3rd Feb 2012 Great start to 2nd half of the season

What a great start to the 2nd half of the season with 4 top end medieval relics, including 2 treasures and our first gold treasure found by Boston Beau. I have reported them to the museum and the landowner. The guys also dug a dozen + Roman bronze coins on our disclaimed hoard area from last season but they we all grots with no detail unfortunately. I will start uploading more of the widgets and silver found to a new finds page 2012 Feb finds shortly.

Weather is stunning out there with bright blue skies but the ground is very hard to dig with the early morning frosts, not stopping the guys digging some great finds though below.

Updated our gold page with the 21st gold find of the season

17th/18th gold posy ring reported as treasure to the museum

3.29g, 20.16mm dia

'LOVE AS' YOU ELSE I DIE' - maker mark - old English FC

Medieval silver cross - similar construction to 13thC Knights templer badges 1.06g, 22.82mm

Medieval gilded silver dress fitting 1.82g, 17.35 mm

Similar Ref Treasure Case No: 2019 T520 - Medieval silver dress fitting Colchester area of Essex

Medieval decorated buckle chape

Object type certainty: Certain

Chronology

Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: AD 1250
Date to: AD 1350

30th Jan 2012 Ron's Nat Geo programs airs - latest cooked Roman silver ID's

Just a couple of days to the kick off and I have finally finished all the export applications. Final official button count for the first half of the season is 8611 which is hell of a lot of holes dug!

Check you guess on the free forum competition button page Current total is 8611.

Our clubs most noted celebrity Chicago Ron's first TV show airs on Nat Geo shorty entitled 'Treasure on the Thames'

'Wading through mud and digging up artefacts along the River Thames is an unusual hobby. From Roman coins to Tudor chainmail, five mudlarking enthusiasts explore the history of London'.

There are load of still pictures already on the Nat Geo site of Ron mud larking around . Ron is going to try and get hold of a DVD copy of the program so he can show it at the Barn houses while he and his team are hunting here for 3 weeks in March. The program will also show more of Ron's England finds like his Celtic gold while hunting with our club. Nat Geo have already been to our club filming Ron and his crew out there detecting in the field.

http://natgeotv.com.au/tv/treasure-on-the-thames/gallery.aspx

Check out Ron's website with some fantastic videos he took of hunting England and the USA

http://chicagoron.com/

Ron on the Thames foreshore

Min Mindy just sent me another great picture, this time of Cal Gail finding her Celtic gold 1/4 stater in Oct. After seeing Can Bill's pictures on 27th Jan post this must be a common pose when finding Celtic gold

I have been doing more work on our 'cooking' Roman silver finds and several have enough detail showing through now and I sent them off to Mark Lehman for an ID. The 1/2 silver has been 'cooking' for over 15 months to remove the original 1/8 inch thick horn crust. It still needs even 'more' cooking to get the final crust off. Mark has made a stab at the ID.

'Cooking' this sucker for over 3 months and it is almost finished

This one is easy - it's a very nice specimen with clear legends and details -
it's Marcus Aurelius (161-180 AD)  Obverse legend: M ANTONINVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX
The Reverse legend: TRP XX IMP IIII COS III dates it specifically to 166 AD. 
PAX (in exergue) Pax - or Peace - standing left holding olive-branch and cornucopiae could occur anytime as a popular general personification of a Roman virtue, but the obverse legend which titles him Victor of Armenia and Parthia would similarly date it to the period 166-9 AD even without the laundry-list of dated titles on the reverse.

References, RIC 159, RSC 435, BMC 401.

Mark

This was just a lump of brown crud when dug and I don't think I ever took a picture of it, after 15 months of cooking is slowly revealing the detail

About all I can say with any certainty is that a laureate head of a deity - most likely Zeus, Apollo or Neptune - would be impossible to find before about 120 BC. Before that time, the helmeted head of Roma was virtually the exclusive obverse type of the Roman denarius. (although if this would have an overall diameter quite a bit smaller than a denarius, Zeus' head appeared on a denomination called the Victoriatus off and on over the entire history of Roman Republican silver issues)  A laureate head like this could occur, then, anytime up to around 45 BC, but would be most likely for a denarius of the time-frame 110-75 BC. when deities and portrayals of historical or semi-historical characters were most common on the coins.
 
The other strong feature is the nearly-parallel items on the reverse - but whether these are a pair of legs, the tip of a wing, or just what else they might be - or in what orientation - has so far eluded me.

Sorry - sometimes a feature is easily "placed", but those "legs" (if that's what they are) are at an odd angle - and the lumpish structures around them don't seem to correspond to the larger items on the reverses of any denarii with which I am familiar.

Mark. 

This one is actually pretty easy.  First, it's a "Denarius Serratus" - the edge is notched or serrated.  Second, and more importantly, the writing on the reverse is quite clear - or clear enough to place it easily as an issue of Ti. Claudius Ti.f. Ap.n. Nero - or T. Claudius Nero for short.  79 BC.
That unclear obverse is a diadamed and draped bust of Diana right, bow and quiver over shoulder and SC to the right.
The reverse of Victory driving a biga right is extremely common, but the combination of the sequence number above and the clear TI CLAVD TI F / AP N below the exergual line is what makes it easy.

RRC 383/1; CRR 770; RSC Claudia 5 and SR 310 are the references.

Mark

27th Jan 2012 More site updates , approved exports - 5 days to the kick off

I have only got to complete 2 more export license applications from the first half of the season and I am finished with just 5 days to the kick off. Then guys will be digging me loads and I will have to start again. I have another meeting arranged with the museum mid Feb to pick up any disclaimed treasures back from the British museum and you can take those home.

The forum competition count has now exceeded 8000 buttons dug so far this season which is a hell of a lot more than most members thought. The final total should be between 16,000 to 20,000 which an amazing number of just buttons to dig.

Check you guess on the free forum competition button page Current total is 8079

I just got another huge batch of approved export licenses in the post this morning and I have posted a list of names onto the members forum.

Fl Rob just send me a brilliant picture of Can Bill digging his first ever Celtic gold in Oct. Rob was nearby when Bill screamed and captured it all on his HD video camera and send Bill a DVD and this collage below as a Christmas present, great gift to remember the moment

I have updated another load of individual find pages below with finds from the first half of the season. The pages are getting huge so I will have to split them down further shortly.

	Romano/British artefacts		Buckles
	Livery, Corporation, train and railway buttons		Dress buttons
	Richard II to Edward V hammered silver coins

22nd Jan 2012 Two more plots of new land, exports and fixed hammered silver

I had a meeting with our biggest landowner yesterday and he has given us yet another 200 acre plot next to his existing 2000 acre site for detecting from the 1st Feb. I have added these fields to our A4 personal coloured maps and had a huge batch laminated at Staples for guys to carry with them out in the field. I took a drive around the land and entered two great drop off points into the Sat Nav's given to Barn leaders. One of the fields is a monster so you need to drive over the other site of the site to attack it. Mitch Chris has been cleverly overlaying historical maps on this new plot of land and there are lot of very interesting crop marks which he has posted onto the members forum. None of his land has ever been detected before so it will be great fun hotspotting it from the kick off.

Another new farmer has yesterday allowed us his search his 800 + acres to detect from the 22nd Feb. This site will have restrictions placed on it as it has one field of 'scheduled land' which it is illegal to detect on. Scheduled land is a designated site of National importance and must not be metal detected. The club is effectively trialling this new site to show the landowner how we run the show and it will not be open to every member yet. Wash Tom will be leading the team that will be the first guys to ever search it and at the end of Tom's 10 days hunt we will have a review with the landowner to see what his thoughts are.

I have also been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 7631

I had major problem getting hold of these new top of the range slow cookers as everywhere was out of stock. There are only a couple of cookers on the market that have this digital timer and keep warm feature. Luckily a local stockist had 3 of them on the shelf and I drove and picked them up yesterday. I have never used a slow cooker so I will be practising with one using top recipes guys have been posting on the forum. I want to get up to speed on how to use the timers etc before the first Barn team arrives on the 1st Feb so I clue them in.

Colour: Stainless Steel
Size: 6.5 litre
Dishwasher safe ceramic pot
LCD display
Auto keep warm function
Programmable upto 24 hrs
Digital countdown timer
6.5 Litre capacity


Product Description

Because it is the ultimate in slow cooking. This versatile product is perfect for stews, casseroles, soups, stocks and even desserts. Simply put the food in the pot, set the cooking time then, when it has finished, it will automatically switch to hold. Put it on in the morning and come home to a cooked dinner that's ready to serve!

You can even lift out the elegant and stylish cooking pot and take it straight to the table and for those of you who are health conscious, you can be assured that all the vitamins and minerals will be retained in the sauce during cooking.

• Cook and hold feature
• Elegant ceramic crock pot for cooking and serving
• High, low and warm settings with indicator lights
• Automatic switching from ?Cook? to ?Hold? mode
• Flexible cooking time from 1 to 8 hours Perfect for healthy stews, casseroles & soups
• Glass lid with stainless steel rim & chrome plated knob
• Cooking rack
• Dishwasher safe parts
• 5 Year Guarantee

Coins are annealed before straightening

What I thought was a badly taco'd Mary turns out to be a 1544 Henry VIII groat

UK Tony sent me this taco'd 1624 James 1st hammered silver sixpence

18th Jan 2012 Kit review for 2nd half of the season - More exports - land looks excellent

Still busy preparing more export licenses and posted more find sheets and pictures to members forum. I had a quick meeting this week with the museum to hand in 4 more Treasures found in the guys find pouches.

I took a trip around the sites to see the land conditions and 90% of the 300 + fields are in perfect shape with tiny wheat shots showing through. There are a handful of just ploughed and rolled and several with a tiny rape crop we will have to search very early as they will shoot up later on in the season. There are several fields still in stubble that should be ploughed and rolled for the later hunts.

The new radios for the 2nd half of the season are proving to be very tricky to set up. I downloaded a 66 page user manual but was not aware that any changes of frequency to match our OFCOM license have to made via a special USB lead and PC software. I have ordered them up directly from Motorola and it allows you to set up groups, private numbers etc on the radios. You dial up any individual on the network, send texts or do just a global transmission.

I have also been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 7470

Just two weeks to go before the start of the 2nd half of the season and I have been getting the 'Barn' packs together and added yet more kit. I have put a detailed list below to show you all the kit you get on arrival.

The 'Barn' self catering hunts have become extremely popular with a Senior member running the show with their own mini bus. On these events you come and go as you please and some 'hard core' teams hunt from 7am to 10pm. The crews decide on the hours they want, some of the team come in at 6pm and others stay out very late. Making sure the guys have very piece of kit to make their stay easier has built up over the last few years.Min Mindy is kindly bringing another dozen of those brilliant 'chain gang' long handled spades members love. I cannot get these in the UK and they are the best for digging and my favourite. Her first Barn crew is 8th Feb so they will be available for the start of the season to save guys fighting over them !!

The self catering Barns are very modern and have all the mod cons except a decent coffee maker and slow cooker. I have added new digital coffee makers to the Barn 'pack' we supply as it is the model I use. It has a timer so you can set up the start time and have piping hot coffee when you crawl out of bed. The new slow cooker with the keep hot timer will mean the food will not spoil if guys decide to stay out later if the weather is really nice or they have found a hot spot. The guys have been discussing slow cooker recipes they use on the members forum and I have posted Mindy's tasty chicken one below. There is now a new category on the forum with tried and tested recipes guys have used and other members can copy and try out.

Barn teams supplied package now includes the following.

6.5 ltr slow cooker
Digital coffee maker
7 plastic coffee mugs, drinks tumblers and spoons
2 small Tuppaware containers for tea and sugar in the field
5ltr stainless steel push button top Thermos - for hot water all day in the field
1.5ltr stainless steel Thermos pour jug - for milk or soup in the field
Large and medium Thermos cooler boxes - one for large bottles of drink, one for sandwiches or hot chow


7 individual A4 field maps
1 AO full scale team maps
Sat Nav with field, supermarket, eateries locations etc
7 diggers
Mobile phone for daily contact
Digital MP3600 radios

Plastic basket for scrap buttons for comp hunt

Slow-Cooker Chicken for you Barn House guys

More before and after pictures of members fixed hammered silver coins below. I have not cleaned the badly taco'd voided long cross as it is very fragile now it is straightened. Remember to fix a badly bent hammered silver coin it has to be annealed several times to prevent it breaking, hence the initial change of colour on the shoots below.

1558-60 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver sixpence - 1st issue Lis mint mark

1247 Henry III hammered silver voided penny

Rev HEN/RIO/NLV/VND Henri of London mint

1592-5 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver shilling (12 pence) Tun mintmark - sixth issue

31.61mm dia

13th Jan 2012 Beauty fixed gold and silver coins

I took a whole bunch of members bent gold and silver coins into our goldsmith before Christmas and there were some really tricky fixes to be done. A couple of UK guys sent me in their treasured hammy gold finds also for fixing. UK Paul's badly bent Henry VIII turned out mint but UK Clive's Edward III and 323 BC silver had already been badly repaired previously and he wanted to see if our expert could improve on them. The Alexander turned out brilliantly and the Edward gold is definitely better comparing the before and after shots. I have a whole bunch of fixed silver hammered to post tomorrow with before and after shots.

Can Ron's fixed 1728 Portuguese Joao V milled gold - 1/2 Escudo (800 Reis) 0.9170 Gold

John V of Portugal

Badly straightened before Edward

Fixed 1361-69 Edward III gold half noble - Treaty period - Satire before Edward

Fixed 1509 -26 Henry VIII hammered gold angel - Portcullis mint mark - before picture is far left

5.15g, 28.19mm

Before bad hole repair

Greatly improved Alexander the Great Silver Drachm 323 BC

Can Ryan's C1351 Edward III hammered gold qtr noble

1.79g

12th Jan 2012 More exports and reported treasures - fixed coins ready

Still busy finishing off the export licenses and updating the site pages. All the latest fixed hammered gold and silver coin are ready for pick up and I will be posting the before and after pictures tomorrow.

I have also been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 7219

'Rusty bucket'? Rare Roman helmet found in Britain

LONDON — A rare Roman cavalry helmet dating from Emperor Claudius' invasion of Britain nearly 2,000 years ago was unveiled on Tuesday after painstaking restoration lasting nearly a decade.

Stunning Roman helmet

Just found this in a guy’s export pouch I am preparing. It was black and caked in mud but I gave it a quick wipe to discover it is silver underneath and I reported it as treasure. It has a lion’s head inscription. I am not exactly certain but is a medieval clasp of some description. I contacted the finder who has given me the find spot and date and the British museum have already issued a treasure number.

The Treasure number issued for this case is 2012 T21.

There have been some more great bonus finds in the pouches including this early King John short cross penny below.

More neat bonus finds out of the export pouches, Georgian miniature domino and

1199 King John hammered silver short cross penny - Class 4c
Obv HENRICVS REX
Rev HVE.ON. CANTE - Moneyer Hve of Canterbury

As dug and partially cooked pics of 2nd C Roman silver

I had to get a provisional ID for the export licenses application from Mark Lehman on Miss Jeff's silver Roman that has been cooking since Oct. The black crust is mega hard and it will take a lot more work to reveal what appears to be a mint Roman silver underneath. Mark's ID is below.

This is a denarius of Marcus Aurelius, 166 AD, and aside from some minor considerations (for example, I'd like to see if there is anything in the exergue on the reverse - it might or might not be inscribed: "PAX" - and that would make a difference) I can pretty well tell what's likely to be under the crud on the obverse.
The obverse legend should be: M ANTONINVS AVG ARM PARTH MAX (if it turns out to be at all different, that would make a difference) - and the piece can be specifically dated to 166 AD. on the basis of the titlature on the reverse - TRP XX IMP IIII COS III - Tribunician Power for the 20th time, Imperator for the 4th time, Consul for the 3rd time.
The reverse shows Pax standing left holding an olive-branch and cornucopiae.  Pieces of otherwise essentially the same types are known both with and without "PAX" in the reverse exergue.

It appears to be in a pretty nice state of preservation (if what's under the crud is as nice as what's been exposed).

Mark

Updated all the individual pages below with finds from the 1st half of the season

	Henry VII & VIII hammered silver coins		George 1st to III milled gold and silver coins
	Large denomination gold and silver Elizabeth 1st hammered coins		Small denomination Elizabeth 1st hammered silver coins
	Bells and whistles		Keys

9th Jan 2012 More exports and approved licenses - disclaimed treasures- Forum comp total passes 7000 - new gear arrives

That was quick as I got a huge batch of approved export licenses in the post this morning. I though with the Christmas break it would take a while longer yet. I have posted the list on the members forum and you can decide if you want them shipped or picked up on your next trip.

Still got another dozen or so export applications to compile yet before the start of the season on the 1st Feb. I have posted a bunch more to the members forum and updated the Forum comp page with the latest button count. It is amazing that we have dug 7000 + so far with a final total probably close to 8000 for the half season. I just completed Kansas Barry and Teresa's export pouches and they dug 300 buttons just between them. I expect the final total for the season to be between 15 to 20 thousand which is lot of holes to dig !! Amazing that we all thought initially some of the members guess were crazy high but the new land for Feb could produce 15,000 on it's own. Fascinating competition this season.

Check you current guesses on the competition page - current total 7037

Lots of new kit arrived or on order for the start of the season

I just took delivery of 30 smart new coffee mugs today + 30 tumblers and a dozen spoons for lunchtime Barn teams to use . I still have 2 dozen of the old ones but some are starting to get tatty and we can keep those as spares to cover any breakages.

We now have 3 sets of those 5ltr stainless steel push button top hot water thermos's for all day coffee and tea out in the field for each Barn team and full board. The additional 2.5 litre one can be used for hot soup or milk.

I also ordered up another new set of the brilliant Thermos cooler chests we use, I got another 30 litre one for fizzy drinks and the 13 litre ones for hot meals in the field. I ordered up another load of ice packs for the drink as several leaked last season.

Min Mindy has started a trend at the Barn house with her tasty slow cooker meals, roast beef, chicken and tasty thick soups. She currently uses a cheapy 4ltr version she bought so I have ordered up 3 of the bigger 6ltr state of the art jobbies with digital timer and keep warm features. The Barn teams now can hunt even later with no worries about the food spoiling. Several of the Barn leaders want to use as they are just so easy to use and food is ready when they get home early or late.

I have also ordered up another touch screen Garmin nuvi Sat Nav for Barn teams to use. I bought this model last season to trial and it is brilliant and a lot easier to use than our existing push button Garmin units.

15thC medieval gold ring 4.00g, 22.11mm

I have received several more letters from the British Museum disclaiming more of the guys treasures including another one of NS Andy's finds. Andy has already got back the medieval twisted gold ring, Medieval Sapphire and gold bezel and now his decorated flow and banded medieval ring. The curator report put the ring at 15thC which is 100 years earlier than I first thought at Tudor.

Treasure Report:   2011/T255                                                                        
Parish/County:          Tendring District, Essex

A medieval finger-ring with a D-sectioned hoop. The outside of the hoop has cabled decoration which alternates with bands of beading enclosing areas engraved with flowers. The ring would originally have been enamelled, but no traces of enamel remain. It is distorted and has evidence of much wear.

The finger-ring is gold and dates from the fifteenth century.

Dimensions: length 22 mm, width 18 mm.

         
J P Robinson
Curator of Medieval Collections
5th January  2012

4th Jan 2012 More exports and finds - More land ?- Ron's article on the Treasure Act & exporting

1857 Bank of Upper Canada one pence bank token

1340 Edward III hammered silver penny - Canterbury mint

Under a month now to the kick off to the start of the 2nd half of the season and I am still beavering away with export applications. I found 4 more silver treasures in the guys pouches while revisiting every piece dug. I have reported them to Colchester museum and have arranged to drop of them off next week. Among Can Drew's pile of copper coins in his export pouch I was amazed to see a huge token with a design I had never seen before. Quick clean up revealed a beauty 1857 Bank Token from Canada !! It is amazing when you revisit every piece of metal in guys pouch there is often a thick brown coin that a guy did not realise was a hammered silver like the Edward III above.

I am still waiting to hear if we have secured another large plot of land for the 1st Feb. One of our landowner has relatives who have a further 3000 acres of land who might be interesting in allowing us to search it. The existing landowner has already added 5 new fields to his 66 field site for the 1st Feb kick off so we still have 300 + fields ready for the start of the 2nd half of the season. Every guy hunting here gets their own a personal A4 map to carry around showing all the fields they can hunt in a numbered grid. I wanted to get some more laminated copies of these maps made up but will have to wait until we get the feedback from the landowner.

Chicago Ron is featured in this months Gold Prospectors magazine and he ensured that the author included all the relevant information on the Treasure Act and correct exporting criteria while detecting in England. Ron has been a senior member her for 7 years and has had numerous treasures go through this Act and has part of a Celtic gold coin hoard displayed at Colchester museum.

Check out Ron's England detecting videos on his U Tube site . Includes all his UK & USA gold finds

Uploaded more export find lists and pictures to the members forum.

I have also been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 6585

30th Dec 2012 More site updates and exports

Germany Bremen Stadt 1 Groten 1751 silver coin

Uploaded more export find lists and pictures to the members forum. Boston Beau had a great bonus German silver in his pouch I cleaned up and ID's as the legend was so clean and a perfect date.

I have updated a load more individual pages below with finds from the first half of the season. It was great first half of the season for milled silver and only our 3rd foreign milled gold coin.

I have also been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 6456

	Foreign gold milled silver coins		Victorian milled silver and gold coins
	18th to 20thC Conder & copper tokens		Snake buckles 16th to 20thC
	Lead tokens Roman to 17th C		Foreign hammered gold & silver coins
	Roman 3rd/4th C bronze coins

27th Dec 2012 More updates, exports and holiday snaps

Nice to get a short break over Christmas but I have so much to catch up on before the 1st Feb kick off so I have to press ahead. I have updated a load more individual pages with finds from the first half of the season. Most of the pages are getting too big and want splitting into other sub categories. The first half of the season produced a load of milled silver 'firsts' for the club, 2 Charles II shillings, Mary four pence and a stunning Queen Anne penny. I have added Kansas Barry's 211 BC Roman silver coin to the top of the Romano/British ancient silver coin page as this is the oldest ever coin found in Britain. New additions are added to the bottom of the page.

Senior members Wash Tom (middle), Jake and Min Mindy

Wash Tom just sent me the snaps of their detecting trip to the Bahamas on the beaches. Both Mindy and Tom found neat gold rings and loads of clad coinage , but what stunning place to hunt. All 3 guys are back again in the 2nd half of the season and it ain't gonna be as warm and sunny in Feb !!

More export find lists and photo's posted to members forum.

24th Dec 2011 Hoard reports -more treasure updates and disclaims - bonus export finds

A man from Preston has found a rare medieval badge while testing out his new metal detector.

The collection of more than 200 coins and pieces of jewelry was found in September close to Silverdale by Darren Webster, 39.
The hoard, which was in a lead box, includes a coin thought to refer to a previously unknown Viking ruler.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-16178699

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...shire-15495283

13thC silver annular brooch

I have just received notification from the British Museum of more disclaimed treasure including WA Jim's silver annular brooch and Boris's medieval gold ring. The curator's report dates this find as late 12thC and it is in mint undamaged condition. These finds are physically at the British museum in London so it takes a couple of months for them to be returned to the finder. I have just applied for the export license for this find. I posted a list below of the latest disclaim treasure numbers and updated the Hoard and Treasure page.

George III 1/3 guinea gold coin weight

Medieval dagger quillion -A Medieval cast copper alloy dagger guard or quillion probably dating from 1200 - 1300 AD.

