Two examples of silver Roman denarius from Gary, detected with XP Deus
Month: May 2014
Metal Detecting novel for children
Metal detector enthusiast Larry Portch and his daughter Michelle Portch tell the story of four children and aspiring treasure hunters who find far more than they bargained for in their new book, “Union Ghosts of Mountsville Hollow: And the Four Confederate Banshees” (published by AuthorHouse).
“Union Ghosts of Mountsville Hollow” follows a group of children on a quest for treasure and adventure. Equipped with their metal detectors, they expect to find minerals, coins and the occasional hunk of junk. As their luck would have it, they find themselves in the midst of the battle of Mountsville Hollow surrounded by what appear to be Civil War soldiers.
The children’s parents have been planning a trip to the same area to metal detect. With their concerned parents sure to be heading their way, the children have to hurry home to their parents, with their newfound friends from beyond the grave as their guides.
Filled with historical facts from the Civil War era, Larry and Michelle Portch are confident their story will not only entertain, but also educate readers.
Gold Treasure Hoard in Thailand
The gold treasure was unearthed after the land owner decided prepare the ground to plant oil palm trees. After heavy rain last Saturday, the land owner and workers planting the trees came across a buried hoard of gold. The news spread and a gold rush followed with hundreds of people from nearby villages and even nearby provinces rushing to dig for a share of the treasure. Many treasure hunters emerged with gold sheets engraved with figures, coins and ornaments of different sizes — from one baht-weigh of gold to almost a kilogramme a piece. The treasure hunt continued until Wednesday night, and by then no one was finding any more gold, although the holes they dug were getting quite deep. Wi Tubsaeng, the land owner, said he has asked villagers to leave the area and will put up a sign prohibiting people from digging in there. This would allow officials from the Fine Arts Department to work in the area.
Hammered coins
Nice selection of hammered coins
from Gary who detects with his XP Deus metal detector
Feel welcome to comment!
Saddle Ridge coin sells for $15,000
A treasure trove of unique gold coins unearthed by a California couple out walking their dog has gone on sale, with one coin selling for $15,000 (£8,968) on Tuesday. The coins date from 1847 to 1894 and have been valued at $11 million. Several coins were auctioned at the Old San Francisco Mint at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday 27,05.2014, and one of them — an 1874 $20 double eagle that is usually worth $4,250 (£2,540)— sold for $15,000 (£8,968).
Your Finds
We are pleased to introduce a new section where YOU can share your treasures with other metal detecting hobbyists.
If you would like to share your “treasures” with others on our blog or have problem with identification, please send us your pictures as a private message on our FB page or e-mail to media@regton.com and we will add them to our gallery. Add a short description and information what detector you use and in which part of the UK/World you are detecting.
May we present you with the first item:
Bronze Age arrow head, found by Gary who is detecting with XP Deus Metal Detector.
Historic Wrexham finds declared ‘treasures’
An Anglo-Saxon strap end, Bronze Age axe fragments and coins dating to the English Civil War are among several items declared as treasure by a coroner. An inquest in Wrexham yesterday also heard other finds dug up in North-East Wales included a 16th or 17th century silver hawking ring, a 17th century thimble and a 16th century silver dress clasp.
As a general rule, under the Treasure Act, for items to be declared treasure they must be at least 10% precious metal and more than 300 years old. The inquest heard two of the items, the silver coins and decorative silver strap end, were found by metal detecting enthusiast Chris Morris, of Pantymwyn in Flintshire. He found the strap end on farmland near Mold while out hunting for historical finds in May 2012.
Anglo-Saxon silver strap end
Metal Detectors – Most Magnificent Treasures Found.
Treasure! The vaults of museums around the world are filled with precious antiquities, but who knows how many historical gems are still out there waiting to be unearthed? This list shows, that anyone can strike it lucky… even you. So grab your metal detector and get searching. Advanced modern technology and availability of equipment made it possible for metal detecting hobbyists to find bulk of significant treasure. We would like to present you with 6 most significant UK finds of the past fifty years 5 of which were found with metal detectors.
Ringlemere Cup, found in Sandwich, Kent in 2001 by metal detecting fan Cliff Bradshaw
Value: £270,000
Ringlemere Cup was only the second specimen of its type found Britain. The first gold cup was discovered in 1837.
These gold containers date from the very early Bronze Age (2300 BC – 4000 years ago). They are comperable to examples discovered around the Mediterranean, indicating relation between the Cornish and Greek. The cup was purchased from Mr Bradshaw by the British Museum for £270,000.
Fishpool Hoard, found in Ravenshead, Nottinghamshire in 1966
Value: £300,000
Workers digging on a building site accidentally uncovered the largest hoard of medieval coins ever found in Britain. This astonishing cache dates from the 15th century. It included 1,237 gold coins, four rings, four specimens of jewellery, and two pieces of gold chain.
