TeamLuckyDog

Saturday - Colchester to Portland

2011-04-04T17:57:00.000-07:00

I haven't said much about our detecting companions for the second week. We were joined by five guys from New England and what a week it was. They were all experienced detectorists making their first detecting trip to England. Two joined us and three were at the other house. Clarence and I have never laughed so much or so hard as we did that week. Dinner most nights resembled a vaudeville show with singing and comedy. When we got together at lunch time, in the field, it was the same but with all five guys contributing. We should have known the first day when someone taped a penny to the bottom of one guy's detector. He couldn't figure out why he was getting the same signal all the time. Our thanks to Jim, Joe, Nelson, Mike and Mark for making it a memorable week. We would love to take you up on your invite to hunt in Mass. with you sometime.

It was an uneventful (that's a good thing) flight to San Francisco on Sat. No problems in Customs, even with bringing in our finds from last Fall. We always worry they are going to search all our luggage but that has never happened. I slept through most of the flight to Portland. We picked up our car and pulled into our driveway about 11pm. From the time we were picked up in Colchester Sat morning, we had been traveling for 22 hours that day. We noticed the grass needed cutting, tulips are about to bloom, and there were plenty of tall weeds in the flower beds. With nothing in the house to eat except crackers and a jar of peanut butter, we watched the evening news and collapsed into our own bed.

Back to reality...there are piles of laundry on the floor but I really just need a nap. It will take a few days to get back in the right time zone. England is eight hours later than Portland, which is enough to throw a person off kilter. We still start laughing thinking about the antics of our hunting companions. We have our reservations in for next April for another two week trip. Looks like I will have to wait until then to find my Colchester gold coin.

I am amazed at how many people are interested in things we do. We know we are fortunate to be able to enjoy each new adventure together. It was a pretty good way to spend our 24th wedding anniversary. And to think this all started from a blind date. Who knew??? Thanks for following along. Until next time...

Week Two - Friday

2011-04-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

As I predicted, there was no time to write before we left England on Saturday. However, we did have a full day of metal detecting on Friday, our final day for this trip. It was another 8am - 7pm day. Once again, there was no rain but plenty of strong winds. Clarence and I were on "the button field", just across the road from where the Gold Roman was found last week. One of the guys with us found a silver Roman coin, his first, and it was a great way to end his first England hunt. Clarence and I found about a hundred buttons, mostly common four holers, but a few good ones, too. I found another livery button and a military button. Clarence found a vessica seal (for sealing wax) and three interesting tokens from businesses in Colchester and London. He didn't know what they were until we were cleaning up our finds that night. We had no time to research them so that will give us something to do when we pick them up next Spring. Oh come on, you all knew we were going back next year! Next Spring will be another "Barn Hunt" for two weeks in April, 2012.

After cleaning the finds, having a wonderful roast chicken dinner with our hostess, and getting a hot shower, we got to work breaking down four detectors and gear and getting two and a half weeks of dirty laundry packed again. We packed and re-packed to make the 50# limit before giving up at 12:30am. We just decided to pay the extra fee and get some sleep before the alarm went off at 6am. When we got to Heathrow, the airline scale said we were two kg under on one bag and one kg over on the other. I asked the person at the desk if there was any room for grace and she replied " I didn't see anything". Thank you, United Airlines!

This has been a great trip. We're glad we decided to stay for two weeks instead of one. Clarence found his Saxon sceat and I found my silver Roman on the second week, so it was definitely worth the extra effort. Saturday will be a very l-o-n-g plane trip but it will be good to be home again.

Week Two - Thursday

2011-03-31T14:32:00.000-07:00

Today was Clarence's day to shine. Once again, he has found not one, but two, difficult to find Saxon items. He started with a tiny Saxon sceat (coin). A very prized item among detectorists in England. The reason a sceat is so difficult to find is that the signal it gives is so bad that most people wouldn't have bothered to dig it. Clarence said he almost walked away from it then decided to go back and dig it anyway. Now he's really happy he did. Then he came up with a possible Saxon gold gilt hanging pendant. It has been photographed and sent off to the museum for a possible ID. I will post it here when we get an idea of what it might be.

On the other hand, today was a bust for me. All I had to show for my efforts was a complete crotal bell, a small bronze lever handle, greenies and a modern Elizabeth II penny. Of course, we both have a pouch full of the usual stuff...bits of lead, tons of buttons, loom weights, shotgun shells and 50 caliber WWII shell casings.

It was so windy today that it was easy to get knocked off your feet. The wind was so loud that it was sometimes difficult to hear in your headphones. Tomorrow is our last day and we are revisiting the 15th Century church ruin site. I found a hammered silver coin there last time so I'm hoping for more of the same.
Tomorrow will be a busy day as we will get in from the field at 7:30, have dinner, clean our finds and prepare to turn them in for export papers and then get all our stuff packed. We were just barely under the weight limit for checked bags on the way over. I hope we can get in a couple of hours sleep before the van comes to take us to Heathrow in London at 7:30am. I will try to get an entry done tomorrow night but no promises.
It is now 10:30pm and everyone else has already gone to bed. Good Night!

Week Two - Wednesday

2011-03-30T13:54:00.000-07:00

Today I had to admit that I just couldn't keep up with all the guys. I actually took the day off today. After Clarence and the other guys left at 8am, I caught up on my email and then went back to bed with intentions of a short nap and then reading my book for a while. Lorna called upstairs at 3pm to see if I wanted a sandwich. I never did get more than a few pages read all day. I feel much better and will be back at it in the morning for our last two days.

The guys got back about 7:30 tonight and covered in mud. Looks like I picked a good day to stay home. The finds were few and all three have already gone up to bed or shower. It's just 9:45 and some people actually think we come over here and spend the evenings in the pub. Hah! Who has that much energy?