71.03mm L

More find lists and export pictures uploaded to the members forum. Lots of bonus bit and bobs in the pouches including this really neat George III coin weight and Ont Jim found an exact match of his hammer looking find on the PAS database and it is an early dagger quillion. PAS ref and link SWYOR-C960B2

I have been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 6383

Late 12thC gold finger ring

Treasure case 2011 T212 - Silver hawking bell - Ill Mark - disclaimed

Treasure case 2011 T505 - 14thC Medieval gold mount - Ill Mark - disclaimed

Treasure case 2011 T88 - 12thC Medieval gold finger ring with green stone- Can Boris - disclaimed

Treasure case 2011 T206 - 17thC silver bodkin needle - Tenn Brad - disclaimed

Treasure case 2011 T214 - 16thC silver gilt dress hook- Can Dan- disclaimed

Treasure case 2011 T244 - 12thC medieval silver pin - Gene Z- disclaimed

Treasure case 2011 T253 - 16thC silver dress fitting - James - disclaimed

Treasure case 2011 T254 - 13thC Sapphire in gold setting - NS Andy - disclaimed

A couple of X Barn members who have eating allergies and don't want to hunt long hours are trialing a new hotel for the club. They will have their own car so after I drop them off to the fields they can leave when they like. They both wanted double rooms so they can get a good nights sleep. I have asked the guys to give me full and honest feedback on their stay and if it checks out we can use it for the club.

The hotel is literally 1/2 mile from our new 4.5 miles sq site and the rooms look very comfortable.

This modern hotel and leisure club, located to the south of Colchester, is the premier hotel in north Essex.
The hotel features 110 bedrooms which have been carefully designed with your personal comfort in mind.
The beautiful scenes of Constable country, including Flatford Mill and Dedham, are a short distance and numerous other attractions include Colchester Castle, art galleries, stately homes, gardens and a number of English vineyards open to the public.
The elegant lounge and cocktail bar provides the perfect meeting place and somewhere to relax before dining in the splendid Roman Room Restaurant, which offers a selection of international cuisine, complemented by carefully selected wines from around the world and served by friendly and professional staff.
The Lifestyle Health & Leisure Club is complimentary to residents during their stay and facilities include a 15-metre indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam and sauna rooms, fully air-conditioned gymnasium and 2 outdoor tennis courts. Beauty treatments are available by appointment and for an additional charge. Unfortunately the hotel does not have a lift.

21st Dec 2011 More exports -more page updates

Loads more export find lists and pictures posted to members forum. I have also updated a load more of the individual find pages below with finds in these categories from the 1st half of the season.

A complete list of individual finds pages by type can be found on the Index page

	Military buttons named regiments		James 1st hammered silver and gold coins
	George 1st gold and silver coins		Military & Navy badges
	William IV silver coins		Military buttons numbered regiments
	George III gold and silver coins		Navy buttons
	George IV gold and silver coins		George II silver coins
	Trade weight - all metals		Foreign military buttons
	Jettons

18th Dec 2011 More exports - new shelter for the field - page updates - Ron's latest pound of gold video

Chicago Ron has just posted his latest end of the year video with Ill Mark and they found 16oz of gold each, amazing to watch then fondle their piles of silver and gold finds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLjROsRaEgY

A couple of years ago I bought a 'supposedly' quick pop up shelter to leave out in the field for guys. It was very well made but too complicated and took ages to put up and take down and blew away too easily. It is now sitting in the garage unused. I have been surfing the net looking for another 2 minute shelter as we already have the portable fire and cooker I bought to leave in the tent for guys to keep toasty and make hot soup.

Most of the quick tents are either too low, too complicated and have a built in ground sheet that will be be a mud pit but I think I have found a real nice simple job. The steel frame just pulls out in seconds so instant shelter. I am looking to trial it in Feb on our first hunt and if it works then I will get a couple more that the Barn teams can use if they want to. It will be a good place to leave the new 5 ltr push top hot water jug and 2 ltr milk jug we just bought to keep out of the wind.

I am still busy banging away preparing export license applications and posting full find lists and photo's to members forum. I have reported three more potential Treasures to the museum that I cleaned up, Atl Mike's possible 17thC decorated open topped silver thimble above, a cast decorated silver hanger and a 17thC Charles 1st silver button. Mike also had an early copper plate that was caked in mud. After I soaked it for a couple of days in distilled water multi coloured enamel showed through and with the two mounting points reminds me of Roman scale armour. I will be dropping it off to the museum at my next meeting so their experts can take a look.

I have started updating a load of individual find pages on our site with the finds so far this season. I have a ton of updates to complete yet.

I have also been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 6200

	Saxon gold and silver coins		King John to Richard hammered silver coins
	Henry III - long and short cross silver coins		Watch winders
	Seals and matrix		Edward III gold and silver coins
	Clothing fasteners		Saxon relic finds
	Saxon harness fittings		Stone Age finds

9th Dec 2011 Disclaimed treasures, donations and more exports - radio licence approved

I finally got through our Ofcom radio licence yesterday for the club and we now have 20 top of the range professional Motorola Mototrbo Digital DP3600 devices. These give crystal clear digital reception with the ability to call other individual users on the system or do a general broad cast. We will be using these on our new 4.5 sq plot from Feb 1st.

Features

• Signalling - ETSI DMR
• Channels - 160
• Large textured push to talk button for ease of use
• 5 programmable buttons to improve ease of use and increase operator efficiency
• Keypad enables flexible radio operation and text messaging
• Large easy to use menu navigation keys enable intuitive user interface
• Flexible menu driven interface with user friendly icons or two lines of text for ease of reading text messages
• Emergency button to help ensure rapid response to critical incidents
• Sophisticated Emergency Calls help employee safety
• Powerful front projecting speaker
• New accessory connector meets IP57 submersability specifications and incorporates RF, USB and enhanced audio capability
• MilSpec - 810 C,D,E,F
• Meets IP57 environmental sealing helps ensure continued operation in tough working conditions
• Compact and ergonomically friendly microphone
• Accessory connector supports USB interface and enhanced audio capability
• Tri-coloured LED indicators provide clear feedback on radio operating status
• Quick, easy-to-use Group, Individual and All-call capability
• PTT ID helps improve communications efficiency and system discipline
• Remote Monitor features help ensure employee safety and enable fast assessment of remote user status
• Elegant channel scanning schemes help ensure calls are received first time every time
• Dual mode analogue / digital scan - facilitates a smooth migration from analogue to digital
• Send quick text messaging via programmable buttons

More export find lists and picture sheets have been posted to the members forum and a new category has been requested by the members so that the voting for the 'pouch of the year' at the end of the season is easier. The best pouches will be uploaded to this new topic so guys can review the 'best of the bunch' at the end of the season before they vote for their favourite.

Stunning 1704 Queen Anne commemorative silver cuff links

3 ancient gold ingots

I dropped off the last of the reported treasures to the museum yesterday and picked up several more disclaimed items such as Col Bruce's excellent gold inscribed ring below. Unless the museum experts can prove that the find is below the Treasure Act threshold of 300 years old then it cannot go forward for inquest. This ring probably dates around the 1770's by the style of the script. This find is therefore returned to the finder and can be taken home once an export license is approved. I also picked up 3 disclaimed gold ingots as again they are undatable unless an expensive non destructive test is carried out. These were found in close proximity to our Saxon gold coin hoard so they could be of the same period . They are now going off as a group to a Saxon expert to evaluate them further as they match the gold ingots found at the famous Sutton Hoo hoard site.

Org Mary's stunning Queen Anne cuff links have also been disclaimed as the date for queen Anne (1702 -1714) straddles the Treasure Act cut of date of 1711. The museum were very interested in acquiring these finds as none of this type have ever been found before. Both the finder and landowner have generously donated this find to the Colchester museum. Wash Tom has also donated a very early medieval animal headed spout to the museum which I dropped off yesterday.

I have been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 5977

Updated the Hoard and treasure page with the latest information on their status

An italicized long s used in the word "Congress" in the United States Bill of Rights

17th/18thC gold ring - inscription uses old style long S as a normal S - Maker Rh - no hallmarks

4.41g, 19.66mm

Inscription reads 'CONTENT IS A TREASURE'

1st Dec 2011 Exporting in full flight - finds fixing

2 gold nobles, Portuguese milled gold and a 1/4 noble for fixing

Bruce's disclaimed treasure for fixing

I have been busy this week preparing the export licence applications and posting full find lists and photo's onto the members forum. This is always an interesting time of the season as guys get to see exactly what the clubs expert hunters can achieve in a week. Chicago Ron's pouch had 12 pages of finds to process and most of them are captured on video as he dug them below. I have also been getting a pouch ready to take to our gold smith for him to work his magic again. I have several tricky finds fro him to try and repair like Col Bruce's disclaimed silver ring and a Gold Nobel a guy sent me that had a horrible straightening job done on it with 2 large creases. I am giving it to our goldsmith to see if he can make the botched job any better. I have a whole bunch of bent hammered silver to take along as well.

The export process is very exacting and every metal object over 50 years old must be photographed and submitted to export duty with a detailed finds list. That includes every musket ball and copper coin. Export duty submit the papers to an expert 'advisor' who ensures no finds listed are of National Importance and require a hearing to allow them to be exported. Reported treasure finds are not included in a guys export application as they have to go through the Treasure process first to see if they are acquired by a museum or disclaimed.

If you are coming to England metal detecting is is illegal to take any find over 50 years old of the country and if caught you face a huge fine and up to 8 years imprisonment.

Check out the Export page on this site for more info

Note Export duty has moved from MLA to Arts Council and new address and phone numbers apply.

From Monday 3rd October 2011 please send all export licence applications to:

Export Licensing Unit
Arts Council England
14 Great Peter Street
London
SW1P 3NQ

I have been updating the forum competition button total as I process the guys export pouches. Current total is 5822

1. 1641-3 Charles 1st hammered silver shilling - Triangle in circle mintmark Tower mint under Charles 1st
2. 1561 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver sixpence
3. 1567 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver sixpence
4. 1526-44 Henry VIII hammered silver groat - Arrow mintmark
5. 1279 Edward 1st hammered silver penny - Cross Moline - Class 9a Obv EDWAR ANGL DNS YB Rev CIVI/TAS/DVR/ENE- Durham mint
6. 1341 Edward III hammered silver penny - Cross 3- Florin type Obv EDWAR ANGL DNS HYB Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint
7. 1341 Edward III hammered silver penny - Cross 3- Florin type Obv EDWAR ANGL DNS HYB Rev CIVI/TAS/CAN/TOR - Canterbury mint
8. 1341 Edward III hammered silver penny - - Florin type Obv EDWAR ANGLE DNS HYB
Rev CIVI/TAS/DVN/ELM - Durham mint
9. 1361-69 Edward III hammered silver penny - Cross 2- Treaty Obv EDWARD ANGL R DNS HYB Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint
10. 1272 Edward 1st hammered silver penny - Class 2 Obv EDWR ANGL DNS HYB
Rev CIVI/TAS/EME/DV * - Durham mint - reverse die error
11. 1634 Charles 1st hammered silver penny
12. 1300 Edward 1st hammered silver farthing - New issue with inner circles both sides - Type 28d Obv +EDWARDVS REX A Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON
13. 1464 -70 Edward IV hammered silver halfpenny - Trefoils by neck
Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint
14. 1351-1361 Edward III hammered silver penny - Pre treaty Obv EDWR ANGL DNS HYB
Rev DVR/REM * - Durham mint
15. 1247 Henry III voided long cross hammered silver ¼ penny
16. 1215 Henry III hammered silver half penny
17. 1215 Henry III hammered silver half penny
18. 1634 Charles 1st hammered silver penny
19. 1560-1 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver penny
20. 16thC Elizabeth 1st hammered silver penny

1. Worn hammered silver coin with Apothecary weight emblem
2. 16thC Elizabeth 1st hammered silver half groat
3. Worn hammered silver coin
4. Georgian intaglio – figure with anchor
5. 2ndC Roman Fibular brooch
6. 2ndC Roman Fibular brooch
7. C 1stC AD Celtic drinking vessel spout - face decoration 34.94mm W x 20.63mm L - 27.20g
8. C8thC Saxon gilded pendant
9. 16thC Tudor button
10. 1640's Civil war lead bullet melting bowl
11. Roman hanging pendant
12. 2ndC Roman Fibular brooch
13.18thC toy cannon
16. 2ndC Roman Fibular brooch
17. Medieval spur fragment
18. Medieval pendant with glass stones and gilding remaining
19.18thC Navy silver button
20. Roman minimus Roman bronze coin

1.1490-1550 Nuremberg Ship penny jetton
2. 1586 Hans Krauwincel II Rose orb Jetton
3. Georgian finial
4. Victorian mount
5. 3 -1634 Charles 1st hammered copper rose farthings
6. 1500-1650 buckle
7. 17thC crotal bell
8. Pressed copper Chinese style ink well cover
9.19thC buckle
10. 18thC 1 scripula apothecary weight
11. Post medieval lead bale seal
12. Post medieval lead bale seal
13. 3 Georgian watch winders
15. 330 AD Constantine Roman bronze coin - Shewolf & Twins reverse which is typically found on the VRBS ROMA
16. 1500-1650 buckle
17. 15thC lead token
18. 17thC hammered copper trade farthing
19. 1500-1650 buckle
20. 16thC Tudor button

22nd Nov 2011 Stonking 'cooked' Saxon silver and cooking Roman silvers update

I still have a bunch of finds from last week to post to the latest finds page but I have been doing serious 'cooking' over the weekend and it is amazing how different soil conditions effect the hardness of the horn silver crust that grows on ancient silver coins. One of the Roman silver coins has been 'cooking' for over a year now. The Saxon sceat coin is 500 to 700 years 'younger' than the Roman silvers so the crust although very hard 'cooks' off a lot quicker and the detail on the coin below is stunning. It is the first series of that type we have found with a crowned bust facing right. If you find any Saxon coins in the UK then you can send them to Dr Martin Allen who runs the National early medieval corpus database and he will record the findspot, issue you a unique EMC reference number and send you back a full ID. I have the 3 large Saxon reference volumes on Saxon coins but there are just so many types that it is far better sending it off to the expert for their opinion. Check out the Saxon coin page for examples of the ID's and EMC numbers issued to members coins. Martin has recorded it and send back it's type and EMC number below.

I still have 7 members Roman silver coins in various stages of 'cooking' and it takes just patience to let the crust slowly melt away.

Mass Mike's- 1/2 found Nov 2010 is showing detail and 90% done
Miss Jeff's - Crisp whole coin found Oct - stubborn crust 60 % done
Sal's - 1/2 a crisp coin found Nov - starting to clean
Wendel's - Charriot BC type coin found March - 80% done - lettering under horses showing through
Can Bill - Cooking since March and rough condition - 80% done
Barry's - Very early BC coin found Oct - 1/8 inch thick crust and coin is very brittle and laminating- gonna take a long time
Mindy's - 1/2 found Oct - 'cooking' quite quickly and showing a very unusual square motif on obverse

As dug

'Cooked' 1.08g,11.96mm

Saxon silver sceat - Circa 600-775 AD - cooking it to remove crust - sent to the Fitzwilliam museum for recording on the Early medieval Corpus database and ID

The new find (EMC 2011.0261) is an interesting example of an imitation of Series C (note the unusual style of the portrait and the pellets around the head).

Martin

Jeff's crispy Roman starting to show more detail

Wendell's Latest BC Roman pictures - back in to the cooker

Sal's Cooked half a silver Roman - sent off for ID to Mark Lehman - Britannia on reverse

Mindy's 'Cooking' half a silver Roman - sent off for ID to Mark Lehman - interesting reverse

Mass Mike's year old 'Cooking' half a silver Roman - even more 'cooking' to do yet

19th Nov 2011 Saxon and Roman silver to end the first half of the season

1743 George II milled silver penny and size comparison with an Elizabeth 1st shilling

1560-1 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver shilling - Martlett mint mark

Sal's team has a brilliant end to their hunt and to close the first half of the season. Louisiana Mike got the little and large of silvers with a crisp Elizabeth shilling and a George II tiny milled penny. Sal got three really neat Roman finds including a very crispy Roman silver. However the best find was a Saxon silver sceat with great detail under the crust. I have put it straight into the 'cooker' to remove the crust and then send it off to the Fitzwilliam museum for recording. I have tons more finds to post to the latest finds page yet. I will start preparing the export application paperwork shortly and will then update the competition page as I count the buttons. All of Sal's team are taking their buttons home so I have no update this week to do on the forum comp page.

During the half season break I will time to approach the 9 new land owners who have shown interest in us searching their land. Hopefully some of these new guys will be on board and we can start using their land when we kick off in the 2nd half of the season on the 1st Feb.

Saxon silver sceat - Circa 600-775 AD - cooking it to remove crust

Huge 4thC Roman cruciform brooch

Roman decorated dagger pommel

17th Nov 2011 More hams and widgets - Barn feed back - Ron's latest video

I have been busy posting out more export pouches and getting finds ready for my next museum meeting to hand in treasures. Meanwhile Sal's team have been finding the usual hammered silver and great widgets and I have posted a bunch to the latest finds page.

Solid silver - Royal Navy artillery badge

The Royal Naval Artillery Reserve or Volunteers as they were initially known, were established in 1873 and were recruited from either keen amateur sailors or those who were in the merchant service.

16th C lead ampullae - no handles or decoration type

Expert's feedback on the Celtic gold find by Mike is it unknown so far. I have also checked all the Indian ‘fanams’ tiny gold coins from the 15thC to see if any match without success. The star symbol in the centre of the coin is a classic Celtic symbol and the 'fanams' are all all dots and they used a lot better quality gold.

The first Barn feed back forms worked well with an excellent rating by the guys for Mindy's Barn hunt. Food, land, accommodation all scored 10/10. Comments made about the poor intermittent Wifi service and a larger fridge required have been taken on board by the owner.

Chicago Ron has just posted his latest video's on U- Tube

Mark and I have been hunting this beach for 3 weeks, there were lots of other hunters there over that 3 week period. Some got goodies others went away disgusted. We had 22 foot waves a month ago and it removed lots of sand. There is very heavy iron all over this beach.
Today the streak ended!
Mark and I spent 5 hours on the giving beach and I think she may be done giving. I tried Detecting and sifting. But alas no bling. This has been the most gold we have dug from a single beach ever. In 15 hunts I managed 32 gold, 25 rings, 2 earrings, 2 chains, 1 bracelet and 2 charms. Total gold weight was 96.7g mostly 14K
I believe Mark has about 25 gold. He is suppose to send me a pic of his stuff and I will post it when I get it. I will of course check in on her from time to time to see if the vault has reopened.

This was one fun 3 weeks of hunting.

Chicago Ron


I have posted 2 videos on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfPDWTj0C6k Beach cut Bonanza 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRYwNe6PXNc Beach Cut Bonanza 2 part 2

Roman decorated pot shard

13th Nov 2011 Mike kicks off with a Celtic gold ?? and 11,000 BC spear head - More land

Sal's hard core 'Barn' team arrived safely lunchtime and picked one of our old ancient sites. They were going to finish early at 8pm to do the food shopping and I get a phone call at 7.30 pm from Sal as Louisiana Mike has found a Celtic looking gold coin. I shot over to the site and was amazed at this tiny little coin as it the smallest gold coin I have ever seen dug. I initially thought is could be Saxon as the size matches a silver sceat. However having played with it and going through the Hobbs ref book there are Celtic gold 1/4 staters that match this weight and size. It is possible that this is an unrecorded type as I cannot match it so far. I have sent pictures and dimensions off to one of the leading Celtic coin experts for his views. Mike had a blinding afternoons hunt eyeballing an 11,000 BC Stone Age axe head and a real nice medieval hammered silver farthing. Great start to the last hunt before the 1/2 season break.

One of our local farmers has also given me the names of 3 additional new farmers that might be very interested in us searching their land. I now have a list of 9 potential new plots to research before the opening of the 2nd half of the season.

The smallest ancient gold coin I have ever seen dug - Size of a Saxon sceat with Celtic gold type markings - checking the ref books as I have never seen a gold like this before. 0.42g, 7.85mm

11000 BC Stone Age axe

10th Nov 2011 Kick off again in 2 days - Hoard video - 6 more new sites - 10% recession busting price drop for next season

Sal's hard core 'Barn' boys arrive on Sat so just a couple more days to the kick off for the last hunt before the half season break.

Posted more widgets and silver to the latest finds page.

A club up in the north of England dug an amazing silver Roman hoard and they captured it on video. Unfortunately they got a bit carried away and excavated the find themselves. In the case of any find below the plough line the best practise is to call out the local museum and get them to excavate it carefully. One of our guys made the same mistake with an Axe hoard he found 8 years ago which was excavated before I came out to the field. All the members now know that if they discover any find below the plough line they stop immediately and we inform the museum to come out to the field. Here is a list of all the Find Liaison Officers who you should contact if you are lucky enough to find a hoard and their telephone numbers. http://finds.org.uk/contacts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQL3K...ure=digest_sun

I have counted the last bucket of scrap buttons from Mindy's barn hunt and added them to the forum total which now stands at 5614. Remember this is only buttons guys are chucking away and does not include those they have in their pouch for exporting. Amazingly while I was counting the buttons there were 6 real nice buttons guys missed including:

I will give them away as a prize to the guy that digs the most interesting button during the season.

I have updated this years find of the year page with some of my favourite finds so far this season.

At the end of the season every guy that comes here gets to vote for his personal favourite find throughout the season (not his own finds of course) The find with the most votes gets the holder a free weeks full board detecting next season and the engraved Roman jug, not forgetting his name on the role of honour shield !
These are not the definitive list but are a few of my current favourite, guys can vote for any finds that are on our club site for the season 2011/2012.

I have been given a list of half a dozen new farmers names by one of our existing land owners that might be interested in us searching their land in the 2nd half of the season. Currently we have 300 + fields and if we take on yet more land as a club we need more bodies out there to do it justice and pay the farmers. Currently the recession is biting hard out there so I have taken 10 % off all prices of next years tours to enable more guys to afford to come. We are already $600 cheaper per week than any other UK detecting tour with up to twice as many detecting hours so this price drop will make us the even more unbeatable value. The new land on offer is around one of our Barn self catering accommodations so just a walk up the road. It is a very well known Celtic, Roman and medieval area. Louisiana Sal's hard core Barn boys arrive on Sat and it is the last hunt of the 1/2 season, once they have gone I will start seeing the new farmers and will keep you posted on the progress.

Idaho Orv has done an amazing final cleaning job on his debased green Roman silver he dug in March which was exported to him. I gave it the basic 'cooking' to remove the green crud so Mark could ID it but Orv gave it the final attention to fully reveal the bust so I have sent it back again to Mark for an update.

As dug and then 'cooked'

Final cleaning - Aurelian (270-275)

6th Nov 2011 Stonking 11,000 BC axe head find - Mark's export approved - last day of hunts

Created a new 2011Nov finds page to speed up load times, halved the Oct finds page size . Uploaded a ton of great finds to it today.

It's Mindy's Barn team's last day of hunting and they have decided to finish early to go back to the Barn to clean up and pack up. Some of the guys will continue to hit the land available around the accommodation but Mindy has to get the mini bus ready to hand back in. I have not counted their scrap button bucket this week yet and will add it to the forum comp total tonight, forum comp page

I will have a few days break before Sal's hard core Barn boys arrive next Saturday. These are serious hard core hunters and will be out there from 7am to 10 pm every day with night lights.

Amazing huge 11,000 Stone Age flint axe head - this is beautifully crafted with a thumb slot for easy holding
155mm L x 48.63mm W

Medieval barrel lock

The guys had another great day with more hams and widgets yesterday but the find of the trip has to be Mindy eyeballs a huge stonking 11,000 BC flint axe head.

