Swinging in the UK

[BioProfessor]

Well I'm back from a 2 week MD tour in the UK. Damn near killed me. We were in plowed fields for about 10 hours a day for 14 days straight. It was beep/dig/beep/dig all day long. We were hunting around Colchester, Essex UK which is the oldest town in England. It has been occupied since Roman times. Cool place to hunt.

Interesting fact about hunting the fields there is that you find more gold than pull tabs. Sounds good but there are more buttons in the fields than we have pull tabs. Just trading one for the other. They think they used to plow old clothes into the soil to help condition it. Some of the buttons are nice ones but most are just common 4 hole ones or slick pewter ones. It is tough digging a 10" hole to get a 4 hole button 50 times a day.

Here is a sample of what I was able to find. Since you can't bring anything back with you, I only have some photos of some of the stuff. Hopefully I can eventually get all of it sent to me but the museums have to grant an export license. So here is a sample of things from "across the pond." The "best" find may be the small Domino. Dominoes were not known to exist in the UK until the mid 1800's. This one seems to be much older. If it is an older one, it could get interesting.

Hope you find the items interesting.

Daryl

 

[staydetuned]

Excellent finds Daryl! I was lucky enough to do the same trip also last year, and it sounds very similar. My dad and I would wake up at 8ish in the morning, hunt for 5 hours or so, be delivered hot lunch by Chris, then hunt well into the darkness (usually about 10+) hours. Like you say, we'd come home, shower, eat an AMAZING huge meal (Chris can cook!), clean the finds and just crash. And then do it all over again the next day. It was a GREAT time, and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Kirk - You get everything back. It just takes a little time as Chris does hours and hours of logging every single find (all the crap buttons and miscellaneous stuff as well) for the legit export license. They have a great system whereby, if you find something exceptional, the local museums have the opportunity to buy it from you at fair market value. But these are RARE items; I got everything back about a month and a half after my trip.

Daryl - I also got a half sovereign just like yours

While I've never been on another trip, I highly recommend this one. Not only are the accomodations (and food!) great, but Chris is a human encyclopedia on the history of every item you're digging up. Plus he's funny as hell...

Here are a couple pics of our finds, mine are upper left...

(Don't mean to hijack your post Darryl, but thought some pics would be interesting, plus this got me excited... )

 

[BioProfessor]

Hey, no hijack taken. I like to see other peoples finds too. They are cool. More hammered than we found. I am sure others will like to see more as well.

Looks like somebody in your group found a Saxon Bridal Cheekpiece as well.

You are right about Chris. He's great but he will throw your stuff in the bushes. I found a nice .50 cal bullet from a WWII straif of the field we were hunting. He threw it in the bushes. Crap.

We found several of the round items with the raised rim around them. Ever figure out what they were?

Did you find your Sovereign at Mary's in the Cock Fighting area?

Daryl

 

[Bavaria Mike]

Hey Daryl, I would think you should get most of your finds back, only took about 2 months to get my finds back however, I was there at the end of the hunting season in November. Yours may take up to 4 months, Chris does a good job with pushing the export licenses. Chris made us spaghetti for Thanksgiving day dinner by the way, LOL, he did make the sauce from scratch and it was very good. Just wondering, did you get to sink your teeth into some spotted dick? The Brits do have the best detecting laws in the world, it is a win win situation for all. They keep the serious historical finds, and they should, document everything, pay a modest price for it when they decide to keep treasure and we/people keep whatever they do not want. I am curious about the domino, why is it so special as it comes from the Georgian 1700s? They do not consider anything treasure younger than 300 years old, surely a rare exception on occasion but a domino? I am really enjoying this post and glad you got to experience a dream/reality hunt. HH, Mike

 

[BioProfessor]

I think I will get it back as well. I just think being the first part of the season it may take a little longer. Chris can only do so much.

"Just wondering, did you get to sink your teeth into some spotted dick?" Ain't even going to attempt an answer to that one.

As far as the Domino goes, Chris put it down as Georgian because all the history books say that they didn't come to the UK until then. From looking at this one, I think it is much older than that. All the Georgian sets I can find are all bone, Ivory, wood, etc. To me, this one being brass/bronze and it being a very small set, maybe it was a small traveling set. I also found it in one of the Roman areas. Nobody has looked at it to try and determine the age. The age was just assigned to it not determined. It may be a unique find. I don't know but I would like to know how old it really is.

