buried treasure Archives - Regton Metal Detectors

2,500 years old gold artefacts unearthed in Staffordshire

28 February 201728 February 2017 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

Two metal detectorists unearthed artefacts which could be the oldest Iron Age gold discovered in Britain. Mark Hambleton made the find with Joe Kania on Staffordshire Moorlands farmland. The three necklaces and bracelet, named the Leekfrith Iron Age Torcs, are believed to be about 2,500 years old. Julia Farley of the British Museum said that this unique find is of international importance.

Dr Farley, the museum’s curator of British and European Iron Age collections, said: “It dates to around 400-250 BC and is probably the earliest Iron Age gold work ever discovered in Britain. The torcs were probably worn by wealthy and powerful women, perhaps people from the Continent who had married into the local community. Piecing together how these objects came to be carefully buried in a Staffordshire field will give us an invaluable insight into life in Iron Age Britain.”

The four torcs were found separately, about 1m apart, buried near the surface in Leekfrith last December. The artefacts have been handed to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which is part of Birmingham Museums. An inquest will decide whether the pieces are treasure and they will then be provisionally valued. The friends said they would share any proceeds with the family living where the finds were made.

Metal detectorist unearthed XVII century treasure

3 February 20173 February 2017 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

Part of a silver cufflink dating back to the 17th century has been unearthed by a metal detector enthusiast on farmland in Messingham. North Lincolnshire coroner Paul Kelly – at a treasure trove hearing in Scunthorpe – declared the rare find was treasure. The silver disc decorated with a pair of hearts beneath a crown was found by Andrew Mitchell, from Rotherham, at Lowmoor Farm on September 20 last year.

Experts from the British Museum reported to Mr Kelly that the disc dated to between 1662 and 1700 when the fashion for cufflinks to fasten sleeves developed. The crown-and-hearts motif might have celebrated the marriage of Charles II and Catherine of Braganza in 1662. It was also thought the Messingham treasure had royalist and/or Catholic associations.

Under the Treasure Act 1996, finders of objects which constitute a legally defined term of treasure are obliged to report their find to their local coroner within 14 days. If it is declared to be treasure, then the finder must offer the item for sale to a museum at a price set by an independent board of antiquities experts known as the Treasure Valuation Committee. Only if a museum expresses no interest in the item, or is unable to purchase it, can the finder retain it.

Cheshire metal detectorist unearthed rare Roman pendant

5 October 20165 October 2016 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

A treasure hunter has found a rare 2,000-year-old Roman pendant in a field in a Cheshire village. Luke Sansom was searching with a metal detector in Farndon, near Chester, when he stumbled across the silver piece. Made with carnelian gemstone, it features a fallen soldier or gladiator holding a shield towards what appears to be a large cat or panther. Cheshire assistant coroner Dr Janet Napier declared the find to be treasure at an inquest at Warrington Town Hall. The pendant will now be valued by the British Museum.

The Grosvenor Museum in Chester has expressed an interest in buying it and Mr Sansom, of Saltney near Chester, would stand to receive half the money, with the rest going to the owner of the field. Elizabeth Montgomery, the museum’s collections officer, said that It is a rare find especially with the image of the soldier fighting with the large cat or panther.

The gemstone certainly dates back to the Roman era around the first century BC but the pendant is a bit older. It is late Roman or early Anglo-Saxon and would have belonged to someone wealthy. Chester had a big Roman military garrison but this was found outside the city walls.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk

Roman hoard unearthed in a field in Peover Superior

13 July 201613 July 2016 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

METAL detecting enthusiast Ronald Lees unearthed the find of a lifetime in a field at Peover Superior. The 62-year-old initially found dozens of Roman coins, which became a hoard of almost 7,800 after archaeologists helped reveal the full extent of the amazing discovery. The bronze coins were produced in the third century, and the majority were found in a pot a few inches under the ground.

Mr Lees, from Altrincham, discovered the coins when he and friend Rick Parker made their fifth trawl of a field on a cold, wet winter’s day in January 2015. At an inquest into the find at Macclesfield Town Hall on Wednesday, Alan Moore, deputy coroner for Cheshire, declared the coin hoard to be treasure. Museums can express an interest in a find if it’s treasure, and if a museum wants the treasure the Treasure Valuation Committee will decide how much it is worth and how much will go to anyone entitled to a share of the find.

