Andy Sabisch
Active member
Wanted to share this post here as well as on the Announcements page as there has been a good deal of interest on trips to Scotland . . . . the reason I posted it here as well as the Deus & ORX were the detectors of choice by the entire groups . . . . only switched off to a waterproof unit when conditions dictated (Scottish liquid sunshine as they called it)
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My wife Charlene and I took a group of 14 other detectorists over to Scotland at the beginning at September for a week of hunting along with Colin “Toddy” Irvine who has an excellent reputation over there hosting weekly digs and annual rallies. We have taken groups to England in the past so this was a different location with different rules so we were interested to see how it worked out.
As anyone that has done an England trip in the past knows, getting everyone to land and be ready for pickup at the same time when they are coming from around the world was its own challenge but somehow Charlene and Toddy pulled it off. We landed in Edinburgh and then drove up to Falkirk which was to be our base for the stay. Toddy is a wealth of history and talked about the area and pointed out landmarks all the way to the hotel . . . and continued this practice all week as we drove through the countryside. Having this added piece to put a story behind find is something very few trips we have been on have provided and was welcomed by the entire group.
Hunting overseas is always amazing in that the age of things there are so much older than they are here. Houses built in the 1700’s are considered new and places dating back 1,000 years are still standing and often in use. Even finds that amaze us are considered newer or common over there . . Toddy could not understand why coppers from the 1700’s and 1800’s got us excited. I had to tell him that 1700’s would be a red letter year for many of us (especially the guys from Florida) and 1600’s was something few found in the States. They are looking for finds dating back to the 10th century and even the Bronze Age so it is all relative.
So of course the $64,000 question . . . did we do any good? Well the first day was a half day after landing in Edinburgh and driving to the hotel. We hit a field that was adjacent to a Medieval village and again, Toddy gave us some history of the village, why this was a good field and some tips on where to hunt. Charlene’s 2nd signal was a hammered Scottish silver coin that was extremely rare (Toddy said that some local hunters have not found one in 20+ years). Coins dating back 100’s of years along with artifacts from the same span were found by everyone in the field on Day #1. Toddy picked the group up each morning and we headed to sites where he had obtained permission from the landowner for us to search. One site had the remains of a 12th century castle next to where we parked (could not hunt the castle but we were able to hunt the fields adjacent to it). One of our group found a silver love token shortly after we started searching that field. Hammered coins were found at every site we hunted throughout the week . . . Scottish hammered coins (Turners and Bodles) are made of copper rather than silver due to the English withholding silver for coins in the early years but regardless, they were from the 1500’s – 1600’s. One site we hit was a dumpsite for the city of Edinburgh dating back to the 1700’s. We all made some excellent finds at that location and one of the best one found was a silver seal (to seal wax on letters) that dated from the late 1600’s. The initials were as clear as the day it was lost and the finder was a retired attorney from Texas that was thrilled to have found it. A few of the people in the group found Bronze Age artifacts including a chisel dating back 3,500 years!
Site conditions were different than England as most of the sites were stubble or pasture rather than plowed dirt. Many of the fields are left in stubble over the winter and then plowed / planted in the Spring. Despite the rain they had had for weeks before we arrived, some of the pasture fields (sheep grazing) were so hard you could not dig in them but when the group was challenged, Toddy had other options nearby so we were not left on a non-productive site.
As far as the differences go in terms of the Treasure Act, finds get assessed at the end of each day and those that are deemed to be of possible interest to the Scottish Museum are bagged and retained. Once they go through the evaluation process, we will either get them back or they will become part of the museum’s collection. Some of the finds were up in the air while others such as the Bronze Age chisel, will be staying there. But to be able to hold something with that history attached to it is really what gets most of us fired up. The other thing that Toddy has in place is that any find such as ahoard found by the group will be split with the landowner. Scotland does not have that law in place as England and Ireland do and having that rule in place with the group iup front eliminates issues. In fact there is a lawsuit underway at this time in Scotland where hunters found a hoard of Viking artifacts on church lad and went back on the split . . and this has resulted in permissions being revoked for other detectorists.
But finds aside, Scotland was an amazing country and the trip was led by someone that was extremely passionate about both the hobby and the history of the land we were searching. On most of the days he had fellow Scottish detectorists join us which added to the comraderie that we experienced on the trip. As you know if you have bene on a group hunt, chemistry can make or break a trip and we were able to put together a group that clicked from the minute we all met at the airport in Edinburgh . . . something we always try to do when putting one of these overseas trips together. We are still taking groups to England but have added Scotland to our destinations. The trip was Toddy’s first group from the States and it was a learning experience for all involved . . . adjustments are being made to the overall experience based on our group which will make a great trip even better. If anyone is interested in additional details on our trip and our experiences in Scotland, feel free to message Charlene or me for details.
