It was a warm, sunny July morning.
I, as a person who was then studying at a university, was on vacation and decided to go on a bike to dig the foundation, which had already borne fruit. For the very first time, as many as 2 silver coins fell on it, 5 kopecks each, one of which was a Mason. 
You need to go about 20 km one way, everything is fine there, and sometimes it’s hard to get back after the cop…
In general, having arrived at the place, I began digging around a house where I had not yet looked.
He dug in strips, simultaneously ringing the lower layers and the dump.
There was no special result this time… 
I came across a small coin, all covered in oxides, took a photo and put it away (later I didn’t find it at home- Where it disappeared is a mystery). 
And when I began to disassemble the next foundation stones, between the stones lay a 5-kopeck coin of Nicholas II, as if it were a mortgage!
The next coin came out all black& #8230;
After rubbing my fingers a little, I realized that it was shiny! 
Yes, silver again!
I put it aside until I got home, and then I put it in ammonia, which perfectly removed the oxides and this is how the coin began to look: 
But let’s return to the field…
After these small finds, nothing else came out except village garbage.
It’s already almost 19 o’clock, it would be time to go home, but something finally pulled me to make a small hole next to the foundation… You probably know, it happens that a place attracts with something, maybe an inner instinct… I noticed it more than once, and there were always unexpected finds.
I dug out a small square, an area the size of a fiskar bayonet, because at that time I was with a Garrett sniper (a very cool thing – I regret that I sold it).
A sniper allows you to detect the presence of metal in small holes, which is what I did.
The device showed a stable signal, like a simple copper cross, that is, low, near the middle of the scale.
I, of course, thought that this was some kind of garbage again, like melting lead or something like that, because copper and silver sound mostly higher… But it is impossible not to reach the target with stable signals, no matter what the signal is (except for iron, of course).
I got it…
I took out a cross of 2 petals…
«Church or something?» – I thought and began to look in the hole for the remaining petals, which also rang on the device and was removed, the cross was now assembled and without loss. 
I, frankly speaking, was not aware of such objects, so I photographed the strange cross, put it in a dark green bag from an old Soviet gas mask, and headed back home…
It was easy to travel; the finds and the desire to find out what I found added strength. Upon arriving home, the first thing I did was change clothes and go wash the cross.
The text was barely legible due to the oxides, but was readable. 
Some kind of monogram on top, And I under the crown… ;
Left: For.
Right: Veru
Below: and the Tsar… «So, it’s just a St. George’s Cross, only there are more inscriptions and different ones!»- I thought… I went online, but didn’t immediately find the same cross, only others, with the same inscriptions…
I went to the forum, posted a photo, asked …
People began to congratulate me on a very, very rare find…
In general, it turned out to be the Militia Cross of Alexander 1, issued to the people’s militia in 1812!
It is found very rarely in collections, apparently due to its fragility – the rays constantly broke off…
In my case, 2 broke off, but they were lying next to each other. Subsequently, the more I looked for information about the find, the more surprised I was. Needless to say, I didn’t find any passages at auctions or cross sales..? I created a memo with short excerpts from various sources: 
After realizing the value of the item, I began to think about cleaning it lightly, because it is unacceptable to erase centuries-old oxides from rarities! I threw it into gentle cleaning – in soap. After this, the text became better visible:
Then, according to technology, I don’t remember where I read it, dipped it in alcohol and dried it:
And after all this, I immersed it in benzotriazole, since it is an inhibitor and also allowed it to dry.
In my opinion, it turned out quite well, because the main principle is do no harm! Of course, I am not a pro in conservation and I would be happy to listen to comments.
Everything was found, as you probably noticed, with the Garrett ACE 250. So it’s not the device that plays the key role, but something else…
This find remains one of the most valuable for me to this day, and awaits a beautiful design…
Sent by Gleb R.
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