The idea of this trip came completely random, on a warm summer evening in one of Amsterdam’s parks. My friend and I were sitting on a bench and drinking wine, thinking about how to spend the weekend. The wine was German, and that led us to the idea, why not go to Germany and dig for some antiquities? We decided not to go by train or bus, but with the...
Prestory; It was in 2014. Autumn. It was raining all week and ended only to the weekend. We went looking for mushrooms. And with our luck we managed to get lost. Somehow we managed to find a sand road (paved military path through the woods). We had no maps, and the GPS did not show the forest roads. After four hours of driving, by some miracle, I arrived at a...
Here is a perfect example of a known type of bronze swords, the “Hallstatt”. This one was sold at an auction in January 2017 for $ 3560. It was found during detecting in a forest in the Khmelnitsky region, Ukraine. Similar bronze swords were popular throughout Europe in the 7-3 centuries BC, although relatively rarely to come across in a such condition. Hallstatt, an area in today Austria, where this sword is believed...
At first glance, it looks like an ordinary coin. 350 years ago, you could maybe use it to dine in a restaurant, sip a good ale, but no more. Now you can more or less buy a whole farm. This story took place in 2014. The name of the lucky detectorist is John Stoner. Near the village of Kings Klipstoun in Nottinghamshire (England), he found a rare silver coin from the 17th century,...
Sometimes you start missing detecting so much that you are ready to go wander through any terrain and enjoy every response of your detector. And so it was with one Detectorist, in August. So one sunny afternoon, after he had called his friends, he went out of town to detect on a field. He chose this excact field because it was the first he saw, and it was harvested and plowed. However,...
The amateur metal detectorist Isaac Jones got a metal detector for Christmas, and he went detecting with his new metal detector nearby the Yuba River, near Nevada City. It was his absolute first time using a detector, and at the start of his detecting, he found some of the usual stuff you find—coins, trash and bullet shells. But after about a kilometer of detecting, he found an unusual item. From the ground he...
Luke Sansom, an amateur detectorist, was searching near Chester when he unearthed this relic. The roman pendant is made out of silver, and the stone in it is a carnelian gemstone. It portrays a gladiator holding a shield against an animal that loos like a big cat. The detectorist passed on the find to the British Museum to be valued. Mr Sansom has had this hobby for about ten years, when finally found...
Hope Zahornacky was metal detecting in her backyard when she got a surprise: a hand grenade. After having detetected for a good five years, Hope Zahornacky found one of her most “exciting” finds so far. She states that metal detecting for her is not about making the most valuable find to sell it for a good price, she said, “it is about the history.” One day she decided to walk across her backyard...
An amateur metal detectorist found a stash of five guns while he was detecting along the shores of the river Thames. It was during the low tide that he found them. The guns were found inside a bag together with ammunition, and it looks like they were intentionally buried in the sand. This happened near the Blackfriars Bridge. The detectorist called the police himself after finding the guns. Officers were seen rushing down...
Sometimes when i’m out detecting, local people approach me and ask me what i am doing, and then they ask if I have found a lot of gold there. Only if these people knew how silly their question sounds. After all, to find gold is very rare and a great success. Of course, those who detect at beaches have a greater chance of finding golden jewelry, but people like me who dig mostly...
