Phenomenal UK detecting trip

[ky digger]

I just returned from my 19th detecting trip to the UK covering the last 12 years. I blew it out this time and so did the other 7 people that went with me. No one could ever believe what we found. The group found 1 gold half noble of Henry 5th, 1 gold celtic stater, 0ver 100 silver hammered coins, 10 milled silver coins including a valuable William from the 1700's, a Celtic bracelet with snake heads at both ends, 2 celtic woad grinders, 1 viking trefoil broach, 2 saxon hammereds, over 90 roman coins with 3 silver, over 200 greenie coppers many with dates, more relics than can be counted, and you ready for this....................1 Roman Votive Statue! See the statue in the pics attached. There were 9 Roman broaches in all. Holy Toledo people..............it's unbelievable. The F75 allowed for much faster detecting than I had realized in the past due to the response time. The weather was unreal............it rained 6 times----at night! Every day was sunny and in the mid 70's.

I guess every dog has his day...................

My personal finds for which I have pictures to prove it were:

15 hammered silver including the groat of Edward 3rd, approximately 1250.........
11 Roman coins, most of which contained good detail
4 tokens from the 16 to 1700's - 3 of which are dated
3 medallions
11 buttons kept out of approximately 400 found
3 medieval dress hooks
41 copper greenies mostly from the 1700's
1 Heraldic pendant that the museum has ------ to potentially identify the 12th century knight that owned it!
1 Roman votive statue that the museum has to identify the Roman god depicted
2 hawking bells
1 celtic woad grinder (a tool used to grind woad to make the blue paint for Celt warriors faces)
1 mint decorated croatal bell
15 medieval buckles
5 thimbles
6 armor mounts
1 casket key
3 apothecary spoons
2 unidentified medieval bits
1 twisted bronze finger ring
1 medieval ring broach intact with pin

A stunning trip.................everything here except a handful of coins were found with the F75 limited. Most of the time I ran PF at sens 75 or in boost mode for the stubble.......................................................the F75 just plain rocks!

 

[jim tn]

n/t

 

[2000nkb]

You gotta post more pics!! Sounds like quite the haul. Great Hunting!!!!

 

[Terry(Mi)]

That rocks ! Dont be shy on those pics, lol.

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Very very cool finds! Congrats!

 

[jmaryt]

outrageous! congratulations on a superlative hunt!

(h.h.!)
j.t.

 

[ky digger]

Here are some pics found by the group. The first one is a dress hook from the Tudor era. A vessica seal in great shape, a gold celtic stater from 50bc, a hammered short cross coin from the 13th century, a gold noble of Henry 5th, and a silver shilling from the 1700's.

 

[ky digger]

Here is an array of Romans I found myself with the F75. In a Roman field the F75 proved to be very effective due to the fast response time. The fields we searched were loaded with targets mixed in with trashy bits of iron accumulated over 2000 years. The F75 was set on PF with sens usually around 75. It picked the goodies out of the rubbish time after time as these few pics attest. About half the group used F75 machines. The other detectors would get nice Roman targets but at a much slower pace, usually resulting in the F75 users accumulating more finds over the day. I didn't create any stats on this but for my own purposes I chose to work with the F75.......................... trip of a lifetime for me............................

 

[rick in mi]

WOW that is totaly awsome.I am with jimtn SPEECHLESS....hh rick in mi.

 

[mudpuppy]

n/t

 

[ky digger]

When you bust a clod this is what you want to see in your hand! Even the pottery was outstanding...........Roman with a full figure! Hard to imagine.......

 

[Go Rebels!]

Wow -

For most of us these finds would be the cream of a lifetime's hunting.

Have you planned your next trip?
What types of sites did you hunt?
What was the 2nd most popular machine?

 

[ky digger]

Yes, many of the finds I made personally would be finds of a lifetime. The votive statue and the owner of the Heraldic pendant may be identified by the museum that presently has the finds before they send them to me. It defies imagination in my world and I've been over there 19 times. There were 8 of us on the tour and we shared four F75s we had, and used several Minelabs when we wanted to detect very slow. One of the guys used a Whites MXT with a large coil. We were able to match the machines to the fields based on target density and stubble height most days.

You can be sure I have planned the next trip. The tour guide is planning a website as we speak and I expect he will offer limited tours to the same area. At last count he had 14 virgin farms lined up of which we detected only five. More farms are coming on every week. The fields were plowed and rolled with the exception of two stubble fields. In the stubble fields we found several large groats, a couple of Roman brooches, and a valuable milled coin of William.

I can't say enough about this experience. I will remember the details of it for the rest of my life. Gotta love detecting......................

 

[Go Rebels!]

You can only imagine what went on in those farm fields generations ago. Was it previously a small trading post, farmers market or village? Or was it just the playground for a bunch of kids? How could someone actually lose a gold coin, given the poverty level two thousand years ago and the relative value. I like finding old coins but the statue and jewelry would be even more valuable to me. Can you imagine giving that Celtic Bracelet away to a grand daughter on a special occasion?

I guess that pottery shard was just laying on the surface of the plowed field. And I think a broken arrowhead is cool...

 

[ky digger]

Several of the fields were within sight of a medieval church and we would try to identify pathways across the field taken to get there. In another one we could actually see the remains of a Roman villa. England it turns out is not all that big, and the areas where the weather and crops were best have been occupied over and over for thousands of years. Just about everywhere has a little something to offer, but some areas more than others. We hit the mother load, but after 19 trips I was due. I agree that the artifacts are much more exciting than the coins. I have tons of coins from all eras, but the artifacts are one of a kind. At dinner one evening the people on the tour added up the tours we had all been on over the years. There were over 100 tours adding up to 84,000 hours (approximately) of detecting by just our group. Since no one had ever seen a Roman votive statue come in we guessed it takes 84,000 hours plus to find another one. About half that for a nice Heraldic pendant, and one with enough detail to identify the original knight............? We all agreed that the thing that made the experience terrific was that from day one we were seeing these things come in, and we all got really pumped because we knew at the next swing anything could appear.

Just can't adequately describe the experience with words. You detect and probably know what I mean. Those that don't detect...........well they miss out big time..........................

 

[Elton]

n/t