Daryl

 

[CRUSADER]

I think I will get it back as well. I just think being the first part of the season it may take a little longer. Chris can only do so much.

"Just wondering, did you get to sink your teeth into some spotted dick?" Ain't even going to attempt an answer to that one.

As far as the Domino goes, Chris put it down as Georgian because all the history books say that they didn't come to the UK until then. From looking at this one, I think it is much older than that. All the Georgian sets I can find are all bone, Ivory, wood, etc. To me, this one being brass/bronze and it being a very small set, maybe it was a small traveling set. I also found it in one of the Roman areas. Nobody has looked at it to try and determine the age. The age was just assigned to it not determined. It may be a unique find. I don't know but I would like to know how old it really is.

Daryl

Looks 17th Century

 

[BioProfessor]

That makes it there 200 years before it was supposed to be. The current thinking is that they appeared around 1850. Could be significant. Don't know but maybe worth a discussion.

Daryl

 

[Boobydoo]

Awesome finds Prof, especially the gold coin. Wonderful stuff, congrats and thanks for sharing.

Smiles!
BDoo

 

[civilman1]

Bio...That's like my dream "African Safari" hunt for big game....Unbelivable!! What's the chance, percentage wise you'll be able to see your find's again? Are they pretty common that they don't need them for "research" ?.Beautiful find's Guy's....HH!!

 

[BioProfessor]

I think the chances are better than 95% that I'll get all of it. It is pretty common material for the area. It may take a few months but it will be like Christmas when it comes.

Daryl

 

[bootybay]

i am just speechless... in awe

 

[staydetuned]

Hey Daryl. Yeah, we got a good number of hammered, especially for newbies to England detecting (should have seen us when we got on the field with our Lesches It was also the first time I really used the Explorer II so I had that against me too. Luckily it was a no brainer setting it wide open and digging everything that wasn't iron.

The Saxon pieces are mine (my finds in the upper left, my dad's in the lower right) and the first (the stirrup mount, I think) came from some virgin land at the time. I had no idea what it was but it got Chris pretty excited. When I found the cheek piece, I knew it was Saxon by the shape. Learning quickly :P

The gold coin came from the potato hill above the fair site. We were digging a ton of buttons all night. It was dark, so I'd dig one and feel for a shank. I dug another, felt for a shank, and there were none. I got a light on it and saw it was a silver coin. Cool... Then when we got back and I was emptying my pouch I was shocked to find a gold coin! It turned out what I'd thought was a silver coin was gold in the flash light.

But I did find the ~30 AD Celtic Cunobelin silver (top left, one of 4 known) right by Mary's cockfighting area. We got a couple ROmans from around there too...

Oh, and the raised rim dealies - coin weights, I think. Anyone know?

And Chris' throwing "trash" into the bushes - pretty funny

Crusader - I got your PM. The pieces are listed on the Colchester web-sit:

http://www.colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk/saxon.htm

One is a little more than halfway down, the other almost at the bottom...

 

[UnEarthed72]

Holy #%&@ BioProfessor those are some amazing relics & coins too bad you couldnt bring any home with you at the time(i hope you get at least something if not all of it...and that domino is very cool

 

[Baldingboy]

What an unreal hunt! I just might have to start putting some $ back for one of those hunts! I bet that was a BLAST!!!

 

[BioProfessor]

If you want the excitement of not knowing if the next signal is a Roman coin, Celtic gold, medieval artifact, 11th century hammered coin, or some other really neat item, you have to go. It's not cheap but the "thrill of the hunt" is unbelievable. Nothing like I have every experienced. I'm having a REALLY tough time getting myself up to go do a tot lot to look for clad.

Daryl

 

[Ridley]

Nice group of finds from your trip, Professor!

I lived in Chelmsford from 1970-71. Seeing your photos makes me want to go back for a visit!

Congratulations on the gold coin and domino piece! The question I have is -

What country is next?




