Metal Detector’s Blog

About 20 years ago a friend told me about “Relic Hunting.” He took me out one day and after the first 3 ringer I was hooked!

Now-a-days my favorite place to hunt is private property, with permission of course, for Civil War relics. I’ve also gotten into beach hunting in Virginia and the Outer Banks, N.C.

My best find so far includes a lot of things which were all firsts for me. I was using a Nautilus DMC IIB that I was very familiar with – it was my machine of choice for 5 over 5 years. I also had my Gator trowel with me to help dig.

After about three hours out, my Nautilus read a deep iron signal in a place that’s called “Stoneman’s Switch,” a very well known Civil War winter camp site, or “hut.” I started digging with my friend Cory who was with me, and about 2.5 feet down I hit the “barrel bands” that were used as a chimney on old winter huts from the Civil War camps.
What lay beneath my finger tips was a 140 year old time capsule that contained a variety of relics including buttons, bullets, bottles, coins, a religious medal and a comb. The value of this cache is literally priceless, and I can’t describe the excitement I felt upon finding it.

The attached photos show the ground conditions I found this in, a picture of a Confederate button with bullets in the background, and two 1861 coins – front and back. Enjoy!

- Jeff B. Newport News, Virgina

The Staffordshire Hoard, as it was quickly dubbed, electrified the general public and Anglo-Saxon scholars alike. Spectacular discoveries, such as the royal finds at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, had been made in Anglo-Saxon burial sites. But the treasure pulled from Fred Johnson’s field was novel—a cache of gold, silver, and garnet objects from early Anglo-Saxon times and from one of the most important kingdoms of the era. Moreover, the quality and style of the intricate filigree and cloisonné decorating the objects were extraordinary, inviting heady comparisons to such legendary treasures as the Lindisfarne Gospels of the Book of Kells.

Once cataloged, the hoard was found to contain some 3,500 pieces representing hundreds of complete objects. And the items that could be securely identified presented a striking pattern. There were more than 300 sword-hilt fittings, 92 sword-pommel caps, and 10 scabbard pendants. Also noteworthy: There were no coins or women’s jewelry, and out of the entire collection, the three religious objects appeared to be the only nonmartial pieces. Intriguingly, many of the items seemed to have been bent or broken. This treasure, then, was a pile of broken, elite, military hardware hidden 13 centuries ago in a politically and militarily turbulent region. The Staffordshire Hoard was trilling and historic—but above all it was enigmatic.

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I am an avid camper and hunter who has always loved to get into the outdoors and enjoy.

My son and I were planning on hiking to the top of Walker mountain and hunt ” high ridges” for two weeks. We set up camp and the first frosty morning we set up our hunt area and a beautiful white tail came within range of my son….then it happened. He raised the rifle and flipped the scope gaurds up and everything fell apart…..screws that were very tiny…bands…rings..everything. The rifle was not sighted in for iron sights.

We looked for hours through the leaves and dirt but all was lost. I remembered that I had a metal detector in the truck from searching Amelia county for relics and we decided it was worth a try. We hiked back down the mountain laughing about ” Murphys Law” and climbed back up in enough time to get some rest. Long story short we found all of the parts and the hunt was on…we did OK in the hunt but the metal detector saved the whole experience.

Jeff
campingtentscentral.com

My Minelab Advantage metal detector helped me find one of the most rare Texas Civil War buttons ever made.

I got into metal detecting because my wife bought me one for my birthday. 11 years later and I’m still addicted to this great hobby. My favorite places to hunt are private property and plowed fields. The day that I found this button I was searching a plowed field in the state of Louisiana. I had my Minelab Advantage, which I had been using for over two years by this point, and a shovel to help dig.

After about three hours in this field I got a good signal. It was only 4″ down and my hunting partner knew immediately what it was. The only Texas Unit button ever made, only a few have ever been found. It’s a Waco Guards Civil War button, worth anywhere from $2,500.00 to $3,000.00 – but priceless to me!

I was simply amazed that I found this rare and special button. The first person I told was my brother. Please enjoy this picture of the button, which is in very good shape considering it’s age and what it’s been through.

Jim H. Glimer, VA.

Tim Pearson, a metal detectorist and amateur treasure hunter (aren’t we all?) found what he thought was a milk bottle cap back in 2005.

Pearson was detecting in a South Yorkshire field that he had combed over for more than six years. In the past the field that had yielded nothing more than a Roman coin for him, but this time, there was something special waiting.

Tim says “When I broke open the clod of earth the first I saw of the aestel was its flat back covered in mud. Seriously just looked like a piece of gold coloured foil, hence the milk bottle top similarity. Obviously, soon as I had the object in my hand I knew it was something special!”

But as you can guess, it wasn’t a milk bottle top.

What Pearson found is a relic now known as the “Yorkshire Aestel” and is the only one of its kind held by a private owner. It’s a hallow “cast pointer” that would have been used by monks as an aid to reading manuscripts. Auctioneers claim -that King Alfred (who ruled from 871 – 899) commissioned several of these aestels to made for his bishops to aid the translation of Pope Gregory I’s Regula Pastoralis.

The pointer measures just 31mm high and weighs 4.12grams and is known to be one of seven pointers in existence. The most famous pointer, “The Alfred Jewel” was found in Somerset in 1693 and resides in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Four more were found in King Alfred’s Wessex while the other five identified aestels are “The Minster Lovell Jewel” in Oxfordshire, The Bowleaze Jewel” in Dorset, “The Wessex Jewel” in Wilshire, “The Bidford Bobble” in Warwickshire, and “The Borg Aestel” in Norway.

This relic will be auctioned at Bonham’s on October 15th during their Sale of Antiquities in London. It is expected to garner 15,000 pounds, or over $27,000

Madeleine Perridge of Bonhams Antiquities Department, comments: “When handling an object like this, anyone with a love of history and literature knows that they are in touch with centuries of monastic scholarly endeavour, and possibly with royal sponsorship of that work. It is a privilege to be selling this beautiful rare object.”

- Adam & Shaun