Clarence did find a really nice British Artillary button, an interesting mount and a pile of greenies. It's amazing what comes out of those blobs of mud at the end of the day. Sometimes, when you are out in the field, you just can't get enough of the clay goo off to even tell what you have. You only know it is something metal and throw it all in your finds pouch. Often it is a tiny piece of scrap lead but sometimes you find a nice button or coin in the muck.

We have only two days left to find a gold coin. I wish I had thought to get a pedometer when we started this adventure. I know we have walked miles and miles and miles in the last two weeks. On Saturday, we will be on a plane for the USA and back to reality. Check back tomorrow for the next installment.

Week Two - Tuesday

2011-03-29T14:05:00.000-07:00

This posting will be short and sweet tonight. It's 10pm and I am just beat. I have decided to stay in tomorrow, read my book, take a nap or two and stay off my feet. This was our 11th day straight of 10 & 11 hour days and this over 60 body is screaming for mercy. Clarence is still going out with the younger guys tomorrow as he just can't stand the idea of missing out on a day of detecting.

Today, the farmer and his little blue tractor were fertilizing fields, usually the ones we were in. We would move to another field and he would follow. We started going to the field he had just finished and that worked out better. The tractor guys always smile and wave but I'm sure they are muttering things under their breath.

Clarence did pretty well today with a 1676 Charles II three pence. He also found a thimble, greenies, a buckle and a brooch with some gold guilding. I found maily buttons, a modern token, greenies and a 1948 half sovereign(copper).

I will still write tomorrow about Clarence's day of detecting so check back tomorrow. I am falling asleep as Isit here so it's time to call it a night. Check in for more tomorrow..........

PS: Yesterday's silver Roman is a denarius of Tiberius, 25-30AD. Not too shabby!

Week Two - Monday

2011-03-28T14:14:00.000-07:00

WOOHOO!!!! ROMAN SILVER!!!!!! I (Mary) found it about 4pm today while moving out of one field and into another. It was in the same field where I had found the silver cufflink a few days ago. It was hiding in a big clump of wet clay. When I looked at it, I knew it was something good but didn't know what it was. It certainly looked like a Roman with the profile bust and Roman numerals (big clue) but it was just in too good of shape to be a bronze Roman. I never even thought about it being a silver Roman. As Clarence and I were leaving the field and walking back to the 7pm pick up spot, we met up with Nicholas, the land owner. We showed him the coin and he said, "That's just cracking!".

We had been playing tag with the farm workers as they were out with the tractors rolling the fields while we were detecting. We were just sure to keep one eye on them and to stay a couple of rows away from them. Getting caught by one of those big spiked rollers would put a damper on the day. I'm sure they just love having us in the field while they try to work but they are always very nice to us. As for other finds today, Clarence found a whole crotal bell, a spoon handle, greenies and a watch winder. I found some other stuff but it doesn't really matter after the silver Roman. I should have an ID on the Roman in the next 24 hours and will share it as soon as I know. It will be photographed and sent off the Dr. Mark Lehman, our Roman coin expert who gives us great insight into our Roman finds.

It was a good day....

Week Two - Sunday

2011-03-27T14:02:00.000-07:00

I'm beat! We have fivc new guys who joined us yesterday for thier first England detecting trip. They are young and fit and want to spend all the daylight hours out in the field. They're killing me! We are now hunting 11 hours a day and come in at 7pm. I can understand how some of us "older" hunters take naps out in the field. That would only give me time to stiffen up and would just make it worse. I just keep moving and am bound and determined to keep up with these young guys. I must be out of my mind!

No great finds today for either of us but we still got some nice stuff. I had an interesting old (really, really old) key, a lead bale seal and a small Roman coin. Clarence had several neat buttons including a 20th Regiment button, a lead seal, greenies and a Cartwheel (HUGE greenie only made one year).

We are lucking out on weather, so far. The wind is often cold and my face is really wind burned now. The sun was out most of the day today and it looks like no rain until late Wednesday. We spent the afternoon in a HUGE field (maybe 500 acres?), that was planted in wheat. The wheat looks like wide blades of grass and is about 6" tall, so it looks like a huge lawn area. I just enjoyed walking through the field of wheat and the peace and quiet of a Sunday afternoon.

Tomorrow we are retuning to the area I found the silver cufflink and one of the Chicago guys got a Celtic gold a couple of days ago. Wish us luck!

Week Two - Saturday

2011-03-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

What a switch in the weather today. It was COLD! There were a few sprinkles of rain but the wind was blowing hard and very cold. We had t-shirts, fleece and our rain parkas with hoods up to protect from the wind. Brrrrrr. We had five new guys from New England join us today and we all stayed out until almost 7pm. In case anyone cares, it's dark at 7pm. Tonight the U.K. goes on daylight savings time. Lucky us, we get to change time again!

As far as finds go today, Clarence found greenies and lead weights along with the usual common stuff like bullet casings, buttons, and lead weights. I lucked out today with two silver coins, one "slick willie" and one hammered silver. The "slick willie" is a silver coin kept in circulation for about a hundred years they so are worn smooth. They were from the reign of King William, thus the name.

It's late, I'm beat and Clarence has already gone upstairs to bed. All this fresh air and oxygen can wear you out. I hope we have some nice goodies to share with you tomorrow.

Week One - Friday

2011-03-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful Spring day in the UK and I have the sunburned neck to prove it. It was in the 60's today and the coat and fleece layer were shed within the first hour. The nice weather was certainly the highlight of the day today. We were on the field that gave up the beautiful Roman gold coin a few days ago and we had high hopes. No such luck. The Chicago team had just pounded that field after the gold was found. Clarence and I couldn't find a spot of dirt in which to step that didn't have an assortment of footprints already.

