PloughsoilDrawer 01
Find ID
Object-by-object identification for British field and beach finds. Weights, diameters, dating keys and scale drawings, with every number traced to its source.
Guides
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Lead shot
Musket ball size chart: identify lead shot by weight and diameter
Weigh it first. Then measure it. This chart turns grams into bore and an ideal diameter, and shows which guns the size points to.
6 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Hammered coins
Hammered coins: how to identify medieval English silver
Thin, often bent, sometimes clipped. Every hammered penny tells you its king and usually its mint, if you know where to look.
4 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Roman coins
Roman coin identification: dating small, worn bronze coins
Most Roman coins from British fields are small, worn and bronze. The reverse type usually dates one to within a few years.
4 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Buckles
Buckle identification: dating Roman to Georgian buckles
Single loop or double? Tongue on a bar or on a spindle? Three questions put most field buckles into the right century.
5 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Buttons
Old buttons: how to identify and date metal detecting finds
Turn it over. The back of a button usually tells you more than the front: how it was made, how it was attached, and often who made it.
4 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Military buttons
Military buttons: dating British uniform buttons by crown and cypher
A crown on a button is a clock. Learn the three shapes and you can put most British uniform buttons into the right reign.
3 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Crotal bells
Crotal bell identification: dating by loop, holes and initials
Every detectorist finds one eventually. With the pea still rattling, if you're lucky. Here's how to tell a Tudor bell from a Victorian one.
5 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Lead tokens
Lead tokens: an identification chart using the Powell types
Crude, grey and easy to throw in the scrap bag. Don't. The Powell system gives every face a number, and that makes them worth recording.
5 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Lead seals
Lead cloth seals and bag seals: how to identify them
A squashed lead disc with a hole and a rivet. It once vouched for a bolt of cloth or a sack of flour.
5 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Thimbles
Thimble identification: dating by shape, pits and crown
Every detectorist digs thimbles. The shape, the dimples and the top tell you which century.
5 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026 -
Cartridge heads
Shotgun cartridge headstamps: dating the brass caps you dig
The commonest non-junk find on shot-over land. The stamp on the base is a company history in miniature.
4 MIN READ1 NOVEMBER 2026