14th Sept More finds posted and Savana George finds a beautiful bronze wolf head

Bronze wolf head seal matrix, consensious is that it is Roman but I will wait for the museum to look at it first. (just spoke to the museum and it could be Medieval)

Lots more pictures to post including Kentucky Joe's hammered silver finds

12thSept 2003 Californian Don makes an awesome find.

17th/18thC fob seal

Will post a load more finds shortly including some Saxon/Viking looking stuff, a 11thC Pilgrims ampule found by Basildon Mark and some very pretty pieces of early hammered silver found today.

10th Sept 2003 First bit of Viking ?

Everyone was on a roll today on a freshly ploughed filed that producing some amazing finds and lots of them. We literally followed the plough as it was going along so you cannot get fresher land than that. Georgia Mike found what could be the first Viking piece to appear, a strange bronze coin found near the find is not one we recognise so it will have to be looked at very carefully by the museum. Mike is very experienced detectorist and had made some serious finds in the past over in England so he recognised it straight away. It could turn out to be Saxon but at the moment we are sticking to Viking. ( just spoke to museum and if is was Viking then it would be really rare so it more likely to be Saxon)

Loads more great finds to post yet including Kentucky Joe's Medieval silver half groat, a beautiful decorated Medieval spindle wort and some choice little artifacts.

10th Sept Its raining, alleluia !!!!!!!!

Everyone is really pleased to wake up and find it has finally rained and made a really early start. Another 2 Roman coin's appeared after the finds had been cleaned up so the field produced 4 bronzes spread nicely apart on one field, the other Roman was found by Kentucky Joe miles away on the northern part of the sites. California Charles ID'ed his coin as a Maxientius 306 AD. Arkansas Gary also found an early barrel lock on the same field so it is starting to look like it has real potential.The guys have gone back this morning to see if the Roman guy dropped a few more gold coloured ones. Should be real easy, the field is only 200 acres !!

9th Sept 2003 extra - Fate or luck ?

Detecting is a funny old game.A few days ago we tried a very large new field and by lunchtime everyone including me had given it up as a bad job as only a few coppers and bits and pieces were found with very few signals. When the finds were washed up the lead skeleton appeared, the medieval knife handle and the sword belt fitting had come off that field. Since then the farmer had re-rolled the field again so Georgia Mike fancied another try on it to see if there were any other nice artefacts in the same location as his skeleton. I must admit I was not that impressed with the number of targets the field had produced that morning but his choice turned out to be a good one as this afternoon they reckoned that there were targets all over the place, it produced about 25 coins, 5 silver and three really nice condition Roman bronzes dated to 300AD and the most beautiful piece of a solid silver handle with a cherub face. It just goes to prove that you should never be too quick to dismiss a field until it has had a really thorough test.

Georgian spoon handle

9th Sept Last seasons news moved to a new page

I have moved all of last seasons news to a new page to speed up loading times on this page click here for previous news.

One of the guys here found a small article about Carolina Hal's superb Clacton gold stater he found kast season in this months Treasure Hunting magazine.

Not a cloud in the sky

8th Sept Arkansas Gary does the triple hammered silver- latest finds now posted

I have created a new hunt page so click on hunts and then the guys photo's to see the latest finds. Georgia Mike does it again and gets gold, this time a small piece of early jewellery

7th Sept Georgia Mike get the first gold !!

Georgia Mike is really kicking arse on this hunt and bags a huge gold Medieval hammered coin called a noble. Unfortunately it has been scrapped both sides by the plough but it's still GOLD, great find. He also found a large really early lead statue of a skeleton with its arms folded on its chest (head facing right), around the bottom of his feet are serpents. Wonder what date the museum will put on it.

The ground is still far too dry and we are praying for rain as any clay type soil fields require a pick axe to brake the clumps. The farmers have actually stopped their ploughing as the land it too hard !!

Calgary Don has found an exact copy of his coin in a specialist book and it is in fact a Edward IV Groat London mint not Edward III

5th Sept What a brilliant first couple of days !!!!

