Steve's 2019 UK Adventure

[Steve Herschbach]

On 12/16/2023 at 12:38 PM, lucky mindy said:

Steve, I know it's been a few years since we hunted together, but it was fun to re-live the experience. I'll never forget you on the walkie talkie reporting that lovely Celtic gold votive piece, and I was thrilled to see you dig up that gorgeous Bronze Age axe. I hope the gold comes back to you soon; the UK treasure system works but it's FAR too slow. Thanks for posting a photo too of Tim's quarter stater and my sweet little sceat. I don't think I've ever been more excited!

Hi Mindy, thanks for joining the forum. 

Hard to believe (for me anyway) it has been over five years now since I made that find and still don't have it back. The first release notice was a mistake that was rescinded in 2019 and then crickets again for years. I was notified again recently that the museums had released it to me and the property owner. I bought out their share and had it mailed to me. No surprise when I got home this weekend from a trip to Alaska and learned now that the thing is stalled in customs so the wait goes on...... 🤷🏼‍♂️

My Celtic gold votive offering / ring money find from 2018 that I may actually see again soon:

Celtic gold details - actual age unknown but BC, around 25 to 50 BC if in range of coins found in area, tagged as 1st century BC in the report. Some evidence has them being as old as Bronze Age 

 

I mentioned earlier in this thread that are lots of detectorists that are way better than I am and who have made more amazing finds. Mindy is one of those people, one of the best detectorists I've ever met. She runs some of the UK gigs and has been all around the world detecting over the years. She is truly a wonder to behold when detecting in the UK and has that magic knack for putting that tiny Deus coil over the right handful of dirt in the middle of miles of fields to pull up Celtic gold coins! I was just a short distance away in 2018 when she found this stunning coin and so was there to take this photo:

Mindy scores a Celtic gold stater - her 12th gold coin!
45 BC to 25 BC Addedomarus - Trinovantian tribe 5.58 g. 16.90 mm

 

[cudamark]

Yeah, items deemed treasure take forever to get evaluated, valued, and funded. Covid slowed everything to a standstill. It's now starting to get going again. I have a couple of items over there that the museums want. One has been completed as I just donated it instead of getting it's value. The other has been valued and awaiting funding. A buddy of mine is still waiting for his gold item to be valued, and it was found before my two finds by at least a year.

[Steve Herschbach]

2 hours ago, cudamark said:

Yeah, items deemed treasure take forever to get evaluated, valued, and funded. Covid slowed everything to a standstill. It's now starting to get going again. I have a couple of items over there that the museums want. One has been completed as I just donated it instead of getting it's value. The other has been valued and awaiting funding. A buddy of mine is still waiting for his gold item to be valued, and it was found before my two finds by at least a year.

The funding part is if the museum wants the find. In my case they did not, so it ends up me negotiating with the land owner to buy back the item I found. Fair of course but takes some of the shine off finding things when you have to basically buy them. I'm told it's worth more than I paid but not like I'll be selling it. The end result is wait five years to buy something I found, not something I'm used to.

The wait is unacceptable in my opinion. Some people on these hunts may not last the five years! They need a prescreening process as many of the items declared treasure everyone knows will get disclaimed, but it goes in the same long line. The worst part is it encourages people to break the law and in the end that probably won't be good for detectorists. Whatever, I won't have to deal with it again as I'd rather look for museum quality gold of another type less than two hours from home than put up with that kind of nonsense. But it was great fun, not just the hunt and the finds, but meeting people like Mindy and you Mark.

Local treasure, no wait, no fee. Found this less than two hours from where I sit with a Nokta FORS Gold.

1.83 ounces of California Mother Lode specimen gold

[cudamark]

Agreed, the process takes way too long. As for "buying" your finds....It usually only applies to gold (at least in the past that was mostly true) and it's the agreement we have with the land owner that they get half the value of the item. So, you get to keep the item by giving the land owner his half. I suppose it could work the other way around if you wanted the money and let the land owner keep the item, but, I've never heard of that being done. Sometimes other items deemed "treasure" fall under those same agreements. The price we pay to get permission to hunt those fields. Personally, I have no problem with that system. Where else am I going to find Roman, Celtic, Saxon, early English, etc. items? As for your gold specimen, did you find it on public land open to prospecting? Did you have a mining claim you had to pay for? Private land with an agreement with the land owner? It's not always free here either.

[Steve Herschbach]

I understand the reasoning Mark and have no issues with it. It is what it is, and yes, I have done many deals to split the gold with claim owners. Payment of a different kind and point taken. As far as the specimen pictured, open ground. Some of that around, especially out in the desert. But more often than not I’ve split gold with claim owners. I have paid outright to go places like Ganes Creek, but then it is keep all you find, not pay to do it, then pay more if you find something. But again, I knew the rules going in and agreed to them, so no problem there. It just boils down to a five year wait rubbing me the wrong way, and more than just a little. You can probably tell from the original posts I was thrilled with my three trips, and would have been happy to return. The five year wait unfortunately has left a bad taste in my mouth. To each their own, and best of luck on your trips over there if you go again, but I’ll be doing other things in the future.

[Lynk]

Such a small world. We met Mindy in our neck of the woods through a completely different channel than metal detecting.  I have had the pleasure of seeing some of her finds and hearing some of her stories. Really wonderful. 

Good to see her post and thanks for sharing the picture.