You just never know what you are going to find next

[TonyHunt UK]

Hey Guys. The picture below will shake you guys up as much as it did me. I had the quattro and never rated it one bit against the Explorers and quickly sold it.
The picture below of the cover of this Februarys British Treasure Hunting Magazine shows a Gold stater Hoard found with a Quattro on Easter weekend 2008.
There were 825 GOLD CELTIC STATERS of the ICENI ( BOADICEAS) Tribe dating back to the first century AD (2000 years ago)

That is what dreams are made of. That guy who I think is 60 will never probably have to work again. The hoard will be declared Treasure and as such owned by the Crown. He will be given a reward eventually to its market value decided by a valuation commitee of experts which he will share 50/50 with the landowner where he found it.
That Reward, if they are fair to him could be half a million English pounds or $700,000. Those coins individually at the moment are worth somewhere between $800 - $1000 each.

Just for the record they were buried all those years ago as possibly a gift to the gods, who knows. They were only 8" deep, still
mostly in the earthenware pot show in the picture.

Enjoy the pic and do us a favour. Dont all come rushing at once to the UK when its vacation time.

There are 5 Videos currently posted on MLOTV.com telling all the history and explaining Boadiceas rise and fall against the mighty roman legions.

 

[Ripper]

Thanks Tony, neat story. I knew there was a reason I did not sell my Quattro when I bought my Etrac LOL...

 

[thedeserttortoise]

It seems as though many more jurisdictions here in the US are banning MD'ing under the guise that archaeological finds are being disturbed and not turned in for public display. I notice in your post that you mention the UK policy of remuneration to the finder of such treasures. I have read in past posts about the 50/50 split between the landowner and the finder. What is UK policy concerning public lands and property? Public property here in the US seems to be facing mounting pressure from anti detecting factions more and more each year. Thanks for the great post. I sure like seeing someone make a great find. I can't imagine even finding a gold coin let alone a cache that's 2000 years old.

 

[TonyHunt UK]

If the find you make here is over a certain age and contains more than a certain amount of Gold or Silver plus if you find coins over 300 years old ( I think thats right) and theres more than two of them together then it has to be handed in, public land or whatever, even if you own it yourself. The find belongs to the crown unless decided otherwise by the coroner at his inquest.

Ive always found it very strange that a coroner should have the job of deciding this, surely they deal with dead bodies dont they

 

[thedeserttortoise]

Maybe they added that to the coroners duties as an incentive to get more people interested in the job....LOL. Thanks Tony for the help. I think we're in big trouble over here. My state, New Mexico does not allow metal detecting on state land at all. I live next to the biggest lake in the state and its off limits. I used to think that the US was it and that we had far more liberty than any place else. I think that at a time in the past we might have been pretty close to that, but now days our liberties are being eroded at a record rate. I would have no problem stopping off at the state park office and going over my finds with them, so as to help safeguard those of historical value. I'm sure they have enough personal to facilitate such a procedure (another new aspect of the US, an over abundance of bureaucracy and its attendants). I guess I could go on and on but what I think I am going to try is to write up some legislation that will mirror the UK's and see if I can get anyone in our state interested in sponsoring it. If we don't address these issues now its going to be way more difficult in the future. Thanks again for the help and have a nice day. Good hunting.

 

[TonyHunt UK]

No Trouble at all. The big thing over here is we dont have to rely on public places to detect. Nobody detects Public parks, school yards and the like because our history lies in the countryside mostly under farm land. If we detected parks and the like we would only find fairly modern coins. We might occasionally jump on a site where they are clearing land to build a new Highway but more often than not that would be farm land also. If we could detect under derelict buildings say in the heart of London then that might be rewarding because London or parts of it was there before the Romans so theres history buried. I doubt very much if the authorities would take kindly to us wanting to do that because the Archeologists would be pouring over most sites in central london long before we could get a chance. It would be the same in a lot of our cities. We detect farmland and we search in the hope that there may have been a Roman Villa / Farmstead located in the area. We keep our eyes peeled for clues such as broken pottery or roof tile pieces or other clues in the soil. There were many medieval villages that might have only been a handful of buildings but theres usually clues to past habitation to look for.
We use Google Earth to view our fields from the sky, thanks to you yanks we have superb close ups from space which can actually show the outlines of Celtic Roundhouses from over 2000 years ago. If you looked at that field from the ground you wouldnt spot anything. There must be areas of Farmland in the states surely that go back quite a way where there was habitation and the like. Land on or near battlefields. Surely you have farmland that was cultivated for many years where the old farmers followed the Horse drawn plows and lost stuff out their pockets. We often times find old pocket watches, penknives, buckles and buttons along with sheep & cattle bells, coins & snuff tins etc etc. Its difficult for us guys to understand The differences in whats available to find over the pond I guess. Sorry to go on so much, lol. Touch of cabin fever while the weathers bad. Happy Hunting.

 

[thedeserttortoise]

Talk about great discussions. You made me think a bit about what I have right here. Before this, my archaeologist friend and I have been planning a trip to the east/ southeast to do some exploring on his friends property's that date back to the colonial era. After thinking about your last post I had to re-evaluate where I am right now. New Mexico's capital is Santa Fe. Santa Fe was in existence before colonists settled Plymouth Rock. There's been a trade route between Mexico City and Santa Fe for over 500 years. Not a long time in relation to your history but pretty good for this side of the pond. Gotta get back out in the old Jornada Del Muerto. ((Spanish for "single day's journey of the dead man" hence "route of the dead man") in the U.S. state of New Mexico was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to a desert basin and the particularly dry 100-mile (160 km) stretch of the route through it leading northward from central New Spain (modern-day Mexico) to the furthest reaches of the colony in northern Nuevo M

 

[TonyHunt UK]

You see you got History and there were people. People drop stuff or bury it as votive offerings to their gods. You more you think about it the more you realise whats possibly buried there. Might not be coinage but there could be gold & silver trinkets, who knows. Your mind is racing now to the possibilities. There has to be many areas of the states shurely with possibilities like that.
To be honest I would hate the thought of digging modern day coinage in a school yard when theres other areas to think about. I realise for a lot of people they dont have any option because of the lack of history. They just have no choice so have to make the most of whats available. Great Pictures by the way, I would love to know how you posted them like that side by side.

 

[thedeserttortoise]

Hi Tony. I used photobucket...reduced the image size to medium, and instead of using the forum's "insert tag" I just copy the image source code and insert it into my forum message with just 2 spaces between each image source code command. It would look something like this... {IMG}http://...etc..etc...{IMG}twospaceshere{IMG}http://...etc..etc..{IMG}twospaces..etc With the smaller images you can cram them three accross. Ron PS>>I had to use the {IMG} in the example instead of the normal brackets you use to get this to publish...otherwise, if I use the brackets..[ ] with IMG between them in the example like you should, you get one of these....

 

[SNOWY]

Tony, you're lucky, lucky, lucky to be living, and detecting in the good old country....

Plus participating at your Corfe castle get togethers.

 

[TonyHunt UK]

Snowy m8. Jump on a plane and come for a Holiday in September, we'll look after you for sure. Be glad to have you visit.

Ron. Thanks for the Instruction, I guessed thats how you did it.

 

[SNOWY]

Oohhh, Tony now that would be something !!!

 

[TonyHunt UK]

Its only a plane ride M8.

 

[SNOWY]

True...