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1,500-Year-Old Gold Treasure Trove Found by Danish Man – ARTnews.com Wow, Eye candy of a different kind ‘Enormous’ treasure trove of sixth century gold found in Denmark - Saudi Gazette

Found this article from 2018, I missed it at the time so others may have too, pretty interesting, Looks an easy find for a metal detector but I'd imagine most would dismiss it as junk and move on without digging. Workers found large number of ancient coins at a construction site in Baishui county of Weinan, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, on Nov 9, and archaeologists said most coins belong to Song Dynasty (960-1279). Zhao Zhangfeng, director of Baishui cultural relics office, said that police received the report of the discovery around 11 am on Nov 9, and police soon arrived at the site and cordoned it off. Archaeologists later arrived at the site and collected about 100,000 coins, weighing 460 kilograms. A few coins date back to Tang Dynasty (618-907), and most are of Song Dynasty. Zhao said that few people could have so many coins at that time, and initial analysis showed that the coins belong to the old-style Chinese private bank that buried the coins during wars. Continue reading here: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201811/13/WS5bea3daca310eff30328853b_1.html

A "very rare" Edward III gold coin lost in the wake of the Black Death has been found by a metal detectorist. The 23-carat leopard was discovered with another gold coin, called a noble, near Reepham, Norfolk. Finds liaison officer Helen Geake said the leopard was withdrawn within months of being minted in 1344 and "hardly any have survived". She said the coins were equivalent to £12,000 today and would have been owned by someone "at the top of society". The leopard - which has never been found with another coin - was discovered with a "rare" 1351-52 Edward III noble. The rest of the story with photos here Silver seal discovery unlocks Roman mystery Rare Boudica-era 'chariot' harness puzzles experts Teenager makes thousands at auction with 1066 coin

https://metaldetectingforum.com/showthread.php?p=3321526#post3321526

I have been wanting to search this ballpark again and try to find some gold jewelry, so today I had the time and decided to give it a go. I brought the Simplex and was going to dig all targets intent on finding jewelry. I put the Simplex in park 2, iron volume off with all notches accepted and set the sensitivity at half. I ground balanced and started swinging. First target was a bottlecap, second a piece of canslaw and third was bam......10k gold band about 3" deep. I don't think I was there more than 5 minutes. The rest of the hunt was some clad and lots of pulltabs and bottle caps and a junk arrowhead pendant. I guess it was just good luck that got my coil over that ring so quickly in the hunt. The ring came in at just above nickel and weighs just over 2 grams.

Reg Wilson is a bit of a legend in Australian detecting circles and has kept a comprehensive photo collection of his finds over 4 or 5 decades. Now everyone likes gold images and stories - and there are plenty here! I've been offered existing topics to post on, but I believe the topic deserves its own thread to do it full justice. All images are those of Reg Wilson unless otherwise attributed. The album consists of hundreds of photographs of not only gold, but many gold detecting industry characters, some of whom are no longer with us, but who all contributed in their own unique ways to the great gold chase we still enjoy today. Firstly, a bit of background. Reg first shot to international fame with the finding of this 98 ounce piece which he named the "Orange Roughie" in 1987, decades later to be fraudulently rebirthed as the "Washington Nugget" By no means his first find, Reg was already a successful detector operator and at the time was testing a prototype GT 16000 for Minelab's wizz kid engineer Bruce Candy: Photo: Australian Sun Herald L to R: Bruce Candy, the late Doug Robertson, Ian Jacques, Reg, John Hider Smith. Reg recalled: "The man standing next to Bruce Candy is the late Doug Robertson, who with his brother Bruce worked the aluvials below the famous and fabulously rich Matrix reef at McIntyres. They had an old Matilda tank with a blade attached to clear Mallee scrub. Between them they had a wealth of knowledge of the northern Victorian gold fields. (Doug's name may have been Robinson. Memory is a bit foggy)" Ian, Reg and John were prototype SD 2000 testers in Victoria, AU and were collectively known as the "Beagle Boys" a name bestowed upon them by Dave Chappel, the publican of the Railway Hotel Dunolly. On any Friday night huge nuggets, some weighing well over a hundred ounces could be seen displayed on the bar. 120oz from Longbush. Found all on its own, finder anonymous: The playing cards and US currency indicate that the nugget has just been purchased by the late "Rattlesnake" John Fickett, a US gold buyer who bought many of the big pieces back then: Ian Jacques and Reg with 44 oz 1989: Ian Jacques with his SD 2000 prototype late 80's. Real prospectors don't use bungees All for now, but at least we've made a start - - -