What a great start to the first hunt, weather is a beautiful 70F, sunny all day and we are hunting 8am to dusk. Loads of targets, great anticipation of the days ahead and some amazing finds. Kentucky Joe within an hour got a really early seal matrix, probably 12thC but what is amazing is the condition and the impression it makes in clay, he is one happy camper. Joe's hunting buddy Kentucky Bob picked up what looks like either a Celtic or Saxon bronze today, can't find it is the books so it looks like the museum will have to ID it. Hammered silver is thin on the ground with only one 12th penny from Georgia Mike but today he made the find of his life a Bronze age axe head which is probably the oldest metal find ever on my land (2500 BC). What is funny is he and Arkansas Gary tried a new field this morning that was too hard to dig and moved onto another field after a couple of hours, only to clean up the finds tonight and discover that field has given him his best find ever!! Everyone is getting lots of early coppers including two Cartwheel pennies in great condition, four bits of George III and one Victorian silver have been found. Romans have been found on 3 new fields in poor condition with the best 'grot' found by me, a Barbarius 4thC, my first of the season. So all in a brilliant start with everyone really tired but happy. While the evenings are light I will only be posting a limited number of pictures as I want to out there detecting not typing !! I will try and get a new hunt page going with loads more pictures as soon as I get the time.

1st Sept 2003 Only a couple of days to go !!

The new season starts in earnest in a couple of days but this year I have a lot more extra work to do as I have taken on board the export licence applications, good job my typing speed is fast. A log sheet will now also be in operation on each field as we will be supplying the museum with grid references of all finds logged more accurately so they can chart the history of the area more precisely. Particular interest will be made of the Saxon finds which none of us was able to ID last season prior to the experts looking at them. It means more work for all of us but worth it to map the local history.

Although I know you all like the updates of the finds being made there could be a bit of a delay processing them with this new paper work to do. Have no fear that if one of the guys finds a 'biggey' then I will post it straight away. The first hunt sees the return of the 'Arkansas Hoover' and a strong contingent of hardened detectorists so it will be really interesting to see what they uncover early in the season.

I had a quick tour of the fields today and about 75% of them have been ploughed and rolled, perfect detecting. The rest are next in line to be ploughed with some set aside with just weeds on them. The set aside is a really good standby if we have a lot of rain.

Can we repeat last years amazing gold ? It is going to be one hard act to follow but with detecting you just never know.

1st August 2003 Meeting with Curator of Archaeology & new Colchester Finds Liaison Officer

Had a great meeting at my home today with Phill and Caroline from the Colchester Museum to finalise the plans for ID'ing and exporting the finds we make from Sept. Caroline will visit my house every two weeks to take our finds away and will have the finds returned and written up by the time of her next visit. Once the export licence is approved then they will be winging their way back to the finders. Phill and Caroline are also coming out detecting with us all on the 19th Sept to see how it is all done and to meet some 'North American Cousins'. It would be so funny if they found a hoard using my Fisher Coinstrikes on their first outing!!

If we are out there at anytime detecting and we find something a bit special that requires their advice then we can ring them and they will come out to the field for a further look. They can also advise us on whether the find constitutes a hoard or treasure.

All the finds we make will be logged by Caroline and available to view on the national database. We are in the Essex area of England.

http://www.finds.org.uk/

Caroline also gave me a great site with all the listed historical finds, cropmarks and excavations carried out in Ardleigh. If you do a search type in Ardleigh as the town and there are 228 individual entries to read, fascinating stuff. A lot of history outside my front door.

http://unlockingessex.essexcc.gov.uk/

26th July 2003 more pictures posted

My new button booked arrived to add to my expanding reference library, really useful and it also has a date list for all the button manufactures.