My big finds of the day were two greenies, a decorative hinge, a nifty cover for a pocket watch, and yet another keyhole for a skeleton key. In eight trips here, I have never found one of these keyholes before. Now I have found four and from four different fields. Clarence did better than me today. He found two watch winders, a thimble, several greenies, a set of keys (modern), a two pence and an 1899 one pence coin.

Tomorrow, we will be with the Chicago guys and five new hunters will be coming to join us around lunch time. This will be their first trip to Colchester, so they will have much to learn about how to hunt here. Two are staying in our same house and three will be in another house. We have been really spoiled with having the place mostly to ourselves and not having to share the bathroom.

That's the report for the day. Tomorrow will start Week Two.

Week One - Thursday

2011-03-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well, today was pretty much a bust. Clarence and I were on our own today. We spent the morning on a huge field near a very important archaeological site. We had great hopes of finding something fantastic but had to be content with greenies, loom weights, a wall hook, a dinger for a bell, a thimble and doo dads. I found two different key hole face plates which are kind of neat. This week I have found three of them and they might look nice in a display case with the old key that Clarence found this week. Clarence had several greenies and we each found a ton of bullet casings and shotgun shell parts.

Correction from yesterday: When I wrote Clarence's finds from yesterday, I didn't notice the container that he kept his better finds in. He had a 1817 six pence, a hammered silver coin, a 1945 six pence and a pair of legs. What? Yes, he found the bottom half of a statue showing only a pair of legs in a sitting position. We would like to say they were from an old Roman statue of a famous sculptor...but we would be making that part up. It was definitely something different.

Until tomorrow....

Week One - Wednesday

2011-03-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we didn't beat the Chicago guys to the newly rolled field this morning. They beat us there by 30 minutes and had found several hammered silver coins before we showed up. This afternoon, most of the guys moved to the two fields behind our initial choice. I was detecting away, concentrating on the sounds in my headphones and watching the ground when I turned to find a tractor behind me and not slowing down. I quickly moved across the field and another fellow and I watched him rolling the field for a while. Then we decided to go back and detect again the area where the hammered silvers had been found that morning. Keeping one eye on tractor sharing the field, we were finding new targets that the tractor had stirred up. I found half of a crotal bell. When I showed the fellow who was detecting nearby, he pulled another half out of his finds pouch. We think they may be a match but won't know until the are both cleaned up.

I'm so glad I went back onto that field as I found my first ever Treasure Item. It is a complete (both sides) Queen Ann Marriage Buttons (cuff link). They are silver and from 1704. They have a profile of Queen Ann on each piece. They will probably be disclaimed and I should get to keep them, but they need to progress through the treasure process. To clarify, it is one cuff link but it has a round silver button with Queen Ann on both the inside and outside part of the clunk and the two pieces are joined together.

Clarence had a slower day today with only buttons, greenies and assorted bits and pieces of lead and bronzey bits. The only other thing worthy of mention (?) is that there were no sufficient trees or bushes that weren't in a deep ditch or next to a steep slope leading into a deep pond. Why is this important you may ask? Try being the only girl on fields all day with 15 guys and you can probably figure it out.

Week One - Tuesday

2011-03-22T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had a great day today. The sun was out and it actually got warm this morning. We had to shed a coat and a layer of fleece and then, just as quickly, put it all back on as a cold wind started to blow. We haven't been able to get into one of our favorite fields from last year as it was still rough plow. Yesterday it was rolled and was smooth as a pancake. This is the field where Clarence found that gorgeous silver decorated thimble last year and I found that itty bitty James I half penny. We met up with the two teams of seven from Chicago today and it was fun to see so many familiar faces. There were hugs, high fives and much laughter as we all compared stories from the past several days.

There were lots of targets today and we were busy digging things all day long. I found a hammie(hammered silver coin), a bale seal, a Royal Artillery button and some greenies. Clarence found a hammie, a bale seal, loom weights, and a small decorated crotal bell. We both found lots of items that have already found their way to the dust bin as they are common trash such as bullet casings, modern buttons, and tons of bits of lead. Tomorrow we are headed to a field that had some real treasures last year. Again, it has been in rough plow and remained undetected since the end of the year. Yesterday, it was finally rolled smooth and the Chicago guys don't seem to know about it. We will be the first ones on that field...Yahoo! Can't wait until the morning!

Monday, March 21

2011-03-21T13:49:00.000-07:00

It was another 8am - 6pm day today, out hunting in the English Springtime. It's chilly in the morning and evening and there has been a light breeze most of the day. No momentous finds on our end today with one exception. Clarence found his first hammered silver coin today. He also has a possible lead palm guard and a neat button that says "Essex Local Militia". All my gold coin signals turned into shotgun shell primers when I dug them. Clarence and I think we must have walked miles and miles today. Today's fields have all been tilled and rolled flat and planted with their new crops. Clarence tried to cross into the next field by climbing down a steep bank. He started to slip on the muddy bank and fell backwards, sitting down on the hill and putting his hands behind him to catch himself. Unfortunately, both hands landed in a patch of stinging nettles. Ouch!

There is an update on the Roman Gold found yesterday. Our Roman coin expert "on call" for all our Roman finds, confirmed the ID and says it's value is in the five figures (English pounds sterling). WOW! Great find made by a nice guy and great detectorist. Hopefully, our gold find will come soon! We are always hopeful that tomorrow will be THE DAY!

Week One: Sunday

2011-03-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

We spent the day on two large fields. There were not a lot of targets but most of them were interesting finds. There were the usual plain buttons and hunks of lead scrap.Today, we each found some of the more interesting buttons. I have a military button of the 71st Regiment, a button with a shield design, a complete crotal bell (bronze. looks like a large jingle bell, for farm animals to wear), and a quarter cut hammered silver coin. Clarence has a neat old key, some sort of a decorative mount, several interesting buttons, musket balls,an old (for us) pocket knife, and some decorative buckle fragments.