Great news for Ill Mark as his export license for his Roman gold find arrived approved yesterday. This find will be available to view shortly on the PAS database as the find spot and details were recorded with the museum. Remember NO find over 50 years old can leave England without an approved export license and you are risking a prison sentence and a large fine if caught smuggling. Exporting has now moved from the MLA to under the umbrella of the Arts Council so check out their new website

http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/

Posted a load more silver and relics to the latest finds page

Claudius (41-54 AD) Roman gold coin 19.6mm, 7.81g

5th Nov 2011 Can Bill finds another monster Celtic gold & vid- Ron's new England detecting video

45 BC Addedomaros Celtic gold full stater 5.45g, 17.21mm

Obv cross of 3 plain & 2 pellet lines with 2 opposed crescents b in centre

Rev horse r ., above pellet in ring, pellet in wheel below

Fl Rob was out there with his camera and vid'd Bill after he found the gold in the field

http://www.colchestertreasurehunting...finds/bill.mp4

It is amazing that after the driest Sept and Oct on record and the ground like hard nuggets finally the last week we have had some decent rain. In fact the ground conditions are near perfect now as it has good moisture and compression. The fields are effectively like new now as we can get twice the depth on targets with no air pockets. Can Bill choose to go back to a site that was very tough digging at the beginning of the week but it borders a new Romano/Celtic village the guys discovered this year. Bill has been coming here twice a year for 6 years and never found a gold coin in 20 years of detecting. Bill is a serious hunter from dawn to dusk and has been here when loads of other guys have popped gold around him. Bill has already made some amazing finds over the years but a gold coin has always eluded him. The phone rang yesterday at 9.30am and Bill is on his cellphone in the middle of a field and he has finally popped the ultimate prize, a full Celtic gold stater. It is Addedomaros type, grandfather of the King of Colchester and has an Obv with the first double B type we have ever found. Great find !! Fl Ralph also found a very interesting relic that looks like a debased gold decorated bead.

Updated this years gold finds page

Very interesting Iron age bead with crude decoration on the front - this also has a gold content - perhaps made from a low grade nugget - reported to museum as potential treasure

The scrolled G's indicate possible Saxon gold ring

Chicago Ron has put together a huge video of his teams hunt in Oct 2011 and he has captured most of the teams finds as they were dug. Brilliant fun to watch Ron's video link

Posted a load more silver and relics to the latest finds page

31st Oct 2011 Cal Gail finds a monster Celtic gold

The new land the guys just starting hunting did not produce a huge amount of finds but they liked the land for the sheer number of targets. Only one hammered silver found, medieval long cross, some early milled, Willy IIII, George III and Victoria, a couple of grotty Romans, usual buttons and greenies but nothing to write home about. Bill did get a very crisp early 1340's Shield of France jetton. Then Cal Gail changes the scene completely with a stonking 1/4 Celtic gold find with a design I had never seen before. I just checked my Hobbs ref books and it is our first ever 'P' type early gold, very striking design.

I am still working my way through posting out export pouches and will posting more silver and widgets to the latest find page tomorrow.

50 BC Canti - 1/4 Celtic gold coin -2.06g, 10.43mm - - Uninscribed 'P' gold -'Trophy' type VA147

Cantiaci / Cantii

This Celtic tribe occupied the south-eastern corner of Britain, probably from the second century BC. Its territory traditionally comprised Kent, eastern Surrey, East Sussex and London south of the Thames. The Cantiaci, or Cantii, were bordered across the Thames by the Catuvellauni and the Trinovantes, although the former may only have expanded to the Thames between 54-30 BC. It is unclear who controlled the north bank of the Thames before that - perhaps a minor tribe that was later absorbed by the Catuvellauni. To the west were the various peoples that made up the Atrebates, including the Regninses.

Like many of their neighbours in the south-east, the Cantii were Belgic people from the North Sea or Baltics, part of the third wave of Celtic settlers in Britain. They formed a recognisable territory which may not have been a single unified kingdom until the start of the first century AD, but which instead appears to have been several smaller kingdoms which operated as a confederation in times of trouble. The four individuals who flourished around 55 BC may have been rulers of each of the Cantii kingdoms, perhaps operating together under the authority of Cassivellaunus of the Catuvellauni. Certainly Julius Caesar recorded the Cantii as having four leaders who were kings in their own right.

The Cantii at this time were strongly influenced by their Belgic neighbours, the Atrebates, who were more recent arrivals in the country. Their customs were also much the same as the Celts of Gaul, and they were wont to die their skins with blue woad which made them look more terrifying in battle. This custom died out south of the Antonine Wall following the Roman Conquest. That conquest may have caused some of the Cantii to flee northwards where a tribe called the Decantae was noted, just once, by the Romans in Pictland around AD 140.

30th Oct 2011 Hunts kick off again - Hunt format reminder - more new land and gold found

9 carat gold - .25 carat diamond ring - 1.51g

Continental and English hall marks - HG Ltd

It was great to have a weeks break between the hunts to get export pouches posted out and some more weighed at the PO. Most guys now pick up their pouch on their next trip or get a member to take them home safely on the plane. Very little progress has been made on the Roman silvers currently 'cooking' as the crust is just so thick. The trick is to take them out, toothpick, change the mixture and cook them some more.

As Dug and partially cooked silver Roman silver - just sent off to Mark Lehman for a provisional ID

I have also been liaising with one of our existing farmers who has secured us more land to hunt near his Self Catering Barn from a farmer friend. The land has never been hunted and Mindy's team that arrive yesterday will be trying it out this week. Florida Rob has already banged in the first piece of gold of the hunt a really neat diamond ring that is really curious as it has both Continental and English hallmarks on it for 9 carat gold, London mark. I cannot see a date letter so it appears to be a 20thC example

Uploaded more silver and widgets from last week to the latest finds page.

I still get enquires from guys that have been on other UK tours and think this is your typical 'sheepherder' type tour where you are herded to a single 'magic' field for a day. They give you no choice so I have just posted a reminder on the members forum for any newbies on how our club runs its hunts. Senior members know they do their own thing and have favourite spots where they found good stuff from previous hunts.

Just to clarify how we hunt here to anyone booked for their first trip. There is a detailed page of Hunt format you can read

I never pick the fields you hunt - you choose from the 300 available.

You pick a 'site' not a field to hunt- i.e. if the farmer has 13 fields you can run around all 13 in a morning session if you are fast enough - Ontario Denny always tries !!

Lunchtime you decide to either stay on that 'site' or move to another 'site'. Some of your group might stay, others will move on. A site can vary from 300 to over 1000 acres.

Teams can be split over half a dozen 'sites' in a morning and have 13 + fields each if they want.

I pay the farmer by half day per man and keep a detailed spreadsheet of who is where so it does not matter where you choose.

You can choose to spend your entire week on just one site or try and get around them all - that is your choice

We have no 'magic' fields like all the other tours appear to have and just herd you to their choice of one field per day that always amazingly produces more Roman coins in a week then we find between us in a year !! Hunting here is a crap shoot here with more land than any group could cover in 10 lifetimes. Go with your gut feeling, hairs on the back of your neck, prayer, research etc what ever makes you choose a site. Barn leaders have their own mini bus, maps, Sat Nav and tell you what was found where and then you make your own decision on a site or follow other guys, your choice.

We are the ONLY club in the world that allows it's members to roam anywhere they like when they like for as long as they like.

That is why we are the most successful club in the world because guys like Miss Jeff can go totally insane and pick to go on the worse sucking site we have and pop a beauty Roman silver. 90% of Senior members would string me up if I ever took them there !!!

Ontario Dave has posted some mazing cleaning work he has done on his finds exported from March

Spring finds get final cleaning and conservation.

'The dragon chape surprised me after some time under the microscope. Seems the back fin has holes and fin rays that were hidden under the hard clay and crust. I've spent a lot of time looking for something similar on the net with now luck. I love this piece'.

2ndC Roman enamelled fibular broocn

'After some cleaning the brooch revealed some nice detail. I can now see where the pin attached and there are still some original surfaces on the back'.

25th Oct 2011 Back at full speed - Treasure case updates - Cooked Romans

1.25g, 9.84mm dia

Treasure Case No: 2010 T169.  Saxon gold cloisonné fitting from Colchester area , Essex
(Receipt No: 6979)

Ill Mark stunning Saxon gold find was officially declared treasure at the Coroners inquest held in Chelmsford last week and will now move onto the valuation committee stage of the treasure process. Amazingly rare find.

Excellent find - Cannon ball 15oz ( approx 1 pound, 1.9 inches dia) - Used from 1642 -45

Great to have my internet connection finally back at full speed. I have been busy catching up with paperwork until the new team arrives this Sat. The British Museum has issued treasure case numbers for most of the latest discoveries we reported and I have posted the details below. I have received e-mails disclaiming several of the 17thC Charles II silver 'hearts and flames' type buttons we reported, these will be returned to the guys. The new 'cooker' I invested in is working a treat and I have managed to finish Ont Jim's neat elephant Roman silver, very neat coin. I have been 'tooth picking' the rest of the Roman silvers that are in the cooker but it is slow going as the 'crust' on several of them is still an 1/8 inch thick.

I am still catching up on photographing last week finds and Kansas found a stonking early English civil war 1 pounder cannon ball in great shape. These light weight guns were used to cover the gaps between infantry units and were very portable on the battlefield. It is small in size suggesting it could have been used in a Rabinet, the smallest of the English Standard Sizes of cannon.

This picture shows just how thick the 'crust' can be on a 2000 year old Roman silver

As dug and 'cooked'

SILVER Denarius - 49 to 44 BC,
by JULIUS CAESAR,
Refers to MILITARY VICTORY of GAUL !! When this denarius was first minted, it was a day's wages for one of Julius Caesar's soldiers.
Obv: Elephant Trampling a Serpent
Rev: Priestly Implements

that's a Julius Caesar elephant denarius.  The elephant is walking right trampling either a serpent (not too likely, but possible) or a Celtic Carnyx - a war trumpet in the shape of a serpent or dragon - in the generous exergue below, you have CAESAR in large, clear letters no one could mistake.  The reverse is an assortment of priestly implements - the exact order and assortment may vary from issue to issue, but will include various items from this list: simpuulum (ladle), aspergillum (sprinkler - looks like a hand-sized floor-mop) jug, knife, axe, apex (pontifex's special hat) and lituus (curved wand).  Caesar held the post of Pontifex Maximus from an early age, which despite its odd set of restrictions, allowed him entry into the halls of power and was his launching-pad to greatness.

The type dates to 49 BC, or about the time his political career in Rome really hit stride, 5 years or so before his demise.  I believe this was well after his abortive attempts at conquering Britain, although I'm not all that certain about the time-line here.  It was a prolific issue and is really relatively common, so it's not too exceptional for one to have made it to Britain in the course of trade, or even been carried by one of Claudius' soldiers as a talisman - although it wasn't impossible for denarii to stay in circulation for a century at that time, this seems to have enough detail to be fairly bold even under encrustation - ie: it doesn't exhibit anything like the wear one would expect for a coin which had circulated for 100 years.

Here's an example showing all the details clearly http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album434/MK_15_04

Mark

Disclaimed treasure items

Treasure Act 1996: 2011 T203 Post-Medieval silver cufflink element from Tendring area, Essex.
Finder/s: Mr Crisler

Treasure Act 1996: 2011 T205 Post-Medieval silver cufflink element from Colchester area, Essex.
Finder/s: Mr Guttuso

Treasure Act 1996: 2011 T211 Post-Medieval silver cufflink element from Colchester area, Essex.
Finder/s: Mr Slinkman

22nd Oct 2011 Internet connection is really flakey - more uploads

I have tons of finds from last week to upload yet but my internet connection is on the friz and will not be repaired until Tuesday. I have managed to uploaded a few more hammered silver and widgets but my line dies every couple of minutes. Ron's team left this morning and luckily I have a weeks break before the next team arrives so hopefully they can get it fixed. If I do not post for the next few days it is because my internet connection has died completely, good old BT.

I have just updated the forum comp page and the scrap button count now is just short of 5200 and just killed off another 2 guys guesses.

15thC lead tokens used as small change

Lead, as it is soft and prone to oxidisation, has rarely been used for coinage proper, and never in England. However, since it is cheap and easy to melt and cast, coin-like objects of lead, and sometimes also of pewter and tin, were widely produced in medieval times up to the nineteenth century. These lead pieces probably had a range of functions, perhaps a cheaper versions of reckoning counters and as token coinage in small scale dealings, and more certainly, as chits, tickets or passes. Ecclesiastical bodies used such tokens to register attendance at services. In most cases it is impossible to ascribe a particular function to these lead pieces.

Just managed to upload more silver and widgets to the latest finds page. The guys got lots of early lead token last week I have also just posted

20th Oct 2011 Another neat gold find- Colchester medallions awarded - Roman cooker arrived

Chicago Ron received the club's silver award for the most hammered silver coin record in a morning session

Ron reciprocates with presenting Missouri Jeff with a special club 'insanity' award for picking the most sucking site we have and finding the first ever Roman silver there

The top Gold award goes to Kansas Barry for taking the oldest coin club record with his 211BC Roman silver - It was double award as he also found 2 Roman silver coins in a morning off different fields.

Roman silver coins 'cooking' on the new hot plate

It is the guys last day of their hunt before we take a weeks break to catch up on paperwork and finds. One more day for the guys to find another monster ! These new guys and gals have been such a fun upbeat bunch hunting to even 10pm one night and it has been an amazing hunt especially as the dry fields have not slowed them up.

Miss Jeff found another real neat gold find, Georgian watch winder with a snake biting its tail design. The guys also got some nice silver and widgets and I have posted a whole bunch to the latest finds page.

My new 'Roman' hotplate arrived and I put it straight into action. It has a very large variable heat hot plate so I can fit 4 coffee mugs on there to cook silver Romans at the same time. I have be messing around with different heat settings to see if it cooks the coins quicker at different temps.

Really neat gold Georgian watch winder - snake biting its own tail

Teresa's Roman silver starting to 'cook' up nicely - sent to Mark Lehman for ID

This is a denarius of Hadrian (117-138 AD) who did some building in your part of the world as a part of his program to consolidate the governable parts of the expanded Empire left him by his predecessor Trajan.  Trajan, if you will recall, was the emperor under whose reign the Roman Empire reached its largest size, so Hadrian, being a practical sort of fellow, trimmed-off the ungovernable places (Like the lands won from the Parthian Persian Empire) and did what he could to make other areas as practical to be goverened as possible.  In Britain, as you know, this meant building and maintaining a string of fortresses and garrisons, all connected by a wall across the narrowest part of your island to keep the increasingly Romanized south from overmuch depredation from the "barbarian" north.
Being a hands-on sort of ruler, Hadrian made it his business to visit every part of the Empire at least once during his rule.  Often his coins reflected his journeys, almost like "official postcards" from his travels around the Empire.

This piece shows a personification of Africa - the Romans were big on putting human faces onto abstract concepts as a part of their well-developed system of personifications - as a woman reclining at ease against a rock, wearing an elephant-skin headdress and holding a scorpion and a cornucopia, a basket of corn-ears and fruit at her feet.  Africa represented a nearly never-ending source of exploitable riches for the Romans, the fertile areas of the north provided a major portion of the grain without which the Empire would not have had the bread for its "Bread and Circuses".  And indeed Africa produced an unending supply of exotic beasts and people to populate the circuses as well.

The personification of Africa appeared on Roman coins of all denominations towards the end of Hadrian's relatively long reign - your piece dates to about 136 AD.  RIC II 299, RSC 138.
This is a somewhat scarce type and considered very desirable.

Mark

32 BC Mark Antony, Legionary silver Denarius. ANT.AVG.III.VIR.R.P.C Galley, Legionary Eagle between two standards

That's right, although I wouldn't call this a "tribute" type, this is a denarius struck by Marc Antony to pay the troops and for supplies during the campaign which ended in the defeat of his forces by those of Octavian (later Augustus) and Agrippa at the great sea-battle of Actium in 31 BC.  These pieces, which enumerate his various legions on the reverse, are presumed to have been struck by a travelling mint accompanying his forces during the winter of 32/31 BC at his headquaters in Patrae.

Some of the legions named on the coins are found only occasionally or rarely if at all.  This one appears (as well as I can make out from the photo) to name legion II (2) - you can look at the area between the "aquila" - the legionary eagle and the standard to the right on the reverse to confirm which legion is named with a Roman numeral.  If it is II, it's one of the more commonly found legions in this series.

The legend on the obverse, along with the galley, is  ANT AVG III VIR R P C, which names Antony as Augur and Triumvir. 

Due to being somewhat debased silver, these remained in circulation in some areas for 250-300 years and are often found in northern European hoards worn so smooth that all you can do is identify them as legionary denarii - this piece is in far nicer condition than these are generally found - it must have been lost relatively soon after it was minted.

Mark

Amazing detail under the crud, I think I recognise this coin as a Mark Antony Galley coin - sent to Mark Lehman for ID - more cooking to do yet

'Cooking' Roman silver

19th Oct 2011 Another stonking treasure and silver Romans - Colchester medallion awards

Jeff's crispy Roman silver - straight into the cooker

The Roman silver coins are coming up everywhere this week and Missouri Jeff's latest one wins him a special Colchester medallion for going insane. Remember the members here have their own mini bus and pick any of the sites to hunt each day, I would rather have taken up basket weaving than hunt this site. We have a 1000 acre farm that historically is the most important we have but never produces the goods. It should be covered with Saxon finds but no one has ever made any. Most members would not go there if their life depended on it. Yesterday the new guys on Jeff's team picked it for the morning and I said 'Yuck'. Jeff amazingly popped a beauty Roman silver that is showing great detail under the crust, he has to get a Colchester medallion for the guy that has found the first ever Roman silver there !! It was certainly his day as in the afternoon they choose another huge 12 field plot and he found a stonking 16htC Tudor treasure. Jeff rightly left it in the hard clod so I could soak it slowly and not damage the pin which amazingly was still attached.

I have posted a load more great silver and relics to the latest finds page.

I am picking up the first of our Club medallions this morning from the engravers to present to both Chicago Ron, Kansas Barry and Miss Jeff for their records they broke this week.

Chicago Ron - 6 hammered silver coins in a morning session that spanned the periods from Edward 1st to Henry VIII

Kansas Barry - For his 211 BC Roman silver coin that matched the oldest ever found and Britain and a new club record

Miss Jeff - Special award for going insane and picking our worst sucking site and popping a Roman silver

Updated the Hoard and Treasure page

Miss Jeff left it in the clod so I could soak it slowly to keep the pin intact - never found one with the pin still in place

Stunning 16thC Tudor gilded silver ornate pin - reported as treasure to the museum

Superb eye ball find -C16thC Henry VIII stone round shot cannon shell - out of use by the 17thC

I have just updated the forum comp page and the scrap button count now is just short of 5000 and just killed off another 3 guys guesses.

Great news yesterday is Ill Mark gets to take his rare Roman gold coin that won last seasons 'find of the year'. I have be liaising with Mark and the landowner to thrash out an amenable deal with the splitting of this find. Both parties were very happy with the final outcome and now Mark can play with his little baby again after export approval.

Claudius (41-54 AD) Roman gold coin 19.6mm, 7.81g

18th Oct 2011 Kansas Barry's find is official 211-206 BC - Gold wrist torc found - New Roman 'cooker' and Coffee fix

Biggest haul of Roman gold in Britain could have been found - read this great story with link below

Britain's biggest haul of Roman gold, worth millions of pounds, could have been found in Worcestershire by a treasure hunter.

I am amazed at the level of finds the guys are making as the ground is the driest I have even seen in Oct. We had a brief shower last night but we need it to bucket down for several days to get any moisture in the soil and compress the fresh ploughed and rolled. It did not stop the Missouri and Kansas team from making more monster finds including part of an Iron Age gold wrist Torc. Mark Lehman has confirmed that Barry's coin matches the oldest ever coin found in Britain and in far better condition. I have sent pictures and the find spot off to the experts at the local and British museum for recording and their views. Staggering find.

This dates, as far as I can tell - since no trace of symbol has become visible beneath the horses or between the heads of the Dioscuri - to the earliest issue of actual Denarii, as distinct from the earlier Drachma-denominated silver coinage.  It dates to the period 211-206 BC (according to the most recent scholarship on dating) and would be RSC # 2 (Roman Silver Coinage) - if that catalog number gives you some idea of how close to the beginning of the book it's found. This first coinage was anonymous, lacking even symbols to potentially indicate via association (or pun) the names of the families of moneyers.  This is actually the 3rd type produced (so far as I can tell) "ROMA" in the exergue of this specimen appears to be in relief.  On the very earliest ROMA was incuse, and a transitional type had ROMA partially incuse and partially in relief.

The general types, however, the helmeted head of Roma, inspired by (and, frankly, copied from) the helmeted head of Athena on Corinthian didrachms) with "X" mark of denomination (10 Asses of bronze to the silver Denarius - later it would be re-tariffed at 16) and the Dioscuri, Castor & Pollux, galloping right with levelled lances would be among the very most common devices used on denarii over the next 150 years.  When there was no specific bit of history or family fame being related on a moneyer's denarii, this was one of the 3 main "stock" types, along with Jupiter driving a quadriga and Victory driving a biga.

I believe this is the earliest Roman coin you folks have turned up, to date.  It is, at least, the earliest I recall being forwarded to me for identification.  With the exception of the slightly earlier (and very much more rare) "Romano-Campanian" Quadrigati (Didrachmae), Drachmae and Semes, this is about as early as you can go in the "Roman" coin series.

Mark

Iron Age pure gold wrist or ankle Torc fragment - 1.63g, 30.18mm L x 2,5 mm dia - reported as treasure to museum

Kansas Teresa who found that crispy Roman silver emptied out her pouch while washing up her finds to discover what she thought was just a thick wire was in fact a gold wrist Torc. It is an interesting find as the field she found both the Roman silver and this Torc was the site of a Roman villa and both Celtic and Romans are known to have shared the same sites together. She needs to go back and find the rest of it !!

Updated this years gold finds page

Updated the Hoard and Treasure page

Monster sized 1696 William III milled silver half crown (30 pence)

Miss Sandy found a monster sized milled silver coin and it's only the 3rd Willy half crown we have ever found, these are rare as hens teeth and this one has great detail. The 1st one we found was almost a smooth disc as these were in general circulation for over 100 years.

New Roman 'cooker'

I currently have too many crispy Roman silvers in the 'cooking' stage as they can take up to a year when the crust is in some cases an 1/8th inch thick. My 2nd burner just failed so I have decided to test out a larger hot plate which I just ordered up. I can probably get 3 mugs of the cooking 'mixture' on there at any one time and the heat is more controllable. I will let you know how it works.

As dug and 'cooking'

Almost 'cooked - just re sent it back off to Mark for a further ID - his revised ID is below

1st C Roman silver coin - 'cooking' it to remove crust

This is probably a Flavian (Vespasian, Titus or Domitian) but it is a similar reverse with sacrificial implementia.  This one has "TRI POT" (Tribunicia Potestatum or the Tribunician Powers) across the bottom of the reverse, and that's a common reverse type for the Flavians. 

Other emperors used the sacrificial implements as a reverse type. So I can't be certain who it is until there's a bit more obverse detail to go on. I can tell you that they're often associated with issues for the Caesar - the "heir apparent" - (if there is one) so I'd make a guess there's a good chance this may be Titus, but I believe Vespasian used this same reverse.

When you've revealed some obverse details I should be able to tell you better what you've got here.

Mark

I'm not certain which (if any) member of the family or reference number I might have quoted you before, but as far as I can tell this is Vespasian - the missing part of the obverse legend would be" [IMP CAES VESP AV]G P M COS IIII.
None of the other Flavians used this exact reverse type, AVGVR / TRI POT. 
It's from the mint at Rome and dates to 72/3 AD.  RIC II 42; SR 2282.

Mark

As dug

'Cooked' up real easy

Sent to Mark Lehman for his views when it was crusty and just resent it to him again now it is cleaned up

The one with the concave break is a Trajan (96-117 AD) Fortuna Redux Denarius - Fortuna seated left holding a rudder (visible at her feet) and cornucopiae. The reverse legend refers to Trajan's victorious campaigns against the Parthians. The land acquired in these victories was the first that Hadrian "got rid of" - gave back to the Parthian Empire in the interests of peace - in his reign which succeeded Trajan's - but it was part of what brought the Roman Empire to its largest size in lands held. This occurred under Trajan, at just about the time this type was struck - the later part of Trajan's reign - around 116 AD, give or take a year.

Mark

Guys are normally gagging for coffee and tea out in the field during a long session and take out all kinds of flasks so they can have a fix during the day. I have found these 5 Ltr professional push button type airport flasks on the net. I have ordered up 3 of the 5 litre jobbies, that hold around 18 cups and all the write ups say they keep piping hot for a very long time. I have also ordered up 3 of the 2.5 litre milk jugs so both the full board and Barn leaders can take out a set. They should be here in a couple of days and Min Mindy's Barn team is going to trial them out for the club. Now guys can have a caffeine fix any time during the day !!