Civilian Uniform Buttons - 19th-20th century by Dennis G Blair - FRSA A new authoritative book compiled for collectors and those interested in the design of buttons. This book is an ideal reference work for identification of button finds. It contains 375 button examples reproduced in colour, including Livery and Royal Court buttons as well as General issues; there is also a chapter upon Button Making. - General Overview - Chapter One 1 - Differentiations & Updating - Chapter Two 1 - Livery Buttons - Chapter Three 1 - Royal Court Buttons - Chapter Four 1 - Collecting Themes - Chapter Five 1 - Button Making & Backmarks - Chapter Six 1

25th July Farmers knocking on my door !! Harvest is so early this year.

It is nice when farmers come knocking on my door and ask me why we are not out there detecting yet !! We found some great bits of hammered silver on his land last year while looking for Celtic gold so this year he has ploughed it extra deep for us, what a nice guy. He is hoping we will find the big one so we can help pay off his mortgage !! I told him no problem, we will do our very, very best to find a huge pot of gold !! Can you imagine finding a small pot of Celtic gold coins like a guy recently did the other side of Colchester and get £20,000. That would do nicely !!

I am rushing around getting things ready for the new season so I will not be able to get out detecting myself until Sept and my favourite fields, having been harvested, are calling me !!

21st July Crops & confirmed new land

Cropping is progressing very rapidly on all the land due to the good weather we are having. New fields that I got provisional approval for earlier in June to hunt have now been confirmed OK by a new farmer and added to the available sites. This land is next to and behind a very productive field (Arkansas Gary's favourite) and as yet unknown as it has never been detected. It is opposite a really nice old Pub so let's hope some very drunk Elizabethans staggered out and dropped their bulging purses !! I get rather excited about new land as you can get totally skunked or hit a real hotspot.

I spoke to another farmer today and we have probably a 50/50 chance of getting another 1000 acres of land around an old village. He is going to think about it and ring me when he has made his decision, always an anxious time waiting for the call. He has got some very tasty land so I don't want to get too excited yet.

17th July 2003 Freebies and the awards.

The end of the season awards are in the process of being made up at the moment to add a bit of fun and healthy competition to this years season. There are two large shields where the 'find of the year' and the most 'prolific coin hunter' names will be etched to the role of honour. Vancouver Brent's name is being engraved as he set the target last year of 62 coins in a week narrowly beating Canadian Rod's total. Rod is back this year to firmly try and take his title back !!

The winner of the 'find of the year' gets the free weeks detecting prize and an engraved silver roman shaped claret jug. The most prolific coin hunter gets an engraved Georgian Style English pewter tankard, something to show your mates at the local detecting club !!

I have also ordered up some smart navy blue freebie sweatshirts and matching woolly hats, they have a neat Colchester detecting logo on them for all hunters to take home as a souvenir of their visit. I also have some special one's being made up for the 'I've found Celtic Gold' club !!

14th July 2003 Does an early season hunt really matter??

Guys have been mailing me asking me does it matter that you are not here on the first day of the new season to get the good finds. To be honest it certainly made no difference last year as myself Alaskan George, Texas Mike and Californian Ron hunted the spots in Sept we thought real well where we missed a dozen or so gold coins. Alaskan Todd's rare Victorian half sovereign found in March came off a spot hunted by everyone and his mum. It was not until Arkansas Gary's third trip last season, also in March, that he bagged his gold Celtic and everyone had hunted the field it came off. There is probably an element perhaps that later in the season the ground conditions are slightly in our favour as it is more compacted with greater moisture giving that little extra depth for a signal. I think once you have been here and stood in the middle of a 200 acre field, felt how daunting it is do you then realise that it really just 90% luck, 10% skill and if we all only ever stuck to one field we would never truly cover it properly. What made Gary turn left not right the last time on the same field is the difference to having an empty pouch at the end of the day (and of course he was using his huge 18inch coil !!)

12th July Alaskan 'goldfinger' Todd's testimonial added

Alaskan's are certainly laid back guys as I got a great testimonial in from Todd this morning about his March's hunt , must be the clear mountain air !!

