30th April 2026

 

Next club meeting Monday 11th May 2026.

Subject – The Rise and Fall of the local Pound -A talk by Alastair Mackay on local British paper currency

Monday 5th June 2026

·       Annual General Meeting and Display Competition

Monday 6th July 2026

·       English Half-groats 1321-1662 By Paul Woods

 Meetings are held at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.

 

Notices:

 

 

April Meeting

The April meeting began with ‘church notices’ reporting on the continuing recovery from a fall by Gavin and a visit to Graham, who continues to keep active, in both local church affairs and coin dealing. We also heard about future talks for the club in July and September.

 

The talk for the evening concerned Military items found by metal detecting and was given by Roy Sellstrom. Roy started collecting a variety of things at a young age and very soon specialised in militaria. He pointed out that one thing he didn’t collect was coins! Roy is from the Manchester area and he started with postcards as they were cheapest. Having had a career in the military, including service in the first Gulf war, Roy found that metal detecting was a therapeutic way to cope with the strain of leaving the army. Whilst many of the finds he encountered were not very interesting, he found the various badges and buttons and other militaria fascinating. His personal theory as to why there are so many buttons and badges to be found in farmer’s fields is that worn out military clothing would be sold on and eventually end up being used by farmers to insulate their winter crops. When the cloth biodegraded it left all the metalwork in place.

 

There are many types of buttons, from plain lead two or four holed, to ornate buttons with intricate designs. There are also many other military items to be found and Roy showed us a picture of a field where a German Heinkel had crash-landed in 1940. The pilot survived and was held up by an old man with a pistol, who was himself subsequently arrested because he should’ve handed in his pistol and hadn’t. England has been invaded many times over the centuries and you can also find metal items as far back as the Roman invasion though the original forts, which were all over Britain were made of wood which has since perished. The army needed camps to carry out exercises and Aldershot (only the third garrison town constructed since Roman times) was chosen in the 1850s, partly because it was cheaper land. The typical uniform of this period was adorned with badges, buttons and various other items, which have often survived, whilst the material uniforms themselves have disintegrated, outside of those kept in museums. In modern times this material has reduced to perhaps just a cap badge.

 

Cap badges from the Victorian ages were based on the ‘Brunswick Star’ which was a badge with an interchangeable centre, to represent different regiments. If one broke it would be disposed of in the camp dump. Eventually when the camps disbanded the land would be returned to farming and in the normal course of events the contents of the dump would be spread throughout the field. Other badges included shoulder badges, one in particular the ‘Red Cross’ badge identified medical staff. Roy said that all these items could be bought, but he was only interested in the items found in the ground as he knew they would be genuine and used in the period.

 

Other items that turn up are metal plates that would go on foot lockers, which were used for soldier’s private items which Roy illustrated with one for 13 Company of the 1st Grenadier guards or for military supplies. Another item that Roy showed was from a grenade, the famous Mills 36. He pointed out that successful as it was it was not ideal, being too heavy. In contrast, German grenades had a wooden handle allowing a flatter trajectory for throwing.

 

Roy showed a belt buckle from the Tower Hamlets Rifles. It dated from about the 1840s when there was a perceived threat from the French and lots of local groups sprung up which became the basis of the Territorial Army which formed in 1908, and had nothing to do with the regular army. This particular piece was a gift from amongst his detectorist friends who regularly swap pieces that they know particularly interest their friends. There are areas in our locale where different nations soldiers had camps, including the Free French, Canadian and other Commonwealth countries.

 

 

 

 

There then followed an array of buttons from various regiments and various historical periods. Which regiment the button belongs to can be identified by the number on the button, for example, number one belongs to the ‘Pontius Pilates Bodyguard’ otherwise known as the Royal Scots up to 110 which would have been one of the regiments from the East India Company. Three buttons of particular interest included an officer’s one, which would originally have been gilded from the Household Cavalry with ‘3D’ on it for ‘Third dragoons’, second had ‘C D S’ which indicated it was for the Cavalry training school and the third, with a Victorian crown, indicated one of the officers who were teaching the cadets. And so, it continued with many more buttons, each with a story to tell, and all intertwined as the various parts of the army altered over the centuries. Some are very confusing, like a button with three cannons on, which you would naturally associate with the artillery but which actually belongs to the Royal Ordnance, who supplied things like cannonballs.

 

Further badges followed, with some from the Worcestershire and Irish Guards, a collar badge from a Scottish regiment and a cadet corps badge from the London Rifle Brigade. Next, we had Canadian badges including one for the dental corps and one for the Railway corps. There were also general service buttons, whose period can be determined by the Royal crown on them. Larger buttons went on the jacket, smaller ones on the cuffs. Two buttons with a single cannon on were from the Royal artillery and two buttons, with crowns, turned out not to be military at all but were for a civil servant of some sort.

 

 

 

 

Roy then showed us his oldest find, a sword hilt from the iron age. Roy didn’t realise what it was at first but luckily had it identified before it might have been dismissed. He then gave us a very quick explanation of what constitutes ‘treasure’ and what doesn’t.

 

His talk was followed by a question-and-answer session with topics like the difference between ‘bombardier’ and ‘grenadier’. All infantry were trained in the use of grenades, the light infantry was the rifle brigade and bombardier was a rank in the light infantry. Also, it seems that many of the buttons would have been manufactured in Birmingham and once there were many manufacturers but today there are about six remaining. Canadian regiments that came over in WW1 all had badges for their respective provinces. This was too expensive to continue in the UK so they were all issued with Maple Leaf badges.

 

The club expressed its thanks to Roy for an informative, well-illustrated and entertaining talk.

 

Thanks to Maria Lloyd for the images.

 

Future Events. 

            London Coin Fair – Shortlands, London, W6 –13th June 2026

            Noonans, Mayfair, W1J 8BQ – 13th May 2026

            Morton & Eden –Spring 2026

St James Auctions – 14th May 2026

 

 

 

 

Past Events

·       10 years ago – “Symbols on coins” – Tony Holmes

·       20 years ago – “Life Saving Awards” - John Wilson

·       50 years ago – Member’s evening

 

 

 

 Club Secretary