Back from England

[cudamark]

Had a decent trip. Weather was the best I've encountered on any of my hunts there. No rain and only one day of wind. Apparently, that isn't good for target detection though. Lots of the fields were freshly plowed and rolled which is great for walking and recoveries, but, without moisture, the fields were fairly quiet, and the small stuff was just not talking. Still, I found 40 "greenies" and eleven silver, so, can't complain. Just two hammered silver like all my hunting buddies, but, 6 milled silver coins including a 1797 Spanish1/2 reale bent into a love token. That was pretty cool IMO. A small sliver of some sort of silver jewelry, a cuff link, and the sterling spoon round out the silver finds. Anyone know what the hall marks signify? I found kind of a cool badge too. Hat badge? Says "The Essex Reg't" on the bottom, and Egypt on the top. Sorry about the poor photos, lighting wasn't the best there. Anyone know the history of that badge? Found all sorts of "bits and bobs" too of course. I'll post more later if anyone wants to see them. Lots of buttons, musket balls, lead seals, pipe stems, etc..... We had four gold finds in our group, but, alas, none were found by me. Two of them were pretty remarkable though. A buddy who went there with me back in 2019 found the end of a 1300 BC gold waist torc. Find of the year over there then This year, in my group on the same field, two of my buddies found more of that torc. Worth thousands of pound/dollars each. Probably more out there, so, maybe next year we find the rest. If you want better photos of anything, you'll have to wait a year until I pick them up next trip!

 

[PikesPeakCharlie]

Great hunt !!! Congrats !!! it goes without saying but, love that gold !!!!

 

[Mackaydon]

Great saves !!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1598678255/the-essex-reg-egypt-two-tone-military?ref=elp_anchor_listing&sts=1

Some history: In 1898 the cap badge adopted kept the castle surmounted by the sphinx as the central motif, flanked by a wreath of oak leaves with a scroll beneath bearing THE ESSEX REGT. The design appears to have been "standardized" after 1901. In 1958 the Regiment amalgamated with the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment to become "3rd Battalion the East Anglian Regiment (16th / 44th Foot)", in the East Anglian Brigade. In 1964 the Royal Anglian Regiment was formed from the Battalions of the Brigade, the numbers and subtitles being carried forward until 1968 when the subtitles were dropped. 3rd Battalion the Royal Anglian Regiment was disbanded in 1992.
Don in SoCal

 

[Trezurehunter]

Looks like it was a great trip ! Nice finds.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Congrats on the excellent finds - good to hear you had a great time !

 

[billb]

Outstanding !!!!!
Congratulations on your success
Welcome back and Thank you for sharing

 

[oldmxrat]

Yep, looks like you had a fun trip, congrats on all of those great finds!

 

[Gare]

Great finds Was it very expensive to go there ? WHat detectors did you use ?

 

[cudamark]

Great finds Was it very expensive to go there ? WHat detectors did you use ?

10 days is about 3000 plus your air fare, 1st night hotel room, and some dinners out. I used my Equinox 900.

 

[CRUSADER]

Cool, seen loads of different coin love token, not seen a Spanish one until this post. Pretty unusual but does fit the right date profile, so proves they used what they had at hand.

 

[pepperj]

Good hunt 👏
That's 4 pieces of the gold Torc that has been found I believe.

 

[BennyV]

Just read up on Torcs. Pretty cool stuff. Wonder if someone buried it. Sounds like it was probably a wealthy noble who owned it.

 

[Gare]

10 days is about 3000 plus your air fare, 1st night hotel room, and some dinners out. I used my Equinox 900.

Thank you for your reply. I have been thinking about a trip some where possibly to the UK Just wondered what it would cost. Would you go back ? Did you use like a guided service ?

 

[Red-Coat]

... and the sterling spoon round out the silver finds. Anyone know what the hall marks signify?

You did good... and the gold torc was a stellar find for your buddy.

The date letter on the spoon, a lower case serifed ‘b’, can’t be 100% determined without knowing where it was assayed. I don’t see a city mark, so that’s either missing, has worn away, or is elsewhere on the piece and not shown.

However, there is a duty mark as the monarch’s head in an oval cartouche, which puts it between 1784 and 1890. From the direction it faces and the profile of the truncation, it has to be George III, not George IV, William IV, or Victoria. That would put it between 1784 and 1820, with the date letter then consistent with 1818 for Exeter (using a castle as the city mark), or 1817 for London (using a Leopard’s head as the city mark). Much more likely to be London

The maker mark appears to be something over ‘WY’, which I don’t immediately recognise. It could be a lesser known maker, or a small provincial one who chose London for assay purposes.

 

[Red-Coat]

Thank you for your reply. I have been thinking about a trip some where possibly to the UK Just wondered what it would cost. Would you go back ? Did you use like a guided service ?

You may find this useful. Although the cost will be higher, there are many advantages from booking with a specialist operator:

Interesting find in the UK

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/metal-detectorist-unwittingly-discovers-strange-hoard-hundreds-ancient-objects-rarely-seen

www.treasurenet.com

 

[cudamark]

Good hunt 👏
That's 4 pieces of the gold Torc that has been found I believe.

Yup.

 

[cudamark]

Thank you for your reply. I have been thinking about a trip some where possibly to the UK Just wondered what it would cost. Would you go back ? Did you use like a guided service ?

This was my 14th trip, and yes, I go with a hosted small group dedicated to detecting. It includes all our transportation, lodging (except the 1st night at the airport) breakfast, lunch, and 2-3 dinners at the barn. Also includes the evaluations and all export documents. I'm booked again for next fall. Sometimes I also go in the spring too. The weather can be brutal in the spring though. I'm not fond of cold, especially with wind, ice, snow, etc, that can happen in early spring.

 

[cudamark]

More stuff....... I found at least 4 times this amount of buttons, but, they were all broken flat buttons, so, didn't keep them. A toy cannon, watch winder, accordion/organ reeds, tobacco tin lid handle, and mouth harp among the misc. Pipe stems are just eyeball finds. Found lots of broken china too, but, gave those to someone who collects them.

 

[Gare]

Cuda Thank you for your reply

 

[ArfieBoy]

Looks like you hd a great time. Fantastic finds. Congratulations and thanks for sharing!