This is something I found early on when I got my Minelab E-TRAC metal detector. I took the E-TRAC to an old hut site that I’d known about as a kid in the bush.

I found a few old coins and detecting near the old creek at the site I dug up the fishing reel at a depth of 6” in hard packed clay.

It was like a rock when I dug it out of the ground and took a lot of cleaning to discover what it was.

Now it turns smoothly. I estimate it to be from the 1800’s or early 1900’s.

Perhaps one of the most interesting finds I’ve had.