17th Oct 2011 Kansas Barry's find is possibly equal to the oldest coin ever found in Britain - 3 more silvers found

This coin I posted yesterday is certainly the oldest ever coin found by our club with the previous record held by Mindy at 146BC, this coin smashes that record by 60 years at least.

As dug, nearly 'cooked' and final pictures - just sent to Mark for his final ID

17.81mm, 3.28g

What an amazing discovery, Mark Lehman our Roman coin expert has ID'd the Roman silver I just 'cooked' up as possibly equal to the oldest coin ever found in Britain. Barry's coin even has far better detail than the previous one below. The BBC has a page with info on the previous coin found as part of a hoard in 2000 and the story's link is below

Hoard coin

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/8487870.stm

A silver coin dug up as part of a hoard is the oldest piece of Roman money found in Britain, experts believe.

The coin, which has been dated to 211BC, was found near Hallaton in Leicestershire with 5,000 other coins, a helmet and decorated bowl.

Uncovered by archaeologists in 2000, the coin's significance has just been recognised, the county council said.

It said the coin, which has the Goddess Roma on one side, was "something very special".

The other side depicts mythical twins Castor and Pollux sat on galloping horses.

I had been exchanging e-mails with Mark Lehman all day as I 'cooked' up the coin found by Barry and more detail appeared. Mark's latest e-mail puts it definitely in the 211BC to 206BC range. I still have Barry's coin 'cooking' to bring out the final detail to confirm the ID. Bloody exciting stuff and a gob smacking discovery!!

'The issue is - will be - etc - whether or not we can detect any sort of a symbol (or completely rule out the existence of one) at exactly the vaguest point on the reverse - the rim from about 4:00-5:00.  That's exactly where a symbol would be if there is one.

This is Murphy's law of ancient coins in action - "the most important part of the design (or legend, etc) is the part least likely to be clearly visible on a marginal specimen", but I believe, on the basis of the first 2 photos, that there is no symbol.  if that is the case, it puts this piece in the earliest group of anonymous denarii - 211-206 BC.

It was already the earliest coin you've found of which I'm aware - but if the symbol is, in fact, completely absent (and not just worn off) it puts it in the earliest possible group after the introduction of the denarius / end of the drachma-based silver coinage'.

Mark

Amazingly the guys also dug another 3 crusty Roman silver coins yesterday and I have now run out of 'cooking' space on my coffee burner. I still have 4 long term 'cooking Romans' since March with 1/8th inch thick crusts constantly on the go. I have two hot plate units but one just burnt out with the continued use. Looks like I will have to go to the shops to pick up another one !!

Another crusty Roman straight into the 'cooker' found by Kansas Teresa

16th Oct 2011 Staggering early gold Talisman ring found - Great Roman silver finds - Sleeping beauty

Min Mindy is one of the clubs most senior hard core members but last week Ont Jim popped her taking a secret power nap and just sent me the pic LOL

Mindy takes an Ark Gary power nap LOL

BC Republican Roman silver straight into the 'cooker' to remove crust

Last weeks team has a great final day with 6 hammered silver coins which I will be posting to the latest finds page. Min Mindy ended her hunt with another BC looking Roman republican silver coin above. A new team arrived from a club in Kansas and are staying in the local 'Barn conversion' with Chicago Ron and Can Ron. I thought now I put my feet up, catch up on paperwork and photographing,as full board hunts are now closed but that ended very quickly as they did a night hunt their first afternoon and at 9pm Kansas Gregg popped a monster gold ring find. This is a spectacular discovery so I have posted huge pictures so you can see the punched design and Mitch Chris has already done some amazing research on the members forum to ID it further. I thought the scrolly G's were just decoration but Chris has found they are in fact G's which makes the inscription "DEBAL GUD GUDANI +" which is Gothic, meaning "God of Gods".There is a lot of academic discussion about this type of ring on the net and I have posted some of it below the ring. These rings appear to be used as a Talisman. The use of a top barred A on the ring would date this around a Class 7 short cross coin circa 12th/13thC.

As dug

Partially 'cooked' - 2nd Roman has a crust 1/8 inch thick !!

Kansas Barry's double crusty Roman silvers straight into the 'cooker' to remove horn crust

I have sent the first one which is BC republican off to Mark Lehman for ID

Then if this was not enough the new guys picked to hit one of our a huge sites with 15 fields for their first morning. Kansas Barry just wandered aimlessly and did not realise that he had already popped two well crusty Roman silvers coins from both ends of the site when he arrived back for lunch. 2000 years in the ground makes most most Roman silver almost unrecognisable unless you are skilled at fondling them. The whole team also kick butt and a load of hammered silver and widgets was found. I will be posting more this morning to the latest finds page. Chicago Ron had also found what looks like a Celtic bronze or even debased silver unit that I have soaking in distilled water to try and get some of the crud off.

Then amazingly I rang the 'Barn leader' Chicago Ron to see where they had picked to go to at 10am this morning. They had chosen another one of our monster plots around 1000 acres for a morning and Barry had already made yet another Roman silver coin find making it 3 in 2 days !! This has to be a new club record so I feel one of our new Club medallion awards coming on.

Updated this years gold finds page

Updated the Hoard and Treasure page

Monster find - C12thC Early medieval gold ring - reported as treasure to museum

"DEBAL GUD GUDANI +" which is Gothic, meaning "God of Gods"

Interesting hand punched lettering which has a barred A with additional top bar like on short cross coins of Class7 and an unbarred A also on the ring.

4.22g, 4.49mm H x 22.59mm W

As dug

'cooking'

Almost 'cooked'

Mark sent me this pic

MK 15 07 Vespasian, 69-79 AD.
AR Denarius
17mm, 3.18gm, axis: 180º
Mint of Rome, 70-72 AD.
Obv: IMP CAES VESP AVG P M. Laureate head right.
Rx: AVGVR TRI POT. Priestly implementia: simpulum, aspergillum, jug and lituus.
RIC II, i 43, RSC 43, Cf. SR 2282, VM 12.

14th Oct 2011 Sweet Tudor treasure, Celtic face and more great finds

Guys are still finding some amazing relics and silver and I have posted a bunch more to the latest finds page 2011 finds page. Chicago Ron found this stunning Celtic spout with face decoration and then Can Ron popped the sweetest Tudor clothing fastener that I have reported as treasure to the museum. The huge bronze age item is perplexing as it has a late Iron Age patina but the dot type decoration and design look Roman. I dropped the museum a mail to see if they have seen anything similar.

I have updated the 'win a free trip' page free forum comp that now stands at 4014 scrap buttons found so far.

Updated the Hoard and treasure page

Huge bronze decorated handle 6 inches long - Late Iron Age patina - sent to museum to see if they have seen one before

Stunning 16thC Tudor clothing fastener - gold on silver reported to museum as treasure

C 1stC AD Celtic drinking vessel spout - face decoration

34.94mm W x 20.63mm L - 27.20g

1640's Civil war lead bullet melting bowl ?

12th Oct 2011 Sweet gold coin and more great finds

Guys are finding some great relics and silver and I have posted a whole bunch on the latest finds page 2011 finds page. Can Ron and the guys were hitting new land yesterday and he popped the first gold coin so far off this land with a really sweet early milled Portuguese 1/2 escudo. Can Drew then popped a great gold Georgian collar stud. Min Mindy found another Roman silver with a thick crust that I will have to 'cook' off. I have not taken photo's of it yet as I have tons more finds to upload yet.

Georgian gold collar study

1728 Portuguese Joao V milled gold - 1/2 Escudo (800 Reis) 0.9170 Gold

John V of Portugal

1260 AD Non Heraldic personal seal. The design is typical of mid 13thC non heraldic seals

1485 Henry VII hammered silver farthing - double arched crown

Obv CIVI/TAS/EBO /RACI -York mint

Updated this years gold finds page

I have also updated the 'win a free trip' page free forum comp that now stands at 3003

The Thames Tunnel is an underwater tunnel, built beneath the River Thames in London and connecting Rotherhithe with Wapping.

It measures 35 feet wide by 20 feet high and is 1,300 feet long, running at a depth of 75 feet below the river's surface at high tide. It was the first tunnel known successfully to have been constructed underneath a navigable river, and was built between 1825 and 1843 using Thomas Cochrane and Marc Isambard Brunel's newly invented tunnelling shield technology, by him and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

10th Oct 2011 Great Roman finds, stonking gold ring and finally rain

Final batch of approved exports licenses arrived yesterday and I have posted a list of names on the members forum.

It finally rained yesterday so we got some moisture in the soil. Ont Bill banged in a stonking gold ring and it's construction looks early. I have reported it to Colchester museum and the BM experts will give their views. Ont Jim found his 2nd Roman silver of his trip and it is a very unusual example with an Elephant on the Obv. Mark Lehman has already ID'd it before I 'cook' it to remove the 'crust' and it is a rare type especially in this crisp condition. Chicago Ron found this really neat Saxon pendant below with heavy gilding remaining. It could at a pinch even be late Roman. I have already posted of load of great relics and silver to the latest finds page Oct 2011 finds page and have a dozen more hammered silver coins to post today including a full Elizabeth 1st shilling found by Cal Sarah.

Can Dan got two great medieval rings yesterday, 'stirrup' type and a traders seal ring I have just posted to the latest finds page.

Updated this years gold finds page

I have also updated the 'win a free trip' forum comp page free forum comp that now stands at 2403

15th/16thC gold ring -reported to museum as treasure - no hallmarks

18.71mm, 1.05g

C8thC Saxon gilded pendant

SILVER Denarius - 49 to 44 BC,
by JULIUS CAESAR,
Refers to MILITARY VICTORY of GAUL !! When this denarius was first minted, it was a day's wages for one of Julius Caesar's soldiers.
Obv: Elephant Trampling a Serpent
Rev: Priestly Implements

Cool - that's a Julius Caesar elephant denarius.  The elephant is walking right trampling either a serpent (not too likely, but possible) or a Celtic Carnyx - a war trumpet in the shape of a serpent or dragon - in the generous exergue below, you have CAESAR in large, clear letters no one could mistake.  The reverse is an assortment of priestly implements - the exact order and assortment may vary from issue to issue, but will include various items from this list: simpuulum (ladle), aspergillum (sprinkler - looks like a hand-sized floor-mop) jug, knife, axe, apex (pontifex's special hat) and lituus (curved wand).  Caesar held the post of Pontifex Maximus from an early age, which despite its odd set of restrictions, allowed him entry into the halls of power and was his launching-pad to greatness.

The type dates to 49 BC, or about the time his political career in Rome really hit stride, 5 years or so before his demise.  I believe this was well after his abortive attempts at conquering Britain, although I'm not all that certain about the time-line here.  It was a prolific issue and is really relatively common, so it's not too exceptional for one to have made it to Britain in the course of trade, or even been carried by one of Claudius' soldiers as a talisman - although it wasn't impossible for denarii to stay in circulation for a century at that time, this seems to have enough detail to be fairly bold even under encrustation - ie: it doesn't exhibit anything like the wear one would expect for a coin which had circulated for 100 years.

Here's an example showing all the details clearly http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album434/MK_15_04

Mark

Medieval spur with rowell still attached

Medieval bronze 'stirrup' type finger ring

As dug , partially 'cooked' and cooked.

107 AD - 2ndC Roman coin - straight into 'cooker' to clean off crust

What you have here is a denarius of Trajan, 96-117 AD.  It was during Trajan's time that the Roman Empire achieved it greatest overall size - it would never again be so large.  Although Hadrian and others of Trajan's successors were quick to lop-off some of the further flung and less easily administered and defended areas, Trajan's rule ushered-in the era of "The Good Emperors"  The 2nd century, therefore, was noted for a general condition of relative peace and prosperity the likes of which would not be seen again (arguably, even in our own time).

This specific piece has "Genius" (Genio Populi Romani - the genius or motivating spirit of the Roman People) standing left holding a patera - a sacrificial vessel for pouring libations - and a cornucopiae.  The legend on the reverse, as is often the case on Trajan's coins, cites only "The Senate and The People of Rome" and the statement that Trajan was "The Optimum Prince".

The obverse legend (which is somewhat unclear on your specimen, so far) will be the typical 2nd century "laundry list" of titles: IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P.

The catalog references for this piece are: RIC II 181; RSC 395. 107 AD

Mark

7th Oct 2011 Triple gold finds - Raffle winner drawn - Ron's special award

This season 'win a free trip' raffle was drawn by Ont Jim and luck would have it that Mary is already here hunting so Ron could present him a ticket for his free trip next year. It is certainly Marty's week as he popped that beauty George IV gold earlier in the week.

Ron presents the free trip raffle ticket drawn by Ontario Jim to Can Marty

1700 William III milled silver four pence

1859 Victoria milled silver Florin (24 pence)

Guys are finding some great artefacts and silver plus three more gold finds. Boston Mike popped a neat early Victorian 22 carat gold ring and then Cal Sarah popped a stonking gold Tudor pin head. Ont Jim made it three with a gold watch winder. Sarah also got our first ever William III milled silver 4 pence . I have posted a whole bunch of neat hammered silver and widgets to the latest finds page Oct 2011 finds page

Updated this years gold finds page

I have also updated the 'win a free trip' forum comp page free forum comp that now stands at 2065

Min Mindy presents Chicago Ron the special club medallion for the most hammered silver coins ever dug in a morning session

22 carat 1852 Victorian bust mark London hallmarked gold ring

Stunning gold 16thC Tudor pin head - reported to museum as treasure

Georgian gold watch winder

Newbie member Cal Patti had her birthday here yesterday and we had a Pizza and beer party at the big Barn . The girls got a her a cake and all the members signed her card.

4th Oct 2011 Double gold, Roman silver and treasure

Stunning c13thC medieval silver annular brooch - reported to museum as treasure

Weather is hot and sunny making the land very dry but it is not stopping the guys making some great finds with some real choice hammered and milled silver not to mention double gold

Can Marty banged in a really fine George IV half sovereign and it's the first half of that King we have ever found. He was only on the throne for a few years so finding his coins is rare, Marty also got a crisp Henry III short cross hammered silver penny. Bill then got a 1915 gold ring on the same field. Meanwhile Ont Jim found his first ever Roman silver which looks very crisp under the crust, I am currently 'cooking' it before I send it off to Mark Lehman for an ID. Cal Jim senior also had a great day with a mint silver medieval annular buckle, I have reported as treasure to Colchester museum and a mint Henry VII half groat.

Posted more great finds including the Roman silver and early hammered silver to Oct 2011 finds page

Updated this years gold finds page

Very crisp 1827 George IV milled gold half sovereign

1915 - 9 Carat gold ring - Birmingham date letter q - Maker RP

Robert Pringle & Sons
Clerkenwell Road
London EC1

1526-32 Henry VIII hammered silver half groat - Cross patonce mintmark

Archbishop Warham - WA by shield

Rev CIVI/TAS/CAN/TOR - Canterbury mint

1216 Henry III hammered silver short cross penny

Class 7a - top bar to A

Obv HENRICVS REX

Rev NORMAN ON S***

Moneyer Norman of Bury St Edmunds mint

2nd Oct 2011 Brilliant start to the new hunts

Chicago Ron Barn guys arrived safely and already on their first full day are setting club records. Ron found 6 hammered silver coins in the first morning session and finished with 9 silvers for the day including a full Henry VIII groat and Charles 1st hammered silver shilling. I can remember a couple of guys over the years finding 5 hammered in a morning but never 6 so it looks like Ron will win one of our new silver club medallions for his amazing effort. Boston Mike then banged in a mint 1st Roman silver that will 'cook' up brilliantly. At the finish the guys had dug twelve hammered silver coins from just about every period. I have started a new Oct 2011 finds page and uploaded most of the hammered silver finds to it. I will be updating the forum comp page as I count the latest button finds.free forum comp

Oct 2011 finds page

1526-44 Henry VIII hammered silver groat - Arrow mintmark

1stC Roman silver coin - 'cooking' it to remove crust

Size comparison with penny

1431 32 Henry VI hammered silver farthing - Pine cone mascle issue

Obv +HENRIC REX ANGL

Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint

0.26g,9.74mm

1641-3 Charles 1st hammered silver shilling - Triangle in circle mintmark

Tower mint under Charels 1st

28th Sept 2011 - More cooked coins and fixed hams

The guys found 3 continental silver billion coins last week and because of the poor grade of silver they nearly always have a thick black or green growth on them. I use the same 'cooking' method on them as I do with encrusted Roman silver coins. It can take a lot of cooking to remove this rock hard crust like the German Stated silver below. I have also posted the latest pictures of the 'cooking' silver Roman coins and more of our fixed silver hammered coin finds below.

1814 - German states - 2 Grote silver coin

BC Roman silver appearing after 6 months of 'cooking. Reverse is chariot type c 100 BC

Your coin is definitely Antoninus Pius, 138-161 AD.  I believe the reverse is Victory standing left holding wreath in outstretched right hand and a long palm-branch in the left.  I believe the reverse legend is IMPERATOR II.  If it is Imperator II, a fairly common type, it dates to about 143 AD from the mint at Rome.

Mark 

Some detail showing through on this real crusty Roman silver

Fixed 1570 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver half groat

Fixed

1247 Henry III hammered silver voided long cross penny - Class IIIa

Obv HENRICVS REX

Rev hEN/RIO/NLV/NDE Moneyer Henri of London mint

26th Sept 2011 Ryan wins double award - Ronnie's boys arrive Friday

I have short break this week in the tours getting ready for the famous Chicago Ron's 'Barn' boys who arrive on Friday for 3 weeks. Ron is on a mission to take the 'gold coin' finder title off Ark Gary, Ron currently has 10 gold coins and Gary 13 so he is catching him fast. If you watch all of Ron's detecting video's, both here and in the States, then he is a gold hound at finding both coins and rings. National Geographic channel are currently doing a series on him and have already been here to film him out in the field digging stuff.

I have also updated the forum comp page free forum comp that stands at 1695 scrap buttons dug so far. Remember this does not include those buttons guys are taking home in their export pouch.

I have posted a load more great silver and finds to the latest finds page Sept 2011 finds page

As dug and fixed

As dug and fixed

Yet to be fixed

NS Andy presented Can Ryan with his 'coin hunter' of the year award, having the clubs highest coin count last season including hammered medieval gold. Ryan was also presented with the first ever special Colchester club medallion for an outstanding achievement at finding 3 medieval gold coins in just 3 trips. Luckily all 3 of his coins were just taco'd or chunked but complete and our goldsmith fixed them like new. The last day of his trip Ryan was still on a mission to find a 4th but had to be content with just two hammered silver pennies !!

NS Andy presents Can Ryan with his awards

1000 BC to 400 AD Iron Age decorated bead

22nd Sept 2011 More gold, great silver hams, milled and Saxon

Org Ed made it 5 gold for the season so far with a crisp Victorian gold half season near the bushes on a new freshly ploughed and rolled field. The land is so dry and nuggety at the moment on fresh fields we are praying for rain to help compress them. However it is not stopping the guys making some amazing coin finds. Org Bob banged in our first Saxon silver sceat this season on a plot not known for it's Saxon finds. It needs a good 'cooking' to remove the crust before I send it off to Dr Martin Allen for ID and recording on the national database, it looks like a 'D' type with the cross and square design. Org Erik added another rare milled silver to his count with a very crisp Charles II milled silver shilling. These are very rare finds for us and if it had been a 1669 then it is listed as extremely rare in Spink.

I had a meeting with the museum yesterday and picked up the disclaimed Roman bronze coin hoard from last season and a bunch of disclaimed treasures including Col Bruce's silver and ruby stone ring. The list of members names involved with the Roman hoard are posted on the members forum.

61.54mm L x 35.8mm W, 54.89g

13thC dagger quillion

I also got back recorded items like Pen Dennis's dagger quillion that has been confirmed as 13th/14thC

I have posted a load more great silver and finds to the latest finds page Sept 2011 finds page including NS Andy's crisp Henry VIII groat.

I have also updated the forum comp page free forum comp which now stands at 1403, remember these are the scrap buttons so far and does not include the good ones guys will be exporting. These will be added to the total as I prepare export license applications.

Updated this years gold finds page

Needs 'cooking' before sending for recording to Fitzwilliam museum

1855 Victoria milled gold half sovereign

Henry VI 1422-27 Hammered silver half groat - Calais mint - Annulet issue - annulets by neck and between two sets of opposing pellets

Obv HENRIC DI GRA REX ANGL Z FRANC

Outer legend POSVI DEVM ADIVTORE MEVM

Inner legend - VILLA CALISIE - Calais Mint

26.21mm, 3.72g

1199 King John hammered silver short cross penny Class 5b

Obv HENRICVS REX

Rev TOMAS ON EV** Moneyer Thomas of York mint

1668 Charles 1st hammered silver shilling

18th Sept 2011 First hammered gold and rare silvers

It has been a real weird hunt so far with far more milled silver coins being found than hammered ones, usually it is 2 to 1 hammered to milled. They have included several firsts for the club, first Queen Anne silver penny find I have seen and what I thought initially was another slick silver 'Willy' coin turns out to be our first ever Charles II milled shilling. These are valuable coins in mint condition. Org Erik found another rare find for us a huge crisp George III silver half crown.

Can Ryan then opened the score with our first hammered gold coin of the season and amazingly this is Ryan's 3rd medieval gold coin find. I just handed him back his fixed Edward III gold noble find from last season and he finds another one. The picture below the taco'd gold is his last fixed one and another nobel of Edward III. Luckily all the coin is there so our goldsmith can work his magic again and return it to it's former glory.

I have posted more finds to the Sept 2011 finds page

I have also updated the forum comp page free forum comp

C1351 Edward III hammered gold qtr noble - needs straightening to D exact type

1.79g

1660-85 Very rare find and our first ever Charles II milled silver shilling (12 pence)

1816 George III milled silver half crown (30 pence) size comparison with sixpence

1706 Anne milled silver penny

14th Sept 2011 Shortage of silver and our first Bronze age sword fragment

The guys are suffering bad out there with a real shortage of silver since Org Gary banged in that mint Cunobelin silver. New land is giving the guys almost a total skunking so far but Can John managed to pull up a stunning find, our first ever 850 BC Bronze Age sword blade. Org Ed found one face of a Roman silver coin forgery that clearly shows how they were constructed over a copper core, posted it below. I have posted a load more widgets to the latest finds page including some real nice numbered regiment buttons.

Sept 2011 finds page

I have also updated the forum comp page free forum comp

'Cooking' of the Cunobelin silver coin is now complete and it has turned out to be one of the finest examples we have ever dug. Lous Mike has posted some great info on the coin with a report written by Dr Philip.

850 BC Bronze Age sword blade fragment

"fourree" silver-over-copper denarii

Fascinating find Roman silver forgery coin showing exposed copper core which swelled and forced off one face of the coin. Shows clearly how the forgery was constructed

As dug, almost 'cooked' and finally cooked

Cunobelin 20 AD Celtic silver coin

The Cunobelin silver is very nice, and a rare type at that. Seated figure facing left. The only standard reference for the type is no. 308 in Spink's Coins of England, it's not in Van Arsdell or the BM catalogue. You can see the amphora which the seated figure is holding quite clearly, but the CVNOBE doesn't show up too well on either. I don't have the exact figures here for rarity, but I don't think there are more than a dozen of these recorded at most. Date is perhaps somewhere in the middle of Cunobelin's reign, say perhaps c. 20-25 AD.

Thanks again for all these,
Best wishes
Philip

Click to enlarge

Latest pics of the 'cooking' Roman silver found by Geo Doug, lots more work on it to do yet

11th Sept 2011 Very rare Celtic silver and first gold coin of the season - Roman ID back

1853 Victoria milled gold half sovereign

Ont Jeff ended the first week of the new season on a high with a stonking Victorian gold half sovereign and makes it three gold finds for the week. Org Gary just arrived and popped what he though was just a Roman bronze but it is a crusty rare Cunobelin tribe Celtic silver unit. The 'horn crust' should melt off really well so it is now in the 'cooker'. Chicago Ron found a similar type several years ago from a different site and I have included Dr Philip De Jersey's write up below of that coin.

