Metal Detector Field Tests and Metal Detecting Related Book Reviews
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Flatbed scanning and image manipulation technology have come a long way since 1997 when I first made Coins of the Romans Relating to Britain By John Y. Akerman, 1836, available for free on the internet! (See some of my earlier and more primitive scanning attempts here) So I have been revisiting this classic work to provide better quality images of the interesting woodcuts of roman coins contained in this book:
Woodcut of a roman coin of Allectus (293-296AD)
Above: Obverse. IMP ALLECTVS P F AVG. Imperator Allectus Pius Felix Augustus.
Reverse. ADVENTVS AVG. Adventus Augusti. Allectus on horseback, his right hand raised, his left holding the hasta: before, a captive seated on the ground: in the exergue, S P C.
A very unusual coin, for Allectus at least, this particlar reverse is very similar to the now famous denarius of Carausius from the Frome Hoard, found by metal detectorist Dave Crisp. Roman Coins and Their Values, 4th revised edition, doesn’t list this particular coin, could it be a forgery inspired by the Carausius denarius, or just a very rare issue of Allectus?
Woodcut of a roman coin of Allectus (293-296AD)
Above: The classic coin of Allectus, the Galley reverse. RCV lists three different ‘Galley’ types.
Celtic gold staters of Tasciovanus, king of the Catuvellauni tribe
Celtic gold staters of Tasciovanus. Celtic gold coins.
Celtic gold stater (right) and quarter stater (left) of Tasciovanus, king of the Catuvellauni tribe (from around 20BC until around 9AD) and father of Cunobelin, that I found whilst volunteering for an archaeological unit. Equipment used was a Compass Coin Pro II metal detector and a massive yellow JCB in place of my usual Black ADA. These photos turned out pretty well considering they were taken on the cover of one of my finds log books that was sitting on the boot of the presiding archaeologists car!
Celtic gold staters of Tasciovanus. Celtic gold coins.
Payment received by me for these two rare gold coins? £0.00p. If they were acquired by a museum after the Treasure Act inquest (I was not told what happened to the coins after that point) at St Albans Coroners Court, they certainly got a bargain! The FLO who attended the inquest as expert witness certainly seemed impressed. They are certainly among my all time favourite metal detecting finds! Celtic gold coins found whilst volunteering for an archaeological unit forum thread.
Celtic gold staters of Tasciovanus. Celtic gold coins.Celtic gold staters of Tasciovanus. Celtic gold coins.
The bad old days – finding hoards without a metal detector
Finding Hoards in the Bad Old Days
This is how hoards were found in the bad old days, before metal detectors. Smashed to pieces by the plough! Illustration from the bookCoins of the Romans Relating to Britain By John Y. Akerman, Published 1836 (the book is reproduced in full at the link).
When archaeologists uncover hoards they are usually in the foundations of buildings. The classic example being hoards of Roman bronze coins (sometimes very large hoards) being uncovered in the foundations of Roman Villas and other structures. The Romans buried coin hoards in the foundations of buildings as offerings to the gods or household spirits.
Mystery metal detecting finds – Roman dodecahedron
Photograph of a Roman dodecahedron from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schwarzenacker_Pentagondodekaeder1.jpg
Ever found one of these? Roman dodecahedra are believed to date from the second and third century AD, and range from 4 to 11cm in size. There are many theories about what they may have been used for, but I believe they were used as portable personal altars, possibly to a water god or spirit, others have said that they may have been used as candle holders as some of known examples were found with wax on them. They are certainly one of the more strange items that you might uncover whilst metal detecting.
Roman dodecahedra are objects that may not be immediately recognizable to a lot of metal detectorists, and I have often wondered how many more of them might be out there! If you have ever found one, leave a comment or drop me an email.
Photograph of a Roman dodecahedron from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roman_dodecahedron.jpg
Metal detecting find fund-raising – The Dallinghoo/Wickham Market Hoard
Dallinghoo/Wickham Market Hoard, 840 Iron Age gold staters of the Iceni tribe, found by metal detectorists in 2008. Photograph courtesy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
The BBC reports that Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service hope to display this fantastic metal detecting find at Ipswich Museum, but I have not been able to find any details or information about the fund-raising effort on their various web sites as yet, so if you want to support the campaign to keep this find in Essex, you could try getting in touch with Ipswich Museum directly:
Ipswich Museum High Street Ipswich IP1 3QH
Tel: 01473 433550 Fax: 01473 433558 [Wow, people still use faxes? wtf?]
I’ll update if an online fund-raising campaign is launched.
‘Treasure house’ of the North Thames tribes discovered – largest find of Iron Age gold in UK history
Metal detectorists in Hertfordshire discover the ‘Treasure house’ of the North Thames tribes – the single largest find of Iron Age gold in history. Found just outside St. Albans, the hoard of 52,504 gold staters and over 200 neck torcs is set to re-write the history books.
A group of archaeologists called in to excavate the find videoed the recovery of what has been called ‘the most stunning metal detecting find in history’ and are releasing the tapes on YouTube:
Expect to see plenty about this incredible discovery on the news all day today!
“The Arado 320 Deep-seeking Analytical Detector has been designed to achieve greatest possible depth on desired objects at the same time as giving highly accurate identification of unwanted iron.”
The Arado 120B is the stuff of legend, almost 30 years later, the original Arado metal detectors sometimes change hands for sums of money above and beyond their original recommended retail price.
Hard to believe the Arado 120B was originally released in 1978! As a kid I always wanted the Arado 130, but I never had the money and later ended up getting the C-Scope 1220B. And yes, I still have the C-Scope 1220B and it still works brilliantly!
Although Arado have returned to the hobby industry, I am no closer to achieving my dream of owning an Arado, the new Arado hobby model, the Arado 320, retails for around £1295. Still cheaper than an Minelab E-Trac, but still more money than I’ve got.
The Searcher Magazine reports that they will be publishing an independent field test report on the Arado 320 in the October issue. I for one can’t wait to see how the new Arado fairs against the Minelabs!
For some pointless but wonderful metal detecting nostalgia, be sure to check out this page on the Arado website, seeing all those old adverts brought the memories flooding back! [Sadly this link is now dead, I’ll update if Arado brings the page back – 13/05/2015]
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