Category: Your Finds

It was a Saturday evening and I was pondering whether to play golf the next day or to go detecting. I gave Jonno (dad) a call  to see if he fancied a morning out swinging.

He was up for it so he rang a few friends from our club Four Quarters MDC.

He rang Derek (runner) and Shawn (Spartacus) and We all agreed to meet up the next morning at Derek’s permission. It was near Bridgnorth, Shropshire.
I (Martus) drove down to Derek’s full of anticipation and excitement hoping to get a bagful of goodies. I was on a roll after finding a lovely Saxon strap end on our Four Quarters rally the weekend before.
“I don’t expect much today” Derek mumbled in the car on the way to the field. “Don’t be so negative” I replied “I’ll show you how to do it” chuckling to myself.
We met Jonno and Shawn at the farm parked next to the field. They were drinking coffee and chatting away like to old women. Nothing new there then.
The sun was shining brightly with a small breeze from the easterly wind. It was Perfect detecting conditions. We all had our XP Deus machines switched on with different settings being used including Basic 1, Deus fast and gm power.
Off we went slowly making our way to the bottom of the field. Heading towards the brook.

It was very quiet and We didn’t get a signal for half an hour when we spotted Shawn on his knees digging. ” A blooming horseshoe” he said but he did not use those exact words. I’ll leave the exact words to your own imagination. Anyone who knows Shawn will now what I mean.

Another half hour passed by and we had nothing in our finds pouch except one button to show for it.

I was ready to leave and try another field across the lane.

We all made our way to the end of the field to Derek we wanted to try else where. As we walked down the hill to him we hear a scream from Derek. Jumping up and down like a crazed madman. “I’ve got one, I’ve got one I’ve got a Gold Roman” he cried.
“Oh shut up you your telling porky pies” Shawn replied. ” No, no honestly I’ve got one”‘Derek insisted. “I’ve got a Roman”. He was only a few yards away so I went to have a look. ” That’s not Roman, it’s a Celtic stater you’ve got there” I laughed “you jammy git”
I couldn’t believe that anything at all had turned up. I’ve never been so shocked in my life.

As Derek walked on down the hill Shawn said jokingly” have you tried the hole it may be a hoard”.

Then about a yard further on Shawn screams “I got one, I got one” the signal number was 76 on the Deus.
“That signal was very scratchy” he said, “I wasn’t going to dig it”. It just shows you must always check your hole and around it after you have found your signal.
I got on the phone and rang my Good pal Pon who is also our club chairman for Four Quarters MDC, “I’m on my way” he chuckled.

In the meantime Derek carried on in a straight line about 5 yards away. I think “I’ve got another lads. It’s a 76” sure enough there it was as bright as could be. Only about 6 inches down.
I was starting to feel as though the hoard had passed me by when I heard a very faint signal. Not even registering a number on the remote. As a rule I don’t think I would have dug it. I put the spade in and lifted the front edge. All of a sudden the signal changed to a solid beeping 76. I knew it had to be. I got the pin-pointer in the hole. Removed the soil and there it was. A beautiful full stater of the Dubonni. A rare Comux in great condition. I  punched the air in delight and did a dance of which Michael Jackson would have been proud of.

Shawn was as happy for me  as I was. I jumped up on to him with excitement as he carried me around on his back like a big kid.

Then two minutes later Derek found another. That was three for him. It was all getting rather mad now.
Pon then turned up with a big grin on his face. “Well done lads, you’ve got some great coins there. It’s very rare to find a Celtic gold coin hoard!” Unbelievable was the best word I could think of. What a day. Not what I expected this morning when I got out of bed.
But there was a bit of disappointment in dads eyes. He was the only one of us  not to find a gold stater. Thirty minutes on and still no coin for Jonno.
About 5 yards away to the left he called me over to check a signal. “I can’t hear anything Dad. There’s nothing there” I told him and I walked away.

Then all of a sudden
“Yes!” he shouted. “Yes, yes, yes!”. He’d got one. We all dropped our detectors and mobbed him, dancing around and screaming. What a site it must have been. Five grown men dancing around in the middle of the field. Dressed in camouflage with wellies on.

What a brilliant day. The way it happened with Five good friends all sharing a day of a lifetime. With us finding our first gold coin  and our first gold stater. All of us getting a share in the glory. Unbelievable.

Pon then rang the Flo Angie to notify her of our scattered hoard and to abide by the treasure trove laws. We rang the farmers wife and she came over immediately  to join us and take a look at our finds. ” Wow, they’re beautiful. I’m so happy for you all” was her response. We explained to her the procedures and told her she would get 50%. She was over the moon. It couldn’t have gone to a nicer lady. We now await to see the outcome of this adventure. Hope fully the site will get excavated as I believe there is a lot more in the ground just out of our reach.

We have returned to the field since where Shawn found one more gold stater now making the total seven.

I’m looking forward to more visits to the field as any more staters found will add to the history of the Hoard.

A big thank you to Derek for allowing us on his permission.

A big thank you to the farmer and his wife and their son.

A big thank you to Pona for calming us down and organising the procedure of contacting the FLO and helping us record the finds.

By

Martin Sibley

Shawn,Derek,Jonno & Mart. All with their Xp Deus.