Cunobelin 20 AD Celtic silver coin

The Cunobelin silver is very nice, and a rare type at that. Seated figure facing left. The only standard reference for the type is no. 308 in Spink's Coins of England, it's not in Van Arsdell or the BM catalogue. You can see the amphora which the seated figure is holding quite clearly, but the CVNOBE doesn't show up too well on either. I don't have the exact figures here for rarity, but I don't think there are more than a dozen of these recorded at most. Date is perhaps somewhere in the middle of Cunobelin's reign, say perhaps c. 20-25 AD.

Thanks again for all these,
Best wishes
Philip

Very crisp 1595 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver sixpence

First decent Roman bronze with crisp detail sent to Mark for ID

I have posted more finds to the Sept 2011 finds page

I have also updated the forum comp page free forum comp

Mark Lehman has provisionally ID'd the Roman silver coin posted on the 9th Sept.

Good to hear from you again - I guess it is that time of year, so I wish you good diggin' this season.

Your coin is definitely Antoninus Pius, 138-161 AD.  I believe the reverse is Victory standing left holding wreath in outstretched right hand and a long palm-branch in the left.  I believe the reverse legend is IMPERATOR II.  If it is Imperator II, a fairly common type, it dates to about 143 AD from the mint at Rome.

Mark 

9th Sept 2011 First gold and Roman silver of the season

22 crt 1834 William IV gold ring - London mint with duty paid bust, Maker is probably James Young

1.43g, 19.55mm

Solid gold Georgian watch winder

3.59g, 28.28mm

It has been a brilliant week for silver coin finds and I have posted a load more hammered silver onto the latest hunt page. Geo Doug is having his best ever hunt with 6 really nice hammered, the first Roman silver coin find of the season and now a really neat William IV gold ring with a full set of hallmarks. Can Ed found our 2nd gold find of the season a beautiful heavy solid gold watch winder. There has been some very rare finds like the double headed Edward III penny below and a George 1st milled silver sixpence.

Loads more widgets and finds posted to the Sept 2011 finds page

A 3rd batch of approved export licenses arrived this morning and the list of names have been posted on members forum

I have updated the forum comp page free forum comp

2ndC Roman silver as dug and starting to 'cook' it to remove horn crust - sent off to Mark Lehman for provisional ID

Amazing double bust Edward III hammered silver penny - CIVI/TAS type reverse

George 1st 1723 milled silver sixpence - issued by South Sea Company

6th Sept 2011 Newbie Jeff kicks of the first afternoon of the season

13th C Medeival seal matrix - needs soaking to remove crust on seal face

Ontario Jeff on his first hunt in England started the season well with two crisp hammered pennies in the first afternoon and he also got an early 13thC seal matrix. The other guys have been finding some really crisp early hammered silver also. I have created a new Sept 2011 finds page and updated more widgets and silver to it.

I have also started to update the forum comp page with the button total so far. This is only the scrap buttons and not the one the guys will take hom in their export pouches free forum comp

1247 Henry III hammered silver voided long cross penny - Class Vb Obv HENRICVS REX III Rev HEN/RIO/NVL/NDE - Moneyer Henry of London 1.43g, 17.89mm	1247 Henry III hammered silver voided long cross penny - Class IIIa Obv HENRICVS REX III Rev NIC/OLE/ONL/VND - Moneyer Nicole of London 1.26g,17.63mm
1212-42 Henry III hammered silver short cross penny - Class 7b   Obv HENRICVS REX Rev RAVF.ON.LVD - Moneyer Ravlf of London mint	1204/5 King John hammered silver short cross penny Class 5 Obv HENRICVS REX Rev ANDREVD.ON. CANTR- Moneyer Andreu of Canterbury mint
13th C Edward 1st hammered silver farthing - new issue with inner circles both sides - Needs further 'cooking' to remove horn crust to ID the class and mint Photo'd next to silver penny for size 0.47g,11.33mm

2nd Sept 2011 Added new machines- kick off in the morning- Saxon treasure and updates

Half the guys have arrived a day early ready for the kick off to the 2011/12 season in the morning. Atlanta Mike has brought the hot weather with him as it is 27C out there today with bright sunshine. Lots of new land has come on line and I spoke to Dave one of our new landowners and he literally has just prepared some new land for us we have not walked on yet. Amazing choice of fields available for for the guys with half a day to the kick off !!

Just ordered up a couple of new top machines to add to our back up machines, the Fisher F75 which has an impressive track record here since it was launched especially good at finding 1/4 cut hammered silver coins and the trickiest of all finds Celtic 1/4 gold staters.

The free forum comp to win a free trip is now officially closed. Check your guess is on the official entry sheet on the free forum comp page

I had a meeting with museum yesterday to drop off two more treasures I identified during the export process. They will now go begin the treasure process. I picked up a bunch of disclaimed treasures including Org Gary's medieval gold stirrup ring and Bil Mark's medieval French gold inscribed 'love' ring. These will be returned to the finders to take home. The unusual silver scripted medieval looking plate was ID's as 15thC so it is very early. Ark Gary's Roman style silver snake handle was returned as 'undated' as they could not determine it's age with any certainty.

Updated the Treasure and Hoard finds page with the latest updates from the Treasure Registrar at the British Museum

I went and saw one of our new farmers who had a Saxon treasure found on her land. She has just been sent the curators report from the British Museum and a provisional valuation based on similar examples sold at auction. The farmer let me take away the report to photocopy and reproduce the photo. Her example has a corner missing but a complete example sells for between 12 and £15000. Hopefully the matching ear rings and necklace are out there when we start hunting this Saturday !!! LA Mike has sent through some more fascinating info on what is a mega rare silver Celtic coin he found last Nov. He has posted the report and PAS write up from Dr Philip De Jersy below.

'Torn gold disc with amber setting 6th to 7th century

The gold disc is beautiful, with fine elaborate filigree decoration and the addition of a central inlay but it is sadly damaged'

British Museum

Finally made "The Big Dance" Celtic Gold & Silver find their way to the PAB..Yeahaw!

All the awards are just back from the engravers ready for presentation to the winners. The new test medallion we had made up turned out great and I have further ordered up a series of gold, silver and bronze examples. It will be engraved with Colchestertreasurehunting and the club logo also. These will presented to members for outstanding achievements or finds in addition to the major club awards and free trips.

28th Aug 2011 6 days to the kick off - Free forum comp entry, 2 days to go

Under a week now to the off and the weather is still perfect, warm with plenty of rain to moisten the already ploughed and rolled fields. This time of it can be too dry and we pray for some rain but I just checked the land and it is brilliant digging.

Make sure you have sent in your guess for a chance to win the free trip next season. Closing date for entries is 30th Aug so drop me a mail with your guess and I will add to the official entry sheet on the free forum comp page . Check also your guess has been entered successfully if you have already mailed me. This comp is open to any member or any new member already booked for next season as well.

More of the guys fixed hammered silver coins are posted below from the first half of the season. I have a bunch more to clean up as they are the grey annealed colour.

There are a couple of really tricky ones like the rare Saxon penny that our goldsmith will try to 'cold' roll if possible. Some of the badly taco'd early pennies are particularly tricky being split and covered with stress cracks. The bonus to him being able to open it up is I can now read the legend to ID the type of coin correctly.

Updated the coin straighening page

Fully annealed taco'd and repaired 1341 Edward III hammered silver penny florin type

Obv EDWAR ANGLE DNS HYB

Rev CIVIT/TAS/CAN/TOR - Canterbury mint

Saxon silver penny of Æthelred II 978 AD sent for recording and ID

1.22g,20.34mm

This coin (EMC 2011.0084) belongs to the First Hand type (note the absence of a sceptre on the obverse and the plain sleeve without a curve at each side). The Benediction Hand type has two fingers bent in blessing.

The moneyer is probably Eadsige or Wynsige.

With thanks,

Martin

Fixed split 16th C Elizabeth 1st penny

1361 Edward III hammered silver half groat - Treaty period

26th Aug 2011 More fixed coins - annealing

More of the guys fixed hammered silver coins are posted below from the first half of the season. I have a bunch more to clean up as they are the grey annealed colour as picked up from the goldsmith. Remember when an ancient coin is bent by the plough which could have been 500 + years ago it is very brittle and if you try and straighten it the chances are it will crack or break in two. Most of these coins are annealed several times to repair the structure before attempting to fix them which makes it go a brown/grey colour which needs to be cleaned off to bring back the colour.

Bent - annealed and fixed then final cleaning below

Charles 1st penny next to a monster 1474 Spanish 8 reales

Spain. Houses of Castille & Aragon. 8 Reales, ND, Assayer D (Seville). Clemente & Cayon-2698; Cayon-2380. 27.40 grams. Ferdinand V & Isabela, 1474-1516. Crowned arms of Aragon and Castille, dividing "S" and small "o" over "VIII". Reverse: Beribboned bundle of arrows and yoke, assayer mark in field.

Perfect repair - UK John's Coenwulf Saxon hammered silver penny - sent to Dr Martin for recording and ID

Coenwulf, king of Mercia (796-821)

25th Aug 2011 Fixed members gold and silver pics

One week and a day to the kick off !!!

Picked up all the fixed hammered gold and silver coins from the 2nd half of the season this afternoon and our goldsmith's work is truely astounding again . NS Andy's disclaimed 13thC medieval gold ring was fractured in 5 places and bent. He rejoined it, using 18 carat gold which matched the original colour of the gold and removed all the deep scratches. Now you cannot see any fractures and it like a new 700 year old ring, amazing work. He repaired a dozen or so badly bent and taco'd silver coins including one broken in half. I have yet to clean them up as most had to be annealed to enable them to be straightened which turns them grey. I have posted the guys fixed hammered gold below and will be posting the silvers tomorrow. The other 2/3rd's of the monster sized full gold noble is still out there on the field to find yet !! Hopefully the fresh plough this year will pull the rest of it up.

Fixed 13th Medieval twisted wire gold ring - disclaimed treasure

22.34mm, 2.73g

Monster sized fragment of a Circa 1327 AD Medieval hammered full gold Noble- ship reverse

Treaty series 1361- 1369 Edward III hammered gold 1/4 noble - Std C type, Double Satire stops - Voided quatrefoil in centre of reverse

Obv EDWARD DEI GRA REX ANGL

1.93g, 19.16mm

24th Aug 2011 Another treasure for Ill Mark - Ron's latest vid with Mark finding more gold

Added the latest Eastern and Western treasure mag articles about guys trips here to the testimonial page

Updated this years forum comp to win a free trip with the latest guesses.free forum comp

Another great video with Chicago Ron and Ill Mark + Mindy out hunting for more gold and silver rings. Ron and the guys are true ambassadors of our club returning the rings to the owners wherever possible. Mindy in the past has even returned an 19th gold family crest ring to the living relatives. Ron has his own U Tube channel with all his England and USA trip vids, check it out. http://www.youtube.com/user/chicagoron61

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5DxipGRNvA

Remember Ron runs the most successful 'Barn' hunts over here at our club for 6 weeks + a year and he has a few spaces on his 2012 trips. Drop Ron a mail for more info and you too could hunt with Ron and Mark and learn detecting from the true masters of the hobby.

Drop him a mail at rpg61@msn.com

Please feel free to call me with any questions 773-320-7569

Ron

14.60mm L , 1.71g

The export process takes a huge amount of time revisiting every metal object again and photographing each piece for the application of a license. It is amazing how many nice pieces are missed while the hunts are underway especially if lots of top finds are being made by Ill Mark who won 'find of the year' with his mint Roman gold coin and pouch of the year with his triple gold coins. While I was preparing his export pouch I noticed a dirty gold clasp I had not seen and cleaned it up then photographed it in macro. I then transfer the picture to my PC in HD and blow it up by 800 % to see all the subtle nuances, construction and the engraving which looked very early. The Treasure law makes any gold or silver find over 10% by weight a legal requirement to report it to a the museum or Coroner. I always report any 'potential' treasures or hoards to the museum as you loose nothing if the find is returned as disclaimed as not being over 300 years old, base metal or it's dates and location does not constitute a hoard. Normally with a disclaimed treasure you will be given an ID and date so that is a bonus. However in the case of Mark's hinged clasp the curator at the British museum has ID'd the find as Medieval putting within the date range of 11th to 15thC. As with all treasures the curator after receiving the object will complete a full report and it will then go forward for a Coroners inquest. If you are reporting any treasure or hoard the details below have to completed for the museum.

'The British Museum Curators have viewed the images of this and they believe it is Medieval, and as such it will need to be submitted as Treasure. '

Please could you provide the following details so that I can complete a Treasure Receipt and request a Treasure Number

Finders Name:
Finders Address:
Finders email/phone number:
Landowners name:
Landowners address:
Landowners email/phone number:
Date of find:
Parish:
National Grid Reference:

22nd Aug 2011 Latest land update - hunt overview - New medallions

Ron and Mark's latest video finding more gold rings

More video for a Sat afternoon.

61.54mm L x 35.8mm W, 54.89g

Stunning early medieval dagger quillion - finger guard is decorated with a runic inscription

I checked all the runic styles and it matches Norwegian the best - one for the museum

All the awards and shields are now with the engravers to be ready for presentation during the season. The engraver guys is making us up several new medallions with a detectorist in silhouette picture he found. I have asked him to produce several different types as test pieces to see which is the best and these will be awarded during the season for outstanding finds and contributions to the club.

All the damaged silver and gold coins have been with our goldsmith for a while and should be ready for pick up shortly. I am still waiting for the 2nd batch of approved export license applications to arrive, should be any day now. I have a museum meeting next week to pick up the recent disclaimed treasures and recorded finds from the 1st half of last season. I am hoping they have more info on the medieval dagger quillion above found by Pen Dennis with what appears to have a runic inscription.

I took a long drive around our sites to see how the cropping and ploughing is going with just under two weeks to the start of the season. I was amazed to see so many fields ready this early as the weather has been excellent for farmers. Normally the fields are hard and dry in Aug but they are moist and workable. Some of our best sites that had a deep plough for potatoes are already raised and perfect for hunting. New fields will come on line each day up to Nov as more crops are raised, currently we have 300 + fields to choose from. The new 'Woodcutters' 15 fields are still stubble at the moment which is a bummer.

We do not hunt stubble here as you cannot get your coil on the ground and 'wacking weed' sucks big time and kills your arm. Remember we do not practise 'sheep herding' here either and you decide which of the fields and sites you hunt each day. Barn groups have their own mini bus and hunt as many fields and for as long as they want each day.

Detecting teams here are always small with a max of 7 guys and you decide how many hours you want to detect each day between you. Hard core teams will hunt from 7am to 10 pm each day to get max time out there on the fields. Barn leaders will take older members back to the accommodation early if they want leaving the hard core guys out there with their night lights. The club has total flexibility when it comes to your tour as it is your holiday. Normal hunt times are 8.15 am on the fields and around 7pm finish but guys will vary that depending on the weather. Warm Sept evenings the guys will have several late nights to 9pm as it is still light out there. There is a max travelling time of 15 minutes from the accommodation to the land so you don't spend hours travelling either.

My job is to take care of all the logistics, finds photographing, ID'ing, reporting treasures and hoards to museum and preparing all the export paperwork at the end of your tour leaving you free for max detecting out there.

Good luck to all the members and 'newbies' with the fast approaching season. Last season we had our best ever on record with 50 gold finds but the guys will be working extra hard to beat it.

19th Aug 2011 Ill Mark and Can Ryan win the awards - 2 weeks to the kick off

The voting was very close this season for 'pouch of the year' with Tenn Brad and Ill Mark only seperated by 2 votes in the end , Chicago Ron got 3rd place. 10 world class pouches were voted for so it was no landslide this year but in the end it was Mark's triple gold pouch, Celtic gold, Elizabeth gold crown and the clincher had to be his mint Roman gold coin find and the beauty Saxon sceat helped. Currently Mark's Roman gold is with Spink auction house so the preceeds can be split between farmer and finder.

So what a season for Mark, he did the double with 'find of the year' and now 'pouch of the year' as voted for by the membership.

Chicago Ron has posted his latest vid of finds from his team's England March 2011 hunt. It is Ron's biggest vid yet running for 48 minutes and captures most of the gold and silver as it is dug out in the field in March. There are some classic moments as Ron drops his Celtic gold find and Mark finding his gold !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbP2TsNpBY

Can Ryan has won the 'coin hunter of the year' award with a total of 85 coins in the week. His pouch included his 2nd Edward III hammered gold Nobel coin and 7 silvers so a great result. He also managed to beat a whole team of fellow Canadian's during that week with the best finds. Ottowas Greg made a really neat shield with an embedded gold coin as the 'Canadian hunter award, so Ryan did the double also this season.

Ryan last season holding his 'Canadian hunter' shield he also won by beating his fellow Canadain team

Voting for this season free forum comp is well underway and 50 members got a double bonus guess this season. Check out the official entry page and rules for you chance to win a free trip next season.

Official entry sheet is on the comp page free forum comp

With just two weeks to the kick off to the start of the new season I am busy getting everything ready for the off. I have one last meeting with the museum to pick up recorded finds and disclaimed treasures next week. All export pouches have had applications made and the 2nd batch of approved export licenses are due back any day now. All our bent and damaged coins and artefacts are with our goldsmith undergoing repair. I have to visit our engravers now to get all the existing trophies and shields ready for presentation this season. I have already ordered up a new set for the coming season. Details of awards and prizes up for grabs are on the Awards page.

4 new reference books I ordered have arrived for the clubs library. The Roman Republican BC book will come in very handy considering the dozens of BC Roman silver coin we have been finding on just about every field we have. The 2nd book is a specialist time scale AD 284-337 Vol IV in the series. Two new Saxon books with great full coloured illustrations to help us ID the tricky Saxon finds we have been making. Can't have enough ref books !!

Roman Coins and Their Values: The Republic and the twelve Caesars, 280 BC-AD 96

Roman Coins and Their Values (Vol IV)

British Artefacts Volume 1 - Early Anglo-Saxon by Brett Hammond

British Artefacts Vol 2 - Middle Saxon & Viking by Brett Hammond.

13th Aug 2011 Phew !! Last of the exports uploaded - Florida Don wins the free trip - Roman silver ID's back

Finally finished the last of the export license applications and man what long haul. I have been preparing them for 5 months as every metal object found here over 50 years old must be photo'd and individually itemised on the applications. It is such a valuable exercise looking at every piece again to make sure nothing was missed while the hunts were underway and to do more research on tricky objects. Remember every export application's full pictures and finds lists are posted on the members forum so you can see what every single guy found during their trip. You can go back and review every single export to help you make your decision on what to vote for in this season 'pouch of the year' award.

Remember the laws on exporting are very strict and you risk a huge fine and imprisionment if you are caught smuggling finds out of England so always do it properly and get an export license.

Export laws

Table 3
OGEL limits for the export of cultural goods

Category of Object OGEL limit
1. Any item over 50 years of age (excluding objects listed in categories 2 - 10 below) £ 65,000
2. Archaeological material found in UK soil or UK territorial waters over 50 years of age £ Zero
3. Manuscripts, documents and archives (excluding printed matter) over 50 years of age £ Zero
4. Architectural, scientific and engineering drawings produced by hand over 50 years of age £ Zero
5. A photographic positive or negative or any assemblage of such photographs over 50 years of age £10,000
6. A textile (excluding carpets and tapestries) over 50 years of age £12,000
7. A portrait or likeness of a British Historical Person over 50 years of age £10,000
8. A firearm over 100 years of age and any other arms or armour £ 35,000
9. A firearm between 50 and 100 years of age4
£ 65,000

In a very close run contest Florida Don has just won this years forum competition with the final total of ancient coins dug hitting 480. It was right down to the last pouch to decide who won the competition. Big congrats to Don on his free trip win.

Voting for pouch of the year is underway and the official voting list is posted on the members forum. 7 different pouches have been voted for so far and there is no clear winner yet so keep them votes coming. Every member that votes gets a 2nd free 'bonus' guess at this years forum comp to win another free trip next season.

Official entry sheet is on the comp page free forum comp

Mark Lehman has sent back the ID's of the latest Roman silver coins with some very interesting observations.

Ark Mary's Roman silver below has really cleaned up really well and has a fascinating write up from Mark.

I'm not 100% sure that I remember what I may have told you about this coin before, but it is Trajan (98-117 AD) the obverse type is Trajan's laureate bust right, draped and cuirassed, seen half from back - this is interesting since this exact bust type is not given for this reverse in RSC (which is generally the major authority on silver).  Legend is IMP TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS VI P P.  Reverse legend is SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI (this legend is common to a couple dozen reverses with different devices) and we seem to have Genius, naked, standing facing, head left, holding patera over altar and corn-ears.
I'd call it an unpublished obverse variety of RSC 400 / RIC II 278 var.
A product of the Mint at Rome, it dates to around 104-107 AD

I'm a little unsure about the "bulges" on the reverse - to the right of Genius' feet and above the patera - usually that sort of thing indicates a "subearatus" or fourree - a contemporary copy made by wrapping a copper core in thick silver foil, then striking it - but this piece has had enough digs and dings that I can't imagine the silver being thick enough that the core would not have been exposed. What happens is that the copper may corrode under the silver and push it up into bulges which look like these - but I see no other indication that this is anything but a solid-silver official coin.  Of course, if it were a fourree, that would explain the unpublished combination of obverse and reverse.

So, unless you can see some evidence of it being a silver-wrapped copper core, it's a little unusual in a couple of ways.

Mark

Okay, yes, the detail now exposed will change (or add to) what I said before.  It is still Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD), but the reverse type is APOLLINI AVGVSTO and shows Apollo standing left, holding a patera in right hand and lyre in crook of left arm.  Now that the obverse legend is clear, ANTONINVS AVG PIVS P P TR P COS III, we can date it to 142 AD.

As is common for almost all silver coins in this era, this is a product of the mint at Rome, RIC III 63b.

Mark

11th Aug 2011 More exports uploaded and new forum competition launched - voting time for awards

I have just launched the 2011/12 free forum comp to win a free weeks detecting next season. Full details are on the free forum comp page. This year we are going to count all those pesky buttons we dig so it could be a huge number. As usual send me your guess by e-mail and I will add it to the official entry sheet on that page. Closing date for entries is 30th Sept.

This season the were were so many monster pouches made by the members that it is almost impossible to pick the winner. Voting is taking place on the forum by members for their favourite pouch and the closing date to have your say is 17th Aug.

Every export pouch with full pictures and finds lists since Sept are posted on the forum so go back thought them to refresh your memories.

I still also have to work out which member dug the most coins in the week for the 'coin hunter of the year' award. I should be able to announce it this week so I can go and get all the cups and shields engraved.

I only have a couple more export pouches to process and I will then be announcing the 2010/11 season winner of the free holiday next season. It is very close with the current total at 473

Our current walkie talkies are the cheapy Motorola units that do not have the range or clarity for our needs. The batteries never last and they constantly go wrong. Roaming over 300 fields the guys need to have reliable clear communication especial if they find hots pots and need to call their team over to help grid the area.

I have therefore purchased a dozen top of the range walkie talkies for this seasons hunt including these clever 6 way chargers that monitor the condition of the batteries. These are serious pieces of kit as used by the emergency services with crystal clear reception and amazing features. They are totally waterproof and you can even send text messages to each other. The problem is they require a proper radio licence which I have applied for but it will be several weeks more until it is issued. You cannot use these radios without this licence and tuning to the correct radio frequency so it does not cause interference. There are serious penalties for using one of these without the correct licence.

8th Aug 2011 More exports uploaded and Roman silver cooking

Some of these Roman silvers have been 'cooking' since Oct and the detail is finally starting to show through. They still need more 'cooking' but the crust on these was nearly 1/8th inch thick and it is just a case of patiently removing the horn crust layer by layer. I took a large picture of the 1/2 silver that has been cooking now for 11 months and it really shows clearly the thickness of the crust and underneath it appears to have great detail. These are Roman republican coins around 100 BC so well worth the effort to be able for Mark Lehman to date them and for the members collection.

Uploaded more full finds lists and photo's to the members forum of the completed export pouches.

