A few Sundays ago saw me invited on a hunt to some historic towns in SE QLD. Armed with a Minelab CTX 3030 metal detector we set off for the old railway station where my friend unearthed an 1885 shilling the week before.

The first few targets were pieces of what looked like old lead pipe and of course the obligatory old screw caps. Then some interesting numbers appeared on screen – I decided to dig. After only 1″ of digging, the edge of what I thought was a coin was revealed. After carefully removing the object I was totally confused as to what it was. A stamp perhaps? No – the backwards details were too deep. It was a sealing stamp! After careful cleaning I could see exactly what it said. And it wasn’t surprising that it was found just meters from the old railway tracks and station.

The old station building is gone now and what stands in place is the local tourist info and historic museum building. I showed the staff the find and they were amazed! I am going to donate this to the museum as it’s a great part of the towns’ history- and what’s more it still does its job! I wonder when it made its last seal?????