BioProfessor
Silver Member
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2007
- Messages
- 2,917
- Reaction score
- 84
- Golden Thread
- 0
- Location
- Mankato, MN
- Detector(s) used
- Minelab e-Trac, White E-Series DFX
I have been fortunate to be allowed to detect some very old ground here on the other side of the pond. There are things that I hope to find that I know are there. The Romans had a tunnel here so thick coins hold the possibility of showing me the profile of a Roman Emperor. The farm was managed by Monks during Medieval times so buckles, thin coins, and bronze pieces may be from the activities of the Monks and the people recruited to help with the crops. The possibilities just boggles my mind.
I was detecting a long low "bump" that runs about halfway across the field. I'll admit I was doing a bit of "Cherry Picking" for coins (silver was the goal), buttons, and buckles. So I was looking for the 12-42's, 12-50's, and the signals that told me there were loops in the target. But then there was this nice, loud, repeatable 12-10 with a funny pitch. I swung over it and turned 90 degrees and swung again. No change. Solid. But I knew it was lead. I had dug about 5 musket balls the week before and wasn't really interested in 1 more so I walked. But that funny, ringy, high note I could barely hear just bugged me. It finally got the best of me and I retraced my dragging shovel line and found it. I said "What the heck. I'm here and I like musket balls." So I centered the target and flipped out a big shovel of dirt. Out of the hole. Grabbed my pin pointer and I felt the "clunk" on the probe before I heard it go off. I picked it up and it was no musket ball. It was about 2cm square and 0.5cm thick. Lead.
But when I brushed the dirt off with my small brush, there was the unmistaken glint of gold. GOLD?? This is a lead thing. GOLD??
Yep, GOLD right smack in the middle of the thing and a few circle punches to go along with it. I look at it and had no clue what it is. NONE. I had never seen anything like it. I wasn't expecting that. I thought I had seen about all there was to see either on the web or on a forum. Well Toto we weren't in Kansas anymore.
I started trying to figure out what to even search for on the net. Lead with gold in center? That dogs not going to hunt. So I just kept putting in lead and gold with any other terms I could think of to described this "thing."
One of the searches returned a link to a "Viking Plunder Gaming Piece." I followed it and holy cow, that is what it was. Some Vikings hundreds of years ago plundered some village and stole what they could, killed who they could, and burned what they could. They then took some of the plundered loot and put pieces with gold gilt in a large piece of lead so they could play games with it. It was their way of making fun of the people they killed and robbed. Take the treasure and use it for a game.
So there in my hand was a lead gaming piece with a piece of gold gilted bronze that a Viking had made and played games with.
From what I can find about this piece, it was most likely a weight that was around or stolen and used to place a piece of plundered goods. It was an easy way to do it and if the weight was not being used, it was a good thing to do.
So it is Viking plunder and was an old piece of lead they either had or stole and repurposed it as a gaming piece.
Never in a million years did I think THAT would be in my hand.
But here it is.
Enjoy. I sure am.
Daryl
I was detecting a long low "bump" that runs about halfway across the field. I'll admit I was doing a bit of "Cherry Picking" for coins (silver was the goal), buttons, and buckles. So I was looking for the 12-42's, 12-50's, and the signals that told me there were loops in the target. But then there was this nice, loud, repeatable 12-10 with a funny pitch. I swung over it and turned 90 degrees and swung again. No change. Solid. But I knew it was lead. I had dug about 5 musket balls the week before and wasn't really interested in 1 more so I walked. But that funny, ringy, high note I could barely hear just bugged me. It finally got the best of me and I retraced my dragging shovel line and found it. I said "What the heck. I'm here and I like musket balls." So I centered the target and flipped out a big shovel of dirt. Out of the hole. Grabbed my pin pointer and I felt the "clunk" on the probe before I heard it go off. I picked it up and it was no musket ball. It was about 2cm square and 0.5cm thick. Lead.
But when I brushed the dirt off with my small brush, there was the unmistaken glint of gold. GOLD?? This is a lead thing. GOLD??
Yep, GOLD right smack in the middle of the thing and a few circle punches to go along with it. I look at it and had no clue what it is. NONE. I had never seen anything like it. I wasn't expecting that. I thought I had seen about all there was to see either on the web or on a forum. Well Toto we weren't in Kansas anymore.
I started trying to figure out what to even search for on the net. Lead with gold in center? That dogs not going to hunt. So I just kept putting in lead and gold with any other terms I could think of to described this "thing."
One of the searches returned a link to a "Viking Plunder Gaming Piece." I followed it and holy cow, that is what it was. Some Vikings hundreds of years ago plundered some village and stole what they could, killed who they could, and burned what they could. They then took some of the plundered loot and put pieces with gold gilt in a large piece of lead so they could play games with it. It was their way of making fun of the people they killed and robbed. Take the treasure and use it for a game.
So there in my hand was a lead gaming piece with a piece of gold gilted bronze that a Viking had made and played games with.
From what I can find about this piece, it was most likely a weight that was around or stolen and used to place a piece of plundered goods. It was an easy way to do it and if the weight was not being used, it was a good thing to do.
So it is Viking plunder and was an old piece of lead they either had or stole and repurposed it as a gaming piece.
Never in a million years did I think THAT would be in my hand.
But here it is.
Enjoy. I sure am.
Daryl
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WOW!!! It doesn't matter which it is. It's the freakin' find of a lifetime. WTG!! BANNER 