The big find today came from one of the two other teams of seven that are here with us. One of the Chicago guys found what we have all wanted....a gold Roman coin. This one is from 50AD,about the size of a US nickle, and looks like it just came from the coin dealer. What a find! Maybe it has a friend and we will find another by the time we leave. Meanwhile, we are beat tonight. All I can think of is a hot shower and bed. Tomorrow we are at it again at 8am. See y'all back here tomorrow.

Spring 2011, Day one

2011-03-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

Here we are, back at it again. Clarence and I spent most of yesterday in London at The British Museum. We eyed lots of gold coins and jewelry, in an attempt to program our minds to seek out those hot signals. Our ride to Colchester from London was a bit late this morning due to traffic. That put us out in the fields a little later than normal at 1:30. We hunted until 6pm. Clarence is cleaning up our finds right now and it looks like there might be some good ones along with our junk. Clarence has a long, thin piece (possible spoon handle?)with some interesting designs on it. In my non-expert opinion, I think it might be Viking or Saxon. We'll see what our fearless leader says when he picks us up tomorrow morning and looks over today's finds. I found a button with a nice design and some red enamelling showing. It has printing on it but I can't tell what it says. I also have a loom weight, three greenies (copper coins), part of a thimble, a loom weight and some widgets. Clarence has some buttons, a small piece of chain that looks old, a bale seal, a mount and even more widgets.The bodies are tired, so we going to bed early (9:30) in hopes of being rested and raring to go at 8am Check back tomorrow for an update. Hopefully I will get used to this smaller keyboard on this netbook soon. Please overlook any typos. Until tomorrow...

Day Seven Part Two

2010-09-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

Part of visiting any foreign country is meeting the locals. Mindy had a neat experience this afternoon. She sat down at the edge of the upper field to rest a while. She soon heard a man's voice calling to her from the house near the field. " Would you like a cup of tea?" he asked. She responded and he brought out a cup of tea for her. The two sat there and visited while she enjoyed her tea. Mindy told him she would be back in October and was told to just come knock on the back door anytime and he and his wife would be happy to brew up a pot of tea for her. He was quite interested in what we do and how we work with the museums. He already knew the land owner had given us permission to detect on his land and probably gets a kick out of watching us detecting in all kinds of weather. We do our best to be entertaining as well as good ambassadors for this hobby. Chance encounters like this one just make your day.

This was another great trip. We can't wait for the next one in March, 2011 where we are going to detect for two weeks instead of one. Thank you for reading along during our latest adventure.

Mary and Clarence
The Lucky Dogs

Day Seven

2010-09-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

We returned to the farm where we had our night hunt but this time we are across the road in a field that was being rolled two days ago. Don and I stayed in the huge front field while the other three crossed the five foot deep ditch into the back field. Right off the bat, Don dug a beautiful GOLD monogramed cuff link. Late in the afternoon, I had been digging plenty of greenies and buttons and junk, when I went to join Don who was resting his back. I left my gear with him and went off to find an appropriate place to answer nature's call. All the trees were on the other side of that darn 5' ditch, but there was a small corn field that would work fine. I worked my way back into the corn for a bit of privacy and suddenly there was a symphony of dogs howling. It got louder as they got closer. Then I heard horns being blown and more loud noises which seemed to be getting closer. It was a fox hunt and they were headed my way! I had visions of being surrounded by a pack of hounds with horses and riders in hot pursuit and here I am, in the middle of a corn patch, not quite ready to receive guests. I pulled myself together and hustled back to where Don was waiting with my detector. We both wondered if we were about to see a fox hunt up close and personal. Twenty minutes later, it was all over. Clarence and Marilynn had seen the pack of about 30 horses and riders from their viewpoint in the upper field. It was a pretty exciting end to our week of detecting in England. The finds weren't too bad, either. Clarence found a 1817 silver George III coin and I found one of the same. Marilynn found a Medieval lead token, Mindy a 1500's ornate crotal bell complete with dinger. We all had the usual greenies, buttons and "old stuff". It was a good day.

Day Six

2010-09-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning already? We drove a little farther today to a field notorious for it's monster size and the fact it is right next to the McDonald's parking lot. At least we had restrooms and hot food for lunch today. As we drove in, Don and Marilynn spotted the Car Boot Faire across the road. This is like a big garage sale but everyone opens up the car trunk (boot), sets up their table and sells right there in the field. They even had someone giving haircuts. We started detecting while they went over to check it out. There is no such thing as a retired antique dealer and they proved it. Mindy went to try out a smaller field, with the antique dealers eventually joining her. Clarence and I gave the big field a try. Just as we headed back in for lunch, Clarence got a signal and dug a hammered silver coin. It wasn't just any hammie. This one was a Saxon penny, Aethelred II from 978AD...."rarer than hen's teeth" as our leader says. It's kind of scrunched by the plow but will straighten out nicely. We are waiting on a confirmed ID from Dr. Martin Allen of the Fitzwilliam Museum but it looks like he has found another rare one. Our club has found six Saxon pennies in eight years and Clarence has two of them! What a Lucky Dog! The rest of us found hammered silver, a 15 Century field weight, military buttons, 15C thimble, huge Georgian harness mount, 33rd Regiment button, junk buttons and greenies. It was definitely Clarence's day. He's still smiling......