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My wife Charlene and I took a group of 14 other detectorists over to Scotland at the beginning at September for a week of hunting along with Colin “Toddy” Irvine who has an excellent reputation over there hosting weekly digs and annual rallies. We have taken groups to England in the past so this was a different location with different rules so we were interested to see how it worked out.
As anyone that has done an England trip in the past knows, getting everyone to land and be ready for pickup at the same time when they are coming from around the world was its own challenge but somehow Charlene and Toddy pulled it off. We landed in Edinburgh and then drove up to Falkirk which was to be our base for the stay. Toddy is a wealth of history and talked about the area and pointed out landmarks all the way to the hotel . . . and continued this practice all week as we drove through the countryside. Having this added piece to put a story behind find is something very few trips we have been on have provided and was welcomed by the entire group.
Hunting overseas is always amazing in that the age of things there are so much older than they are here. Houses built in the 1700’s are considered new and places dating back 1,000 years are still standing and often in use. Even finds that amaze us are considered newer or common over there . . Toddy could not understand why coppers from the 1700’s and 1800’s got us excited. I had to tell him that 1700’s would be a red letter year for many of us (especially the guys from Florida) and 1600’s was something few found in the States. They are looking for finds dating back to the 10th century and even the Bronze Age so it is all relative.
So of course the $64,000 question . . . did we do any good? Well the first day was a half day after landing in Edinburgh and driving to the hotel. We hit a field that was adjacent to a Medieval village and again, Toddy gave us some history of the village, why this was a good field and some tips on where to hunt. Charlene’s 2nd signal was a hammered Scottish silver coin that was extremely rare (Toddy said that some local hunters have not found one in 20+ years). Coins dating back 100’s of years along with artifacts from the same span were found by everyone in the field on Day #1. Toddy picked the group up each morning and we headed to sites where he had obtained permission from the landowner for us to search. One site had the remains of a 12th century castle next to where we parked (could not hunt the castle but we were able to hunt the fields adjacent to it). One of our group found a silver love token shortly after we started searching that field. Hammered coins were found at every site we hunted throughout the week . . . Scottish hammered coins (Turners and Bodles) are made of copper rather than silver due to the English withholding silver for coins in the early years but regardless, they were from the 1500’s – 1600’s. One site we hit was a dumpsite for the city of Edinburgh dating back to the 1700’s. We all made some excellent finds at that location and one of the best one found was a silver seal (to seal wax on letters) that dated from the late 1600’s. The initials were as clear as the day it was lost and the finder was a retired attorney from Texas that was thrilled to have found it. A few of the people in the group found Bronze Age artifacts including a chisel dating back 3,500 years!
Site conditions were different than England as most of the sites were stubble or pasture rather than plowed dirt. Many of the fields are left in stubble over the winter and then plowed / planted in the Spring. Despite the rain they had had for weeks before we arrived, some of the pasture fields (sheep grazing) were so hard you could not dig in them but when the group was challenged, Toddy had other options nearby so we were not left on a non-productive site.
As far as the differences go in terms of the Treasure Act, finds get assessed at the end of each day and those that are deemed to be of possible interest to the Scottish Museum are bagged and retained. Once they go through the evaluation process, we will either get them back or they will become part of the museum’s collection. Some of the finds were up in the air while others such as the Bronze Age chisel, will be staying there. But to be able to hold something with that history attached to it is really what gets most of us fired up. The other thing that Toddy has in place is that any find such as ahoard found by the group will be split with the landowner. Scotland does not have that law in place as England and Ireland do and having that rule in place with the group iup front eliminates issues. In fact there is a lawsuit underway at this time in Scotland where hunters found a hoard of Viking artifacts on church lad and went back on the split . . and this has resulted in permissions being revoked for other detectorists.
But finds aside, Scotland was an amazing country and the trip was led by someone that was extremely passionate about both the hobby and the history of the land we were searching. On most of the days he had fellow Scottish detectorists join us which added to the comraderie that we experienced on the trip. As you know if you have bene on a group hunt, chemistry can make or break a trip and we were able to put together a group that clicked from the minute we all met at the airport in Edinburgh . . . something we always try to do when putting one of these overseas trips together. We are still taking groups to England but have added Scotland to our destinations. The trip was Toddy’s first group from the States and it was a learning experience for all involved . . . adjustments are being made to the overall experience based on our group which will make a great trip even better. If anyone is interested in additional details on our trip and our experiences in Scotland, feel free to message Charlene or me for details.
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