Ill Digger

On 5/27/2021 at 9:46 AM, Steve Herschbach said:

I imagine Tim is caught up in the same delay. Apparently finds have piled up at the processing end, but the authorities have done little to add resources for getting finds back, and things are just getting worse with time.

I am caught up in the same situation as you Steve. I just had the gold ring disclaimed and is awaiting a export license.  But I am yet to hear anything about the ingot. So as it stands I have 3 ancient gold finds awaiting for my return. And for clarification,  yes I could take the risk and have them mailed to me. But I choose not to, and they are in safe hands with "The Colchester guy".

It's not silver but it's small.

It's my Celtic gold quarter stater from my last trip to England. It measures 10mm.

This is a picture of it sitting on my pinky fingernail. 

On 10/9/2019 at 1:46 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Mug courtesy of Tim Blank... thanks Tim for recording the memory for me!

🤣 Absolutely no problem at all Steve!! I'm so glad I was there, and am honored, to be the one who got to take that picture! Like you said when a great find is found and your there to join in on the "great find high" it's almost just as if you had found it. And that was definitely the case for me when you walked up to me and said, "Is this what I think it is?" I immediately started to feel the adrenaline rush! My heart was thumping a little. Elevated heart and breathing rates. I even had the shakes a little lol! And to get an opportunity to touch it and hold it in my hands was very humbling. Such a great find and a great moment! 

  It was good seeing you, and a blast hunting with you again! Congrats on all of your keepers! Including the Roman bust, and of course the ax head! Some of my fondest memories of this trip, were those times when we would meet up out in the middle of a field somewhere and check in with each other. See what the other had found. Talking about the fields, the finds, the weather, or whatever else! Just relaxing somewhere in the middle of nowhere England!

On 12/14/2018 at 1:53 PM, phrunt said:

Hopefully you win find of the month Tim! Well deserved.

 

Well phrunt, I didn't win the Minelab find of the month contest. As a matter of fact,  nobody won it. It seems like nobody in November had a worthy entry into their contest. It seems thye didn't give out a voucher at all. Hmm. Funny.

2 hours ago, Joshbiz said:

Tim, that was some amazing finds before the last day and then to have gold to top it! simply amazing.. Please let us know when you get them back? Those are amazing pieces of gold.. just amazed.  What did you win for finds of the week?

Thank you for sharing,

Josh

 

Thank you Josh!

I am still waiting for the Brithish Museum to either claim or disclaim the items. It seems the BM is currently extremely backed up with finds and recordings of finds. So there not much in the way of progress as of yet. And as I'm sure you read above, I wasn't lucky enough to get anything out of Minelab for the finds, BUT... I did win Find of the Year with the Colchester metal detecting club!

Here was the announcement on the club's forum. 

Wis Tim's monster gold find wins 'find of the year'

Who's that waaaaay down there hunting along the River Stour? That's Steve!

I just realized that I never commented on this thread. Sorry about that!

That's a great write up on your trip Steve! And some great pictures to go along with it! I should've stopped to take more photos and videos than I did. And! I wish I would've got the chance to look at your votive offering that you found while I was there. But the powers that be swoop in pretty quickly with the gold items! It looks as if our paths may cross again my friend! Hopefully we'll be blessed with another nice long stretch of awesome weather again!! 

Until then, dig deep and dump high, may there be a killer find in your path!

Congrats on your finds! ?

3 hours ago, Gwcracker said:

Not at all like claim jumping.. Transportation, lodging, the right and permission to hunt cost in the thousands.

What many fail to see is the fact that you are free labor for the land owner as well as the hunt organizer, not to mention the thousands you pay to get there and to have permission to hunt.

When you leave, unless things have changed, all finds are bagged and tagged and kissed goodby.

Good luck on having anything other than pocket change, old base metal coins, buttons of no value, and such retruned with out sending more $$$ to buy it after you dug it.

If you got all your finds back it's a pretty good indicator that you spent a buttload of money and found nothing but worthless junk.

gw

I was there in the spring.The last week of February and first couple of days of March.  While we were there in October I picked up my entire pouch from my February hunt. The only item I haven't got back yet is my Celtic gold quarter starter. And that's because it's part of a hoard and is still in the bowels of the BM. But all 10 coins found from this hoard prior to mine have been disclaimed and returned to the finders. So I'm not too concerned.  I didn't have to pay anything to bring my finds home. Or have to pay anything on top of my initial investment of the vacation. But I will have to buy out the land owner if I want to keep the coin.

