• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Metal Detectoring

Tempest63 said:
I received my Garrett Ace 400 yesterday.
Click to expand...
Conventional advice for starting out is to dig every solid signal for the first 20 hours of detecting. This lets you understand the machine and the change in signal over varying depth, soil composition and target composition. 'You gotta dig 'em all'.
In practice it is really irritating to dig 8 shotties in a row and the Garrett (I had one) is brilliant for giving banging signals for rusty lumps of iron. But ... as mentioned, yesterday the buttons were coming up with the same signal as the shotties, bullets, cases, Roman rings - the George II halfpenny was the same as the bottle top, the George V penny same as a Fanta can. Keep expectations grounded and you won't get too disappointed or frustrated - HAVE FUN. I've got my first weekend rally (Detectival) in a couple of weeks and even if surrounded by 600 experts I intend to have a blast.
 
Bad Bungle said:
That's a very good question. There's no ferrous rust, I'm guessing bronze as that can gets dark with age (and chalky soil). I'll ask the FLO if I get to see her.
Click to expand...
I'd call bronze, enough verdigris but not too much.
 
Bad Bungle said:
Conventional advice for starting out is to dig every solid signal for the first 20 hours of detecting. This lets you understand the machine and the change in signal over varying depth, soil composition and target composition. 'You gotta dig 'em all'.
In practice it is really irritating to dig 8 shotties in a row and the Garrett (I had one) is brilliant for giving banging signals for rusty lumps of iron. But ... as mentioned, yesterday the buttons were coming up with the same signal as the shotties, bullets, cases, Roman rings - the George II halfpenny was the same as the bottle top, the George V penny same as a Fanta can. Keep expectations grounded and you won't get too disappointed or frustrated - HAVE FUN. I've got my first weekend rally (Detectival) in a couple of weeks and even if surrounded by 600 experts I intend to have a blast.
Click to expand...
I’ve watched a few instructional videos on my particular machine, which all looked simple enough, but just walking it up and down the garden I can see it will involve a learning curve.
Thanks for the guidance @Bad Bungle
 
Tempest63 said:
I’ve watched a few instructional videos on my particular machine, which all looked simple enough, but just walking it up and down the garden I can see it will involve a learning curve.
Thanks for the guidance @Bad Bungle
Click to expand...
Bury stuff in the garden and detect over it with different settings until you get a consistent non-ferrous signal. I don't have a garden so started out with a coin under a neighbour's flower pot.
 
Bad Bungle said:
Bury stuff in the garden and detect over it with different settings until you get a consistent non-ferrous signal. I don't have a garden so started out with a coin under a neighbour's flower pot.
Click to expand...
Also, ground conditions can make detecting either into having a good day, or having a duff day when I used to do it years ago on my now Vintage (with large & small detector heads) Metal Detector C-SCOPE TR 950-D.
 
Last edited:
Sid said:
Also, ground conditions can make detecting either into having a good day, or having a duff day when I used to do it years ago on my now Vintage (with large & small detector heads) Metal Detector C-SCOPE TR 950-D.
Click to expand...
4 knobs !? Wow.
We are not worthy !

C-Scope.jpg
 
Could you imagine the amout of discoveries that would have been lost with Metal Detectorists? I gather that in Turkey and some European countries it's illegal can you imagine what one would find there especially in the parts that use to be Ancient Greek
 
Bad Bungle said:
I finally got out on Sunday to the site where it all began - my first dig with the Club in 2017 near Dinton Castle (local folly). So local that door-to-field took under three and a half minutes (2 miles) - I was out of practice and out of puff - it rained, it shone, it all got a bit muddy.
Found a few buttons, a buckle, my first spindle-whorl (yay) a lot of modern lead and a brooch with a broken pin.

View attachment 43024

It's a nice brooch, here's a closer look. And of a previous Anglo Saxon burial excavation in the adjacent field.
I'm sending photos to the Bucks FLO but fingers crossed - could be 450-550 AD. Could be cursed I tell you !

View attachment 43025 View attachment 43029
Click to expand...