Day Five

2010-09-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

It rained enough at night to make our day quite the mess. All the freshly plowed and rolled land was sticky with wet, clay mud. This is the stuff that sticks to your boots and the bottom of your coil. I had to stop every few minutes to scrape the inch or two of mud off the bottom of my coil or it got too heavy to swing. I didn't want to wear my arm out with more detecting days still ahead. Clarence and Marilynn both found James 1st hammered silver coins, Mindy a 1709 bale seal and we all had greenies, buttons and junk. Marilynn found her first ever thimble and later discovered a hole in her coin purse where she stashed her good finds. She lost a coin and some musket balls somewhere in that muddy field. Clarence, once again, had the find of the day. I thought he had a 1950's era clip on earring with some decorative stones. I could just picture the lady of the house out plowing the fields in her Sunday best when she lost it. Turns out, it is much older, probably 1800's or earlier, and a decorative brooch with a silver back. It has tiny little pearls and some unidentified stones. This will be one for the museum to ID. On the walk back to the van, Mindy and I stopped to visit with four Alpacas standing near the fence. Sorry Mindy. I really didn't think Alpaca's would spit at you like Llamas. At least we had a good laugh about it.

Day Four - Part Two

2010-09-15T07:40:00.000-07:00

After dinner, Mindy, Clarence and I decided to go back and do some night hunting. Lots of the "hard core" guys who come here, stay out until 9 or 10 or later and hunt with headlights. We wanted to experience a little of that, too. Don and Marilynn, being the sensible type, stayed home to relax. The three of us stopped to do some grocery shopping and replenish the beer supply, then returned to the same field we were on earlier in the day. It was different hunting at night, very quiet and peaceful. The floodlights on the buildings turned off at 10pm leaving us in pitch black. I quickly learned how disorienting it can be in the total darkness. I would stop to dig a target and then had no sense of which direction I was walking. If the others were looking down, digging a target, I couldn't see their headlights and didn't know where anyone was. I had a sense of what it must be like to be lost in the woods. No wonder they tell you to stop and "hug a tree" until daylight. The bugs, and there were lots of them, flew into the light which was on my forehead. Bugs were everywhere and all flying at my face. Mindy and Clarence found more greenies and buttons. I lucked out, finding a nice 1809 Russian bale seal and a lead Boy Bishop Token. None of us wanted to leave but we had another long day coming in just a few hours.

Day Four

2010-09-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

I am now writing from my notes and I am discovering I should have been more complete in my descriptions of our finds. The field we were in was perfect, newly plowed and rolled and ours were the first footprints. It was on a gentle hill with some lovely big trees at the bottom, away from the road and the buildings. This is an important fact, more for for the girls in the group than they guys, if you know what I mean. It was a good day with Mindy finding an early 1790's bale seal and a decorative mount. Clarence found a toy cannon about 2" long, a small chunk of silver and a watch winder. I had a 1690 silver coin, assorted greenies and buttons. Don came in with two parts of a toy gun found about 25' apart. Marilynn said "Well, look at this!" and produced yet another part of the same gun. The plow had managed to spread parts all around the field. Everyone had a good day and we piled back into the van about 6pm and headed home for dinner and a shower.

Technical Difficulties

2010-09-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry about no posts for many days. The internet service at this house is off more than on. There are two internet junkies with two laptops here and we are going a little bonkers. I will try to get caught up, in order of the days, as soon as I can. Today is our last day hunting and we leave in just a few minutes. Don't give up on me. If I have to finish the daily posts when we get home, they will all be there. I think you will enjoy hearing about this trip.

more later................

Day Three

2010-09-09T11:07:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the late entry. I had Wednesday's post half written when the internet service dropped again. I will try to recreate what I wrote yesterday....
This was quite a day. My detector completely lost all it's electronics mid-morning. Mindy drove me back to the house after lunch to pick up our backup detector. Some of this groups finds of the day were pretty impressive. Marilynn found a late Saxon (10th Century) mount with red, blue and gold enameling. Don had a 69th Regiment of Foote military button and a palm guide. Clarence had a rose farthing and an 1848 Victoria schilling. Mary found a partial Saxon strap end and my first ever whole crotal bell complete with it's clanger. Mindy came in at the end of the day with the find to beat all. A huge hunk of GOLD! It is ancient gold, looks a bit like a huge gold band or one that was soon to be make into a ring. It is one long strip and wrapped around in a circle.
Last night, just as we were finishing our roast chicken dinner, some of the guys from the other group came over to visit and see our finds. Mostly, they showed up just to see Mindy's gold. It was nice to sit and visit with them for a while. We are on different fields during the day so rarely run into them.

2010-09-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Day Two

It poured rain last night and the wind was howling. This morning we woke to blue skies and big mud puddles. There was just enough rain to make the mud a bit sticky but not too bad. We detected the Abbey site today. I found what appears to be a gold watch winder with lots of little twirly bits and maybe some little colored stones. After cleaning it up tonight, I'm not so sure it is actually gold. I found one silver coin and alittle hammered coin. Clarence found a token, bale seals, musket balls and some early English coins. Mindy found a silver six pence. Don and Marilynn have an assortment of greenies (copper coins)lead bale seals and some neat looking artifacts.

We are using a local GPS to get around to our proper fields. This one has a British accent and we are having trouble understanding the names of the roads to turn on. At dinner last night in the pub, one of the women sitting behind us remarked to her friends that Americans have such strange accents. I'm out of space so stay tuned for more tomorrow.

September Hunt 2010

2010-09-06T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well, we made it back to Essex, England for another round of metal detecting. We lost two members of our group already. Jim and Mary C were not up for trip and have decided to follow along from the comfort of their own home. We will try to do them proud this week. Last night, we stayed in a wonderful B&B near the Heathrow airport. It is a beautiful place, built in the 1600's with all the original open timber framing and low doorways.

We picked up the 8 passenger rental van and had it stuffed full with luggage and detectors. We drove up to the Colcester area of Essex, had lunch with the other group of six guys who got here two days earlier. Then we hit our first field and detected until 5pm. We drove to the vacation house where we are staying this time, unloaded the van, washed off a layer of dirt and grime and headed out to the little town of Mannington for dinner. Fish and chips and beer sure tasted good after a day of traveling and detecting. We hit the grocery store to stock our kitchen and discovered it was harder to find our way home in the dark and the rain without the GPS. Next time, we will know better to have it programmed and ready to use. Tomorrow morning, Mindy is cooking us breakfast and then we are all out the door by 8am. Forecast is for heavy rain tomorrow but we are prepared.