Mr Moore told Mr Lees at the inquest that It is an absolutely amazing find. Mr Moore read out a report by Richard Abdy from the British Museum. In his report Mr Abdy said the coins date from AD 251 to 274, and are similar to the many Romano-British coin hoards buried in the aftermath of the breakaway Gallic Empire. The empire was established in AD 260, he said, had held dominion over Britain and was reconquered by the legitimate ‘central’ Empire under Aurelian in AD 274. The coins include ones from the earliest years of Aurelian’s reign, and the latest are those of Tetricus I, AD 271-4 and his young son Tetricus II, the last of the Gallic Emperors. The greatest number, 1,902, are from the reign of Tetricus I, with 745 from his son’s reign. There are 1,670 coins from the reign of Victorinus, AD 269-71, 899 from Gallienus’ reign, AD 260-8, 599 from the reign of Claudius II, AD 268-70, and 354 from Posthumus’ reign, AD 260-9.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Lees said he took up metal detecting again three years ago after being interested in it in his 20s.

Metal detectorist finds 700 year old gold ring in farmer’s field

6 July 20166 July 2016 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

Metal detecting enthusiast Patricia Richmond finds 700-year-old gold ring in farmer’s field.

A metal detectoris unearthed a 700-year-old gold ring during an early morning hunt in a farmer’s field in Houghton Green. Patricia Richmond found the medieval ring during a hunt in land near Peel Hall Farm in October.

A treasure trove inquest at Warrington Coroner’s Court concluded that the ring probably dated back to the 14th century.

The 59-year-old and her metal detecting partner Stuart Bibby arrived at the farmer’s field at around 6am on October 20 and after less than an hour Ms Richmond had made the astonishing find.

After Ms Richmond unearthed the ring it was sent to Stuart Noon, finds liaison officer at the Museum of Lancashire, who estimated that the ring dated back to between 1,300-1,400AD.

Its primary material is gold with an inset oval stone that could potentially be a sapphire.

The ring, which measures 15x20mm and weighs 3.26g, has seven convex settings in its bezel to hold the stone and a decorated flower inscribed into an integral square plate on either side of the hoop.

No makers mark was discovered on the ring.

The inquest was held to determine whether the item should be classified as treasure.

the assistant coroner for Cheshire Alan Moore concluded that the ring represented treasure as it was more than 300 years old and had a precious metal content exceeding 10 per cent.

As yet it is unknown what will happen next to the ring, but Warrington Museum has expressed an interest in housing it.

metal detectorist postaman Garrett AT Pro

Hero Postman Metal Detectorist

5 July 20165 July 2016 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

A postman with a metal detector has reunited a Calderdale pensioner with her soldier father’s war medal after more than 60 years.

Mick Wells, from Luddenden Foot, was looking for forgotten treasures in Rishworth when he stumbled across a silver campaign medal from the First World War belonging to Pte Joseph Hinchcliffe.

And after a bit of detective work with help from a friend he managed to track down the rightful owner, Pte Hinchcliffe’s daughter Mary Turner, who had since moved to Triangle.

350 year old ring found by metal detectorist

23 February 201623 February 2016 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

A rare 350 year old gold ring found by a metal detector user in a field in the Forest of Dean in 2015 has been classed as treasure.

The post-medieval, gold posy ring, with the inscription ‘In trust be just’ and the maker’s mark, was found by a Mr H Jones two to three inches under the ground in a field on 3 October 2015. Posy rings are gold finger rings with a short inscription on their surface. They were popular during the 15th through the 17th centuries as lover’s gift.

Ring, dates around 1675 AD to 1725 AD, qualifies as Treasure and it has been passed to the Dean Heritage Centre. A similar ring was found in the past with similar inscriptions and was lodged with the British Museum. The ring qualified as treasure because it is more than 300 years old and at least 10% precious metal. The exact location of the find is being kept secret.

Source: http://www.itv.com/news/

Tudor treasure hoard found in Thames

20 January 201620 January 2016 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

Tudor gold found in the river Thames: Tiny haul of delicately crafted 16th century beads, studs and aglets discovered by mudlarks who scour the shore.

Treasure hunters searching the banks of the Thames have unearthed a tiny trove of Tudor gold. The pieces include delicately crafted beads, studs and aglets – metal tips for laces – which would have adorned hats or garments to display social status. The style and date of the pieces are so similar that archaeologists believe they may have come from one piece of clothing, possibly a hat blown into the river from a wealthy boat passenger’s head.

