April 7, 2012

GOLD!!!  Clarence found gold today! We're waiting for the ID to be confirmed but we believe it to be a Celtic Cunnobelin Quarter Stater*.  He and I were the only ones in this particular field this afternoon.  Suddenly, I heard his voice over our two way radios say "I've got gold!".  I didn't even answer him, just picked up my detector and shovel and hightailed it over to where he was.  The amazing part is, this was the third field we had been into this afternoon and all were really quiet.  You get to a point where you just pray for a signal, good or bad, just to be sure your detector is working.  We all stayed out until 8pm to search for another one.  No such luck. We all remarked that as tired as we were, when news of a gold find came everyone suddenly had lots of energy and hustled to get up to that field and search for another one. I forgot the pedometer this morning so let's just say I walked 43,217 steps or  17 miles.  At least it felt like that much.

*Celtic Cunnobelin(tribe) quarter stater (denomination) coin

April 6, 2012

There is a sad trend happening here with the farms. At least one person farming the fields we do here has started using processed household trash to dump on their fields.They till it into the soil and keeps the heavy clay soil workable.  Some of our best fields now have bits of tin foil, burned bit of aluminum and pieces of plastic yogurt containers. It's really frustrating when you have to dig a dozen pull tabs or bits of aluminum for every old target that we are looking for.  This is what we were contending with today. Though the landowner has given us permission to detect these fields, he leases some of the land to someone else to farm.  This is the farmer who has chosen to ruin these fields with the "trash" fertilizer.  The same farmer decided today that he had to spray the two fields that we were detecting in this morning, effectively forcing us to leave. The landowner says he cannot control the guys farming practices.  Fortunately, we have many more fields to choose from each day.  Clarence found his first hammie of the week today.  You still cannot tell which one it is but we suspect a Lizzie*. Sarah got a beautiful Lizzie hammie that looks like it was lost right after being struck.  Ron also found another Lizzie hammie.   I found a hammered copper coin called a rose farthng.  It is a tiny little guy.  Mike found another hammie bringing his total to seven.

Pedometer reading: 15,756 steps equal to 6.96 miles
*see Glossary below

April 5, 2012

Brrrrr...it was cold and windy this morning.  Today was the designated Lucky Dog shirt day and I planned to take our group photo this morning at our first stop or during lunch.  It was so cold, no one wanted to take off the many layers to get down to their official Lucky Dog shirts.  We took it inside after a salmon dinner tonight, instead.  Now I need to remember how to post photos here. Even in the cold, we all had a good day today.  I found a silver Victorian pencil end and finally found my first hammie* for this trip.  Clarence found two lead tokens and some greenies. Mike found four hammies...the Lucky Dog! The mystery item I found yesterday turned out to be a Saxon belt slide, as we suspected.  Clarence and I had an early day and came home at 6:30.  The other three guys stayed out until 8pm tonight. We've begun to realize we can have a good time, find good stuff and not have to kill ourselves by staying out for 12 hours every day. 

Today's pedometer stats:  16,908 steps equalling 7.47 miles.  No wonder I'm tired.  Meet you back here tomorrrow evening. 

April 4, 2012

It rained last night leaving the bare fields a muddy mess this morning but resulted in better signals for our metal detectors. When not scraping  a few extra pounds of clay muddy goo off our boots and bottoms of the detector coils, we were coming up with some pretty good finds.  I may have found a stonker* but will wait for the expert ID probably tomorrow.  I believe it is a Saxon belt or harness slide with a decoration that just screams Saxon to me.  It came from a field that I have wanted to detect for two years but the field conditions just weren't right before.  Clarence found another large Roman coin, an interesting lead token and a Templar's badge. Ron found a Roman fibula brooch,which is
 a prized fnd and also a long cross hammie*. After dinner tonight, we had a popcorn and movie night.  ChicagoRon had left his personal copy of his National Geographic Channel program "Lucky Muckers" because some of our group hadn't seen it yet. 
Pedometer readings: yesterday 19,417 steps or 8.58 miles.  Today I must have slacked off some as the reading showed only 13,731 steps and 6.06 miles.  See you here tomorrow!
*see Glossary of Terms below

April 3, 2012

We got home tonight just before 10pm after 12 hrs of detecting and dinner at a nearby pub. We're both beat and decided to not go through our finds and clean things up until tomorrow. Instead, we just want a hot shower and bed.  Why is it so tiring to have fun?  Go figure....

It was finally our day to break the silver jinx.  I found a milled silver but won't know exactly what it is until we get it cleaned up.  I suspect a George V but we'll have to wait and see. I also found a beautiful lead bale seal (like sealing wax for a letter, this is for bolts of cloth), and a small bronze Roman coin.  Clarence also found a George V milled silver six pence, a large bronze Roman coin and some buttons and greenies. Our friend Mike got top hunter award today for TWO hammies. 

We got sprinkled on a little today but it was raining hard when we left the pub and headed for home.  It was a better day for all of us today.  We can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

April 2, 2012

We left a little earlier this morning and hit two different areas.  There hasn't been any rain for a while and the ground is getting pretty dry which makes signals harder to pick up. That sounds like a perfectly good excuse why we haven't found any gold yet, doesn't it?  It seemed to be my day for trash metal of all kinds, a few buttons and a pretty good sunburned/windburned face. Clarence found a nice big bronze Roman coin, some greenies*, complete crotal bell* and more buttons. Ron continues to  find the good stuff with a silver thimble, huge coin weight, silver buckle, and a button for the 88th Regiment. Mike found a huge silver button. The rest of us just enjoyed a day in the sun the English countryside.  I used a pedometer today and took 17,235 steps which would have been 7.6 miles had they been a normal stride.  Hey, a step is a step and we're getting plenty of exercise out there.  I actually called it a day early at 6pm and came home to a hot shower. Clarence and the rest of the guys came in at 8pm. Tomorrow we are going back to our "old land" for an extended day and some night hunting with headlamps with dinner at a local pub.The good stuff just hasn't found itself under our coils yet, but we are optimistic. See you here tomorrow!
* see Glossary of Terms below.

April 1, 2012

No April Fool's joke for our birthday boy, Canada Ron.  He found two hammies* today and they were just about the only good stuff found from all of us. Oh yes, CA Sarah found a beautiful silver decorated thimble today.  I found a thimble, too, but it was just plain.

 It was brisk this morning when we drove out at 7:30.  By early afternoon the sun was out and a few us got a little sunburned.  I may have set a new personal best by staying out with the guys and detecting 12 hrs today. Just had time for a hot shower and a beer before dinner and I'm sure that helped the old muscles relax a bit.  Although we had an early start today, we weren't early enough to see the reported Roman soldier ghost that patrols the causeway at Mersea in the wee hours.  I wish he would just tell us where that pot of  Roman gold is.  It sure would make this treasure hunting a lot easier..   The adventure continues...

* See Glossary of Terms below