellry, medals, bottles, china etc. It is enough to drive you all mad with envy, especially Liz and Owen. It may be available for only a day or so -so don't delay, check it out now.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1184456/The-gold-fingered-gardener-unearths-piece-treasure-time-tends-vegetable-patch.html

For me, I find bits of coloured china and pipe stems in my garden and have filled an empty jar with ten years worth of finds. What do others find in their own gardens?

12 comments:

  1. Interesting! Alas, basically rocks. No matter where you dig. We have to keep adding topsoil. A glacier went through here and left not only immense boulders but annoying-sized rocks that keep working their way to the surface. We also find our children's toys from years ago, which is always emotional. Some people make mosaic montages from broken bits of pottery and glass they find. do you have a mind to do something like that with the china and pipe pieces?

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  2. Hi Margaret, I had half-a-thought about doing years ago, but didn't know where to start. I may tip out a jar and photograph the rainbow effect for a future post!. Sorry to hear you have a glacier in your garden, is it cold?
    Best wishes
    Laurie

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  3. Oh boy ! I think you really are trying to drive me straight into an asylum... and then who will water my blog and feed the cats ??? Am going straight there (to your article, NOT to the asylum !) And here's one for you, I don't think you're following Theo's blog Thought Cloud Factory News... he did a very recent post about some stuffed animals he found moldering away in a cemetery in Oregon... take a peek :

    http://theoellsworth.blogspot.com/

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  4. I've dug up nothing as fun as this woman, only shards of china, rusty square nails and of course lots of marbles from many years ago. You have a very interesting site here Laurie, I shall return often.... Cheryl

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  5. We didn't find it in our garden, but we did find it hidden in the kitchen wall when we were insulating our house--a small revolver with a bullet rusted in it! The local historical society wanted nothing to do with it (I believe they were afraid they'd need a permit)so we buried it in the yard...and some day someone else may find the buried treasure.

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  6. Oh wow! Lucky Jan! I think I will go and prod around in my veggie patch right now! What a fabulous and exciting find for her! I was brought up in Herefordshire, not far from Ledbury - there are some beautiful period properties about those parts..... I'll get my mum to check out the Hereford Times tomorrow, as there may well be more about it in there.
    I rather fancy the 1920's wheelbarrow myself!

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  7. wow!.. When i was a kid, growing up in England, my parent's had an obscure friend. I have a few memories of him, he used to put me in a box and spin me about whenever he came round, and he managed to live in the most historically placed houses in history. In one of his houses, somewhere in the cotswolds, he had an entire wall of glass cabinates, full of things he'd found in/around his house. Including a Roman helmet, flints, axes, billions of coins, a sword etc, etc.. Some people!
    The most exciting thing I've ever found whilst digging a veggie patch, was a metal disc, with Digger written on it, complete with his address, (my address). later I managed to dig up some ferocious looking canine teeth, one of which I made into a necklace.

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  8. I found three bolts that I had lost there is for a long time... but I didn't find the fourth... It's for this that... Do u understand now Laurie !
    Thanks a lot !
    Please, wait ! I have just found a glass of my pixelfriend Owen ! Owen, j'ai retrouvé ton verre à tisane avec la photo de... Sorry !

    Ciao Laurie !

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  9. Mad with envy is right! When I was a child Grandpa would plow the fields. I would find the most interesting things in the dirtclods, including a beautiful six-inch tall glass bottle, a horn of plenty with cherub--found out later it is an ancient perfume bottle!

    (grin)

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  10. What an exciting story...I would love to find something in that manner, but have not, yet!

    This reminds me though...a friend once volunteered with an archeology group in Old Town Alexandria in Virginia, USA. Well, among pottery and household items that they found, they also found some bones that belonged to babies. She was told that it was commonplace for women in colonial times to bury their babies in their gardens if they were unable to care for them. Have you happened to have heard things like this? Very sad, but their options were few...

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  11. In our garden we find lots of broken china the house was a pub in the 1850s), old glass including whole ink bottles, and sometimes fossils. We have found more things in the walls of the house - a gold sovereign, for instance, and our son (aged 9 in 1970) once exhibited '400-year-old mud' for a school history lesson. But if anyone could tell me where I have recently accidentally buried my mobile phone, I would be really grateful.

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  12. What fantastic stories you all are contributing.

    Wild Somerset Child - ink bottles and fossils and . . . a gold sovereign. Sounds good to me. Sorry to hear about your mobile phone. When I once lost mine in the woods, it was the first time I had gone out without switching it on - so it was no good ringing it and listening! Was yours switched on?

    EarthtoHolly - babies' bones? Remarkable. What a dreadful time the early settlers must have had. How very sad!

    Beth Niquette - an ancient perfume bottle? I am envious of your finds.

    Jeff34 - when you find the fourth bolt, it will be like a bolt from the blue . . .

    the watercats - what an exciting childhood - you lucky thing! Roman helmet, axes, flints. Brilliant!

    Buskitten - Liz, just the thing - rides in a 1920s wheel barrow. Yippee!

    Ponderer - thanks for the compliments. At least you found your marbles instead of losing them!

    Louciao - a gun. Wow, that's a bit too exciting for me.

    Owen - I can hear you sobbing. Never mind! Thanks for the steer to the mouldering teddy bear photographs. How very, very sad. Don't look, Liz.

    Thank you all so much!

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