Saw my FLO (Finds Liaison Officer) in person for the first time yesterday at the County Museum and finally got my brooch back (Covid lock-down and Maternity leave has really slowed down recording of finds). 'Early medieval' 450-650 AD, (I notice the word 'Saxon is not bandied about on PAS unless proven) - one item retrieved, four items handed over for recording. Anyhow, we were talking about burials and she mentioned that finders have come to her and said 'we've found a pair of Saxon brooches !'
'No, you've found a grave. Now I have to report it to the Police.'
 
Buried treasure dating back 3000 years discovered in North Wales

Buried treasure dating back thousands of years has been unearthed in North Wales. The Bronze Age gold ornament is one of eight finds that were officially declared as treasure at a special inquest on Tuesday.

0_Treasure-1938-DAL-158676jpeg.jpg


Dating back to the Late Bronze Age (1000-800 BCE), the gold-lock ring was discovered by Chris Wood in September 2018 while metal-detecting on a ploughed field in Holt, Wrexham. This artefact fragment, made nearly three thousand years ago, was once used as a high-status ornament, possibly in the hair, and is decorated with intricate concentric circular lines.

A medieval gold fede ring was also declared treasure at the inquest after it was discovered by Paul Davis on April 12, 2021 while metal-detecting in a field under pasture in Bronington, Wrexham. The ring, of later 15th Century date, has two raised pelleted ridges spaced with a flower and leaf design, with traces of white enamel decoration surviving.

0_Treasure-2114-DAL-148072jpeg.jpg


An inscription on the outer surface reads ‘de bon cuer’ which means ‘of good heart’.

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/buried-treasure-dating-back-3000-26530920

maximus otter
 
A detectorist in Australia has found a rock containing £130,000 worth of gold!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-65095925

An Australian man armed with a budget metal detector has hit the jackpot, finding a 4.6kg rock containing gold worth A$240,000 (£130,000; $160,000).
The man, who doesn't want to be named, made the discovery in Victoria's goldfields - which were the heart of Australia's gold rush in the 1800s.
Darren Kamp, who valued and bought the specimen, said it is the biggest he's seen in his 43-year career.
"I was just gobsmacked... It's a once in a lifetime find," he told the BBC.
Mr Kamp hadn't thought too much of it when a man wearing a large backpack walked into his prospecting store in Geelong, about an hour south-west of Melbourne. Normally people come in with fools gold or other rocks that look like gold, Mr Kamp says.
"But he pulled this rock out and as he dropped it into my hand he said, 'Do you think there's A$10,000 worth in it?'"
"I looked at him and said, 'Try A$100,000'."
Click to expand...
 
I found a big broken gilded brooch today (Day one of 'Detectival', a two day Rally in Oxfordshire) and took it to the Finds Tent. They threw me out and threatened to let the dogs loose if I didn't rebury it - because it was ... modern (Edwardian in style ?).
Found a bit of tut with the middle missing a few weeks ago, which apparently is a 2nd Century Roman plate brooch with remains of enamelling and it's very unusual because the middle isn't missing, it was made that way.
I know which one I prefer.

New Brooch_526a.jpg Roman Brooch_421a.jpg Roman brooch_871.jpg
 
Bad Bungle said:
I found a big broken gilded brooch today (Day one of 'Detectival', a two day Rally in Oxfordshire) and took it to the Finds Tent. They threw me out and threatened to let the dogs loose if I didn't rebury it - because it was ... modern (Edwardian in style ?).
Found a bit of tut with the middle missing a few weeks ago, which apparently is a 2nd Century Roman plate brooch with remains of enamelling and it's very unusual because the middle isn't missing, it was made that way.
I know which one I prefer.

View attachment 64914 View attachment 64916 View attachment 64917
Click to expand...
Both look like good finds.
 
A thousand-year-old Viking hoard of coins and jewellery has been found by a girl with a metal detector.

A deposit of stolen jewellery and 300 coins has reportedly been found by a young girl in Denmark, a report on Friday has claimed.

Described as being “very rare” by archaeologists, the young girl is said to have uncovered the Viking-age treasure while using a metal detector in a cornfield last autumn, with the North Jutland museum revealing details of the find this week.