I have updated the current ancient coin total for the free forum comp = 469

I dropped off the latest batch of bent hammered silver and gold coin members finds to our goldsmiths. NS Andy is also having his disclaimed 14th C medieval twisted gold ring find fixed so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

As dug by Can Bill

4 months cooking and now 6 months on the detail is emerging

This was just a lump when Wendell dug it dug and now the detail is showing through and you can clearly see a BC Republican type head

Disclaimed hoard coin found by Mass Gary turned out very crisp after a good cooking - sent to Mark again for a revised ID now he can see the legend

BC Republican coin found by Mass Mike - 10 months worth of 'cooking' and the detail finally showing through, note the thickness of the crust still after all the 'cooking'

2nd Aug 2011 More exports completed - Saxon hoard on display in the USA

Just a month now until we re- open for the start of the 2011 season with all the existing land and another new plot taking the total of fields well past 300 to choose from. We have a 2nd new plot to add from Feb 2012 so plenty of fresh plots to search in both halves of the new season. It is going to be extremely hard matching last years record levels of finds including the 50 gold total the club made but the guys will give it their best shot. I will just about finish all the export paperwork and the guys will start digging it again !!

Mitch Chris

I have uploaded more export find sheets and pictures to the members forum including some 'newbie' hunters that did extremely well last season.

I have updated the current ancient coin total for the free forum comp = 440. It is getting very exciting as I do the last 20 pouches and someone in the list below will probably win the comp and the free weeks trip.

More disclaimed treasure letters received from the British museum including Ill Mark's Tudor dress fitting - Treasure Act 1996: 2010 T255 Post-Medieval silver-gilt dress fitting from Colchester District, Essex

25th July 2011 Colchester guys & gals kick butt with gold in Alaska - Mark's Wall Street Journal vid

Check out 'find of the year' winner Ill Mark's vid that The Wall Street journal just posted

Current total for the free forum comp is now = 427

While I have been here slaving hard preparing export licenses a load of the senior members have been having a fantastic trip gold hunting trip in Alaska at the Ganes Creek mine trailings. Mindy kept the members informed via the forum with a blow by blow daily update and man did they kick butt. They started their trip with a few days fishing and caught some monsters as well. Gene also had other great news while he was up in Ganes as his medieval gold ring find from 2009 has been disclaimed by the British Museum so he gets to take it home. It was certainly Gene's week for gold and these members between them have found over a dozen rare gold items hunting here so their ears are well tuned to big nuggets!!

Treasure Report:   2009 T110                                  JPR/EM                                              
Parish/County:          ‘Tendring District’, Essex

A Medieval finger-ring consisting of a single loop, flattened, with an inscription running along the narrow internal surface. Much of the inscription is illegible, but the remainder appears to read:

TOUT ??E ?E VOUS CE ??UE

The language is French and the disposition of the words characteristic of late medieval love tokens.

The finger-ring is gold and dates from the fifteenth century.

Dimensions: external 22 mm, internal 18 mm.

Consequently, in terms of age and as the object contains a minimum of 10% precious metal it qualifies as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996.

         
J P Robinson
Curator of Medieval Collections
7th October 2009

Colchester club Senior members Dave, Gene, Mindy , and Tom

Gene's 5 ounce nugget

Tom collection of gold included a beautiful specimen nugget
(center frame) of white quartz laced together with gold.

Gene finds for the week totalled over 9 ounces, and included
a 5 ounce nugget, a 2 1/4 ounce piece, and good collection of smaller
nuggets found throughout the week.

18th July 2011 Yet more exports - gold nugget hunting

1350-1354 French - King on Horseback coin weight for ‘franc a cheval’ of Jean II

Interesting gilded medieval tweezers with suspension loop

Still busy preparing and posting more export applications. Uploaded a load more finds pictures and lists onto the members forum including Bill and Dan's Saxon silver pouches. Dan's pouch included a load of firsts for us as a club. First 1554 Queen Mary base penny, first Scottish Charles 40 shilling and a great bonus find in his pouch our first 1350-1354 French - King on Horseback coin weight for ‘franc a cheval’ of Jean II.

Current total for the free forum comp is = 411

A load of the senior members are off gold hunting in Alaska, Gary, Geo and Steve are at the gold mine they bought a couple of years ago. Mindy, Tom and Gene are at Ganes Creek hunting for that 1 pounder nugget. Mindy sent me an update and they have found gold already and caught some nice fish. Mindy is going to send me some pictures of the trip and the gold !!

8th July 2011 More exports and approved licenses arrived - £11 billion treasure found - 4.5 ct ring returned to owner

I just received the first batch of 28 approved export licenses in the post , I have posted the names on the members forum so you can decide if you want them shipped or picked up on your next trip. I have completed more export applications and posted more finds list and photo's on the members forum.

Updated this years free forum comp page with the latest ancient coin total = 404

Chicago Ron has posted his latest vid below.

I am still updating the individual pages with the finds from the 2nd half of the season and have completed the ones below. The buckle page is massive and needs to be split into individual date ranges on separate pages to speed up loading. I have partially completed the ones for mounts with an index linking to individual classifications.

	Buckles		Keys
			Mounts index

3rd July 2011 More updates and exports - interesting facts and figures

More updates to individual find pages from the 2nd half of the season finds. I have just updated the early milled coins pages and the overall numbers are very interesting for the rarer Kings and Queens. Your are 7 times more likely to find a Celtic gold coin than a Charles II milled silver, 15 times more likely than a James II and a staggering 100 times more likely than a milled silver William and Mary coin. The gold from this period is also like hens teeth and we have never found any. Even an early George 1st silver coin is a very rare find and only 9 examples ever found an one gold coin. The predominate early silver finds are the 1696/7's William III's and George III 'bullheads'. The bulk of the early milled gold coins we have found are George III with a just a single example of a George 1st and only two from George II's reign.

Posted more export finds lists and pictures onto the members forum. Just posted NS Andy's monster triple ancient gold ring pouch.

Forum comp is getting closer to win a fee trip

	Early milled coinage 1625 to 1714		George's 1714-1830
	William IV 1830-1837		Victoria 1837-1901
	Thimbles - all types

26th June 2010 Load more exports - 'pouch of the year' ?

Still banging away preparing export applications from the 2nd half of the season. Loads more uploaded in full to the members forum including Ill Mark's which has the potential to win this years 'pouch of the year' award. Mark found three gold coins on his trip and he has already won 'find of the year' for his Roman gold find. The landowner is taking both the Roman gold and Saxon gold coins to Spink to put them in a specialist auction as they have a very high estimated value. The finder and landowner will split the profits 50/50. Mark also found two BC Republican Roman silvers and a Saxon sceat + 9 other pages of silver and great relics. The members this year will be voting for their favourite 'pouch of the year' as there have been so many amazing pouches it is very difficult to call the overall winner. Once I have posted the final export application pictures on the members forum guys will be asked to submit their personal favourite.

Chicago Ron and Ill Mark have been out hunting the Chciago beaches and found an amazing number of gold and silver finds last week. Ron has posted his latest vid on U Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RtzGlAOQF8&feature=player_embedded

New video up.

Updated this years free forum comp page with the latest ancient coin total = 384

17th June 2011 Wendell's and Christy's stories - more land on offer - donations

I just got an e-mail in from one of our existing landowners who's mate that owns the farm next to his is interested in our club searching his plot from Sept. I have sent him all the information on our club and a copy of the contract for his perusal. Hopefully he will be contacting me further so I can go and take a look at the fields. Some of the land is in the centre of the village which has great Bronze age and Roman potential.

I have just had a couple of e-mails from the local museum replying to guys offers of donations of key finds. Wash Tom wants to donate his superb Medieval barrel spout and the museum are delighted at the offer. The donor signs a transfer of title form and the find will be displayed with the donators name along side it.

Another two great articles from club members hunting here in this and last months months Eastern and Western magazine. Wendell submitted the one about his Saxon gold hoard coin find. The museum are currently acquiring it as it was declared part of a hoard at Chelmsford Coroners court.

Penn Christy wrote a great story about her last trip with husband Dennis where they seriously kicked butt as a team. The Saxon looking dagger quillion is still with the experts at Colchester museum being recorded and evaluated.

Click on the pages to view full size.

Wendell's Saxon gold hoard story - click on thumb nails for larger image

Uploaded a load more export find lists and pictures to the member forum. Updated this year free forum comp with the latest ancient coin total = 339

Dennis and Christy's monster hunt - click on thumb nails for larger image

12th June 2011 Improving your game video - more exports posted - more disclaimed treasures

Spain. Houses of Castille & Aragon. 8 Reales, ND, Assayer D (Seville). Clemente & Cayon-2698; Cayon-2380. 27.40 grams. Ferdinand V & Isabela, 1474-1516. Crowned arms of Aragon and Castille, dividing "S" and small "o" over "VIII". Reverse: Beribboned bundle of arrows and yoke, assayer mark in field.

1634 Charles 1st hammered silver penny

Uploaded a load more export find lists and pictures to the member forum. Bav Jeff had a monster sized Spanish silver hammered in his export pouch he had not show me, I have posted it above. I took a picture of it next to one of Jeff's other hammered silver penny's for size comparison.

Updated this year free forum comp with the latest ancient coin total = 336

I am constantly asked why our club is the most successful in the world and even the museums are amazed at our high rate of recovery rate especially with treasures and small gold coins and objects. This year we beat the club record again and found 50 gold finds.

The simple answer to our success is skill, dedication and continuous practise. Our top senior members are world class and in a different league than the average detectorist who believe it is mostly luck. It is 75% skill and 25 % luck not the other way around as most guys like to think. Our club has a core group of senior members that can dig more noble metal targets in a morning than an amature can dig in a whole week. Any 'newbie' coming here can take full advantage of these top members and improve their game by 500% easily. The clubs finds rates increase every year as 'newbies' get better and better with help from the top guys.

One of our top 5 hunters in the club is Chicago Ron and he has put together a great video of how to make yourself a home test garden to improve your game. It clearly shows how just a few simple settings on your machine can make the difference to not hearing the target to digging it. These guys can dig big copper coins in compressed fields at 15 inches and the tiny whisper signal hammered silver coins. If you seriously want to improve your game then follow Ron's very detailed vid. Do the same with hammered silver coins and see just how faint and crappy the signal is at depth.

Ron has also posted his latest vid when he found his first 24K gold ring.

I just got a couple of new e-mails in from the British museum and two finds have been disclaimed and are being returned to finders. Mark's medieval gold love ring and Boris's stunning 17th C seal matrix. Both finds will be ready for collection shortly.

Treasure Report:   2009 T579                                                                            
Parish/County:          ‘Tendring District’, Essex

A Medieval finger-ring of D-shaped section with inscriptions on the external and internal surface. The inscription on the outside of the hoop has seen much wear and is largely illegible. It appears to consist of the following letters:

SE  NA R  SE?L

The inscription on the inside of the ring is crisp and legible and spells

PENSETZ

This is a variation on the French word ‘pensez’, meaning ‘think’ (of me).  This single word is often deployed on rings with romantic inscriptions.

The ring’s proportions suggest that it may have been worn on the small finger of a slender woman or by a child.

The ring is gold and dates from the fifteenth century.

Dimensions: internal diameter 18 mm

Consequently, in terms of age and as the object contains a minimum of 10% precious metal it qualifies as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996.

J P Robinson
Curator of Medieval Collections
15th December 2009

Stunning 17thC seal matrix - disclaimed

Neat St. Christopher medallion - Inscribed Tammy

5th June 2011 More exports - donation letter

Superb medieval barrel lock

Still busy working my way through the export licence applications and uploaded a load more find lists and photo's to the members forum. Mitch Chris has a great bonus find in his pouch, which he did not show me at the time and it is an almost complete medieval barrel lock.

Min Mindys export sheets for the 2nd half of the season are the biggest I have ever processed. Her finds pouch weighs in at a massive 5.171 Kg, covers 17 - A4 pages on my export application and the file I e-mailed to export duty was 3 Meg in size.

Updated this year free forum comp with the latest ancient coin total = 315. Check out your guess there to see how you are doing

Or Ed just sent me a great letter he got from the Heritage manager at Colchester museum for his generous donation of the 1300 BC gold ring, looks like it will go on temporary display shortly for all to enjoy.

Click on letter to enlarge

27th May 2011 Ed's donation letters- oldest club coin record beaten 146 BC - hoard discovered locally

Click pictures to read more

A collection of Roman coins has been unearthed by archaeologists excavating a former barracks in Colchester.

Two pots, one of them containing 1,247 coins, were discovered on the site of the former Hyderabad and Meeanee barracks, which are being redeveloped.

The coins, known as antoniniani, date back to between 251 and 271 AD.

Updated the clubs record page

Monster find -Circa 1300 BC Bronze age gold open backed triple banded gold ring

3.48g, 13.73mm dia x 6.74mm H

Reported to Colchester museum as treasure - declared treasure at inquest and donated to museum by finder and landowner

On display at British museum

Click on the certificates to enlarge

Org Ed just sent me copies of his certificate from the British Museum acknowledging his and the landowners very generous donation of the 1300 BC gold ring he found. Hopefully it will be on display in the near future at Colchester museum for all the members to visit and enjoy.

146BC Roman silver Republican coin

Mark Lehman has finally managed to get an ID on the silver Roman coin Min Mindy found in Nov that I have been cooking ever since. It had the hardest crust I have ever seen on a Roman so I knew it was early. I am still 'cooking' it some more to see if I can get any more reverse detail. However Mark has dated it as 146 BC making it the clubs oldest ever coin find by 10 years

Acting on a hunch, I think I might have found something adequately similar in order to provisionally date this piece.  I still can't make heads or tails out of the reverse of the broken denarius, but the letters behind the head of Roma look a lot like # 219/1d & 219/1e on this page: http://davy.potdevin.free.fr/Site/crawford3.html - I suspect that even if yours isn't this precise type, it is at least of similar age - which also, I believe, makes it one of the earliest Republican pieces you've found.

Mark

Great news as I just received a letter from the Colchester museum , Col Bruce's silver ring with red stone has been disclaimed as treasure by the British museum so he gets it back.

25th May 2011 Ill Mark wins find of the year - more exports and museum meeting

1st place - Ill Mark's 'find of the year'

2nd place NS Andy's 1st to 4thC Roman decorated gold ring with green stone - currently with Colchester museum going through the treasure process

20.01mm,1.43g

The member turn out was nearly 100% for voting for their favourite 'Find of the year', great support by the club. The winner by a huge margin was Ill Mark's stunning Roman gold coin find with 73% of the vote, the rest of the votes were spread over 9 other items. 2nd place was NS Andy's gorgeous Roman gold ring with emerald. Mark wins a fully inclusive free trip next season, Roman silver urn trophy and his name on the shield of honour.

I dropped the last of the reported treasures and hoards to the museum yesterday so they are all now going through the process. The previously disclaimed Roman bronze hoard coins, that I expected to pick up to return to the finders, are still not back from the British museum yet. Also finds deposited with the museum for recording in the first half of the season were not ready for collection either.

I am still working my way through the export applications but it is going very slowly as some of the pouches are massive and I have to photgraph missed finds while the hunts were underway. Min Mindy had 25 sheets of finds to picture and list just for her 2nd half of the seasons hunts. Finds for the club are at a record high due to the constantly improving skill levels and the new generation of machines the guys are using.

Updated this year free forum comp with the latest ancient coin total = 264

Pilgrim ampullae - holly water bottle made of lead 12th to 15thC,

These ampoule were brought from pilgrimage places as a souvenir

Mitchiner suggests that many ampullae were used in the annual springtime ’Blessing the Fields’ ceremony, in which the Holy Water they contained was sprinkled on the ground to give prayer for a good harvest. Having served this purpose, Mitchiner suggests that the ampullae were discarded. Others have suggested that the ampullae were buried along with their contents for a similar purpose.

21st May 2011 More updates, cooked Romans and exports

Updated a load more individual pages with finds from the 1st half of the season, posted below. I did more work on our 'cooking' Roman silver coin finds and the scare Julia Soaemias is coming out really good. I have sent it off again to Mark Lehman to see if his provisional ID changes now he can see a clear legend. Can Bill's very BC Republican silver Roman has a crust as hard as rock and the detail is only just starting to show after 3 months in the 'cooker'. Back in to the 'cooker for more work but you can make out a standing animal on the obverse. Currently the clubs oldest coin record stands at 136 BC and this year we got close on several occasions but we keep hoping someone to beat it. If you want more info on 'cooking' Roman silver coins then check out the coin cleaning page on this site.

Both Ron and Mindy have already booked their 2012 & 13 season dates for their 'Barn' hunts. Full details are posted on the members forum or you can contact them direct for more info. Mindy has 8 booked weeks and Ron 6 weeks so there are a few available slots if you are quick.

Debased Roman silver coin straight into the 'cooker' sent for ID 2.60g, 18.83mm This is very interesting - I'm curious to see what comes out on the obverse.  The reverse - VENVS CAELESTIS - is very clear, of course, but it's a pretty uncommon reverse type, generally only known for a couple of Imperial women around the time of Elagabalus (218-222), but associated with a few "hybrid" types, too.  I haven't been able to make the few semi-legible letters on the obverse line up with any of the legends I'd expect it to be. An unusual find, more than likely to be scarce or rare. Mark  Checking against a different obverse legend than I was looking at at first, I believe now that this is the identity of your VENVS CAELESTIS http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album97/ML_05_J_Soaemias_Venus_den Julia Soaemias, mother of Elagabalus This is the most "commonly seen" of this unusual reverse's appearances - still a pretty scarce piece. Mark
Roman silver coin straight into the 'cooker' sent for ID - Sent off latest 'cooked' pictures to Mark I'm afraid at this point I can't tell you much more than that it's a denarius of Hadrian (117-138 AD.)  Which of the many possible seated deities or personifications might be on the reverse I really can't tell at this point - although if, as I suspect, it turns out that she's holding a branch in her right hand, it's likely to be Pax. Mark
This BC Republican silver coin has been 'cooking' since March and detail is just starting to come through. Appears to be a helmeted guys with an animal on obv- the crust on this coin is one of the hardest I have seen
BRITISH EMPIRE EXHIBITION WEMBLEY 1924	1950 NATIONAL BENZOLE MIXTURE BADGE

	Jettons		Clothing fasteners
	Lead tokens all periods		Bells & Whistles
	Religious and Pilgrim badges

19th May 2011 Saxon gold valuations - more exports - database updates

Merovingian tremissis of the 7th century

1.26g,15.08mm

The treasure valuation committee sat recently and has already sent out offers for several of our declared treasures and hoards. Ill John's Saxon gold coin is valued at £3500 and Wendell's Saxon at £1800, this is a great result for both the landowner and finders as they split the find 50/50 by law. I have finished uploading our hammered gold finds to our searchable database and if you type in the search box 'Celtic gold' you can see we have made our 95th Celtic gold coin find this season, amazing total. You can search our database by any key word.

http://foundintheground.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?q=celtic+gold&s=21

http://foundintheground.com/photos/hgc/default.aspx - Main hammered gold page

Updated this year free forum comp with the latest ancient coin total = 195

Voting for 'find of the year' is progressing well with 80% of the members already registering their choice. The closing date for voting is 25th May so you have just 6 days left to have your say.

Uploaded more export pictures and finds lists to the members forum.

Added a load more coins to the two new Roman pages under construction.

1st to 2ndC Roman bronze coins

3rd to 4thC Roman bronze coins

15 May 2011 New Roman gold page and Ron's new 48 minute video

Chicago Ron has posted his latest vid of finds from his team's England March 2011 hunt. It is Ron's biggest vid yet running for 48 minutes and captures most of the gold and silver as it is dug out in the field in March. There are some classic moments as Ron drops his Celtic gold find !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEbP2TsNpBY

I am still updating the site with all the finds from the 2nd half of the season and created a new Roman gold page to reduce the load on the main Romano/British coin finds page. I still have mega amounts of work to do to sort out this page as it is really messy and too huge. I need to create a separate Celtic gold page. We now 8 separate Romano/British pages and I have added two date ranged Roman bronze coin pages to make finding stuff easier and improve load times.

New pages under construction

1st to 2ndC Roman bronze coins

3rd to 4thC Roman bronze coins

	Roman military items		Romano/British silver coins
	Roman gold coins		Romano/British artefacts
	Roman jewelry		Romano/British bronze and Celtic gold coins 1st to 2ndC Roman bronze coins 3rd to 4thC Roman bronze coins

13th May 2011 More exports complete and site updates- FTY votes

Keep your votes for the 'find of the year' coming in, closing date for voting is 25th May. It is very important for all members to cast a vote to be eligible for next years free forum competition to win a free trip. Drop me a mail.

More exports uploaded to the members area with full find lists and photo's.

I have updated the individual find pages below with the 2nd half of the seasons finds.

Updated this years free forum comp page with the latest ancient coin total = 211

	Seal matrix		Watch winders
	Military badges		Badges
	Houses of Lancaster and York, 1377-1485 hammered silver coins

9th May 2011 New Henry III page and more exports

I have finished a major revamp on the early hammered silver pages as they were getting too huge. I have created a new Henry III silver coin page and included the date ranges for all the various classes of these coins. Henry III is the silver coin issue that transitions from short cross silver to long cross to prevent 'clipping'. I have separated the issues on this page and also into cut halves and qtr pennies with some more history on the coins.

I have updated the King John and Edward III pages with the latest finds.

More exports uploaded to the members area with full find lists and photo's

Updated this year free forum comp with the latest ancient coin total = 195. Remember as I complete each guys export pouch this number is updated

	Edward 1st		Henry III
	Henry II to King John

7th May 2011 More huge page updates

Created a new Saxon coin page to reduce the size of the main Saxon page which was huge. We now have 3 individual Saxon pages, one for coins, harness fittings and other relics.

All the 100's of other individual find pages are listed on the Finds menu page.

I have updated the pages below with finds from the 2nd half of the season. This season we added a few more 'firsts' to our collection of numbered Military buttons and we have almost a complete set from 1st to 100th regiment.

	Saxon gold and silver coins		Saxon artifacts
	Trade weights		Coin and apothecary weight
	Roman jewelry		Romano/british artifacts
	Numbered regiment buttons

6th May 2011 Busy with exports - criteria and reminders - Cooked silvers

Monster find C600 AD Merovingian gold reported as hoard to museum and sent off to Dr Martin Allen for ID

0.87g, 12.39mm

As usual this coin (EMC 2011.0059) is Merovingian and not Anglo-Saxon, but an important find nonetheless.

We have recorded two cut halves of Anglo-Saxon gold shillings in recent years, and a cut half of a Series B sceat, but this coin is noticeably more than a half (between two-thirds and three-quarters), so it may have been cut up as bullion.

This is developing into a really interesting hoard.

Best wishes,

Martin

I should have mentioned that there is no obvious match in the works of reference on Merovingian coins, but the inscriptions are legible, which gives some hope of identification eventually.

Martin

I made a start with the export preparation and have posted full find sheets and photo's to the members forum. Each man made object must be photo 'd before submitting the export application to the museum. That includes every musket ball, copper coin etc over 50 years old. This is gonna be a long process this year as some of these pouches like Tenn Brads take up 15 A4 sheets and each item must be listed. Note finds like Brad's Saxon gold coin do not appear on the export sheets as that is with the museum as part of a hoard. Only disclaimed treasure items can appear on an export license application so Brad's other silver bodkin needle and 17thC silver button treasures are not listed.

