Treasures found by metal detectors
Who loves treasure? Most of us do and what better then to find a hidden or lost treasure with cheap technical tools like cheap metal detectors? So I spent a few hours combing through the stories and found some of the best ones that I wanted to share. If you enjoy treasure or hunting then feel free to read but enjoy either way!
“Middleham Jewel”
This little treasure was found in Middleham Castle in North Yorkshire by Ted Seaton in September 1985. The story is obscure, but it is said that Ted used to be outside the castle with a lot of metal detectors until he finally found it that day in September and unearthed the gem. The gem is an exquisitely carved 15th-century altarpiece, similar to the remains of Gothic pendants, adorned with a large sapphire. Seaton’s metal detector picked up traces of metal elements hanging in the sunset. Shortly after its discovery, the gem was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 1986 for the sum of 1.3 million pounds. It was also reported that he bought a prominent order of the Royal Family.
A few years later, the gem was sold again and it was sold again this time for only 2.5 million pounds. Almost twice as much as when it first started. The gem would come up for auction again, but this time it was bought by the York Museum and can be seen on display today.
“Isn’t this Hoard”
This was a much bigger treasure that was discovered by Eric Lawes on November 16, 1992 with his metal detector in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk. The vault contained about 15,000 late 4th and early 5th century Roman silver and coins. Over 200 items of silver and gold tables were also discovered. After its discovery, it was declared a “treasure trove” (that is, only a really small percentage of the value of the treasure is to be obtained) and it was bought by the British Museum for the included amount. Several items from the collection like the famous Silver Tigress are on permanent display there. Eric’s in-laws and the father of the family who found the land received 1.75 million and divided it equally.
“17th Century Gold Coin”
Although this story does not involve masses of gold and riches, it never the less involves a treasure and an ordinary person, about whom this article is all about. One sunny day in May 2004 in Overton, London, novice treasurer Richard Jones became a hunter in a farmer’s field with a metal detector. After several hours of searching and climbing empty handed he finally got a good signal on his metal detector. Thinking the old man bottle cap or something, Jonas was surprised to see that he had found a certain coin. he had never seen
The coin was cleaned a little then dated between 1685 to 1688 and after an analysis was carried out the coin was found to have a gold content of about 90 percent. The treasure was then revealed by North East Wales coroner John Hughes at an inquest at Flint Magistrates’ Court. After all was said and done and the coin was declared treasure, no museum showed any interest in the coin thus returned to Jones.
“The hand of faith”
This story of good fortune happened to one lucky guy in Australia in 1980. Kevin Hillier of Wedderburn, Australia loved to use his metal detector to look for objects when he had time. Although Kevin has found many things over the years, nothing compares to what he ended up finding.
From one o’clock in the afternoon he searched for land and thus in when he got a good shot on his metal detector. Like many other people, Kevin wasn’t too excited because he knew he had gotten away with nails, old metal, or hats from previous seasons. He began to extricate himself well, when a sign came, and with astonishment he saw gold. Thinking that the clod was only a small one, he tried to pull it out of the ground, but with no luck. So Coemgen cleaned and dug around the mass of gold. To everyone’s surprise, when it was completely unearthed the huge mass of gold weighed a total of 61 pounds and was then worth around $425,000 US. Shortly after this, MASS got the name “Hands of Faith” and was the 4th largest gold market in the world and the largest brand of MASS gold on display. This one time only “Golden Nugget Casino” bought it for the sum of $1,000,000 US and kept it in the far north tower in its case, where it will remain for future generations.
“Boot Cortez”
One summer in 1989, a local Mexican in the Sonoran Desert with a newly acquired metal detector. that he had bought from Radio Shack earlier that day. The man had only been there for a few hours when something happened that moved his mind. Not only did that cheap metal detector end up making a good sign, but to his surprise when he pulled up the spot he found something he wasn’t expecting. At first glance he saw a small nugget of gold not uncommon in the area, but he was amazed at the size of the place when the ground had been cleared of the mass.
After an hour of digging, the mass was finally brought out of the ground and it was a wonderful place. The mass of gold weighed about 24 pounds and is now the largest surviving mass of gold ever found in the Western Hemisphere. It is not known exactly which nugget was originally sold but it is on display at American-museum-of-natural- history”>American Museum of Natural History in Lugduni Batavorum in.
“Viking Treasure”
One Sunday morning David Whelan and his son where enjoying a beautiful morning doing what they did every Sunday which was metal detecting. I was interested in it a year ago, and although they found many interesting things, they didn’t know what the problem was.
Around mid-morning in a farmer’s field in Yorkshire, England, David got a good signal with his metal detector. His son’s face lit up with joy but in the back of David’s mind he thought it was probably an old nail, or something left over from the building of barns that surround the field. And David and his son stooped down and began to dig a hole, from which a sign was made. Within minutes, the father and son team had started old coins and dating jewelry back up to a thousand years. After receiving the treasure, historians began to trace the origins of the coins and gems. It was said that this discovery was the most important find of its kind in England for more than 150 years.
The overall value of the treasure was estimated at around $750,000 to $1,000,000 pounds, and David and his son received half of the value of the treasure which they divided equally with the owner of the land.
Just go to these stories to show you that top of the line equipment is not always necessary to find great stores, but for all you need time and patients and hey who knows what the reward would be!