We haven't had time to clean up and look at our finds for today. There were some interesting bits and bobs. I might have a hammered copper or silver, Clarence has a possible trade weight. Tomorrow we should have more time to really get things cleaned up and identified. Right now, a hot shower sounds really good. It's nearly 11pm and it has been a long couple of days. Sorry this entry is not too eventful. I will try to do better tomorrow. Good night for now..................

Home, again

2010-03-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

We made it home about midnight last night, short one bag. It was delivered to our door today so all is well. I wanted to share a follow up on the stunning gold mourning ring, dated 1822, that Mindy found on Friday. The woman who was memorialized with the ring, turned out to be a relative of the farmer/landowner. He has been most gracious by letting us hunt his property, and stops by or visits with the guys out detecting almost every day. Mindy presented him with the ring yesterday, stating that it belonged with the family. She said she got almost as much of a thrill by returning it to him as she did when she first pulled it out of the ground. You are a class act, Mindy, and a wonderful ambassador or our hobby!\

Day Seven-Our Last Day

2010-03-26T14:25:00.000-07:00

What fun today. With groups coming and going, we all met up at lunch time today, It was the largest group ever assembled here at one time with 18. Many of us have never met though we all feel like friends from the internet Forum we participate in. Mindy just came in from Minn and found a STONKER in her first hour. An incredible gold mourning ring engraved with a woman's name and "1822".

I didn't find any gold or silver today but I dug more lead chunks, all of which were perfect gold sounds. Oh well.....we'll just have to come back and give it another try. Clarence did well again today with a beautiful Roman bronze with clear inprint and a nice hammered silver coin.

It is now 9:30pm and we are tackling the packing problem. How did we get all this stuff in the suitcases the first time? All equipment has to be broken down and wiped off. Foreign dirt makes Customs people nervous. The taxi is coming at 6:30 in the morning to take us to Heathrow. We land in Portland a little after 11pm Sat night. It has been a wonderful trip. We will be back in September. Maybe this time I will find my gold? Thanks for following along with us this Spring. Join us again in September 2010.

Day Six - The Abbey

2010-03-25T13:44:00.000-07:00

Today we went back to one of our favorite places from our three years of hunting here. The rain poured down this afternoon and it turned cold quickly about 4pm. One of our foursome had detector problems this aftenoon in the rain. My detector also gave me fits with an apparantly bad coil. Clarence is putting our backup on and we will hope that corrects it. With my equipment problem today I didn't have much to show for my efforts. Clarence, however, found a silver hawking bell that has been reported as treasure. The bells were attached to the hawks before sent off to hunt so the handler could hear where the hawk was. Clarence also found a hammered silver coin.One of our housemates found a beautiful pre-1500 braided gold ring. Outstanding!

Another group of Northwesterners came in this evening. A group of five from Washington, Idaho and Alaska. They seem like a nice group and we will see them tomorrow in the field. Also, Chicago Ron's group will have two new members coming tomorrow and we are anxious to finally meet them. We all know each other from the internet but have never met.

Tomorrow will be our last day. Hard to believe it's been a week already. The taxi will pick us up at 6:30am Saturday for the trip back to Heathrow. Hope for gold tomorrow! It's our last chance for this trip.

Day Five

2010-03-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

Today we were at yet another new area for us. This site consisted of twelve huge fields and was the location of some earlier spectacular finds. The detecting gods were not with us today but the sunshine was, followed by light sprinkles. I found only one silver coin today, a Queen Victoria two pence. Clarence did well today with a hammered silver, a milled silver and a gold guilded cufflink. We also found some musketballs, buttons galore, bits of lead, and just plain junk.

At lunch today, we got word that the other team here, Chicago Ron's Barn House Boys, continue to find the good stuff we seem to miss. Today, in the same field we were in on Tuesday, one of the Illinois guys found a hammered gold coin. This one is Queen Elizabeth I and is valued at 4000 British Pounds Sterling. It was found very near to where I was searching. Dang! A hammered gold is at the very top of my wish list!

Tomorrow we have all decided to return to one of last year's favorite locations at an old Abbey. That location has given us many of our favorite finds from the past.

Day Four

2010-03-23T13:30:00.000-07:00

Things were pretty tense around here these last 24 hours. Remember the itty bitty hammered silver I found (which turned out to be a James I half penney)? Well, Clarence dropped it and it was lost for a while. He found it on the floor and the marriage was saved. There was danger of a British divorce happening.

This morning, as soon as the fog burned off, it was a beautiful sunny day. Then the fog rolled back in and the wind came up. It was just like a typical winter day on the Oregon coast. All four of us got skunked today. We dug some greenies (copper coins that come out of the ground green), lots of chunks of lead, tons of buttons and a few other misc. goodies. Nothing to write home about (literally). To make things worth...the other house of seven guys from Chicago who are here with us this week, went back to the field we were at yesterday and I had found the itty bitty hammered silver. The other guys managed to find ten more hammered silvers and a silver Saxon sceat. Dang! Why couldn't we find them yesterday? Sometimes that's just the way things go. Tomorrow will be another day.

Day Three

2010-03-22T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day. It only sprinkled once and the sun was shining most of the day. I found two bronze Roman coins and two hammered silver coins. One is the tiniest hammered I have seen. It is not yet identified but appears to be either a Charles I or James I half penney. Clarence found a beautiful decorated silver thimble, a Charles III six pence from 1817, and we both have a selection of "other finds".

Yesterday I told you about the really "rare to find" Saxon gold coin. Well, today that group went back to that same spot and gridded out a search pattern. They found a second Saxon gold! There were seven guys searching a small area so our group of four decided to try a different field today. We may go back and try to find a third one before the week is out. What the heck, I'm still looking to find a hammered gold this trip.