Ridley

 

[BioProfessor]

I've thought about that. I think it will be France. I have an invite to live in a Villa in a an area that was occupied by the Romans and site of many battles as this was the border of their territory in the area. The evidence of the roads is still there and many run through the 180 acres of the estate. So that may be next. If that doesn't work out, it's back to the UK. It is just too awesome. Especially the areas Chris has reserved for his tours. He only allows 6 people at a time and the fields are exclusively his. He knows where the villages were, the burial sites, the medieval fairs, etc. Heck, one of the fields was the site of the King of England's house in the 11th century. Can it get any better than that? Not in my book.

Daryl

 

[CRUSADER]

Hey Daryl. Yeah, we got a good number of hammered, especially for newbies to England detecting (should have seen us when we got on the field with our Lesches It was also the first time I really used the Explorer II so I had that against me too. Luckily it was a no brainer setting it wide open and digging everything that wasn't iron.

The Saxon pieces are mine (my finds in the upper left, my dad's in the lower right) and the first (the stirrup mount, I think) came from some virgin land at the time. I had no idea what it was but it got Chris pretty excited. When I found the cheek piece, I knew it was Saxon by the shape. Learning quickly :P

The gold coin came from the potato hill above the fair site. We were digging a ton of buttons all night. It was dark, so I'd dig one and feel for a shank. I dug another, felt for a shank, and there were none. I got a light on it and saw it was a silver coin. Cool... Then when we got back and I was emptying my pouch I was shocked to find a gold coin! It turned out what I'd thought was a silver coin was gold in the flash light.

But I did find the ~30 AD Celtic Cunobelin silver (top left, one of 4 known) right by Mary's cockfighting area. We got a couple ROmans from around there too...

Oh, and the raised rim dealies - coin weights, I think. Anyone know?

And Chris' throwing "trash" into the bushes - pretty funny

Crusader - I got your PM. The pieces are listed on the Colchester web-sit:

http://www.colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk/saxon.htm

One is a little more than halfway down, the other almost at the bottom...

See picture of how the Stirrup Mount works (The Vikings brought them to Britian in the 8-9th century & the Saxons copied them until the 11th century). Your openwork one is quite common type. Very rare find though. We only got our first one this year. A degraded Class A Type 1. You look to have another one which is a Class A, Type 8 (which is in the diagram).

'30 AD Celtic Cunobelin silver (top left, one of 4 known)' - What you have to remember is that yours may have been the 4th one recorded with the CCI, which is a Very Rare Coin. But less than 1 in 10 properly record. Therefore its fair to say there are proberly about 50 of them out there & probably being found & recorded at the rate of 1-2 a year. Not trying to take credit away from you as you will go down in history if you recorded it with Philip at the Cambridge Museum (CCI).

I think they are Pan Weights not coin weights??

Bio,

See examples of different Strap junctions that it could be, I have many more types.(Brought)

 

[BioProfessor]

Thanks for the photos. Guess I'll have to go back and look for some complete ones.

As far as the coin you mention it IS very rare. Chris registers everything you find that could be significant and I am sure the coin made the list. So Staydetuned, did you get the coin on your export license? If you did, it seems somebody may have screwed up big time and you have a VERY valuable coin to deal with. I would get it authenticated, graded, and slabbed. You might even contact Christie's auction house for an auction estimate. You might be VERY surprised.

Daryl

 

[CRUSADER]

Thanks for the photos. Guess I'll have to go back and look for some complete ones.

As far as the coin you mention it IS very rare. Chris registers everything you find that could be significant and I am sure the coin made the list. So Staydetuned, did you get the coin on your export license? If you did, it seems somebody may have screwed up big time and you have a VERY valuable coin to deal with. I would get it authenticated, graded, and slabbed. You might even contact Christie's auction house for an auction estimate. You might be VERY surprised.

Daryl

Maybe in the states, over here, depending on grade £400-£500 ($1000)

Staydetuned:
What CCI no. is it? Which Cunoblien is it? Dad had his first Celtic silver this year (Cunoblien)

 

[BioProfessor]

I guess that's one thing I don't understand about coins from across the pond. It is one of only 50 known to exist and it is only worth $1000 max. Just weird to me. I also don't understand why the museums wouldn't want the coin if it is one of only 50 known. Guess I'm just too "Americanized" to get my head around it.

Daryl