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

Discovered on May 15, 1840 From the waning days of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England comes the Cuerdale Hoard. Unlike the Hoxne Hoard, which was Romano-British, and the Staffordshire Hoard, which was from Mercian Anglo-Saxons, this Hoard came from the Vikings, who ruled over a great deal of England prior to the arrival of the Normans in 1066. More than just English treasure, there were also a lot of Carolingian objects from the Continental empire of Charlemagne. The Hoard is also noteworthy because it did not contain gold. Instead, the Cuerdale Hoard was composed almost entirely of silver, mostly coins, but also jewelry, ingots, and hack silver. All told, the Hoard weighed about 40 kilograms or 88 pounds. Of this, 36 kilos, or about 80 pounds, were bullion. Indeed, it is the largest hoard of Viking silver ever found outside of Russia, which was also ruled by the Viking Varangians under the Kievan Rus’ and the Novgorod Republic. The Cuerdale Hoard was also discovered far earlier than many of the Hoards that we discuss elsewhere on this site, having been found in May 1840. Treasure From the Days of the Danelaw As stated above, this was a Viking hoard and, as such, the majority of the pieces that were discovered within came from the Danelaw, a term used to refer to the rule of the Vikings over a significant portion of England during a time of waning Anglo-Saxon power. Indeed, it is the second-largest find of Viking silver ever, far larger than the third and only slightly smaller than the largest, the Spillings Hoard of Gotland, Sweden. The vast majority of the treasure was Anglo-Viking in origin, being five times the size of the next share, which was made up of items from the Kingdom of Wessex. The final portion, about the size of the Wessex one, is made up of a number of different sources: Papal, Islamic, Scandinavian, Carolingian, Byzantine, and Northern Italian. Thus, while it was overwhelmingly Viking, the Hoard was also made up of what was effectively a Europe-spanning treasure, giving us insights not just into the history of the Danelaw, but of the entire continent at the time. The Danelaw was basically an area of England where Viking law, not Anglo-Saxon law, held sway over the people. At its greatest extent, under Cnut the Great, this area included the whole of England. Indeed, England was in personal union with Norway, Denmark, and parts of Sweden, with Cnut having declared himself King of England in addition to King of Denmark and King of Norway. Being a Viking kingdom, it is unsurprising that the riches would have come from all over the known world. The Vikings, to put it bluntly, got around. They ruled over Norway, Denmark and England, but also parts of modern-day France, Russia, and even Southern Italy. This is in addition to their frequent raiding areas in Spain, North Africa, the Black Sea, and the Caspian Sea. These were likely acquired in a number of Viking raids taking place in the closing years of the 9th Century. Viking Treasure Discovered in the Modern Age It all came into the modern age when a group of workmen found a lead box, of which we have some fragments today. There is evidence, in the form of bone pins, that the Hoard was originally parceled out into a number of bags. The workmen were only able to grab a coin each before the bailiffs of the land recovered the Hoard. Eventually, it was declared treasure and thus, the property of Queen Victoria, under the auspices of her being Duke of Lancaster, according to the relevant British law of the day. The Duchy of Lancaster, not being strapped for cash, handed the Hoard over to the British Museum. Most of the Hoard remains there even today, but about 60 pieces were selected for the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Some coins that were minted in Northern France, possibly near present-day Étaples, are displayed at the Château-musée de Boulogne-sur-Mer. How Did the Cuerdale Hoard Get There? The prevailing theory of how the coins came to be in the area where they were discovered is that they were buried sometime between 903 and 910, by Vikings who had recently been expelled from Dublin, a city that was built by the Vikings. A number of the coins had recently been minted in York, while much of the bullion was of Norse-Irish origin. Archaeologists believe that, rather than fleeing Dublin, the original owners of the Cuerdale Hoard were on their way to reconquer part of Ireland. While this is the prevailing theory of the official archaeological community, it is not the only theory out there as to the origin of the Hoard. British numismatist M. Banks suggested in 1966 that, while the Hoard was certainly Viking treasure in as much as it was overwhelmingly composed of Viking treasure, that it was not, in fact, put there by Vikings at all. Instead, he believed the treasure was a gift to the Christian Church who was suffering under the oppression of the pagan Danelaw. He believed this because of how much of the treasure had its origins on the continent and speculated that it was support from the Christian brethren across the English Channel. Still, another theory holds that while it was Vikings who buried the treasure, that it was not buried for safekeeping. Rather, it was believed by Vikings that treasure buried during one’s life would be available to one in the afterlife. It is thus feasible that the treasure was, in fact, buried by Vikings on their way to retake Dublin, but that they had no intention of going back for the Hoard — at least not in this life. The Vikings believed that after one’s death in battle, one went to Valhalla, which was effectively a giant mead hall of celebration after a triumph. It’s unclear what the Vikings thought they could do with all of this gold once they got there, but it certainly was on their minds. Another, minor theory, says that the silver was bound for casting works not far from where it was found. Perhaps somewhat most curiously, the existence of the Hoard might have been known about for centuries prior to its “discovery.” There was a local legend that held that anyone standing on the banks of the Ribble at Walton-le-Dale who looked upriver toward Ribchester, would be looking at the richest treasure in all of England. It might not be the richest treasure in all of England — that distinction belongs to the Staffordshire Hoard — but the rest of the legend checks out. There is little concretely known about the Hoard and its origins because there hasn’t been a great deal of effort to conduct an excavation of the area. A thorough investigation of the area would likely reveal much more about the Hoard, but as yet has not materialized. The Cuerdale Hoard: The Largest Viking Hoard of Silver originally appeared on kellycodetectors.com

