The First Sight of Spring...

Last weekend was the first weekend of real spring weather. Sunshine and warm enough to go to the beach!

Whilst I did go to the beach and came home $4 richer, I did visit a couple of spots before I hit the sand. Here are the finds... and facts!

Scout Woggle with Badge of NSW.

The only decent find for Saturday and I had the help of a Facebook group to assist me with the identification. I don't think the woggle is old as the leather is still intact, but the badge of NSW was adopted in 1876. You can read more about the history of the badge here.

Australia Shoulder Title Badge

This was my first target on Sunday which secured the spot as worthy of more hunting! I wasn't able to determine a date on this but I figure it's WWI or WWII. The first known shoulder title badge was 'unofficial' and made in 1902. You can see more designs of these badges here.

Button - Possible Merchant Navy

Second decent find for Sunday was a beautiful button. You can see a foul anchor but no crown, I'm not 100% sure but I suspect this is a merchant navy button. No idea about date, but it's most certainly post 1774 when the fouled anchor replaced the rose on navy buttons. If you're into navy buttons, there are some great images here.

And now, the coins.

1928 KG V Half Penny

First pre decimal to break the drought was this toasty 1928 half penny. Toasty, but a coin is a coin I say! 1928 saw the birth of Australia's favourite swimwear brand, Speedo. Obviously they weren't the same budgie smuggling style they are today, you can read more on that here.

1925 KG V Sixpence

Next find was silver. I do love silver coins. This was only a few centimetres from the half penny, so I call that a spill. When this coin was made, Mussolini was dissolving the Italian parliament and setting up a dictatorship.

1950 KG VI Three Pence

Not long after I found the 1925 sixpence this little beauty presented itself, a 1950 three pence. The first Volkswagen Type 2 rolled off the production line in 1950. You may better know it as a Kombi.

1959 Queen Elizabeth II Sixpence

Hat trick! Three silvers in a row, the last being a 1959 sixpence. All coins were pretty toasty which is to be expected being near the coast. February 3 in 1959 was a sad day in the history of music, it's known as the day the music died.