That's it for tonight. We (that means Clarence)is just about finished cleaning up our finds for the day. We have already been into the Advil bottle and just need to go to bed. We are up every morning at 6-ish, breakfast is at 7 and we leave for the field at 8am. More adventures tomorrow!

Day Two The Old Church

2010-03-21T14:47:00.000-07:00

This morning we started off at the site of an abandoned church which was built in the 11th Century and abandoned in 1550. It was incredible to walk around and the still standing walls and think of the celebrations of marriages and sadness of burying a loved one from this church. We took lots of pictures and they will appear here or in the photo section of our website as soon as we get home. It really was one of the highlights of this trips just to be there.

But, we really are here for the detecting. This morning was not my best day of finds with some modern coins (1935+). I made up for it this afternoon with a bronze Roman and some doodads. Clarence also found a big bronze Roman, and some buckles and widgets besides. His coolest find was a visual and it was when we were detecting around the church ruins. It is a crock style bottle, possibly used for pharmacetical reasons? No matter the reason, it is probably from the 1800's and is very cool. Did I mention it was intact?

I have to mention the top find of the day and possibly the year. Sorry to say we weren't the ones to find it, but one of the fellows from the other house found an incredibly rare Saxon gold coin from the 600's. He found it just as everyone was leaving the field and headed back to the vans. WOW! The land ownder just happened to be there talking to everyone when it came in. He was amazed. I guess we will just have to find our own tomorrow.

March 20, 2010 Day One

2010-03-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

Greetings from the UK. We were picked up in London this morning and taken to Colchester and the home where we are staying. We tossed the luggage in our room, put together detectors and unpacked full rain gear and boots, and ate a quick sandwich. Our host picked us up and we were out in the field by 1pm. We hunted until 6 tonight in one field that was planted in cabbage. Thank heaven for the crops to protect us just a little from all the mud.

At the end of our first half day, all in all, it was a good day which started a little iffy. I had equipment problems, all will be corrected by tomorrow. My pinpointer had no battery and I lost the nut for my arm cuff within the first hour. Clarence took the nut off his and rigged up something for his detector with the spare rubber bands in my rain cost pocket. Next time, I check all machines for batteries before we head to the field.

I know there are a lot of people reading this blog who have no knowledge of detecting and some of the equipment I might write about. I will try to keep this non technical and use plain English. Tomorrow is be another day.

Next England trip....soon!!!!!

2010-02-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Watch this space! We will be back detecting that English dirt in just a few weeks. Check back March 20th for the first update.

Day Seven-Our Last Day

2009-03-20T13:06:00.000-07:00

We were in search of gold again today but had no luck. We walked all over three fields where Celtic gold has been found. I guess it just wasn't our turn. After a roadside lunch of hot pasties, crisps and fruit juices, we returned to the faire site. When we arrived, the farmer was just rolling one of the areas we had great success in yesterday. As soon as he left the area, we hot footed it right back there. Clarence banged out a hammered silver that appears to be foreign (not British). It has yet to be identified. One of our doo dads from yesterday turned out to be a stirrup mount of a type not seen before. It needs more research as do lots of other things.

Tonight is our last night and it is also our 22nd wedding anniversary. And they said it wouldn't last... We had a wonderful day together, in the sunshine and English countryside doing what we both enjoy. I can't think of a better way to spend the day.

Thanks to all of you for following along in our adventure. Stay tuned for more installments . It looks like we will be back next year.

Mary and Clarence

Day Six - The Faire Site

2009-03-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

Today's hunting took place at the location of a faire. This would be where people came on horseback from as far away as London to trade goods and livestock. They would stay for several days so there was a lot of activity there. The site had just been plowed which meant it was really soft and fluffy. Every step you would sink about 3" into the soil. It made for hard walking but easy recovery of finds. We had lots of stuff to show at the end of the day. Clarence found two milled silver coins and I had a hammered silver coin. WE also found lead bale seals, decorative mounts, greenies, Georgian watch winders, buttons, pot handles, and the usualy bits of lead and trash.

This morning we hunted with another fellow who lives in a neighboring town. We hunted with him one day last year so it was nice to see him again. He brought along his gorgeous Roman hammered gold coin that he had found earlier. It's a beauty and reminded us of what we could be finding any time you dig a target.

Tomorrow is our last day of detecting and our last chance to find a gold coin. It looks like we will have another good day weatherwise. We have been very, very lucky so far. No rain! More tomorrow...

Day Five

2009-03-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

This morning we returned to another new field, adjacent to yesterday's new field. By lunch time, we were getting desperate to hear a tone that wasn't an iron tone. We did find a lead token, bale seals, an interesting weight, and more mini balls, buttons, shotgun shells, and greenies. I also found a racing pigeon band, without the pigeon. OH...I can't forget my big coin find...a 1994 Two Pence...not exactly a rare coin.

After a lunch of Cornish pasties we went to a huge area near a old church. We were in search of a gold coin and this field has given up many in the last couple of years. I wish I had a pedometer today because I know I walked miles trying to find a Celtic gold. Once again, we were skunked. At least we came home to a fabulous salmon dinner with roasted potatoes and baked squash. Yummy!

Tomorrow, we have picked two areas we haven't been to this week. With only two detecting days left, the pressure is on. The weather has been fabulous, if not downright warm. All the layers of winter weight clothes are still in the suitcase. Will tomorrow be the big day with gold or silver???? Stay tuned...

Day Four

2009-03-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

We started our day on a new field that has never been detected before. It is along the road to Colchester which is the same route as the old roads. Previous gold coins have been found in the area and on either side of the road. We had great hopes today...but it wasn't to be. We did find some interesting doo dads, a trade weight, bale seals, greenies, buttons, and some things we were hoping were really special and old. Turns out a lot of our treasure items were trash. I thought I had found a cut quarter hammered silver...nope...wrong color. The jury is still out on what it really is. I still think it's neat and it is really tiny. I found it in a dirt clod.

