Silver and relics: From the Viking raids to la Grande Armée

Aureus

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Finally managed to finish the research and choose the right pictures for the second and final part of the post about my 3 weeks stay in Europe.
For those of you who are wondering if I participate in any detecting rallies or hunt with some detecting club while traveling, I don't. All of the finds were discovered without any prior knowledge of the areas, using on the ground research only,with lots of door knocking and almost as much hit and miss.

Here are my favorite finds of the trip from the period spanning from the Middle Ages to the Modern era.

Medieval period 400-1500 A.D.

Denier of Saint-Denis Abbey for Charles the Bald, king of West Francia from 840-877
Probably my favorite coin and the oldest silver I have ever found.
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I was extremely happy finding it as the coins and relics from that period are pretty scarce. Charles the Bald was the king during the infamous raids on Paris, the capital of West Francia by the Vikings under the leadership of Ragnar and Rollo. The movie adapted version of Charles the Bald is featured in the TV series The Vikings (for those of you who have seen it).
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My favorite relic of this trip was this zoomorphic annular brooch from 1200-1300's
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It features three snakes circling each other with cabochon blue and white stones set as eyes. It's very surprising to find it intact after 800 years spent in the ground. A unique and unusual find, just the way I like them :laughing7:
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An other good find in my books was a first one for me.
Medieval seal matrix 1300-1400's
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The legend reads : S' GVILL ELOVDET CLC
latin: SIGILLUM GUILLAUME ELOUDET CLERICI
english: SEAL OF GUILLAUME ELOUDET - CLERIC

Got a few Medieval silver coins.

Hammered English long cross penny of Edward the first or second 1300-1327 A big surprise as I was nowhere near England, a first one for me.
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Obole Thibaut IV of Champagne 1200-1253 A pretty rare coin as only a limited quantity of oboles were made.
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Obole Parisis, Philippe IV 1285-1314
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Double tournois, Philippe VI de Valois 1338
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A few partial silver and billon coins,some aren't in the pic
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A few cool relics

A believe a part of a dagger. Unsure of the period, but I would say pre-1500's I was intrigued by the cross design on one side and some mystical creature on the other.
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And the dagger guard. Again with crosses.
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Late Medieval and Modern period.


A few coin weights.

Angelot 14th-16th century
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Spanish coin weigh for 2 Reales 17th-18th century
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Two 1600's rings. Both I believe feature the cross of St-Andrew
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A Capsulae again from 1600's (a large belt decoration sometimes worn by women)
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A few brooches and buckles. The one on the left in the shape of an amphora might actually be Roman.
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A large 1700's shoe buckle (would have expected to find one over here, would make my day:laughing7:)
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Some ''modern'' silver. My first Napoleon Bonaparte 1 Franc coin 1809
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Some other silvers. Napoleon III 1 Franc and Napoleon I half Franc
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Some Napoleonic wars German States copper coins.
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Some Revolutionary and latter period buttons
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And an other surprising find. On one of the hunts got a partial Roman Dupondius of Augustus and Agrippa 10-14 A.D. A week or so later 20 miles away got a second half that seems to fit. I can't imagine both of those being from the same coin, but I found the coincidence pretty funny.
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Thanks for the comments.
 

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Upvote 66
Wow! Talk about a productive vacation. Way cool finds. Congrats on an amazing old haul. I hope the detect Europe someday.

My brother and I detected South Carolina for a week a couple weeks back. Same deal as you, no detecting meetups, etc. It was tough! We found a few 1700s/1800s buttons but that was it for pre-1900 goodies. Figuring it out on your own isn’t always as easy as you might think. I’m impressed!

Thanks washingtonian.
 

Aureus that’s spectacular
I am still looking at the pics
Amazing trip and great research !!
I say banner on the broach.
Super cool items and coins congratulations on your hunt
I’m sure each find was better than the next
 

Thanks Tnmountains. It's hard to chose one, but I would probably go for that annular brooch followed by the Charles the Bald denier and the Merovingian horse head buckle from my previous post. It's so hard to find the medieval bronze jewellery encrusted with stones in such a great conservation state that when I discovered the brooch I knew my trip was worth it.

I guess I was busy looking at the pictures and see where you had said the broach. You are right it is stunning!
 

Simply amazing! What you got in 3 weeks, some don’t discover in years!
 

Great post and finds. I do not even know where to begin. Love the show "Vikings" and had no idea that the characters depicted were real. I need to read up on my history. Epic hunt and adventure is an understatement.
What was your favorite find if I may ask?

Hi the Vikings Ragnar Lothbrok is played by Australian Actor Travis Fimmel . He was born in a river town about 20 miles from my families farm. Small world. TP
 

Amazing stuff! Really like the seal matrix.
 

OH MY GOD! A trip like that would blow my mind. I can’t dont know what to say except WOW and keep swingin.
 

My thoughts....OMG!!!!!! Awesome finds! What a great time you must have had. I am not even going to be shy about being green, greener, greenest with envy, LoL! Congrats!
 

Sooo amazingly nice
 

:icon_thumleft: Hard to comment because I am green with envy. But really, what else can be said but YOW!!! Great trip. Congrats to you Aureus.
 

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You definitely had a great 3 weeks. And to me, you getting your own permissions makes all these finds that much sweeter. You have so many nice pieces there, all are awesome. But the Brooch is definitely a Banner find. Congrats!!
 

This post just blew my mind. Incredible finds WTG :thumbsup:
 

Now THAT is a Banner Day!!!! Rarity, quality, and quantity!
Hard to believe the condition of everything........
I'm voting "Banner"!

Iowa Dale

Thanks Iowa Dale and thanks for your vote.
 

Hi , How do the new laws that affect landowners in France didn,t seem to affect you ? TP
 

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