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Metal Detectoring

The memsahib & I went out for our second-ever metal-detecting trip yesterday, and - amongst pounds of useless crap - she found our first ever coin!

The on-call expert tentatively identified it as a low-value coin of Antoninus Pius (Roman emperor 138-161 AD). I have looked through a lot of Internet images, and the closest match I've found is to an as, a bronze coin of about 24mm (0.9") diameter. Here's my wife's find:

Maxs-Roman-coin.jpg


The coin is what I believe detectorists call a "grottius", i.e. a Roman coin in tragic condition. Chunks of the figure & lettering have broken away, and the other side is featureless, but it's Roman!

Our joy is somewhat tempered by the fact that we kept hearing other detectorists shouting to each other, "Got a coin. Just another hammered, though..." :headbang:

We are delighted, and the mem is already planning another outing. Especially as one of the other 'tecs found a gold Celtic coin...

maximus otter
 
maximus otter said:
The memsahib & I went out for our second-ever metal-detecting trip yesterday, and - amongst pounds of useless crap - she found our first ever coin!

The on-call expert tentatively identified it as a low-value coin of Antoninus Pius (Roman emperor 138-161 AD). I have looked through a lot of Internet images, and the closest match I've found is to an as, a bronze coin of about 24mm (0.9") diameter. Here's my wife's find:

Maxs-Roman-coin.jpg


The coin is what I believe detectorists call a "grottius", i.e. a Roman coin in tragic condition. Chunks of the figure & lettering have broken away, and the other side is featureless, but it's Roman!

Our joy is somewhat tempered by the fact that we kept hearing other detectorists shouting to each other, "Got a coin. Just another hammered, though..." :headbang:

We are delighted, and the mem is already planning another outing. Especially as one of the other 'tecs found a gold Celtic coin...

maximus otter
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Looks like it's made of biscuit or bread.
 
Well done to your good lady maximus a good find that.
I know what you mean about the tons of crap it’s what I always find
 
Currently doing some test pitting at Spaldington Old Hall Farm in advance of our 'big dig' next spring. Our detectorist came up with this little beauty. Current thinking is that it is a pendant celebrating the Vatican jubilee of 1600 under Pope Clement VIII. Sadly the scene on the reverse is not clear.
This find is exciting for us because the farm is on the site of Spaldington Hall, which was the home of the Vavasour family. The Vavasours were famous recusants and we are searching for their chapel which was in sited in the grounds. The pendant would obviously not be worn conspicuously so may have been worn under clothing.
Medal.jpg
 
eziofan said:
The pendant would obviously not be worn conspicuously so may have been worn under clot
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Family anecdote so oral history "fact" ;)

My family discussing the english recusancy periods had the impression that medals etc were sewn into the seams of clothing with what we now call french seams. So they precious item would be completely enclosed and invisible. This had the added advantage that children could benefit from the "magic" without them knowing - so they couldn't accidentally let something slip.

It came up in discussion in the early/mid 1960s as a comparison with my jewish ancestors, on the other side of the family, who fled germany in the 1900-1920 period. They came with only the clothes the stood up in, having been relieved of luggage on the Bremen docks as they embarked. Knowing this would happen they had sewn coins, gold and gems - in so far as they had been able to translate houses and land and business assets into these things - into the french seams of garments.

This is... what it is. Oral history but I thought it might be fun @eziofan ! feel free to dismiss as rumour and gossip.
 
Another four hours in the same fields yesterday morning, but this time they were wet clay after recent rain. By the end l was praying that the machine wouldn’t beep, so as not to have to excavate another cubic foot of sticky soil. Finds? Scrap metal and a couple of buttons.

l was really pleased for the bloke a couple of hundred yards away who found a large gold coin. So ****ing pleased… :incan:

maximus otter
 
Lovely find.

A late medieval gold ring engraved with a declaration of love has been found by a metal detectorist.

The motto was written in French, the language of courtly love. Translated it means "I desire to serve you", said historian Lori Rogerson.

It was found within 50m (164ft) of a Tudor silver gilt hooked tag by the same detectorist near Frinton, Essex.

Miss Rogerson, the county's finds liaison officer, believes the items were probably lost at the same time.

