Friends, hello everyone! My name is R. Sergey, I’m 23 years old. I was born in the Chelyabinsk region in the small, cozy village of Deputatsky. I have been involved in military archeology for 10 years and searching for coins for about 5 years; my search journey began at the age of 7. My first search expedition was in 2007 in St. Petersburg at the Sinyavin Heights. I want to tell you about one of the most valuable and important finds in my life.
It was in 2009 near the city of Rzhev: in the morning, as usual, we had breakfast, boarded our school bus (we arrived on it from Chelyabinsk itself) and went to the search site; they dug in an open field, which was gradually overgrown with young birch trees; it was hot outside — 30 degrees, probably. We dug trenches to a depth of about 2 meters, we came across a lot of shells, we even found two Soviet rifles. After working until lunch, in the midst of hot weather, we went to our bus for lunch, then I was simply “sick” of the search and it seemed to me that I could dig day and night. I quickly ate, and while everyone was resting, I ran to dig, I don’t know why I chose that particular part of the trench, but I was really lucky! Taking a shovel, I began to open this trench, and at a depth of about 1.5 meters I began to come across the crushed remains of a soldier, there were also personal belongings: a broken compass, an eraser and a pencil. With great enthusiasm, I moved deeper into the trench with careful movements. The soil was solid clay and sand. When I went deep and began to clear and check the soil with a knife, a soldier’s medallion fell into my palm from a piece of earth — at that moment I froze in surprise. Taking off my gloves, I wiped it on my camouflage and decided to see if it was empty or not; Having untwisted the medallion, I saw a paper package inside and shouted at the top of my voice: “MEDALLION!”, but everyone thought that I was joking, since at that time I was the smallest in the squad. Having screwed on the lid of the medallion, I ran to the guys who were still having lunch. Running up to our leader Oleg Gennadievich, I hid the medallion in my fist, put my hands behind my back, and asked to guess which hand held my most valuable find in life. When Oleg Gennadievich chose the wrong hand, in response I showed him a fig from my fist, but when everyone laughed, including him, I opened the fist where the medallion was — At that moment everyone stopped laughing and started shouting “HURRAY!” In the evening on the bus we began to open the medallion. It contained a bundle of paper on which was written “Vesnina Tatyana from Vesnin Nifanty Semenovich, Chelyabinsk region, village of Gagarye.” Sergeant Vesnin wrote these lines before the battle in which he died near Rzhev in 1942! We shouted “HURRAY!” non-stop; We were very happy because our squad found a fighter from our native land for the first time!
Nifantius had two surviving brothers, who were already 70-80 years old. When I talked with Nifantiy’s brothers, they told me that they still remember when they were small children and saw him off to war, and 70 years later they met their hero! At that moment I felt such feelings that cannot be compared with anything — there were tears, and joy, and melancholy! 70 years later, Nifanty Semenovich was reburied next to his mother’s grave. He promised to return, and he returned!
After the expedition in 2009, I was awarded the badge “For active search.”
I’m proud of my choice — military archeology! After all, thanks to search engines, our HEROES are returning from oblivion! Thanks to search engines, relatives of deceased HEROES can safely say that their hero — great-grandfather or grandfather – died defending their Motherland, defending our lives, and after 70 years they will be able to come to the grave of their Hero and tell him Thank you for the clear sky above your head! For giving for the sake of us and the MOTHERLAND his most precious — this is life!
The second story is related to the search for treasures and coins!
My story as a treasure hunter began from the moment when my parents, on my birthday, when I was sixteen, gave me an x-terra 305 metal detector! At that moment I was incredibly happy and was looking forward to the snow melting and I could try out my device.
Spring has come and I went on my first search. I was digging not far from my village, about 1.5 kilometers away, there was an old farm. I walked to it and the time spent searching flew by instantly. In about 3 years of searching, I have never found a large number of coins, that is, a treasure. One morning, and in the village you know there are always household chores, after feeding my pigeons and doing other things, I went back to the farm where I had been searching for about 3 years. During this time, on this farm, I found about 200 Soviet and tsarist coins, mostly early Soviets and tsarist coins from the reign of Nicholas 2. Having reached the farm, and it was located not far from the forest, where large, mighty birches grew, there was also a small swamp where crucian carp were caught every summer. On the site of the former farm, house pits could be seen, and 5 huge poplars are still growing, they are so huge that it would take several people to grasp one tree. I wandered around and around. The weather was good, a warm breeze was blowing, and there was a smell of wild berries and aromatic herbs. A seagull flew in the swamp and sometimes disturbed the silence of the forgotten farm. I came across various wrought iron pieces, Civil War shell casings, and plugs. After wandering for half an hour, I finally came across my first coin: 2 kopecks from the reign of Nicholas II, 1911, the coin was in good condition — it lifted my spirits. After I walked around the house pits and came across nothing except one coin, I decided to move closer to the field where there were vegetable gardens. After wandering around for a couple more hours and to no avail, I, with the device turned on, walked along the edge of the field towards the house. I hadn’t walked even thirty meters when my device began to sing loudly. He sang as if a large piece of iron was hidden underground. Taking a shovel, I dug up this place. At a depth of about 1.5 bayonets, a fragment of cast iron appeared. Thinking to myself again about a large fragment of an old pot, getting upset, I sat down by this hole to rest and see how much time was on the phone. At that moment my friend called me and we started talking. During the conversation, apparently I needed to occupy my right hand with something, I began to pick out this old piece of cast iron with my fingers, but to no avail. Instead of a fragment, it turned out to be a whole, upside-down cast iron pot, taking a shovel in one hand, I dug up this cast iron pot, turning it over with one hand, I saw that it was closed with an iron lid, at that moment I had no time for a friend, and we agreed that I’ll call him back on the way home. Taking the cast iron out of the pit, I shook it and heard a sound as if there was something in it and it was almost full. Having bent one edge of the lid with a shovel, I saw that it was full of coins and at that moment my heart began to beat so hard, I screamed with joy for about 10 minutes, my hands were shaking, I felt such excitement and joy. Grabbing the pot in my right hand and pressing it to my chest and the device in my left, completely forgetting about the shovel, I ran home without opening the cast iron, I ran without stopping all these 1.5 kilometers. I ran and screamed for joy.
When I ran home, my parents were sitting at the table and drinking tea. They looked at me with such surprise, and I stood silently and simply smiled. When my mother told me why she brought this rusty pot and started grumbling at me. Ignoring my mother’s scandal, I walked up and placed this rusty pot, covered in soil, right on the table. When the earth fell from the pot, my mother began to swear at me again, but I laughed and was glad, interrupting my mother, I shouted that this pot was full of coins, at that moment my father took the pot in his hands and led us to the garage. Using a hammer, tapping the lid and bending the edges with pliers, we with difficulty removed the lid and saw that the pot was almost full of silver coins. Some coins had green and yellow oxides, and some sparkled like new and drove me crazy with their brilliance. Having dumped the coins onto the newspaper, we began to enthusiastically examine and sort through my treasure. This took us all evening. That’s it, friends, my treasure consisted of 350 silver coins in denominations of 10, 15 and 20 kopecks of the RSFSR! The coins are inexpensive, but an impressive amount, and how I ran 1.5 kilometers with a pot and a device will be remembered for the rest of my life! By the way, my “grater” still serves me, for about 7 years now, and makes me happy with its finds!
Sent by comrade Sergey R.