10th July 2003 Early harvest

We had a look at the current crops and it will be an early harvest this year as the weather is so good. The land will be ploughed and rolled earlier and will have a chance to compact more this year giving extra depth for detecting.

The 5th Regiment of Foot guys have been sending me updates on the buttons and the V with a star around it is an officers button of the 5th.

9th July Extra 5th Regiment of foot info

Just sent out the enlarged pictures of the two 5th Regiment buttons to the 'Captain' and he is indeed right, what I thought was a 5th Dragoon Guards button is the 5th Northumberland Regiment. He sent me the link to his site which is amazing, http://www.fifthfoot.org/ to think one of these buttons could have been worn by a guy just before he shipped out to the states to fight the 'rebels'

9th July 2003 Importance of Military Buttons

Boston Will's record 'hoard' of 91 buttons in a week

Some of the most underestimated finds last season are turning out to be buttons, guys find on average 60 to 100 per week and a lot are the common Georgian pewter ones of varying sizes and tend to be a bit dismissed in the scheme of things. However since Boston Will and Canadian Rod have further 'educated' me as to there historical importance and indeed value of them, they have taken on a different perspective. Again what appeared to be a nice early numbered 5th Regiment button find appears to be of great interest historically. Earlier finds of two buttons, one found by Alaskan George and myself are featured on the 44th Regiment of foot website http://www.44th-regiment-foot.net/ a fascinating site.

I have just received this nice e-mail in from a guy in the states.

Sir,On your Colchester treasure webpage you have images of Vth Regiment of Foot buttons.

I am a member of a re-enactment group in the USA that portrays the Vth
Regiment during the American War of Independence circa 1774- 1783. Might I trouble you for some more images of the Fifth Regiment buttons? If there is a fee I will gladly send the sum along to you before you go to any trouble on my account.

Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant
Captain Michael F. ******
Grenadier Company
His Majesty's Fifth Regiment of Foot
( In America)

I am happy to take better pictures of any buttons for anyone like the guy above for no charge as it is great our finds are being used to forward history.

If anyone out there has further information on the buttons we found and can amend the identity of what in some cases is a guess on my part please feel free to drop me an e-mail and I will update the button page.

http://www.colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk/buttons.htm

Also if you have any links to the website for any Regiment please send them to me.

1st July 2003 Land news

Today I have got continued permission for this season to hunt four new fields we only managed to spend an hour on last season. The fields are in close proximity to Colchester and show good potential when looking at old maps of the area. The total site area for detecting is probably now around 4500 acres, should keep us busy for a few days !!

25th June 2003 Liability Insurance

I have had an enquiry about liability insurance while over here on a hunting trip. While in the accommodation you are covered for up to £2.5 million but on the land you are covered up to 3 million so if you get run over by a tractor you get more money !! You will still need you own domestic insurance for flight cancellation, baggage loss etc.

21st June 2003 Arkansas Gary does it again 9.6 oz nugget this time

Just heard that Gary has pulled another big one from the soil, man he is hot this year, sparks could fly in Sept on freshly ploughed land !! Looks like I will have to go nugget hunting next year with him as he has the touch.

19th June Arkansas Gary finds a 7.44 oz gold nugget !!

Just got a e-mail in from Alaskan Todd, Gary is up there hunting with him and just found a huge lump of Gold, not quite as pretty as his gold Celtic horse but still a brilliant find . Looks like the drinks are on him in Sept when he is back for another hunt. It has certainly been his gold year so far and there are still 6 months to go!!

16th June 2003 Prize of a Free weeks hunt

As most detectorists are competitive beasts I have added a bit of spice to this years hunt. Most of the guys that hunted last season are back for another round this year so this prize is well worth winning. The guy that makes the 'find of the season' will win a free fully inclusive weeks holiday next season. The top find will be decided by a vote of those detecting on my land throughout the season and the winner announced on June 1st

14th June 2003 Time to sort through the junk box

After Canadian Rod's amazing 'Washington' find amongst his 'junk' buttons I have been going through my 'bucket' in search of another one !!