Check the exporting page for full information and laws

1. 1247 Henry III hammered silver voided long cross half penny
2. 1208-9 King John hammered silver short cross penny - Class 6c1
3. 1487-8 Henry VIII hammered silver groat (4 pence) - Durham mint
4. 1189 Richard 1st hammered silver penny
5. 1649 Commonwealth hammered silver penny
6. 1554 Mary hammered silver groat
7. 1552 Scottish Mary hammered silver penny
8. 1216-47 Henry III hammered silver short cross cross penny 7a
9. 1279 Edward 1st hammered silver half penny
10. 1592-5 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver half groat
11. 1603 James 1st hammered silver penny
12. 1180 AD Henry II hammered silver short cross cut halfpenny - Class 1b
Rev ** + EDR ** Moneyer Edrich of Worchester mint
13. Treaty series 1361- 1369 Edward III hammered gold 1/4 noble - Std C type, Double Satire stops - Voided quatrefoil in centre of reverse 1.93g, 19.16mm
14. 1215 Henry III hammered silver short cross qtr penny
15. 1215 Henry III hammered silver short cross half  penny
16. 1247 Henry III hammered silver voided long cross
17. 1247 Henry III hammered silver voided long cross - Class 5e
18. 1341 Edward III hammered silver long cross florin penny
19.1567 Elizabeth 1st hammered silver 3 pence
20. Medieval hammered silver penny - rolled

1. Irish 1279 Edward 1st hammered silver penny
2. 1249 Alexander Scottish hammered silver half penny
3. 16thC Elizabeth 1st hammered silver half groat
4. Worn Medieval long cross silver penny
5. 14thC medieval heraldic seal matrix - plain shield with single fesse -Tamas de Kent
6. Gold fragment – disclaimed as unknown date Colchester museum
7. Gold fragment – disclaimed as unknown date Colchester museum
8. Roman Galba Denarius with a ROMA RENAS[CENS] or ROMA VICTRIX reverse
9. 10-40AD Celtic Cunobelin tribe silver 13.98mm, 1.17g
rev figure stg.r.,partially draped, holding club in r.hand & palm branch in 1.,to 1.'CA',to r 'MV',pellet border Obv .leaf c inside circle,to r.'CVNOB',to 1.'[ELI]NVS', pellet boarder Similar Hobbs 1897
10. Medieval heraldic shield mount - red and green enamel remains
11. 3rd/4thC Roman crossbow brooch
12. Saxon pierced brooch
13. Saxon zoomorphic mount
14. 13thC vessica seal matrix Lamb and tree of life - S' ROGER' ( seal of Roger)
15. 1696 William III milled silver shilling
16. 1696 William III milled silver shilling
17. 1899 Victoria milled silver sixpence
18. 1854 Victoria milled silver 3 pence
19. 1884 Victoria milled silver 3 pence

More cleaned up and ID'd ancient coins

Roman silver coin straight into the 'cooker' sent for ID

I'm afraid at this point I can't tell you much more than that it's a denarius of Hadrian (117-138 AD.)  Which of the many possible seated deities or personifications might be on the reverse I really can't tell at this point - although if, as I suspect, it turns out that she's holding a branch in her right hand, it's likely to be Pax.

Mark

It is, as I said, Hadrian.
The seated figure on the reverse turns out to be the personification of "Roma", helmeted and armed (and somewhat interchangeable with both Virtus and Minerva, actually) She holds a small figure of Victory and a spear.

I don't have time to look up a catalog reference at this moment, but will do so later today.

Mark

As dug, partially 'cooked'

Monster find 10-40AD Celtic Cunobelin tribe silver coin - in the 'cooker' to remove crust

13.98mm, 1.17g

rev figure stg.r.,partially draped, holding club in r.hand & palm branch in 1.,to 1.'CA',to r 'MV',pellet border

Obv .leaf c inside circle,to r.'CVNOB',to 1.'[ELI]NVS', pellet boarder

Similar Hobbs 1897

1st May 2010 Massive uploads

More uploads of this season finds to the indivdiual pages below. I have created new pages for both Commonwealth and Mary coins to speed up load times on the other pages. I will have to split further pages like the Edward III into small and large denominations like the Elizabeth pages as they are getting massive.

	Edward III hammered silver coins		James 1st hammered silver and gold coins
	Tudor period hammered silver coins		Elizabeth 1st large denomination hammered silver and gold coins
	Charles 1st hammered silver coins		Elizabeth 1st small denomination hammered silver coin
	Mary hammered silver coins		Foreign hammered gold & silver coins
	Commonwealth hammered silver coins		Scottish and Irish hammered silver coins

30th April 2011 Huge updates and exporting

The off season is still a very busy period as I have to catch up on updating our web site with all the seasons finds which is a mammoth task. I will also be starting the export process shortly that requires me to empty out each guys pouch, take photo's of every piece of man man objects, type up a detailed finds list and them submit them to export duty for issuing of an approved export license. It is very time consuming but it is still fun finding with all the great bits missed while the hunts were underway. Normally there is an odd Roman silver or 2 lurking in a guys copper coin bag as they did not know what it was as they usually have a thick crust and some are totally green. Our oldest ever Roman silver 136 BC was found in with a guys 'greenies' last season.

Don't forget to keep your votes coming in for the 'find of year' award. So far 50 votes have been cast and it could be a landslide victory this year.

Updated the following pages with this seasons finds.

	Saxon harness fittings		Romano/British silver coins
	Clog fasteners		Shield mounts and pendants
	Bronze age axes		Stone age finds

28th April 2011 More of last weeks finds uploaded - Bav Jeff wins 'dedicated' award

Possible Romano/British silver handle

11.84g, 33.36mm w x 41.46mm H x 7.24mm T

Really neat 1920's silver boxing medallion

Still catching up on last weeks finds and posted a bunch more to the 2011 April finds page. Penn Dennis had our first ever short cross coin from a Welsh mint in pristine condition in his pouch with a perfect legend posted below. A 1/3 of the membership have cast their votes for 'Find of the year' and it appears two of this years finds have really grabbed guys attention. The voting list is on the members forum. I just received a letter from the British Museum disclaiming Ark Gary's Roman snake handle from last season. The museum have not been able to attribute it to any period and he therefore gets to take it home.

'Although passingly similar to Roman snake jewellery the form, style and craftsmanship are not closely paralled by Roman work. Nor has it been possible to assign the handle to another era or culture'.

Ralph Jackson

Dept of Pre history , British Museum

Mark Lehman has sent back the ID's of the last Roman silver found and one of them appears to be rare. They are currently 'cooking' to bring out more detail so Mark can confirm the ID's.

Debased Roman silver coin straight into the 'cooker' sent for ID 2.60g, 18.83mm This is very interesting - I'm curious to see what comes out on the obverse.  The reverse - VENVS CAELESTIS - is very clear, of course, but it's a pretty uncommon reverse type, generally only known for a couple of Imperial women around the time of Elagabalus (2118-222), but associated with a few "hybrid" types, too.  I haven't been able to make the few semi-legible letters on the obverse line up with any of the legends I'd expect it to be. An unusual find, more than likely to be scarce or rare. Mark  Checking against a different obverse legend than I was looking at at first, I believe now that this is the identity of your VENVS CAELESTIS http://www.stoa.org/gallery/album97/ML_05_J_Soaemias_Venus_den Julia Soaemias, mother of Elagabalus This is the most "commonly seen" of this unusual reverse's appearances - still a pretty scarce piece. Mark

Roman silver coin straight into the 'cooker' sent for ID I'm afraid at this point I can't tell you much more than that it's a denarius of Hadrian (117-138 AD.)  Which of the many possible seated deities or personifications might be on the reverse I really can't tell at this point - although if, as I suspect, it turns out that she's holding a branch in her right hand, it's likely to be Pax. Mark

Bav Jeff has won this years Nova Scotia Greg award for 'dedicated detectorist' of the year. I was in 2 minds as to the winner of this award this season as I had several nominations and have watched several guys that are really deserving of it. But in the end the one that sticks in my mind the most is the week Bav Jeff hunted with Ron's team in Oct. The weather was hideous, rain wind, boot sticker and while Ron's boys were hiding in the bus Jeff was still out there swinging away each day and the last one back to the bus each evening. The decider was even in this hideous weather he was out risking the rough ploughed and popped his beauty George III gold coin, now that is dedication. He was here again with Ron's team in March and even though his wife was in Japan with all their disaster problems he kept swinging away. Popular win judging by all the posts on the members forum.

Having hunted with Jeff a year ago on Ron's barn hunt I know he totally deserves this award. His boots and rain gear didn't arrive and he was still out there swinging in the cold, wind and mud. First to leave the van, last to come in, always cheerful and enthusiastic despite horrific conditions, and his dedication paid off with some fantastic finds. Bravo Jeff!

Min Mindy

I used to think that I was hard core ,then I met Jeff .Last year his bag did not show up on the plane , the average guy would have been sulking around, not Jeff he was out there in the rain with dress slacks , house slippers , no rain coat , no gloves .It was so cold that day ,that some of us including myself were back at the van trying to figure out how to better rap our stuff up ,my hands were tuning blue from being out there .I remember thinking to my self look at this guy out there he's insane. He never said a word or complained .Congrats Jeff you are the meaning of the words "dedicated detectorist".well deserved!

Ill Mark

Stunning example and the first Wales mint we have ever found

1190 -1205 King John hammered silver short cross penny of the Rhuddlan mint - Class ii

Obv HENRICVS REX

Rev TOMAS.ON.RVLA - Moneyer Tomas of Rhuddlan Wales mint

Short cross coins were produced during the period 1180-1215 at this mint

First decorated 1641 Civil War lead powder measure and cap I have seen - looks like a cat design

26th April 2011 Voting time for 'find of the year' - Cal Jim wins Wayne Otto award

It is that time of the year when the club honours it's valued members with all their hard work, long hours and dedication out there in all weathers. We remember and celebrate our fallen members by also having awards named in their memory.

Min Mindy ran the 4th Barn raffle draw last week during her hunt and the name of the winning ticket pulled out of the hat for a free weeks holiday was Org Mary and Clarence, congrats on a great win. Keep an eye on the members forum for the next prize draw to win a free trip.

As I do the recent export pouches I will be adding to the total of the free forum compeititon to guess the number of ancient coin found during the season

Forum comp page

Nova Scotia Greg award for 'dedicated detectorist' of the year

Free weeks holiday and Silver Urn for 'find of the year'winner.

'Prolific coin finder' award and Tankard

Wayne Otto Memorial cup for the detectorist with the 'best attributes' during the season

Forum competition - - free weeks detecting prize

'Pouch of the year' - award and cup

VOTING time is here - get those votes in to be eligible for free weeks holiday comp

25th April 2011 Guys end the season with 50th gold find and Roman silver

Roman silver coins straight into the 'cooker' and sent for ID

It was been boiling out there the last couple of days with temps of 27C and the ground is dry as a bone. However it did not stop the guys having a magnificent end to the 2010/11 season with another gold find taking the clubs total to a record 50 items, smashing last years record of 45 pieces. Col Bruce had a fantastic hunt with his new T2 machine and popped this stonking 17th/18thC gold ring and on the last day and a silver Roman coin. I have reported it as treasure to the museum and updated the Hoard & Treasure page . Min Mindy also finished the hunt will with another crisp Roman silver coin.

I have already done huge uploads to the 2011 April finds page with all the other finds but have dozens more to catch up on this week.

17th/18thC gold ring - inscription uses old style long S as a normal S - Maker Rh - no hallmarks

4.41g, 19.66mm

Inscription reads 'CONTENT IS A TREASURE'

Long style S went out of use between 1782 and 1793

'CONTENT IS A TREASURE'

An italicized long s used in the word "Congress" in the United States Bill of Rights

Reported as treasure to museum

Stunning 19thC silver brooch - no hallmarks

I wonder if this is celebrating William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833 leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade.

Superb WWI find

"They shall not pass" (French: "Ils ne passeront pas/On ne passe pas";

It was most famously used during the Battle of Verdun in World War I by French General Robert Nivelle (although some have attributed it to his commander, Philippe Pétain). It appears on propaganda posters, such as that by Maurice Neumont after the Second Battle of the Marne, which was later adopted on uniform badges by units manning the Maginot Line.

21st April 2011 More great finds and ID's

Col Bruce is having a great hunt and finding some really crisp silver coins, two full groats and that heraldic shield pendant with the red and blue bird motif. Cal Jim is researching the owner with no luck so far. However he has successfully ID'd the one from last week as Sir Hugo de Braundeston, link and shield below. I have finished 'cooking' Bav Terry 4thC Roman silver and it has turned out mint.

Posted a few more widgets on the 2011 April finds

1351- 1361 Edward III hammered silver groat - Pre treaty period Std F type Obv EDWARD DG REX ANGL Z FRANC D HYB Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON	1363-1369 Edward III hammered silver groat - Treaty series - Mint mark Cross potent - double satire stops on rev Obv EDWARD DEI G REX ANGL DNS HYB Z AQT Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON

Finished 'cooked' pictures of a 4thC House of Constantine Roman silver coin

As dug and repaired

1216 Henry III hammered silver short cross penny - Class 7b-7c

Obv HENRICVS REX

Rev +GIFFREI.ON.LVND - Moneyer Giffrei of London mint

My best guess would be that your shield is that of Hugo de Braundeston, on Collins Roll 10, number 484. Here is the drawing of that shield, by done by that site.

Or two bars gules overall a bend azure

Hugh de Brandeston



http://www.briantimms.net/era/collin.../Collins10.htm

It is my impression that the 'two bars' which should take up 2/5ths of the field, accurately depicts what the shield would have really looked like, and that it is a closer match to your shield. But this is the guy I would go with.

Cal Jim

C10thC Saxon harness cheek piece

19th April 2011 More Celtic gold and great relics- amazing weather

Guys out in the warm sun in T shirts !!

The weather has been too good out there with 20+C every day making the land very dry, we need rain bad but the fields are still lovely and flat

The guys have started the very last weeks hunt of the season brilliantly with piles of widgets of every description including a range of early lead tokens from Roman to medieval. Several top finds include a complete Saxon harness cheek piece, full medieval groat and the amazing enamelled heraldic shield pendant that Cal Jim is now researching and of course another Celtic gold qtr stater found by Min Mindy. This is Mindy's first ever qtr stater of a local chief Dubnovellaunos and her 4th gold coin.

Updated this years gold page, 49th gold of the season so far, this is smashing completely last season record gold count of 45.

I have a whole bunch of finds from last week still to photo as I have been having problems with my new site editing software which is messing up all the page settings.

Eastern uninscribed Celtic gold qtr stater of Dubnovellaunos, c 20 BC

12.25mm,1.3g

Stunning 13thC Heraldic shield pedant - Blue enamelled bird with red feathers

Early medieval lead token - needs more research

18th April 2011 - Special Saxon treasure post- curators report

I just received a letter from the British museum on their research on this amazing discovery. Ill Mark found this really interesting enamelled item in 2010 and initially it was very difficult to date. It now turns out to be a very rare Saxon find and the only one of it's design ever found. Below is the British museums curators reports on the item with other examples of this style of work. The item will be going forward to inquest at Chelmsford coroner court shortly.

Early medieval 870-1050 Saxon

Treasure Case 2010 T169

PAS ID ESS -9E6D71

Date Early medieval 870-1050 Saxon

Description

Enamelled roundel, with a gold blackplate and a gold outer wall which is perfectly and neatly soldered on, but at one point now torn and distorted. Extremely slender internal cell walls of gold pick out a human figure from the waist up, holding out the left arm with a further curving wall perhaps depicting the right arm are filled with dark green enamel, and there is white opaque enamel outside.

LON-3478C7

This roundel is about the right size to come from a finger ring, and circular roundels of similar size are known from tenth century finger-rings such as PAS-D681D8,LON-3478C7,and two noted in Treasure Annual reports but not on PAS database (TAR2003,no 110, 2003T 24 and TAR2001,No 46;2001T11). All of these depict a four -petalled flower, but different designs are found in base metals on LVPL500 (a four cell pattern with alternating red T-cells and blue mushroom cells) and LON-A2FD02 ( a rectangular field with tow petal shapes).

Discussion:

Another roundel of similar size, but with a design of the Hand of God, was reported as Treasure in 2006 (T242;TAR 2005/6,no 286) and interpreted as a setting from a larger religious object such as an alter cross, book cover or reliquary. The opaque white and dark green enamels of ESS-9E6D71 are easily paralleled among the finds, but the particular motif,with a hand raised in blessing, and does not appear to have been noted before.

The enamelled settings are well known from Continental workshops, but the number now known from the 9th to 11th centuries in England(including very high quality work such as the Alfred Jewel) shows that they are likely to have been made here.

Dimensions: Weight 1.25g, Diameter: 9.84mm

Helen Geake

National finds advisor

PAS

17th April 2011 Stunning silver finds and more land- Gold Treasures returned - Gold videos posted

Chicago Ron has posted several video's he took of his teams hunt when they found the gold out in the field, great to see the guys reactions when they saw it in the dirt.

Ill Mark's gold Roman coin find http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q-65uZqTbo

Chicago Ron's Victorian full Sovereign http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LResogotGXc

Medieval gold ring with sapphire - 24.12mm dia, 11.42g - disclaimed and returning to finder

Medieval gold 'love' ring 17.18mm, 4.17g - disclaimed and returning to finder

Treasure Report:   2009 T579                                                                            
Parish/County:          ‘Tendring District’, Essex

A Medieval finger-ring of D-shaped section with inscriptions on the external and internal surface. The inscription on the outside of the hoop has seen much wear and is largely illegible. It appears to consist of the following letters:

SE  NA R  SE?L

The inscription on the inside of the ring is crisp and legible and spells

PENSETZ

This is a variation on the French word ‘pensez’, meaning ‘think’ (of me).  This single word is often deployed on rings with romantic inscriptions. The ring’s proportions suggest that it may have been worn on the small finger of a slender woman or by a child. The ring is gold and dates from the fifteenth century.

Dimensions: internal diameter 18 mm

Consequently, in terms of age and as the object contains a minimum of 10% precious metal it qualifies as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996.

J P Robinson
Curator of Medieval Collections
15th December 2009

Org Gary just mailed me and he is getting back his medieval gold sapphire ring he found in 2009 as the museum do not wish to acquire it. They are also returning Mark's medieval inscribed French lover ring, great news for the finders.

Updated the Hoard & Treasure page with the latest finds I have reported to the museum.

1279-1284 Irish Edward 1st hammered silver penny

Rev CIVI/TAS/DUB/LINE -City of Dublin

The guys are still digging great widgets and early milled and hammered silver and I have posted a load more to the latest find page2011 April finds. Mark Lehman has sent back the ID's of the Roman bronze coin finds and I have posted them to that page. Min Mindy found a neat pair of Roman coins fused together so probably from a purse. The landowner came out to chat with the guys and has added yet more new land to his existing portfolio. It is currently in rape so we will have to search it next season. It joins one of our most productive Celtic and Saxon areas.

Great find 2 mid 4thC Roman barbarous radiate coins stuck together

1681 Charles II milled silver 2 pence

1637- 1642 Scottish Charles 1st machine made forty pence silver coin - Briot's issue- XL by bust

Obv CAR.DG.SCOT.ANG.FR.ET.HIB.REX

Rev SALUS REIPVIBLICE SUPREMA LEX - Crown over thistle

14th April 2011 Double gold rings - 3 more treasures reported

NS Andy is having blinding weeks hunt and adds two more old gold rings to the Roman one he found earlier in the week. He found the first one in a solid lump of earth like concrete and had to hit it with his spade to reveal the top of the bezel. I had to soak it in water for an hour in order to remove the dirt but unfortunately the loop part of the ring is missing. It has a huge black sapphire which are very rare . His second gold ring is similar design to one Can Marjo found 5 years ago and dates late Tudor early 1600's. The guys have been finding loads of other great widgets and silver and I have posted a load more on the 2011 April finds page

Updated this years gold page, 48th gold of the season so far, this smashed completely last season record gold count.

Updated the Hoard & Treasure page with the latest finds I have reported to the museum.

16th/17thC decorated gold ring - reported as treasure to museum

4.00g, 22.11mm

13thC Medieval gold ring bezel with black sapphire - reported as treasure to museum

1.05g,11.13mm

17thC silver clothing fastener - raise heart design - reported as treasure to museum

12th April 2010 Record gold year smashed - More Saxon silver and ID's

The guys are finding lots of amazing coins and relics and then NS Andy takes our club's gold record to another seasons best at 46 pieces. His stonking Roman gold ring find is complete with the green stone still set in it's mount. The grape design is very similar to Ill Joe's Roman gold ring find from a couple of weeks ago, perhaps they have a particular significance in Roman jewelry. The curators report on both these gold Roman rings from the British museum will be very interesting.

Updated this years gold page, 46th gold of the season so far.

Ontario Bill found another mint Saxon silver sceat and Dr Martin at the Fizwilliam museum had recorded it and sent back a confirmed ID, he has also recorded the Æthelred II 978 AD and confirmed it's ID and issued it with an EMC number.

This coin (EMC 2011.0084) belongs to the First Hand type (note the absence of a sceptre on the obverse and the plain sleeve without a curve at each side). The Benediction Hand type has two fingers bent in blessing.

The moneyer is probably Eadsige or Wynsige.

With thanks,

Martin

I have managed to 'cook' the heavily debased 4thC Roman silver coin that appeared as a green blob when it was dug below, there is a lot of detail under the crud so I have sent it off to Mark Lehman for his views and ID. Fl Rob found a very different 13thC enameled heraldic shield pendant which should be very easy for our resident expert Cal Jim to research and find the original owner.

I have started to post more of the other finds to the latest 2011 April finds page.

1st to 4thC Roman decorated gold ring with green stone - reported to Colchester museum as treasure

20.01mm,1.43g

Saxon C600-775 AD Silver Sceat sent for recording and ID

1.14g,12.06mm

I have recorded the new coin (Series D (Type 8) as EMC 2011.0085.

Best wishes,

Martin

13thC Medieval heraldic shield pendant - red, green and gold enameling

Cal Jim our club's Heraldic expert is investigating the owner

Debased Roman silver coin - straight into the 'cooker' - as cooked

4thC Roman silver coin sent for ID

16.92mm,1.16g

10th April 2011 Monster start to the hunts - Saxon silver

Great start to the hunt by the guys see some hammered silver and Roman's then Can Dan finds the monster hammered silver find, Saxon silver penny. These are as rare as hens teeth and it has a perfect legend and moneyer. I know this to be an - Æthelred II 978 AD of the 'Benediction Hand' type. I have sent it off to Dr Martin Allen to record it on the Early Medeival Corpus database and for a confirmed ID. Weather is stunning out there with 20C + sunny temps.

Saxon silver penny of Æthelred II 978 AD sent for recording and ID

1.22g,20.34mm

This coin (EMC 2011.0084) belongs to the First Hand type (note the absence of a sceptre on the obverse and the plain sleeve without a curve at each side). The Benediction Hand type has two fingers bent in blessing.

The moneyer is probably Eadsige or Wynsige.

With thanks,

Martin

7th April 2011 Hunts start again Saturday - uploaded tons more finds

Archived Sept 2010 to Jan 2011 news to speed up load times

Neat medieval silver needle find - six sided - reported as treasure to museum

1.73g, 40.53mm L

I have reported several more treasures to the museum from the finds pouches including a really neat medieval silver sewing needle complete. Updated the Hoard & Treasure page

Just a couple more days and the guys are back out hunting from Saturday. Meanwhile I am still busy photographing finds from the last couple of weeks and have uploaded a load more silver coins and relics to the latest find page 2011 April finds. Ill Tim found one of the tiniest hammered silver coins you can find, Charles 1st halfpence which is only 9.5mm in dia. The guys made some great Military badges and buttons I have uploaded to the April finds page.

4th April 2011 Great hammered silver and widgets - Ron's gold vid uploaded

Early 70BC uninscribed 'Q' Gold - 'Remi 'Type Celtic gold qtr stater

Chicago Ron has just posted his vid on U Tube as he dug his latest Celtic gold qtr Remi stater.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5UzNTtCU-U

1250- 1400 AD Medieval buckle with integral plate

Just uploaded a whole bunch of early buckles, silver and widgets to the latest finds page 2011 April finds.

1461- 1485 Edward IV hammered silver groat -First reign Type VII - Quatrefoils at neck, Initial mark crown

Rev EDWARD DI GRA REX x ANGL Z FRANC

Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint

Henry VI hammered silver half groat- 11 arcs to tressure

Calais May/July 1422-1430

Obv HENRIC DI GRA REX ANGL X F

Rev VIL/LA/CAL/IS - Calais mint

Georgian 'Fat Boy' statue

3rd April 2011 - More great silver Roman finds - weeks break

Stock Jetton for the Queen and her almony 14th to15th C

Emblem of Queen marguerite de Provence, wife of Louis IX

Moor's head right with hair bound

Obv X AVE MARIA GRACIA PLNA

Uploaded a ton of great finds and silver coins to the latest finds page 2011 April finds including two more silver treasures. Hunts do not start again until the 9th April so I will be spending the week catching up on the last couple of weeks finds. Bav Terry made a rare Roman silver find for us a 4thC Constantine and Mass Nelson scored another early republican at 55BC. Mark Lehman has ID'd both of them and several more of the Roman bronzes posted on the April finds page.