Anyone else got an Instagram for your finds Mine is QTeeKids

We've all seen them. There are these pages that make you click and show you treasure and say greatest ... This link is to a site that shows mostly the best finds from the UK. I learned a new way to rank the finds by viewing these. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/metal-detectors-led-to-these-stunning-treasures/ss-BB1esUcZ?li=BBnbklE

EL NINO sent me this link.. Looks like it to me what do you guys think???

Hello detector-prospector friends, I had the honor to interview the finder-family of the legendary "Ambrosha-Nugget", found 1983 in Sierra County, California. Enjoy!

Captain Henry Every was a 17th century pirate that took an Indian trading vessel and disappeared with it’s passengers, gold and silver aboard and was the subject of a worldwide manhunt but was never found. And then came along a detectorist who may have helped solve a part of the mystery: https://www.tampabay.com/news/nation-world/2021/04/01/ancient-coins-may-solve-mystery-of-murderous-1600s-pirate/?outputType=amp EDIT: Alternate link: https://apnews.com/article/ancient-coins-may-solve-mystery-1600s-pirate-f5a6151b74e0dcf96de585eab451f90c And here's a pic of the detectorist in the article if anyone cant see it:

A story about finding some ancient treasure! https://www.theepochtimes.com/mkt_breakingnews/metal-detectorist-unearths-extremely-rare-1000-year-old-viking-treasure-on-isle-of-man_3718334.html?&utm_source=newsnoe&utm_medium=email&email=clawdarvey@verizon.net&utm_campaign=breaking-2021-03-16-3&mktids=f34148e96ff9c6f8825a40ee17aabec3

So when the excitement was over and we finally put it on the scale, it had us a little frustrated. As such a bizarre and exquisite gold specimen, our lack of discovering this mythical style we had no experience before. Now we learn, as well as a bill and coin of the actual weights. How many times have you dug a nice piece of gold to only drop on the scale and be baffled. Yes we were, but still a prize among gold collectors. Watch the video and get a little lesson on gold and $100 bill.

Now, wouldn't it be nice to find something like this! https://www.thevintagenews.com/2021/02/17/medieval-3/

To see this: And this: https://dallas.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/01-29-21-australian-gold-dragons-lair-ausrox-nugget-perot-museum/#slide=0

Recently I shared one of the most unique gold nuggets I've ever seen and the post with a video is below. I also shared it on FaceBook under my name "Gerry McMullen" (not my business name Gerry's Metal Detectors). We'll there is a very interesting and 1 of a kind quality of this gorgeous lady we have not mentioned until just now. She actually vibrates when you drop her in the palm of your hand. I think because of the way it folks over onto itself is part of why, but am sure there are many other reasons. Here is where we are trying to get some input and or help from those who are in the musical industry. Is there a way we can catch the vibration and make it into sound? All comments are welcomed and if you think you know of someone who could help, please please share with them. You can share this link or share the post I have on FB. Even now as I look at this beautiful lady, I get goose bumps.