No inaugural ones I'm afraid but still some nice ones.

11th June 2003 Gold !!!!!!

Finally managed to get out for a hunt at last this afternoon looking for Celtic gold with my mate Mark. My second hit of the day was this little beauty a George III 1796 gold 1/3 guinea, made my heart go as I thought it a full stater when still in the hole, still a great find though. Looks like it came off a piece of jewellery as it has a blob of solder on the bottom. Mark was trying out my spare Fisher Coinstrike and said after it's test 'I don't like these machines as they as too quiet', it turns out his headphones had not been working all afternoon !!

9th June 2003 Typical hunt format page added

I have added a 'typical hunt' format page to give you some idea of how the tours are run and what to expect when you arrive. Click on the above link to view it.

9th June 2003 More fields added and new hunt page added

I have been out and about getting more land and checking with the farmers on land availability for Septembers hunt. Last year we missed out on 800 acres of land that was heavily cropped and had never been detected before as I got permission for it too late in the season. This year we will be able to give it a good hunt as it will be ploughed and rolled ready for us !! The new land boarders one of my most productive sites and is again smack in the middle of the Celtic area.

I have moved the guys' hunt pages' to their own page to speed up loading of the latest news.

04 June 2003 New mini bus bought ready for the new season

Drove my new bus home tonight and what a huge ugly beast it is, a 12 seater tank. It is however the perfect detecting mobile, pneumatic driver operated side door, walk in height, acres of legroom and tons of space for detecting kit, chiller boxes for the drinks etc. All aboard !!! It even has an electric rear wheelchair lift for old 'Colonials' in need of a help up at the end of a hard days detecting !!

02 June 2003 New export licence process in place

To speed up getting your finds back and to ensure better logging of local history I now taken on the responsibility for getting the export licenses issued. The new Colchester finds liaison officer will visit my house possibly while the guys are here and take away the finds to be ID'd. I have a meeting with the head honcho at the museum on the 1st August to finalise the details of how frequently he will visit. He will within two weeks have the finds returned ID'ed with a covering letter to me for export. I will fill out the appropriate export forms and get them sent to the correct National department.

Once the export forms have been returned approved they will be attached to the finds and mailed to the finder. I am not sure how long the process will take end to end but it will be in my control all the way. The export license and ID'ing are free so it will now purely be a charge for packaging and postage.

30th May 2003 Joe in Tennessee your e-mail not working

Joe Farris ? in Tennessee I cannot send you the info you are after as your e-mail is not working !!

The first 3 self catering confirmed bookings have been made for the 11th Sept, if any one wants to join the hunt to make up the numbers then let me know.

29th May 2003 More reference books ordered

When Boston Will was hunting over here in March he desperately wanted to find old military buttons including the early numbered ones. He found three and I must admit to not being that excited as I have found quite a large number over the years which are in my scrap box !! However following on from Canadian Rod superb Washington button, which was unnoticed amongst his finds (guys find around 90 buttons a week) I have suddenly realised their importance and indeed value, hence the ordering of my latest book to help identify the early/rare ones. The fields are littered with pottery of all ages so the other new book should help with the ID'ing. I currently have a large Roman coin book that is too complex and shows all coins from around the Empire, this 3rd new reference book will help with the identification of the more 'local' ones.

Numerous tables and lists, together with approximately 400 photographs make this book not only an invaluable guide for the beginner but also gathers together in one place a stock of information for easy reference.

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Roman coins and their identification
Chapter 2 - Coin legends and understanding the inscriptions on Roman coins
Chapter 3 - Portraits and propaganda
Chapter 4 - Mints: Differences between mints, mintmarks in the later empire
Chapter 5 - Roman coins in the earlier empire, up to 238
Chapter 6 - The radiate coinages, 238-296
Chapter 7 - The fourth century
Chapter 8 - The end of Roman coinage in Britain
Chapter 9 - Contemporary forgeries in Roman Britain
Chapter 10 - Treatment of coins, preservation, cataloguing etc.