According to a write-up by the museum, the two deposits found by the girl consist of a mix of German, Arab and Danish coins, the latter of which have drawn the interest of historians for their cross motifs, something that has been linked to the effort by King Harald Bluetooth’s efforts to Christianise the country.

Also found as part of the hoard were pieces of jewellery thought to have originated in the region of Viking-age Ireland, with the museum putting forward the hypothesis that it was seized from the country during one of the many raids that took place during that era.

Experts believe the treasure can be dated somewhere between 980 and 990 A.D., with the Danish coins in particular said to narrow down the possible timeframe for the hoard thanks to their highly Christianised motif.

Experts are also excited by the location of the find, which is said to be very close to Harald Bluetooth’s fort of Fyrkat.

The girl who found the treasures will receive a cash reward for her efforts, the amount of which will reportedly not be disclosed.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/20...sure-found-by-young-girl-with-metal-detector/

maximus otter
 
Unearthing the baby Jesus.

A metal detectorist has told of his "shock" after finding a gold ring engraved with baby Jesus which is believed to be more than 500 years old.

Matthew Hepworth, 48, found the rare oval ring which also features the Virgin Mary in a field in Lancaster. The nurse, of Morecambe, Lancashire, said the "once in a lifetime" find was thought to date back to the 1400s. An inquest will later rule whether it is treasure but Mr Hepworth hopes it will end up in a local museum.

The father-of-two told the BBC: "I am over the moon about it. I was so shocked to find it.

"I have been metal detecting for more than 30 years and this is a once in a lifetime find.

The ring just after it was dug out of the ground
IMAGE SOURCE, MATTHEW HEPWORTH Image caption, The ring just after it was dug out of the ground

"It's a dream come true. It tops everything and is a very rare find for the UK."

Mr Hepworth told the field's landlord who was "gobsmacked" by the discovery which came after a faint sound on his metal detector. He has also informed the finds officer and Lancaster City Museum after the discovery earlier this month.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-65383377
 
The dark side of detectoring.

A warning has been issued to illegal metal detectorists after holes were found at a Roman temple site.

Gosbecks Archaeological Park in Colchester, Essex, is an ancient scheduled monument which includes Roman and Iron Age remains.
Several holes have been found at the site and the city council has warned illegal detectorists, known as "night hawks", that the site is protected.

City councillor Pam Cox said it was "working closely" with Essex Police.

Gosbecks was the site of the leading Iron Age tribal capital in south eastern Britain and continued to be important following the Roman invasion with a temple and theatre built.

It is legally protected from all excavation since it became an ancient scheduled monument in 1939.

However, Colchester City Council officials said several holes were dug at the site at Gosbecks earlier this month by someone using a metal detector to locate archaeological finds.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-65417465
 
There not nighthawks they are sh**ehawks
They let the whole metal detecting community down the vast majority who are honest and decent people
boils my blood it does.
I’m going for a lie down now get me blood pressure back to normal
 
Metal detectorists sentenced to more than five years in jail

Two metal detectorists have been jailed after failing to declare coins worth over £700,000 as treasure - and trying to sell them illegally.

Craig Best, 46, and Roger Pilling, 75, were sentenced to five years and two months at Durham Crown Court on Thursday following their trial.

They were convicted of two charges of possessing and conspiring to sell criminal property worth £766,000, namely coins believed to have been buried by a Viking in the ninth century.

The coins were discovered in Leominster as part of a larger, undeclared find from 2015 known as the Herefordshire Hoard.

https://news.sky.com/story/metal-detectorists-sentenced-to-more-than-five-years-in-jail-12872775

maximus otter
 
Haven't found a silver hammered coin in simply ages, then dug a cut half short-cross on Sunday. Awaiting identification but it has to be between 1180-1247 AD - will let you know if interested. Also found some really grotty round things that are apparently coins, although one was less than a centimetre across (Roman minim). Bit of a clean up and a profile facing right appeared, last seen daylight 1700 years ago.

SC Half_Clod_208A.jpgGrots_155.jpg
 
The Moneyer was Osber which can be made out on the hammered coin, although several possible mints. Anyway, silver penny (half of) 1180-89 which would makes it Henry II - he who married Eleanor of Aquitaine, eight kids etc. So pleased I could get a date.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top