The hoard was probably buried in haste at some time between winter 1463 and summer 1464, perhaps by someone fleeing south after the Battle of Hexham in May 1464, in the first stages of England’s civil war between aristocratic factions, the War of the Roses.
The heart-shaped brooch is engraved with the phrase “je suys vostre sans de partier” (I am yours wholly). Hoard was purchased by the British Museum for around £300,000.
Frome Roman Coin Hoard found in Frome, Somerset in 2010 by metal detecting enthusiast Dave Crisp
Value: £500,000
Mr Crisp was hoping to find a coin or two during that detecting expedition. What he discovered exceeded all his expectations.
The Frome Hoard is a collection of 52,503 Roman coins. The coins were contained in a ceramic pot 45 cm in diameter, and date from AD 253 to 305. Most of the coins are made from debased silver or bronze. The hoard is one of the largest ever found in Britain. It contains the largest group of coins issued during the reign of Carausius, ever found. Carausius ruled Britain independently from 286 to 293 was the first Roman emperor to strike coins.
Silverdale Hoard found in Harrogate, North Yorkshire in 2007 metal detecting hobbyist David Whelan and his son Andrew.
Value: £1,000,000
After 20 minutes of detecting in a field that Mr Whelan had previously searched several times before without finding anything more significant than a Tudor half-groat, he got a signal. Buried about 16 inches deposited together in and under a lead container there was a Viking treasure dated around 900AD.
The hoard consists of a variety of silver items including 27 coins, 10 arm-rings, 2 finger-rings, 14 ingots, 6 broach fragments, a fine wire braid and 141 fragments of arm-rings and ingots which had been chopped up and turned into hack silver, which was used as a form of currency in Viking times. Together they weigh a little over two pounds (1 kg). The hoard includes Arabic, Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Viking and Viking coins. They date to around AD 900 and include coins of Alfred the Great and the Danish-ruled Kingdom of Northumbria.
Hoxne Hoard found in Hoxne, Suffolk in 1992 by Peter Whatling and Eric Lawes while searching for the lost hammer.
Value: £ 1,750,000
The Hoxne hoard consists of over 15,000 gold and silver coins, gold jewellery and numerous small items of silver tableware, including pepper pots, ladles and spoons. Also found were traces of a large wooden chest and smaller caskets with tiny silver padlocks, into which the treasure had been carefully secreted. Hoxone Hoard is Roman Britain, buried in the 5th century AD.
Staffordshire Hoard found in Hammerwich, Staffordshire in 2009 by metal detectorist Terry Herbert
Value: £3,285,000
The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found. It consists of over 3,500 items comprising up to 5kg of gold and 1.3kg of silver.
Items are nearly all martial in character and there are no objects specific to female uses. The artefacts have tentatively been dated to the 7th or 8th centuries, placing the origin of the items in the time of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.
Total value of the above treasures: £7,105,000
Now take your detectors head off to the country and find that magnificent treasure. We wish you good luck. Maybe next story will be about you.
Viking Hoard bought by the Yorkshire Museum
A museum’s campaign to buy a Viking hoard worth more than £50,000 has been successful. The hoard was discovered in Bedale, North Yorkshire, in 2012 and includes a gold sword pommel and silver neck ring and collar. The Yorkshire Museum launched an appeal in January to raise the funds to buy the hoard, which was valued at £51,636. It has since received enough public donations and grants to keep the treasure on display in Yorkshire. The York-based museum said the hoard contained a gold sword pommel, an unusual silver neck ring and neck collar, a silver armlet, 29 silver ingots, two other silver neck rings, gold rivets and half a silver brooch. The hoard dates from the late ninth or early 10th Century, the museum said. Part of the hoard was found by metal detectorists in May 2012. They informed the Portable Antiquities Scheme of the find and archaeologists then unearthed the rest of the find.
The hoard was found in Beadale, North Yorkshire, and valued at more than £50,000
Detectorists – BBC4 Metal Detecting comedy show
BBC Four has announced a new comedy show about metal detecting enthusiasts.
Andy, a wannabe archaeologist, spends time in muddy fields with a metal detector and a packed lunch alongside his friend Lance. Together they dream of finding that priceless Saxon hoard that will make them rich and cement their place in detecting history. But as they go off on their adventures, real life keeps getting in the way. They embark on a journey of greed, betrayal, rejection and redemption as they hurtle towards Danbury Metal Detecting Club’s greatest ever find. The comedy is due to air either at the end of this year or early next year
Starring: Mackenzie Crook as Andy & Toby Jones as Lance
Mackenzie Crook as Andy in Detectorist