24th May 2003 More reference books for my library

I have ordered up another 4 reference books today to help identify the many varied finds that had us stumped during last seasons hunts especially the Saxon finds.

With over 800 illustrations this book is intended to help with the identification of buckles which are by far the largest category of medieval and post medieval dress accessory to survive. Each chapter covers the development of a particular group of buckles based on the shape of the frame. The chapters are: Buckle Manufacture, Single Looped Buckles:1250-1650, Buckles with Integral Plates: 1250-1500, Clasp Fasteners: 1300-1500, Annular Buckles: 1350-1720, Spectacle Buckles: 1350-1720, Rectangular & Trapezoidal Buckles: 1350-1700, Asymmetrical Buckles: 1350-1700, Two Piece Buckles: 1660-1800, Buckles as Jewellery.

The other buttons in the picture are of the same age period like the 1795 Royal artillery finds, hope he remembers where he found them so I can pay the site a visit !!!

I am on the hunt for more land and have potentially got permission to hunt another 4 'premium' sites today. The sites are potentially very exciting and I will know before Sept if they can be added to the current list.

16th May 2003

Carolina Hal has sent me this web page from the Celtic coin index where his beautiful Celtic gold forgery has made find of the week, nice one Hal.

http://athens.arch.ox.ac.uk/coins/cci7.htm

No detecting at the moment as I am out hunting for a mini bus to make kit carrying easier to and from the sites. Hunting for a new bus is proving harder than trying to find Celtic gold !! well almost.

12th May 2003

Repaired an e-mail address error on the site, should be OK now.Bookings@colchestertreasurehunting.co.uk

10th May 2003

Bud and Ed's ID's over 300 years posted on their page, some great finds. Click here to view

9th May 2003

NJ Ed's enamelled find is back ID'd from the experts and turns out to be a dress fastener 1/2nd century ad - Romano British a variant 29 Hattatt, what a superb find.

Not been out detecting yet, too many chores to do getting ready for next season !!!

3rd May 2003

Seems mightily quiet around here without all the excitement of the days finds, Sept seems a long way off !!

I have started to do some research into local history and found a brilliant site giving everything about local Roman history, fascinating.

This is the Roman time line

http://www.roman-britain.org/timeline.htm

This link shows the Roman forts and the Celtic tribes, Trinovantes is the Colchester area and look for the word Oysters as this is where I am.CAMVLODVNVM, CAMVLODVNENSIVM

http://www.roman-britain.org/places/_mlm.htm

This is a great bit on Roman Colchester

http://www.roman-britain.org/places/camulodunum.htm

28th April 2003

Added Texas Mike's and Alaskan George's page in the same format as the other hunts and combined all the testimonials on one page.

26th April 2003 Gold coin page added

I have added a new page with all this seasons gold coin finds with who found what, amazing year, can't wait till it's ploughed again.

24th April 2003

Back refreshed from a great holiday in Canada, lots of land and too few people to drop things for us detectorists to find. I can understand why Canadian detectorists have to do a lot of research before venturing out detecting. We have 50 million people on a small island dropping things for over over 2000 years which makes detecting a hell of a lot easier !!

Guys finds have been exporting to schedule in my absence. I have lots of work to do before the start of the new season, get more land, research at the local library and a new mini bus with more room for kit and supplies. I will be visiting the self catering accommodation and taking the final finished pictures that I will post later.

I will probably be venturing out detecting at the weekend once I get my chores done and will post any finds.

12th April 2003 ID'd finds back from the experts

Vancouver Brent, Mac & Dave, Californian Rob, Boston Tom and Detroit Darrell's ID'd finds posted at the bottom of their hunt page click here to view

11th April 2003 Budd & Edd go back to the good old USA bringing an end my first season hunts.