I went to hunt a local park this morning with my new Etrac. The ground is freezing up here and I wanted to get out before it’s totally frozen. Since I needed 1 more silver to make 100, I went to the oldest park around, from the 1840s. I went out with low expectations, since I know the park has been pounded over the years. After hunting for about an hour and not finding anything I was getting discouraged. As I was about to head back to the car, I got a very deep, VERY iffy high tone. I told myself Hey maybe they missed a rosie or something. So I dug a nice 7 inch plug and in the plug my pinpointer went off: 1 rusty nail. I rechecked the hole and got an even better high tone. I dug down to about 8 or 9 inches and out came another rusty nail. Then the most beautiful 12-45 signal sang into my ears and I eagerly dug down. At 10 and a half inches: Silver coin edge! I carefully took it out of the hole and got out my spray bottle. It seemed oddly thin for a silver quarter. As the dirt came off the coin I could not believe my eyes and yelled “HOLY $!@?” I got a couple of weird looks but I didn’t care. SPANISH SILVER!!!! I threw down my headphones and ran around doing a happy dance. My 100th silver and I could not have asked for a better one. I quickly ran home to clean it. Turns out it’s from the 1730s from the reign of King Philip 5 of Spain! My oldest coin I’ve ever found! What a way to end the year. I could not get any “in situ” pics because I was shaking so bad! But here are some from when I got home. Thanks for looking!

“A birdwatcher has stumbled across a hoard of 2,000-year-old Celtic gold coins worth £800,000 that date back to the time Boudicca was at war with the Romans. The keen metal detectorist, who has not been named, spotted a glint of gold while looking at a buzzard in a recently ploughed field in eastern England. Having rubbed off the mud to reveal a 2,000-year-old gold stater coin, he dashed home to pick up his metal detector and returned to carry on searching. After several hours, and to his utter disbelief, he unearthed about 1,300 coins, all dating to circa 40-50AD. Experts believe each coin could be worth up to £650, putting the value of the hoard at £845,000.” Story and photos

These are my two best finds ever with a metal detector. A John Adams Cufflink and a George Washington Inaugural button...