4thC House of Constantine Roman silver coin straight into the 'cooker' to remove crust - sent to Mark for ID

BC Roman republican silver sent for ID

1st April 2011 Triple gold day equals the club record and more Saxon

Created a new finds page to speed up load times 2011 April finds

Luckily I have next week off to try and catch up on taking finds photo's as I have never been this far behind processing pictures. The guys continue to bang in some amazing finds. Mass Joe found a stonking Roman gold ring and Fl Mitch finds a beat to death 4thC Roman gold coin, Mass Mike also found a neat Tudor period gold ring. It takes the clubs gold total for the season to 45 equaling last season monster record. We still have another 18 days of hunting to the end of the season so hopefully we can smash our all time record. Meanwhile 'Saxon' Clarence adds a 3rd Saxon silver coin to his growing collection, a really crisp sceat. I have posted a load of great relics and silver to the latest finds page including some more Roman ID's from Mark Lehman. I sent off a really curious heavily gilded Saxon widget to the museum to see if they have ever seen it's type before. I have posted it on the 2011 April finds page. I still have 3 treasures yet to report to the museum, 17thC Charles II silver button and two medieval silver hawking bells but have updated the current treasures to Hoard & Treasure page

Updated this years gold page, 45th gold of the season so far.

Roman gold ring -decorated with hanging fruit and vine - reported as treasure to museum

1.46g, 24.49mm

16th/17th gold ring - reported as treasure to museum - no hallmarks

22.55mm,0.80g

Beat to death mid 4thC House of Constantine Roman gold coin

3.74g,21.23mm

Saxon C600-775 AD Silver Sceat - sent to Fitzwilliam museum for recording and ID

1.05g, 12.41mm

Medieval badges Ref Mitchiner p244 939 - 941

'A badge for a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in bronze and dating somewhere around C13/14th possibly very slightly later . This is a very scarce item and it relates to The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem being a Catholic chivalric order of Knighthood that traces its roots to Godfrey of Bouillon, principal leader of the First Crusade. According to reliable sources in the Vatican and Jerusalem, it began in historical reality as a mixed clerical and lay confraternity (association) of pilgrims which gradually grew around the most central of the Christian holy places in the Middle East, the Holy Sepulchre or the tomb of Jesus Christ.This would have been a pin for a member of the order , there is a mark on the reverse where the original pin would have been fixed '

29th March 2011 Lots of great silver being found

The guys are digging an amazing array of hammered silver and Roman silvers. Mark Lehman has sent back the ID of a bunch of them which I have posted on the 2011MarchIIfinds. Fl Mitch has found one of my favourite relics of the season, a complete decorated medieval purse bar. We only ever find the top swivel, or broken arms but never complete. Mitch has been having an amazing hunt with another stonking Faustina Sr Roman silver below. Org Mary dug a very interesting Tiberius silver Roman which Mark has ID'd below.

Stunning complete medieval decorated purse bar and swivel

As dug and 'cooked'

Roman silver coin sent for ID

19.39mm dia x 1.69mm thick,3.53g

2ndC Roman silver sent for ID

Mint 4thC House of Constantine Roman bronze sent for ID

3.71g, 22.01mm

28th March 2011 Neat Saxon sceat - more gold - more great silver uploaded - more land

I am still trying to recover from the bug I have had now for 2 weeks .I still have over a complete weeks finds I have not touched yet but have started to work my way through them. Uploaded a load of great widgets and hammered silver to the latest finds page 2011MarchIIfinds.

Seattle Brian found another neat gold find last week and rare for us to find a modern ring. Cal Dan had another neat 16thC treasure in his pouch I have reported as treasure to the museum.

I have a whole team of England newbies here this week from the Mass and Rhode Island area. Luckily Ill Mark and Chicago Ron were on hand to give the Minelab guys expert tuition on how to set up their machines over here. Rhode Island Jim had a great first day and dug an Elizabeth 1st sixpence and then a mint 600 AD Saxon sceat. Dr Martin Allen has ID'd it and issued an EMC number.

I was chatting to the landowner this morning and his family owns another 3000 acres adjoining our his existing 2300 acre plot we are searching. He will be having a chat to his family with view to adding another complete new section for the start of next season, more details on members area.

1983 - London hallmark 9 carat diamond and emerald ring - 1.26g, 19.31mm

Updated this years gold page, 42nd gold of the season so far.

16thC Tudor hooked fastener - gilded silver - reported to museum as treasure

Saxon C600-775 AD Silver Sceat - sent to Fitzwilliam museum for recording and ID

1.19g, 12.11mm

Many thanks for this new find (EMC 2011.0076), which is Series BII

Dr Martin

25th March 2011 More Celtic gold found and great relics

The final batch of outstanding export license applications arrived this morning approved. Details posted on members forum.

Ill Mark is on fire this trip and added a beauty Celtic gold qtr stater to his Roman gold and Elizabeth 1st hammered gold crown coins.Chicago Ron has been out there in the fields and has done hundreds of video clips of the guys making the great finds. He uploaded the picture of Mark holding his Roman gold and as it looked laying in the dirt. Ron will be doing huge video of his teams trip once he returns home to sunny Chicago.

Oregon Mary found her first ever treasure, a stunning 1704 Queen Anne cufflinks which I reported to the museum as treasure.

I am completely backed up with finds processing and have hundreds of great silver finds and relics to photo yet. Uploaded a few more to the 2011MarchIIfinds page.

Updated this years gold page, 41st gold of the season so far.

Early 70BC uninscribed 'Q' Gold - 'Remi 'Type Celtic gold qtr stater

1.35g, 12.24mm

Stunning 1704 Queen Anne commemorative silver cufflinks - reported as treasure to museum

Very unusual thick cast decorated c10thC Saxon stirrup mount

22nd March 2011 Monster Celtic silver find - More great Roman BC silver found and ID's

Seattle Brian's on his first trip here and he scored a monster find, Cunobelin the King of Colchester silver unit in great shape. It is so rare for us to find silver or bronze units as 99% of all Celtic finds around Colchester are gold staters. So many great hammered silver and relics turning up including the stunning heraldic pendant below.

I have uploaded a whole bunch more to the latest finds page including a very rare Richard III hammered silver half penny.2011MarchIIfinds

10-40 AD Northern silver of Cunobelin - AR unit Hobb 1868

Obv 'CVNO' inside double rectangle, all inside wreath pellet boarder

Rev winged griffin r.,below 'CAMV' inside quad.o,pellet boarder

14thC Heraldic medieval shield pendant - rampant Lion with enameled inlay - Cal Jim's researching the family

13thC Medieval seal matrix - Human face on a rat's body impression?

BC Roman republican silver coin sent for ID and now in the 'cooker'

As as club we would be totally lost without Mark Lehman's expertise in Roman coin identifying. There is such a huge range of dates and emporors turning up it is mindblowing. Both my Roman silver 'cookers' are running full blast and I cannot keep up with them. Some of the guys Roman silvers will have to wait to I eventually do the export pouches.

BC Roman republican silver coin sent for ID

21st March 2011 Roman silver and gold ID's back - More gold

Ron's Stunning 1871 Victorian gold full sovereign - George and the dragon reverse

8.04g,22.06mm

Missing part of the Stunning 1stC BC to 1stC AD Iron Age Celtic enameled clothing fastener found last week

I have posted a bunch of silver and widgets to the new finds page 2011MarchIIfinds. Ill Mark amazingly found a chuck off an enameled Celtic clothing toggle fastener which is the missing piece off the find from last week.

Updated this years gold page, 40th gold of the season so far

Mark Lehman has ID'd all the tricky Roman silver coins and I have posted their ID's next to the coins on yesterday's post. Ron's Republican Chariot type obverse broke the 100 BC barrier. Ill John found another weird looking Republican silver coin which Mark has ID'd below.

This is Marks ID of the Roman gold coin and it is a valuable sucker.

20th March 2011 - 2 more gold coins found including the monster - Rare Celtic bronze unit

Roman gold coin - sent for ID 19.6mm, 7.81g

I am still too ill to post very much but had to upload Ill Mark's monster rare Roman gold coin find. It is just stunning and I have sent it off to Mark Lehman for his views.. Chicago Ron rang and has found yet another gold coin, a modern 1871 full Victorian gold sovereign. I managed to take a few pictures of some of the outstanding finds and will be uploading them to the new March II finds page. I have cleaned up some of 'cooked' Roman silver coins and sent pictures off to Mark for his ID. I still have another half a dozen Roman silvers in various stages of 'cooking' yet to process.

Another very rare find for us below is this Celtic bronze unit, we are lucky to find one a year in this area. The Colchester area is known for it's disproportionate ratio of Celtic gold to lesser metals. In 8 years we have found 90 Celtic gold, 10 silver and only half a dozen bronze coins. Not obvious who the tribe is so far as I need to study the ref books more.

2011MarchIIfinds

Updated this years gold page, 40th gold of the season so far. I will be uploading Ron's gold sovereign tomorrow.

Celtic bronze coin - working on ID of tribe

As dug and cooked Roman silver coin - sent to Mark for ID

As dug and cooked BC Roman Republican silver sent for ID

As dug and cooked 1stC Roman silver coin sent for the ID

18th March 2011 More Celtic gold found and I'm dying of the plague

The guys have made some great finds over the last couple of days but I am too ill to post them. One of the guys bought the lurgy with him and I have spent the last couple days dying in bed. Had to post Chicago Ron's 9th gold coin find since he started hunting her and another new tribe for us. At the moment I feel like death but hopefully I can start posting again shortly.

Early 70BC uninscribed 'Q' Gold - 'Remi 'Type Celtic gold qtr stater

Rev .horse r.,from neck pellet ring var.d above pellet in ring,flower j & pellet-in-ring,before 4 pellet-in-rings,below wheel f & pellet, below & above tail pellet-in-ring triangle

1.34g,14.86mm Hobbs 482

Created a new finds page 2011 March II finds to speed up load times 2011MarchIIfinds

Martin's ID of the Saxon silver sceat found the other day

Many thanks. This is EMC 2011.006.

This is of course Series D (Type 2c).

Best wishes,

Martin

16th March 2010 More monster finds - first 3000 + year old spear head found - another hammered gold posted

Forget all our stunning gold finds this ranks up there with one of the best relics the club has ever found. Ever since the days of Mass Bruce's axe hoard find this is the find we have all talked about. It is in amazing condition with both tie loops intact, it was found by newbie Mississippi Chris on his first trip here. This find is what metal detecting is all about, love it.

Middle Bronze age socket spear head 1500-1100 BC

85.26mm L x 25.57mm W - socketed dia 18.88 mm

Just so many great other widgets and coins being found I am backed up big time with photographing and posting. I did another wad yesterday to the March finds page but will have to create a March II page as it is getting huge.2011 March finds page. I have posted on the March page Mark's first two ID's of the Republican Roman silvers coin finds, one is 63BC & 46 BC. I still have to 'cook' the one with the horses on the back before Mark has enough details to ID it.

Saxon C600-775 AD Silver Sceat - sent to Fitzwilliam museum for recording and ID

1.23g, 12.22mm

Ill Mark found our 2nd Saxon silver sceat coin of the hunt which I have sent to Dr Martin for recording and ID of the type. Martin has sent me a mail asking for more close ups of the Saxon gold cut shilling found last week. I sent him huge files to aid in the ID. Great to see they are still working on the ID.

My Merovingian expert has asked for better images of the cut tremissis to aid the identification of this difficult coin,

Martin

Monster sized fragment of a Circa 1327 AD Medieval hammered full gold Noble- ship reverse

23.63mm ,1.47g

Merovingian tremissis of the 7th century

1.26g,15.08mm

This coin (EMC 2010.0131) is a Merovingian tremissis of Coutances (dep.
Manche), moneyer Piontus, from the same dies as Belfort 1681, Prou 299.
The obverse names the mint *CVSTANCIA [S reversed] and the reverse names the moneyer PIONtVS. Priou reads the moneyer's name as tVSPION but Belfort's reading PIONtVS is now accepted as the correct one.

Chicago Ron presented Ill John with his 'find of the year' award for his fantastic Saxon gold hoard coin from last season. His coin was declared hoard at inquest on the 25th Feb and is awaiting evaluation committee. John also got the engraved silver urn and the free trip this year, not bad for one swing of the coil. 'Find of the year' is voted by all the members in the club.

Ill Johns find of the year award

Medieval seal matrix - Cockerel facing right impression

14th March 2011 Amazing BC old Roman silvers - more great widgets

The guys have been digging some really old stuff including several BC Roman republican silver coins I will have to cook. I have sent all three BC Romans off to Mark Lehman for a provisional ID. I have also posted Mark's ID's on the March page for the last few Roman bronze coins found.

2ndC Roman silver

13th March 2011 Gobsmacking Roman bronze coin

17.45mm,3.05g

When I saw this Roman coin last night I was staggered to see a coin come out of the ground in this condition. Cal Dan wandered onto a uncultivated grass spot on a great Roman area and popped it. I suspected one of 3 things, he made it himself, he clipped the top off a pot or it had a hugh gold content. I dropped Mark an email asking him the same questions and the reply is facinating. What a magnificient Roman coin, stunning. The guys are going back to give this grass area we have never hunted a good pounding shortly to check if there are more out there.

12th March 2011 Triple monster gold finds and great relics

The guys are tearing it up out there and have added 3 more gold finds to this years total of 36. Ill Mark who last season found an Elizabeth 1st gold half crown has now added a larger Elizabeth 1st gold crown to his growing collection, monster find. Chicago Reid's found the James 1st hammered gold Britain crown find.

I have been posting a load of very cool relics and silver to the latest finds page including some very interesting early Jettons I had not seen before.

2011 March finds page.

I have also reported three more treasures to the museum, silver bodkin needle, gold ingot and another 17thC Charles II silver button.

Updated Hoard & Treasure page

Ancient gold ingot - reported as treasure to museum

1567-70 Elizabeth 1st hammered gold crown (60 pence) - Coronet mintmark

2.80g, 22.12

1615-16 James 1st hammered silver Britain crown - Tun mintmark

2.46g, 20.03mm

9th March 2011 Monster Celtic finds, gold silver and relic

Staggering last couple of days for early finds, firstly only the 2nd enameled Celtic enameled cloth fastener we have ever found, then a Celtic silver Cunobelin unit found by Tenn Brad of a type I had never seen before. Then Min Mindy found our first ever 'Westerham' type 70 BC full Celtic gold stater. Loads of great Roman bronzes, hammered silver and widgets posted to the latest finds page.2011 March finds page.

I have reported a couple more treasures to the museum, 17thC Charles II silver button and a medieval silver bodkin needle.

Updated this years gold page, 33rd of the season so far.

Excellent heavy full stater - 70 BC Early uninscribed British 'A' Gold stater Westerham type

Disjointed horse, pellet below

19.76mm, 6.13g

Stunning 1stC AD Celtic enameled clothing fastener

Monster find 10-40AD Celtic Cunobelin tribe silver coin - in the 'cooker' to remove crust

13.98mm, 1.17g

rev figure stg.r.,partially draped, holding club in r.hand & palm branch in 1.,to 1.'CA',to r 'MV',pellet border

Obv .leaf c inside circle,to r.'CVNOB',to 1.'[ELI]NVS', pellet boarder

Similar Hobbs 1897

8th March 2011 More gold and hammered silver - Roman's silvers cooked and ID'd

Virginia Scott on his first trip here banged in his first ever gold coin, crisp 1799 half guinea. Lots of early hammered silver coins and relics being found that I have posted to the latest finds page 2011 March finds page. Can Ron cleaned up one of his Roman bronzes and it is the best condition one I have ever seen dug, stunning patina.

Updated this years gold page, 32nd of the season so far.

1799 George III half golf guinea

Can Ron cleaned up his Roman and it is one of the best I have ever seen dug - mint , just sent it for ID

1stC Roman silver coin sent for the ID- in the 'cooker' to remove crust - As dug and 'cooked' pictures

Debased Roman silver coin - 'cooking' to remove green crust - Turned out to be a silver washed Roman - sent for ID

7th March 2011 So many amazing finds coming up

Stunning tiny 1660 Charles II milled silver penny

Mint 13thC vessica seal matrix

Lamb and tree of life

S' ROGER' ( seal of Roger)

ALEE ODOC

Prior to the fifteenth century pointed oval designs, called vesica seals, were popular with noble women and also with high ranking ecclesiastics. The shape allowed room either to depict a full length standing figure of the owner, or alternatively to show scenes at two levels. Monastic seals often used the latter device, with a main, upper register depicting the monastery’s patron saint, and a small lower register in which the prior or abbot was shown praying. By the fifteenth century, vesica seals were somewhat out of fashion, but they still occur on documents, because monasteries in particular tended to continue using seal matrices made years - or sometimes centuries - earlier.

The guys are just find so many amazing finds it is difficult to decide what to post on the main news page. There has been 3 new Romans silver's found, two BC Roman republicans and one 1stC type. I have sent a couple off to Mark Lehman for his views on two of them but the 3rd requires serious 'cooking' to remove the horn silver crust. Tenn Brad found a mint 13thC Vessica seal that I am trying to decipher and then Wash Tom finds a monster vessel spout that looks early medieval. I have posted a whole bunch of mint hammered silver coins onto the latest finds page. 2011 March finds page. Orv has ID'd the unknown coin he found as a 1542 -1567 Scottish Mary hammered silver coin. I cannot find the M with L by right side or annulets under crown, still researching it. Got a whole bunch of great hammered silver and relics to post in the morning to the March finds page.

82BC Republican Roman silver coin

1stC Roman silver coin sent for the ID- in the 'cooker' to remove crust

Roman BC republican silver coin - 'cooking it to remove crust

Huge bronze early medieval animal headed spout next to Roman silver coin for size

6th March 2011 Great relics uploaded - Saxon gold hoard ID back - Find is Anglo Norse

Feedback just back from the museum on the Viking looking zoomorphic dagger chape found last week is it is indeed Anglo Norse, what a great find.

Dr Martin has sent back the ID and recording EMC number on the latest Saxon hoard gold coin find, it is interesting to note that this is known as a cut shilling. This find will go into the 'pot' with the other coin declared officially hoard at the inquest held on the 25th Feb at Chelmsford's Coroner's court.

As usual this coin (EMC 2011.0059) is Merovingian and not Anglo-Saxon, but an important find nonetheless.

We have recorded two cut halves of Anglo-Saxon gold shillings in recent years, and a cut half of a Series B sceat, but this coin is noticeably more than a half (between two-thirds and three-quarters), so it may have been cut up as bullion.

This is developing into a really interesting hoard.

Best wishes,

Martin

I should have mentioned that there is no obvious match in the works of reference on Merovingian coins, but the inscriptions are legible, which gives some hope of identification eventually.

Martin

Posted tons of great Saxon and Roman relics and silver to the latest finds page 2011 March finds page. Some rare hammered silver and unknowns being found including a hammered penny that I am stumped on. I have checked the Irish and Scottish hammered silver coin books with no luck so far. It has very distinguishing features, rosettes by crown, double satire stops and a legend I don't know. If you know what it is drop me a mail please.

Another amazingly rare find is a class 20a medieval farthing with a legend I have never seen before +ER AN GL AII and the mis spelled variety. The guys are digging such a diverse range of do dads including a mint animal headed medieval spout off a huge urn, another Saxon zoomorphic mount, real nice medieval heraldic enameled shield mount that I have just posted to the new March finds page.

Scottish or Irish hammered silver penny ?? Rosettes by crown double satire stops both side of I

Obv + xIxHONCS x HA ??

Rev /ChC/hEN/INS/ ??

Brilliant rare silver farthing find - never seen one with this legend and this is a class 20a mis spelling type

Sterling silver issue 1279 Edward 1st hammered silver farthing- no inner circle on New reverse legend type - Class 20a

Obv +ER AN GL AII

Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint

11.64mm,0.27g

Unknown Continental hammered silver coin- not checked the ref books yet - send me a mail if you can ID it please

Stunning Medieval animal headed pouring spout

Great relic - 1638 Charles 1st milled silver crown forgery

Two thick silver sheets over a copper core

Roman lead bust mount

3rd March 2011 - Monster English Saxon gold coin found - New 2011 March finds page - Saxon treasures confirmed

Monster find C600 AD English Saxon gold - probably crondel type - reported as hoard to museum and sent off to Dr Martin Allen for ID

0.87g, 12.39mm

Updated this season gold finds page

Another Saxon gold coin found by Tenn Brad could be a monster as it appears to be an English type cut half. It was found in the same location as others we have found and has therefore been reported as a hoard to the museum. The guys have made all kinds of very interesting finds that I have posted to the new finds page 2011 March finds page.

I had a meeting with the museum to hand in the latest treasures and to record some more interesting items. Two of which I had not reported officially as treasure as I was not sure of the metal type. Both were sent to their conservator who has replied that they are gilded silver and therefore both are Saxon treasures and will now go through the process.

Monster find - 9th/10thC Saxon/Viking sword scabbard chape- gold on silver

This style better matches known Viking types

11.96g, 39.58mm L

Saxon gilded silver T brooch

Started a new finds page to speed up loading times 2011 March finds page

28th Feb 2011 More medieval gold - great relics - free slot on the 5th March

Still got a free slot in full board on the 5th March if you fancy a hunt, drop me a mail at chris@colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk if you can get away.

Tenn 'gold statue' Brad who found that amazing medieval gold statue treasure find a couple of years ago has finally found his first ever gold coin detecting. A rarer Edward III gold 1/4 noble. Louisiana Sal is here with his famous hat cam and video 'd Brad screaming in the field when he found it. I will download Sal's vids at the end of the week and post it here. Orv banged in a really neat huge Roman key and then a silver thimble that could be 2 with one inside the other.

Sal's Barn team have already started really well with lots of neat relics and hammered silver I will be posting during the day to the 2011 Feb finds page

Updated the gold page - 31st gold of the season found so far.

Treaty series 1361- 1369 Edward III hammered gold 1/4 noble - Std C type, Double Satire stops - Voided quatrefoil in centre of reverse

Obv EDWARD DEI GRA REX ANGL

1.93g, 19.16mm

3rd/4thC Roman crossbow brooch

Neat 19thC silver thimble - engraved PAT.G

This thimble has another silver liner or another thimble ?

Huge Roman key

Tiny Roman minim coin sent for ID

26th Feb 2011 More amazing relics - Saxon gold ingot ?

Can Rod's team left this morning after a stunning weeks detecting, 5 pieces of gold and some gob smacking relics. The weather has been great for this time of the year and even this morning at 9am it is 10C out there.

Tiny crisp 1300-10 Edward 1st hammered silver farthing Type 28 - new issue with inner circles both sides

Obv EDWARDVS REX

Rev CIVI/TAS/LON/DON - London mint

0.35g,12.05mm

14thC Medieval heraldic seal matrix - plain shield with single fesse

Tamas de Kent ?

Stunning 2nd Roman enameled head stud type brooch

17thC silver seal matric reported as treasure to museum

The guys ended their last day on a high with Brad finding the first ever shield shaped medieval heraldic seal matrix I have seen. I have it soaking in distilled water to clean up the legend that goes all around the 3 sides of the shield. The shield matches Tamas de Kent. They found half a dozen nice hammered silver cons that I will be posting to the latest finds page 2011 Feb finds page. Louisiana Sal did some research on Brad's gold ingot find and it appears on the Sutton Hoo hoard finds chart below, Ingot 42. I have forwarded this information to the museum as this is the 2nd gold ingot from this field, the museum disclaimed the last piece as not identifiable.

Updated the hoard and treasure page

Mark Lehman has sent back his views on two Roman Barbarous Radiate looking coins dug yesterday.

Sutton hoard list - Type 42 ingot

Ancient gold bar 3.80g, 12.71mm long reported as treasure to museum

25th Feb 2011 Gold posey ring find - Saxon gold is a one off -115 BC Roman ID'd

17.43mm,1.58g