Last few finds posted click here to view

Well thats it for now until Sept, no more formal hunts until the land is ploughed and rolled and virginal once again. The crops are starting to shoot up now so land area is getting restricted. It has been a great first season, an amazing variation of finds of all ages on my land and in places I had never ventured onto before. We got 16 gold coins, including those beautiful Celtic horses, some great rare silver, those amazing Celtic artefacts. The only thing missing was gold Roman and Saxon but who knows what next years plough will bring up. I will be out from time to time during the next few months on the set aside fields and will post anything interesting I manage to pick up. Thanks for all your support that has made all this such a success, great fun but a bit of a heart attack at times when you hold lumps of 70BC gold in your hand. I will be off on holiday for a while so keep on swinging that arm in my absence. During the summer I will be out there talking to farmers and hopefully getting more land 'to go a hunting on' for next season. I also intend to do some reaserch at the local library on known historical events that took place on my land to see if I can better pinpoint their locations. I will keep you posted if there are any developments.

Regards Chris

8th April Boston Budd gets gold, latest finds posted

Recently aquired new land is consistantly delivering the goods and could become one of the top producers as time goes on.

Boston Beau's testimonial added click here to view

6th April NJ Edd bags Celtic enamelled jewellery posted

6th April 2003 Latest finds posted

3rd April 2003 Guys get their finds back & new land added

A stroke of luck while out dectecting this morning has added 5 new undetected fields to my existing bunch. A local farmer seeing us detecting on adjoining land came over for chat and I introduced the guys to him as 'barking mad Yanks'. It turns out he spent many a year in the USA in the forces so he was happy to give me permission to hunt his lands. The guys are out there testing it out this afternoon and I will report back on their luck as we try out the new fields. These areas look really promising as they are within Colchester town itself.

The guys finds, from their previous hut in Feb, arrived here today with the export licence attached, they will be taking them back with them on the plane to save postage costs. I have produced a new page on my site for those who have questions about how the export process works. Click here to view

2nd April 2003 Export licence granted for Celtic gold find

The export licences for Bud, Ed & Al's 'gold' hunt have been issued and their finds will be back in their hands in a day or so. The process from start to finish took only 6 weeks and is a credit to the service offered by David Barwell. Currently the Celtic statue is being looked at closely by the experts and I expect a report back shortly of their findings, lets hope they don't find a made in China sticker on it !! Arkansas Gary has taken yet another 'tourist' day off before he flies back to the good old USA tomorrow morning. That's what having a couple of golds already in the bank does for you.

1st April Latest finds posted as rain stops play !!!

Gary & Ed run for cover as we have the first rain for three weeks and leave poor old Budd to fend for himself !!

31st march 2003 New hunt page started and latest finds posted

Boston ' the tornado' Budd comes back for another hunt and joins the remaining guys, Arkansa Gary and his buddy NJ Ed. I have created a new hunt page as the other one was getting on the large size. My website is now on a high speed server so no more worries about he bandwidth (well not yet anyway). Click here to see their lastest finds

30th March 2003 ZZZZZ yet more gold

Alaskan Todd does it again on his last day and bags an Australian gold sovereign to take his total to three gold coins in a week, South Carolina Hal get's a beautiful Celtic period fake of a full Stater. It has been harder to find ring pulls this week then gold coins !! Check out their finds here Previous hunt pages are at the bottom of this page, click on pictures of guys to view.

29thMarch 2003 Old cottage picture added below

Alaskan Todd thankfully leaves tomorrow as he has taken more than his fair share from the land. Yesterday the guys found a good hotspot and banged out loads of silver in the middle of some of the new land. Todd got a Charles 1st sixpence, William III milled silver love token, to add to his two gold, huge Roman, circular brooch and that medieval thimble. He has had one of the best weeks detecting I have ever seen and ranks along side Massa AL who did the double gold Celtic golds. NJ Ed has found something that looks a bit special and could be a Celtic bracelet together with a Viking looking coin or a very early token. I will post more finds later.