Late medieval engraved ring

The battered and damaged ring has a diameter of 19.4mm (0.7in) and it is 3.9mm (0.15in) wide and was found in a field near Frinton and Walton

Despite being so "tiny it only fits on my little finger", it was probably worn by a man, according to Miss Rogerson.

"At this period rings were worn on all the joints of all the fingers, so it could have been worn on the upper joint," she said.

Rings engraved with French chivalric mottos were fashionable between 1400 and 1500.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-67090627
 
Frideswide said:
Family anecdote so oral history "fact" ;)

My family discussing the english recusancy periods had the impression that medals etc were sewn into the seams of clothing with what we now call french seams. So they precious item would be completely enclosed and invisible. This had the added advantage that children could benefit from the "magic" without them knowing - so they couldn't accidentally let something slip.

It came up in discussion in the early/mid 1960s as a comparison with my jewish ancestors, on the other side of the family, who fled germany in the 1900-1920 period. They came with only the clothes the stood up in, having been relieved of luggage on the Bremen docks as they embarked. Knowing this would happen they had sewn coins, gold and gems - in so far as they had been able to translate houses and land and business assets into these things - into the french seams of garments.

This is... what it is. Oral history but I thought it might be fun @eziofan ! feel free to dismiss as rumour and gossip.
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When the Romanovs were arrested and sent Ekaterinburg the Tsarina and the Grand Duchesses had sewn jewellery into their clothes, so clearly it was a recognised thing to do.
 
I had a local mid-week dig for the unemployed and unemployable on 30 acres of lumpy bumpy rough pasture. Too extreme for old 'ridge and furrow' farming and no idea what the hummocks were all about - at least it wasn't standing water on ploughed land like last time. After a quiet start and damp lunch, I changed to the big coil and got several Georgians including a cartwheel penny (an ounce of copper) and a completely unexpected hammered Lizzie threepence (1575 ?). First ever. Pleased.

Lizzie_457a.jpg Lizzie_434a.jpg
 
Coin found in farmer’s field has re-written part of Britain’s history

A new king has been added to British history – and a world record has been set – after a coin found in a Hampshire field fetched more than £20,000 at auction.

Dating from around 50 BCE and smaller than a fingernail, the gold coin is stamped with the name Esunertos, a previously unrecorded Iron Age ruler.

The find by detectorist Lewis Fudge has been described by experts as ‘one of the outstanding discoveries of recent decades’.

The coin dates to the very beginning of written language appearing in the British Isles.

Expected to fetch around £4,000, frenzied bidding at auctioneers Spink saw the price rise to £20,400, including premium, beating the world record for a similar type of coin, a set of Greek quarter-staters bearing the image of Medusa that sold for £10,800.

It was struck sometime between 50 and 30 BCE, shortly after Julius Caesar’s first Roman raid of Britain in 55 BCE.

‘It is one of the outstanding discoveries of recent decades in Celtic numismatics,’ said Dr John Sills of the Celtic Coin Index at the Ashmolean Museum.

‘Esunertos was once forgotten, but now his name looms large in the historic record.’
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1697721320434.png
 
hunck said:
Coin found in farmer’s field has re-written part of Britain’s history

A new king has been added to British history – and a world record has been set – after a coin found in a Hampshire field fetched more than £20,000 at auction.

Dating from around 50 BCE and smaller than a fingernail, the gold coin is stamped with the name Esunertos, a previously unrecorded Iron Age ruler.


View attachment 70612
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For further information on this . . . https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esunertos
 
maximus otter said:

Food and Drink Costs​

  • A loaf of bread: 2d
  • A quail: 1/2d
  • Oysters: 4d per bushel
  • 200 herrings: 3s
  • A chicken: 1d
  • Raisins: 3d per pound
  • A goose: 4d
  • Best beef: 3d per pound
Wages
  • Unskilled labourers – 3d – 4d per day
  • Fieldworker – 2d – 3d per week
https://elizabethanenglandlife.com/elizabethan-cost-of-living.html

maximus otter
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Seems like there might have been some wage rivalry there - between the Fieldworker and the Labourer?
I suppose there would have also been some kind of incentive type of perks that went with either job though?
 