Dating from the early 16th century, they were found over the past few years by eight licensed mudlarks – treasure hunters who have permits to scour the Thames foreshore. The Museum of London said the pieces – which are so small they could all fit into an eggcup – were wonderful and hint at the fashion of the time. It hopes to acquire them following a formal treasure trove inquest. Archaeologist Kate Sumnall, who is based at the Museum of London, said the pieces were declared as treasure. Individually they are all wonderful finds but as a group they are even more important. To find them from just one area suggests a lost ornate hat or other item of clothing. The fabric has not survived and all that remains are these gold decorative elements that hint at the fashion of the time. The museum hopes to acquire the pieces once they have gone through a formal treasure trove inquest. London’s history as a trading port means the banks of the Thames conceal artefacts dating back many centuries, and the river’s alluvial silt and clay help to preserve such finds. Most discoveries have little or no financial value but help historians to understand the lives of previous generations.

Norfolk – The Best Spot For Finding Treasure

19 January 201619 January 2016 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

Research by the BBC has revealed Norfolk as the best spot for treasure hunters. But is everything as it seems? Of all the treasures found in the ground, fewer than 5% are discovered by professional archaeologists. More than 90% are unearthed by amateur treasure hunters armed with metal detectors – devices originally devised for hunting down land mines. Recent finds include a hoard of Roman coins in Herefordshire, a collection of Norman and Anglo-Saxon coins in Buckinghamshire and collection of Viking jewellery in North Yorkshire. But one county in England boasts more treasure finds each year than Herefordshire, Buckinghamshire and North Yorkshire combined: Norfolk.

Coroner figures (treasure is declared such by coroners) for the past three years reveal the county has on average 116 treasure finds a year, followed by Essex with 71, Suffolk with 65 and Lincolnshire with 59. Coventry, Bristol and the City of York, on the other hand, have not had a single treasure declaration in three years.

The BBC’s map of treasure does seem to reflect the sites of the much older major cities such as Norwich, Lincoln, York, Bristol, Ipswich and Winchester. But while finds might reflect historical areas of settlement, far more important, says Dr Lewis, are the activities of the people who make the finds. East Anglia – an area of arable farmland – and the flats of Lincolnshire are simply easier to metal detect on than hilly farmland in, say, Cumbria or the Pennines. Metal detectorists cannot detect in built-up urban environments, meaning town centre finds – such as the Fenwick Treasure in Colchester – are nearly always made by archaeologists brought in as part of a redevelopment. In the 1980s, archaeologists and metal detectorists were at war over the nation’s subterranean heritage. But in the 20 years since the PAS set out clear guidance for the reporting of finds by the public, the relationship between responsible detectorists and archaeologists has thawed.

All finds should be reported to one of the country’s 37 finds liaison officers (FLO). Between them, they have collated details of more than one million finds since the scheme started. Dr Lewis said of the 80,000 finds reported each year only 1,000 or so were treasure. The location of treasure finds also reflects the regional vibrancy of a metal detecting as a hobby and – in some instances – the talent of the detectorist. The first areas to have FLOs were Kent, Norfolk, the West Midlands, North Lincolnshire, north-west England and Yorkshire. Four of these regions feature towards the top of the treasure finds list.

Wolverhampton Detectorist Unearthed Medieval Reliquary

18 November 201518 November 2015 Regton Detectors Leave a comment

Black Country metal detectorist to cash in on once-in-a-lifetime find. A treasure hunter from Wolverhampton has unearthed an artefact find that is expected to net him a cash windfall.

Colin Pearson found a 14th or 15th century gold reliquary when out with the Bloxwich Research and Metal Detecting Club.

The 70-year-old found the 34mm by 28mm artefact in a farmer’s field in Drayton Bassett, on the Staffordshire/Warwickshire border. If it had been complete, would have been worth £70,000. In the condition that it was found, the piece is worth around £7,000. It is currently being held by the British Museum while Warwick Museum prepares the funds to purchase it for its collection. It’s believed the gold reliquary could once have been worn by royalty.

Mr Pearson, who lives in Compton and has been metal detecting for more than 30 years.

It really is a once-in-a-lifetime find, there are only three of these lids.

One was found by a four-year-old in Yorkshire who went out metal detecting with his dad, and that one was worth £70,000.

Source: http://www.expressandstar.com/

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