While the dull autumn rain is pouring outside the window, it’s time to talk about the recent trip to the cops. So, the scene — Russian outback with broken roads and endless fields. The outskirts of an ancient village, next to it there once was a road along which the army of Ivan the Terrible went to take Kazan.
It’s the beginning of October, the harvest has already been harvested and the fields are plowed, in a word, the most favorable conditions for a cop. I arrived at the pre-planned place in the afternoon by car. Despite the rain, I unsheathed my device, a Turkish Nocta Fors Relic, put on a waterproof suit, took a shovel and rushed into the field. And then a surprise awaited me — The batteries have a long lifespan. I forgot to take spare batteries with me. Moreover, if they were still enough for a few minutes of walking around the field, then when trying to set the ground balance, the device turned off immediately. In general, you should never forget the rule — take with you spare batteries for the cop. Fortunately, there was a regional center a few kilometers away, where I was able to buy new batteries. But time was lost and, as a result, it was not possible to dig on the first day. Plus, it quickly got dark and I had no choice but to settle in for the night.
I decided to spend the night right in the car. I threw the driver’s seat back, climbed into my sleeping bag, slammed some cognac to warm myself up, and slept like a righteous man all night while the rain drummed on the roof and windows. The next morning I made myself some strong coffee on the gas stove and headed out to the field.
I set the device to DI2 mode, set the sensitivity to 85 and began to wait for a good signal. I was lucky, the field turned out to be almost free of litter: no aluminum tubes that jingled like coins, very few bottle caps, however, there was quite a lot of different large iron. Fortunately, with Nokta in DI2 mode it can be immediately recognized by its sound. Soon the first coin appeared — Soviet kopeck 1961. A few more minutes of searching and a horse came out — part of the horse harness, unfortunately, simple stamping.
I was patient and after some time, the first interesting find finally appeared — pectoral copper cross. Such cast vests were worn by Russian peasants in the 18th-20th centuries.
The find immediately gave me more energy and lifted my spirits. Then I came across another stamped horsetail, which was lying right on the surface, and a rifle bullet. There was no war in these parts, so it’s hard to say who could have shot at whom. Finally, a copper button was found, unfortunately, bare, without a pattern. Fatigue began to make itself felt, and it was necessary to take a break. In just a few hours of digging, I had worked up a voracious appetite, and the stew with rye bread heated up on the stove seemed like a real delicacy.
After lunch, I decided to change my location and moved to a plowed field on the other side of the village. Here I soon came across an old bullet, most likely from a pistol of the 18th or 19th century. Perhaps it has lain in the ground since the time of the Pugachev rebellion. The field was huge, it was impossible to cross, and we had to wait quite a long time for the next find. She found another copper cross on her body, this time stamped, with the design almost erased.
The day was setting and the sun had almost disappeared below the horizon. I began to move towards the car, complaining that I had not found a single old coin all day.
And then, not ten meters from the car, I suddenly heard a good colored signal. Having dug into the ground with a shovel, I brought to the surface the long-awaited copper round piece with a double-headed eagle on the obverse! It immediately became clear that this was half-stuff.
Unfortunately, she was killed — after cleaning, it turned out that its reverse was so corroded that only the first three digits of the year could be seen — 173… Well, thank you for that. No matter how much I wanted to continue the search, the cop came to an end and I had to return home. Even though my catch this time turned out to be not particularly rich and valuable, I received excellent emotions from the cop, and this, you see, is not so little.
When I arrived home I managed to read the year, it turned out to be 1734. The main thing on the cop — These are not even finds, but a good time!
