Tuesday 17 September 2019

Polly's Parlour — Two Equestrian Keepers in the Same Day!



Another couple of hours out and about on the field that produced a brace of silver items last time around and within minutes of switching on and swinging about - up popped something which was clearly figural and in the round. These are the very best kinds of find in my book and I really do not care about which period they may hail from. If it's 'in the round' ...

Then give me these any day of the week. Sculpture is always the best! 

It was a toy and an equestrian figure, clearly. Maybe a Native American, but covered in soil and somewhat distorted it was quite hard to be absolutely sure. With such a white patina and so very heavy for its size then it was obviously made of lead. It was also quite substantial at two-inches in length. I have never found a lead toy quite so large in my detecting career — those few that I have discovered have been half the size or less.

Pocketing the find and moving on, I found the field to be what I had come to expect - lots of aluminium trash but then the occasional find worth considering. That's enough, should the finds,  prove interesting when and if they come. A field can be very sparse, as you know. Some fields can appear almost barren of worthwhile finds upon your first impression. What keeps me going through the lean times is 'finds rate'. Should that be high enough then the field is always worthwhile ...

But how to measure such a thing?

That's another article, for another time.

A little later, another article of 'sculpture' arose from the earth. Two in the one day! And again, an equestrian ...

What are the chances...?

Slim, and very!

Though I have always known about this particular find as a possibility — to this day I had never found an example for myself. It depicts the Victorian champion jockey, Fred Archer, "the greatest all-round jockey that the turf has ever seen". I cannot do full justice to this piece here — John Winter, Deputy Editor of 'The Searcher' magazine, has already covered the subject of the once very famous man who is depicted in this Victorian pewter pencil topper, and in detail.

Check it out here!








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