Sid said:
Seems like there might have been some wage rivalry there - between the Fieldworker and the Labourer?
I suppose there would have also been some kind of incentive type of perks that went with either job though?
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Farm workers have always been at the bottom of the pay scale for labourers, although in the case of my father the incentive was the inclusion of an agricultural-linked dwelling.
 
Frideswide said:
This is... what it is. Oral history but I thought it might be fun @eziofan ! feel free to dismiss as rumour and gossip.
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I'd always assumed it was the time honoured way to protect your valuables if you were fleeing or even just travelling. How exciting that you know your ancestors actually did it. Mind you I've always wondered why it was considered safe as everyone knew it was likely. I suppose it would be as well to 'dress down' so as to divert suspicion?
Sogna said:
When the Romanovs were arrested and sent Ekaterinburg the Tsarina and the Grand Duchesses had sewn jewellery into their clothes, so clearly it was a recognised thing to do.
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Yes I was going to give them as a famous example you beat me to it @Sogna :)
 
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This gets my seal of approval.

A medieval seal matrix discovered by a metal detectorist is "a window into someone's spiritual world just before the Black Death", an expert has said.

The "completely unique" gilded silver object, found in a field north of Norwich, probably belonged to a monk. Its inscription "I beseech thee, holy sun of righteousness, be the way" has not been found on any other object, according to historian Helen Geake.

"It's a really sophisticated object with a really good design," she said.

13th or 14th Century seal matrix wax impression

In a wax impression, the Virgin Mary holding the Christ child can be seen on the left, while on the right a tonsured monk kneels before her

Dr Geake, Norfolk's find liaison officer, said: "It's completely unique, we don't have anything to compare with this inscription. The 'sun of righteousness', appears in the Old Testament, towards the end of a set of prophecies, and became a relatively common way of referring to Jesus Christ in the Middle Ages."

The medieval Latin inscription reads TE: ROGO: IVSTICIE: SOL: PIVS: ESTO: VIE / AVE MA.

The 24.6mm (0.9in) seal, which dates to the late 13th or early 14th Century, covering the reigns of Edward I to Edward III, was found in April in a field near Horsham St Faith. Its detailed design includes a crowned Virgin Mary holding the Christ child and kneeling to her right is a monk looking up at her, identified by his tonsure. He would have attached the matrix to a handle and used it to stamp an impression on wax to authenticate documents.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-67400956
 
A rare find.

12th Century silver penny

Nine medieval coins were found during a metal detecting rally in September 2019


A lost purse of "rare" King Stephen silver pennies has been found during a metal detecting rally.

Nine medieval coins were discovered, with two dating to the reigns of Henry II and III, near Wymondham, Norfolk.

Numismatist Adrian Marsden said "a penny was a lot of money then", with a labourer earning between one and two pennies a day.

Stephen usurped the English throne in 1135, but his rule was contested by his cousin Matilda, the official heir.

The find is made up of two pennies, three cut halfpennies and two cut quarters of pennies from Stephen's reign, as well as two cut quarters of short cross pennies from Henry II and Henry III's reigns.

Dr Marsden, from the Norfolk Historic Environment Service, believes the purse contained the Stephen coins, while the others were lost separately.

"I suspect this is a purse loss because you've got chopped halves and quarters," he said. "With a hoard, you hide the best coins you've got."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-67436202
 
Swifty said:
Other than regarding the obvious risk of losing important historical finds, it's always frustrated me that metal detector people, having spent their own money buying the machine in the first place, used their own historical knowledge and spent their own time shivering in a muddy field to eventually find something valuable ....... and then turn it over to 'authoritys' (who didn't buy a machine, didn't put the leg work in in the first place and mostly probably couldn't care less ) .. someone dropped something valuable centuries ago, so no moral dilemma there .. and all of a sudden it becomes state treasure? ... bullshit ... I'm keeping my finds, sorry museums around the world. Finders keepers ..
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I'd like to know why treasure is automatically the property of the crown, even though the treasure predates the current monarchy by hundreds of years.
 
Mythopoeika said:
Greed. As simple as that.
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Could be, but upon giving it a think and reading some of the other articles in this thread, it looks as though it's only done upon being found, cataloged and whatever else they do with antiquities before being returned to the finder but why to the crown and not to the government? Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in.
 
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