DAY 11 - Short hunt

CRUSADER · Oct 21, 2007

I was helping the amateur Geophysical group do a survey of the land my Dad found the Bronze Age Axe head on, We think it was a burial site of national importance but the Archies weren't interested, so me & the farmer commissioned a survey. I helped & learnt how to use a magnetometer & when Dad arrived he helped with the resistivity machine. We covered 4x 30 meter squares. I will get the results in a few days time. If they are good they will come back & finish the area.

After we had done this we spent 1.5 hours with 1 machine on the field we have been doing.

2 Scrappies
Lead Token
Fossil
1670s Farthing

A cool 1794 Pidcocks Exhibition - London Token.
See Token:
http://www.coinraritiesonline.com/index.php?page=search&task=det_pl&offset=93&gal_id=1

Read sad story of the Elephant (1/2 way down page):
http://www.tokensociety.org.uk/articles/tokens/pidcocks.shtml

Bavaria Mike · Oct 21, 2007

What a great experience to use a Magnetometer, sounds like fun! Must be fun to work with professionals who have the expensive equipment. Great finds as well. I had a nice hunt with a friend today, I had a good day but my friend found two old coin weights and a silver from 1810. HH, Mike

CRUSADER · Oct 21, 2007

Bavaria Mike said:
Must be fun to work with professionals who have the expensive equipment.

£8000 piece of kit

Yeah it was fun, but hard to walk at the right pace and finish right on the double beep.

tymcmurray · Oct 21, 2007

A new tool experience for an avid treasure hunter
is always a good thing.
Sound like you and the farmer are working well together.
Congratulations on your finds and the new experience.
Who are the "Archies"?

CRUSADER · Oct 21, 2007

tymcmurray said:
Who are the "Archies"?

Short name for the Archaeologists.

Harry_Morant · Oct 22, 2007

tymcmurray said:
Who are the "Archies"?

Surely you remember the Archies

CRUSADER · Oct 22, 2007

Harry_Morant said:
tymcmurray said:

Who are the "Archies"?

Click to expand...

Surely you remember the Archies

Yeah, one of the same.

SgtSki in MI · Oct 22, 2007

Its cool that in England that Archies work WITH detectorists!!!

A much different story over here, but I'm going to have to be VERY reserved in this post or I will go into a rant.

Let's just say that over here in the states, if you make a find like that, this is what the Archies would do. They'd swoop in on their high horses, run everybody out of the area, and cordon it off. If you're lucky, maybe they'll be unsuccessful at imposing some sort of fine on you. After that, they'll do a dig and most of the artifacts that they recover will go into a museum storeroom, never to see the light of day again (or into their own private collections). Then, Invoking the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, and the Antiquities Act of 1906, they'll ensure nobody even THINKS about digging in that area under penalty of 5 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both. This is on public land, mind you. They still have no jurisdiction over private land but it isn't for a lack of trying (especially in Virginia). Archaelogists in the States regard detectorists as vandals who rob the public of valuable historical resources. As if a crusty 1905 Indian Heat Cent or a handful of scrap metal is an archaeological treasure. They would rather a metallic object deteriorate to the point that it becomes a mere soil discoloration rather than have anyone but THEM discover it!!! Needless to say, I have little truck with Archies.

See? I went on a rant anyway....sorry

I'm glad that Crown Archaeologists are much more reasonable towards our hobby over there than those in the States. I was told or have read that the Crown will even reward the finder and the landowner a portion of the fair market value of a found object if they declare it to be treasure.

Congrats on the cool finds!!

rayredditch · Oct 22, 2007

SgtSki in MI said:
A much different story over here, but I'm going to have to be VERY reserved in this post or I will go into a rant.

Let's just say that over here in the states, if you make a find like that, this is what the Archies would do. They'd swoop in on their high horses, run everybody out of the area, and cordon it off. If you're lucky, maybe they'll be unsuccessful at imposing some sort of fine on you. After that, they'll do a dig and most of the artifacts that they recover will go into a museum storeroom, never to see the light of day again (or into their own private collections). Then, Invoking the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, and the Antiquities Act of 1906, they'll ensure nobody even THINKS about digging in that area under penalty of 5 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both. This is on public land, mind you. They still have no jurisdiction over private land but it isn't for a lack of trying (especially in Virginia). Archaelogists in the States regard detectorists as vandals who rob the public of valuable historical resources. As if a crusty 1905 Indian Heat Cent or a handful of scrap metal is an archaeological treasure. They would rather a metallic object deteriorate to the point that it becomes a mere soil discoloration rather than have anyone but THEM discover it!!! Needless to say, I have little truck with Archies.

See? I went on a rant anyway....sorry

I'm glad that Crown Archaeologists are much more reasonable towards our hobby over there than those in the States. I was told or have read that the Crown will even reward the finder and the landowner a portion of the fair market value of a found object if they declare it to be treasure.

Congrats on the cool finds!!

That´s about the same as most countries (Counties in Germany), in mainland Europe.

CRUSADER · Oct 22, 2007

Re: Its cool that in England that Archies work WITH detectorists!!!

SgtSki in MI said:
A much different story over here, but I'm going to have to be VERY reserved in this post or I will go into a rant.

Let's just say that over here in the states, if you make a find like that, this is what the Archies would do. They'd swoop in on their high horses, run everybody out of the area, and cordon it off. If you're lucky, maybe they'll be unsuccessful at imposing some sort of fine on you. After that, they'll do a dig and most of the artifacts that they recover will go into a museum storeroom, never to see the light of day again (or into their own private collections). Then, Invoking the Archaeological Resources Protection Act, and the Antiquities Act of 1906, they'll ensure nobody even THINKS about digging in that area under penalty of 5 years' imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, or both. This is on public land, mind you. They still have no jurisdiction over private land but it isn't for a lack of trying (especially in Virginia). Archaelogists in the States regard detectorists as vandals who rob the public of valuable historical resources. As if a crusty 1905 Indian Heat Cent or a handful of scrap metal is an archaeological treasure. They would rather a metallic object deteriorate to the point that it becomes a mere soil discoloration rather than have anyone but THEM discover it!!! Needless to say, I have little truck with Archies.

See? I went on a rant anyway....sorry

I'm glad that Crown Archaeologists are much more reasonable towards our hobby over there than those in the States. I was told or have read that the Crown will even reward the finder and the landowner a portion of the fair market value of a found object if they declare it to be treasure.

Congrats on the cool finds!!

Almost right, they give the full market value. The farmer gets a split of what ever the agreement is. Could be I keep all? 50/50, 60/40?