6 hours ago, kiwijw said:

I wonder how many good finds just end up in the finders pocket without them saying a word, & no one is any the wiser, & they just take it home. Would have to happen often I reckon. The temptation would have to be great knowing you could well lose it or only get, at the best, half its decided value. I am sort of with you Gwcracker as far as you doing all the work & brunting the cost of your hunt, & on finding something of value don't end up with it true worth. Sharing it with someone else who put in little to no effort in its finding. Sort of sucks. I know I wouldn't be happy if someone took half my gold finds & they had contributed nothing in the way of the costs, both in time in research & time out in the field, costs of fuel in travel & accomodation, costs of detecting gear etc. I guess for some the thrill of sharing what they find at the time of discovery is worth more to them than monetary value. The excitement, thrill, buzz & jubilation out waying that other value. That is until that wears off & they no longer have that item in their possession & may never see it again. Tricky one. But rules are rules & you know the rules before you get involved. Well I guess you should do anyway. Bit like mining on some else's gold claim & have them bust you & you crying out that you didnt know it was claimed, when you probably really did. The onus is on you to find out more than it is for them to tell you & make you aware. Ignorance isn't bliss these days.  

lll Digger: You did very well.? Good for you.

Good luck out there

JW  

Alot of finds probably do get pocketed.  But like Steve said, it's being stolen.  Plus you won't find any of these items without permission to be on the land in the first place.  That's what the organizers are payed for. Obtaining permissions. Plus handling every single step of processing through the British Museum.  I tell you one thing.  I don't know how to process a pouch of finds. So its money well spent in my eyes. But I'm honest. 

1 hour ago, Gwcracker said:

It is a detectorist adventure.. Targets everywhere, buttons, coins, relics but..reality sets in when it's time to label and bag it all up...and tell it all good bye where it is then cherry picked and anything of value is skimmed off the top. What you get is all the base metal coins, modern day relics, the newer stuff, less than 300 or so years old. What is mailed to you after all is said and done is not worth the cost of it's postage.

I did have a good time in England, but I felt like I paid big bux to be a digger for the land owner as well as the fellow that runs the hunt, being as they, not me, were going to wind up in posession of anything of value that I found.

I would equate it to a charter tuna fishing trip, expensive, and all is said and done the charter captain gets the tuna fish and I get the bait.

I do hope it works out for you and you wind up with what you dug!

gw

Really? What did you find and not get back? Or not get compensated for?

4 hours ago, Gwcracker said:

Will the gold stay in UK after being declaired treasure by the authorities or will you be able to bring it home?

Just making comparisons to what I and friends experienced.

g

I'm pretty new with this whole process as well. ?

But the way I understand it is, that they already infact are considered "treasure", being made of a precious metal and being over 300 years old. If the Museum claims them then a fair market value will be put on them and that amount would be split by the landowner and me. If the Museum disclaims them, then an agreement will be made between the landowner and myself. Either we buy one another out. Or we put them up for auction and split the money.  

Steve, feel free to correct me if I'm completely wrong about this. 

2 minutes ago, phrunt said:

HOLY COWS! I'm speechless

 

Oh I know the feeling.  I had no words but " I'm freaking, I'm freaking out, I'm freaking." 

I've returned from my second detecting trip to England and what a trip it was!! 

I was lucky enough to be staying in the same barn as Steve Herschbach!!

The first day on the fields are a half day usually. After the 2 hour ride from London to the "barn" where we will be staying for the next seven days. The "barns" are actual barns that have been renovated into vacation rental units. We unload all of our luggage from the van, find our sleeping spot for the week, dig out all of our gear, assemble everything, jump back in the van, and head out to the first field! My best find that afternoon was a hammered copper Rose farthing. They are commonly dated 1636. (Look for the pattern here). And the usual buttons and lead. So that was a good start. 

Day 2: Our first full day. A cool, slightly foggy, just perfect!

The day wasn't real eventful for me. We hunted two different farms. At the end of the day my better finds were 5 farthings and a wiped out copper token, plus some buttons and lead. The farthings were late 1700s-1800s. Here at home in the States, to find those 5 coins would be a day to talk about for months. It was funny for me while I was over there, knowing with so much history the possibilities make my hopes and expectations exhilarating! You truly never know what will pop up next. It could be 10 years old or 2000 years old! There were multiple milled, and hammered silver coins found and some neat relics dug throughout the day by the other team members.

Day 3: Things started to pick up for me a little on day 3. We came across a late Georgian/Victorian home site members of the team started popping some milled coins. Coppers and silvers. If I remember correctly one member found 3 or 4 silver 3 pence coins in that same field. A little silver 3 pence was one of the coins I was hoping to get while I was there, but it wasn't meant to be this trip. Shortly before lunch I switched fields and got onto my first bit of English silver for the trip! An 1844 Vicky 4 pence in nice condition. So after lunch I was headed back to the field were I got my 4P and we had to walk past a 1700? mansion to get back to where I wanted to be. So I slowed down and detected in front of the mansion along the way and got my first hammered silver for this trip! A nice "full" penny. Turned out to be a 1279 Edward I ! That was the highlight for my day three. But I did find plenty of buttons and lead too.