28th March 2003 Arkansas Gary does the double gold as well !!!

Alaskan Todd's luck has rubbed off onto Gary who bagged another full Celtic gold stater. It is again a totally different type and tribe, indicating that the whole area must have been a great trading location stretching for miles around. Another great find by Todd is the biggest, heaviest Roman coin found on my land that should clean up very well. All finds are sent to the British Museum experts for evaluation prior to export licences being granted so it will be interesting to see what they report back on this weeks amazing finds.

26th March Alaskan Todd scores a double gold, latest finds posted

Alaskan 'gold finger' Todd bagged a mint condition Victorian gold today, check out the latest finds by clicking on the latest hunt picture.

25th March 2003 Alaskan Todd bags a full Celtic gold stater

After a day of getting totally skunked Alaskan Todd bags a full stater which looks like yet another tribe , a Norfolk Wolf type. Finding gold could become really boring, but there again perhaps not !!! What a great find for Todd on his 2nd day across the pond. Other great finds were also made, check out the current hunt to view them, I will post more later.

24th March 2003 Celtic gold identified

The 1/4 Celtic gold have been identified as a Trinovantes tribe,c.45-20 BC, great find.

After the excitement of the previous days superb finds we tried new land yesterday and got well and truly skunked, not one decent find between us and no silver. Luckily we finished off the day for an hour on productive land and managed 3 pieces to save the day. Arkansas Gary got a huge Roman coin, semi grot but what a heavy lump !! I posted Gary's new coil as a 17 incher but was wrong as it is in fact an 18 incher which must make his girlfriend very happy !!

I have also posted a really nice testimonial from Canadian Rod on his hunt page.

All new Ikea furniture has been bought for the Self catering cottage, I will post pictures shortly when the cottage has it's final touches.

23rd March 2003 More Celtic gold found click here to check the latest finds

23rd March 2003 Vancouver Mac, Dave and Brent testimonial added to their hunt page click here to view

22nd March 2003 Size does matter !!! latest find posted

21st March 2003 Milwaukee Mike finds ID'd and posted on his page, now awaiting export licence

20th March Latest finds posted on the new hunt

19th March 2003 Hot, Hot !! Latest finds posted

The weather is still amazingly hot and sunny, We have been hitting new fields with mixed success. Myself and Gary got skunked this morning looking for Celtic gold, no gain without pain I suppose. Hal an Carroll went for proven land. Latest find posted on their link (click on their picture)

17th March 2003 Latest finds posted.

A new hunt started this Sunday with the return of Arkansas 'the Hoover' Gary with Tennessee Hal and Carrol. Gary has turned up with a fearsome new weapon a huge 18 inch coil strapped to his Minelab and has bagged an amazing amount of coppers on new land so far. However I have gone for quality not quantity and bagged a really nice condition 14thC Edward III silver half groat and a George III silver shilling. The weather has been perfect and too hot to wear a jacket !! I will start to post finds from the new hunt shortly.

I have just posted the final pictures of the previous hunt today.

13th March Latest finds posted click here to view

12th March 2003 This weeks finds page revamped

To speed things up on the server I have created individual hunt pages, just click on the guys name or their pictures to go to that page. The current hunt will always be at the top. The hunt pages will also include their 'finds' feedback form after they have been looked at by the experts for identification. At the moment the ID'ing is only taking a few days and they are now awaiting issue of the export licence. I will add more finds tonight of the last few days hunt.

Other news will be added to this page, i.e. new land etc.

Archived News Index

NEWS Sept 2005 to Oct 2005

Great Saxon silver finds Offa Rex - Coenwulf - Hammered gold

NEWS March 2005 toSept 2005

Villa Dig - Roman gold - Celtic gold hoard found

NEWS Sept 2004 to March 2005

Can Majos and Mass Bills gold rings - Texas Dave's hammered gold

NEWS March 2004 to Sept 2004

Roman gold coin - Mass Bruce's axe hoard