We enjoyed another sunny day today. The clouds came in about 2pm and the wind kicked up. I thought we might get some rain but it didn't happen. It definitely got colder though.

Today for lunch we had Cornish pasties and hot cream of chicken soup. They have the strangest assortment of crisps (chips) here...steak and onion, chicken, shrimp, very odd stuff. I have a new favorite food..lemon curd on our morning toast. Think the middle, lemony part of a lemon meringue pie and you have lemon curd. Yummy!

Another brand new field tomorrow. We got chased out of the abby field by the tractor. The farmer is planting potatoes so looks like we are done there this season.

That's all for now. More tomorrow. I hope we have more finds to report then.

Day Three

2009-03-16T13:10:00.000-07:00

We are both feeling much better today. It's amazing what a little sleep can do. We were in bed by 9pm last night. I apologize for all the typos in yesterday's post. I couldn't stay awake long enough to proof read it.

This morning we returned to the Abby fields in the rough ploughed area. It was hard work but it paid off. We found some interesting bits and bobs such as a cloth bale seal, several nice Roman coins, a really neat bronze dice like gaming piece with letters on the side. a few lead tokens, the top finial of a Georgian tobacco container and a bunch more pottery shards and buttons.

Tomorrow morning, we have picked a field that has never been detected.
We also plan to return to the field we were on this afternoon where a half dozen Celtic gold coins have been found over that last few years.

The sun was shining again today and we left the fleece layers at home. There was a beautiful sunset tonight as we were leaving the field. I wonder what tomoorow will bri

Day Two - The Celtic fields

2009-03-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

I had this brilliant idea to start early this morning. We were picked up at 7:30 and hunted until 6pm. We did two different Celtic fields today, both known to have had Celtic gold and a torc found. The larger field is at least 1/2 mile in each direction, probably more. AS they say over here, we got our brains sucked out today. Not a lot of stuff found but we did manage a plain bronze ring (band) some greenies (copper coins), buttons, tons of lead junk. There were quite a few broken pottery shards, too.

Sorry, this one is going to be short. We are both so tired, we can hardly keep our eyes open. I have come to my senses and we will start at 8am tomorrow. We haven't picked our fields choices for tomorrow yet. We'll have to do that tomorrow over breakfast. It is really different with just the two of us. We can't just follow along with the rest of the crew. We are the whole crew.

ONe more thing...it actually flet hot here today. I'm guessing it was in the 60's but I don't really know. I do know, we were shedding exces layers of fleece by lunch time. Quite a change from teh snow and rain from last year.

First day in the fields

2009-03-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

The first day and the weather gods we being nice. It was partly cloudy, and fairly good breeze and NO rain. We detected for about in one of our favorite fields from last year. Unfortunately, it is in rough plow and was quite a challenge. You can only take short swings and are walking over deep plow ruts as much as a foot deep (or high).

Clarence and I each found a nice little hammered silver coin. I found a couple of buttons, bits of lead, a clay pipe stem (visual)and some common junk. Clarence found a nice little watch winder and an interesting little something still unidentified.

Tomorrow, we are starting earlier than normal with a pick up time of 7:30. We will probably hunt until 6pm. Lorna, our hostess, made us a fabuous dinner tonight of pasta, garlic bread and salad with avacado slices. Dessert was ice cream and fruit. You will see in this blog that food plays an important role. Expect to see it as a regular feature of our blog.

Time to get the suitcases off the bed so we can climb in. We still haven't quite caught up with our sleep yet. It sure is nice to be back here. More tomorrow...

We're here!

2009-03-13T13:17:00.000-07:00

Made it to London and are settled in our hotel room near Heathrow. We just had dinner at the hotel restaurant and we are stuffed. Clarence even ordered duck pate for his appetizer.

A car will be picking us up at 10 and then it is about a two hour drive to Colchester. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and that will affect which field we choose for the first day. One of the most exciting fields , right now anyway, is rough plowed and will be difficult to walk in, much less detect in. It has given up countless hammered silver coins and two gold rings in the last year. We might let that one wait for a couple of days so it can dry out. The weather is on our side for a change.

I hope to have some exciting finds to share with you tomorrow night. If we get skunked, as can certainly happen, it just makes those great finds even sweeter.
More tomorrow...

Getting closer...

2009-03-11T12:09:00.000-07:00

The carry on bags are packed with all our detecting gear, rain gear, boots and one set of clothes. If the checked bag gets lost, we will just have to wear the same clothes for a week. I guess we have established our priorities.

We are off to the airport tomorrow. We will be out digging in the English dirt on Saturday afternoon. Right now, there is only a 10% chance of rain and highs in the upper 40's. We can handle that. It sure beats the downpours and gale force wind, not to mention sleet and snow, from last year.

England is only twelve days away

2009-02-28T21:36:00.000-08:00

Here we go...
This is the very beginning of our effort to keep in touch with family and friends while we are metal detecting the English dirt in Essex near Colchester. Hopefully I will be able to figure out how to connect this netbook computer to the internet in the house where we are staying. I have been told it's easy, once you locate the right cable. I guess we will all find out together.

The suitcases are coming out of the attic tomorrow. We have a club outing in Portland tomorrow morning. After that, the detectors get cleaned up and we will start packing. We have talked about this trip everyday for the last 11 months. I'm sure most of you will be glad we are finally leaving the country.

I hope you will check back periodically to see how we are doing. We will be gone March 12-21 and will be detecting everyday from the 14th through the 20th. March 20th is our 22nd wedding anniversary and we couldn't think of a better way to spend it that detecting in the English countryside together. Yeah, we know...people think we are nuts!

Mary