Day 4: This day was one of those roller coaster type hunting days. The morning was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead. Until while hunting near a 13th century church and villa when I popped a nice little cut quarter hammered silver and less than 10 mins later another hammered silver coin fragment. Kinda bang bang! We broke for a short lunch break and went our separate ways and as I was walking into a field through a tractor path I got a nice high tone. But real erratic at the same time. One you would figure to be either a coin or part of a beer can. But when I pinpointed the target it was a nice small tight pinpoint I figured I better dig it. Boy am I glad I did! Turned out to be a 1908 Edwardian decorated silver mount! Turns out it was in a place they usually park the van! The rest of my days finds consisted of the usual trash plus some buttons and lead.

Day 5: Today was another one of those days that I was digging lots of targets like buttons and lead... But not one coin all morning till around lunch. After lunch I decided to stay on that field determined to find one of my wish coins a "Bullhead". A King George III silver. And with the coins being found in the area one was definitely a possibly. Lo and behold it happened! A melted bulkhead six pence. Even though it was melted almost to the point of unrecognition I could make out a G III and a reeded edge. Mission accomplished! The only other "wishlist" coin I really had on my mind on my way over was a Roman silver coin. Not really expecting to ever find one. We all carried radios every day, and as a good find was made, we would put it out over the radio. Ron gave the 15 min count down to the end of the days hunt over the radio so we all started to swing back towards the van. Walking pretty fast, with 8 minutes left, I got a signal figured I had time to pop one more. Boom! A Roman silver coin! It has a bad "horn crust" on it that needs to be "cooked" off so it can be properly identified. Early id's put it in the 4th century! I'm really looking forward to seeing that coin cleaned up! 

Day 6: The group split up in the morning between some rougher ground and some land that was nice and smooth. I went to the smoother field with a few other hunters. First hole out of the van 20 feet away I nabbed a hammie fragment! After that the first half of the day was pretty uneventful for me other than some buttons and lead of course. It was a enormous field. It has been hunted a lot over the years from what I understand. The lack of targets for me proved it. But it wasn't a total waste. You just have to walk over the stuff. With a half hour walk back to the van and only about 45 mins left to hunt I spun around and within or 3 or 4 swings later I got a loud high tone! As I was pinpointing I looked down and laying right on top of the ground was a complete silver thimble!! Sweet end to a pretty slow day.

Day 7: The day I dread. The last day. You know not only is it your last day of detecting heaven and the inevitable time you'll power down for the last time of your trip, plus the last day is usually cut a little short. That's so we have time to get back to the barn and get all of your finds from the week cleaned, bagged, catalogued, and photographed if you want to see them again before they leave your life for the next few months. To optimize our hunt time we decided to hunt some nearby land. Even though it's also the land that the club has had lasted the longest! Even after all those years there were many great finds found on it this season! The week before we came a gold coin and a beautiful Celtic gold "votive offering" were found on it! I walked across the road from that field to a field that was surrounding a 16th century two story mansion. After a half hour or so of slowly working around the old mansion I dug a small piece of a hammered silver coin. That coin put me in a tie for 1st place for the weekly "Hammy competition". So I slowed down hoping to get another one to take the lead and hopefully win the competition. It was 10:10 a.m. when I got the loudest, jumpiest, most obnoxious signal of my trip. Not being too far from a tractor entrance into that field I figured it was a beer can or a grease tube but I figured I'd dig it up and get it out of there anyways. I missed the target on the first scoop. Moved a shovel blade to the left, stepped it in and kicked the back of the shovel and pushed the dirt forward and a big yellow ..... egg looking thing rolled out to my left. As I looked at it half my brain said to myself " what is that?" And the other half of my brain was saying "HOLY .....!!!!! That looks like gold!!" When I bent over to pick it up and I was lifting it off the ground the weight of it made it fall out of my hand! That's when I knew it was definitely a big piece of gold!!! After Ron came over to shoot some video and take some photos I strapped back on all my gear took 2 steps and 3 swings and got a solid 19 TID on the Equinox 800. I told myself after just finding that thing I don't care what this is, I'm digging it up. One scoop, and I pushed the shovel forward and a 11.2 gram ancient solid gold ring was laying there looking at me!! I about started to hyperventilate!! I quickly got Ron's attention again and he came over to shoot more video and more photos. I can only imagine this will be the most amazing thing I will ever find! It's been over a week since I found it and I still can't stop picturing those two artifacts rolling out of the dirt in my head......






 Thanks for lookin' & HH

13 hours ago, phrunt said:

ohhh exciting, now I'm starting to see what went on ?

Welcome to the forum WisTim!

 

Thanks for the welcome!?

Hello all! I'm a long time forumer, but new to this forum. I just returned from a 7 day metal detecting trip to the UK and met the greatest guy on this earth. Very knowledgeable in detecting and the most down to earth man you will ever meet. I was blessed to meet and hunt hunt with Steve Hershbach!!  He invited me to come join in. So here I am! 

Looking forward to seeing some of the great stuff everyone is finding!

Tim

AKA. Ill Digger  or WisTim