https://www.lovecpokladu.cz/home/fanky-depot-8203

"A Dream Come True" European treasure hunter unearths hoard of 400-700 year-old hammered coins Chicago, IL (September 1, 2020) - From the time one picks up his or her first metal detector, detectorists dream of making “the big find”. Big means different things to different people. Some aspire to find a huge gold nugget in a dry creek bed. Others hope to discover an unhunted Civil War battlefield full of bullets, buttons, and buckles. For some, a recovered diamond ring would make them happy. Others dream of finding a posthole bank containing a can of gold and silver coins. Who knows exactly what sort of “big find” tops one particular European detectorist’s list. For this man, who wishes to be referred to in this article simply as Fabio, one of his recent discoveries must certainly come close. The European countryside is a special place where thousands of years’ of historical items have been lost, just waiting to be found. Some people – like Fabio – are fortunate to be able to search there on a daily basis. In February of 2020, Fabio and one of his friends were detecting one of the many large farm areas on which they have permission to hunt. They had been searching all day. “It was raining like crazy. We were very exhausted from walking many miles with no good signals,” recalls Fabio, who had decided to return to the car to escape a downpour when his friend suddenly began frantically yelling that he had just found several billon (a silver/copper alloy) hammered coins. “I rushed back and turned on my Minelab VANQUISH detector equipped with the 12” coil and started swinging,” says Fabio. “The area had many pottery fragments and the soil was dark and heavily mineralized, but the VANQUISH easily overcame the difficult conditions.” Fabio began getting good signals. “One coin, two coins, three coins… 11 coins! Coins all over the place!” he recalls. Imagine his excitement. The coins the two men were finding were hammered coins, mostly from the 14th century. For those who may be unfamiliar with hammered coins, Fabio explains: “The dies for both sides of a coin were made from hard metal, then a softer coin blank was centered between them and then struck with a hammer to leave the coin impression on both sides.” A half-hour later, the detectors were still sounding off, but both men were cold, wet, and exhausted from digging through 6-to-8 inches of muddy topsoil. They marked the spot and made plans to return the next day under better hunting conditions. The next day found Fabio and his friend back in the field, full of renewed energy and excitement. They had brought along an additional friend to share in the fun. Fabio started the day with the eight-inch coil on his Minelab VANQUISH and planned to change to the 12-inch coil later in the day to reach the deeper coins. He began detecting over an area previously covered by his friend the day before, and quickly began getting signals which had been missed. The machine his friend was using was not as sensitive or able to detect the deeper coins Fabio was finding with his VANQUISH – even with the eight-inch coil. A short time later, Fabio heard one of his friends shouting. He had uncovered a rare hammered coin with a King Ferdinand bust, and all three men rushed to celebrate the find. Soon, Fabio had a signal reading higher than what he had been getting with the small, thin hammered coins. It was a beautiful coin similar to the one his detecting friend had just found. In his excitement, however, Fabio failed to recheck his hole. When his second friend went over that area again a short time later, he detected and uncovered another rare hammered coin Fabio had missed. But Fabio didn’t mind. “At the end of the day, we were completely exhausted but also extremely happy!” he says. “Without a doubt, it was one of the happiest days of our lives!” Fabio and his two friends returned the following weekend to resume their hunt. This time, he took his Minelab EQUINOX 800 to see how it would perform on the site. It did great, as he continued to discover new coins. “I found 66 coins with the VANQUISH, and 43 more when I went back with the EQUINOX and its stock coil,” he says. “As the finds started slowing down, I switched to the EQUINOX with the 15-inch coil and found 14 more!” Fabio continued changing coils and his Minelab machines and hunted for a total of five days. All told, his extraordinary discovery totaled an astonishing 128 coins. The area the men were hunting was a farm field close to a river. The total area they had permission to hunt on was about one square mile, and the specific area where the coins were found was around five acres. But why were they there? The trio had discovered a lot of pottery pieces in the ground, so perhaps a large pot – or several pots – had been filled with coins and buried. Agricultural activity could have easily scattered the coins. And while that may be the most logical explanation, Fabio has other theories as well. “It could have been from a shipwreck since the nearby river flooded into this area on occasion,” he says. “Or it might have been from a military encampment from that period.” Later in their search, the men also found some 16th and 17th century coins, further complicating the mystery surrounding this fabulous hoard. While Fabio, 31, is a passionate detectorist, he hasn’t been treasure hunting for very long. When he was young, he enjoyed going to the beach and searching for fossils. Three years ago, he was invited to a metal-detecting group event and looked at all the exciting finds people were discovering. Shortly thereafter, he bought his first detector. Amazingly, he found a Spanish reale on just his second day detecting. The excitement took over, and he has been at the game ever since. Fabio has experience with several different makes and models of detectors, but chooses to hunt today with Minelab’s CTX 3030, EQUINOX and VANQUISH models, citing Minelab’s Multi-IQ simultaneous frequency technology as a game-changer for both beginning and experienced detectorists. “Multi-IQ means you can search with multiple frequencies at the same time and find any metal in any soil conditions,” he says. “It’s a great feature that helps people make more finds.” Fabio is still researching the value of the coins and doesn’t yet know what he will ultimately do with this find of a lifetime. “The value of this find in monetary terms is unknown at this time,” he says. “But in terms of personal satisfaction in obtaining a find of this age and quantity, it is priceless!” And that’s what this story is all about – the fun, the excitement, and the dreams that come with detecting – along with showing beginning or would-be detectorists what they can do with a well-chosen and well-engineered metal detector like the Minelab VANQUISH. It’s an inexpensive, easy-to-use-and-understand machine that can make dreams come true. http://www.icontact-archive.com/archive?c=321494&f=96178&s=102669&m=860447&t=90b4cabee533b419eaf03e6b61c7e438407efa9c7bbadf30b31791b66b8173b7

Hi everybody- another beautiful weekend in the PNW and some great relics and history uncovered. Check out our expedition!