Treasure Hunting

A 2,000 year old silver jug handle was discovered on a beach in the United Kingdom.

63 year old amateur archaeologist and metal detecting enthusiast Graham Ryan discovered the handle while he was combing the beach with his metal detector. The British museum says that it could date from anywhere between the first and fourth centuries, since its made mainly from silver and is in the form of a stylized snake’s head.

Ryan told reports that he “was not surprised to find Viking artifacts on the beach. There’s a Roman Fort at Beckfoot. It has a cemetery and with the soil erosion I have found cremation urns too. We’ve had some lovely finds.”

He belongs to the Senhouse Museum Archeology Society, who he thanks for encouraging his hobby of metal detecting. “I think from being a boy I always thought I’d find treasure.”

His find may be entered into the Senhouse Roman Museum, but for now it will have to be appraised so that Ryan can be rewarded for finding it.

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This new book “Relics & Reminiscing: Diary of a Lowcountry Digger” was written by an award-winning journalist for the Times and Democrat, Richard Walker, about his favorite hobby of 30 years - relic hunting. I thought it was a great follow-up to my last article, and really shows how perspective has changed for this hobby.

“The book is a compilation of my efforts of providing a historical record of our area through years of going out in the woods fighting the rain, fighting the elements and wildlife to provide that record,” Walker said. “It’s fun, but for me personally, I think if we have a record of where we’ve been, we’ll know where we’re going. I try to preserve some of that for future generations.”

Walker generally targets average, everyday home sites instead of those sought by archeologists to preserve a record of how ordinary people lived. Walker said he can tell whether a family was wealthy or poor judging by what he finds at their home site.

“For the most part, the places we find are the lower- to middle-income-type residences,” Walker said. “Each site is a source, and we have to put together the pieces of that story.

“You can find one or two pieces, and that’s not a complete picture, but once you’ve worked the site for three years, sometimes you get a better picture of who lived there.”

Walker said he has always been interested in history, and his favorite movie growing up was “Treasure Island.”

His relic-hunting journey began in 1976. Walker was 12 years old and equipped with a metal detector and shovel he borrowed from his dad’s tool shed. The only thing missing was a map pointing out the hidden items he dreamed of locating.

“I had left that part out,” Walker said. “I just wanted the machine, and I wanted the shovel.”

A lot of research goes into finding a worthy site, Walker said, and the library was one of his best sources. He also made telephone calls, placed ads in newspapers and wrote relic hunters in- and out-of-state, sending an average of five or six letters a week. Many were helpful, replying with useful information about sites he could try.

Shortly after Christmas 1976, Walker got a call from Gordon Walker (no relation), an employee at a local newspaper who saw his ad requesting relics. The man shared his experience about Civil War relic hunting and gave the younger Walker directions to a nearby Confederate site.

During his first trip to the site, Richard Walker found a Hotchkiss shell sabot and said he was hooked.

“Just the thrill of picking up this piece that had laid there for 150 years was so exciting,” Walker said. “To me, an artifact is probably the best time machine there is. It beats movies or books or anything else.

“To hold a piece that was last held two or three hundred years ago is baffling.”

Nearly a year after finding his first Hotchkiss shell, Walker learned one of many lessons about relic hunting — don’t throw items away until they can be identified.

Walker’s most significant find was unearthed nearly 20 years ago during a search for what he and his relic-hunting companions called the “Lost Brigade,” a movement by one of Sherman’s brigades made up of the 25th Indiana and the 32nd Wisconsin. For years, Walker hunted the Edisto River in the area in which the troops should have been and came up with nothing.

On May 4, 1988, he decided to make another trip to the Edisto swamps to find the Lost Brigade. During this hunt, his detector gave a signal that rang out like a siren, Walker said. He carefully dug into what was a Springfield bayonet and later discovered an eagle breastplate and another Springfield bayonet.

“Relics and Reminiscing” incorporated detailed records of each of Walker’s trips, including the date, participating hunters, the site, grid patterns and what was found. His records indicate more bayonets, 16 dropped three ringers, bore cleaner minies, another breastplate and 20 dropped minies found from his discovery of the Lost Brigade.

Walker has taken some 487 relic hunting trips in the last 30 years. He admits some of the pieces he’s found may be valuable, but their historical importance is greater.

“If I sell a piece, and it loses its context, then we all lose,” he said. “Anyone whose history is related to this area suffers.”

Sounds like a smart man and a seasoned relic hunter we could all learn from. Let me know if you read this book. Go to The TandD.com for the rest of the article. Or pick up Relics & Reminiscing: Diary of a Lowcountry Digger on Amazon.com

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When I say “Relic Hunting” most of you imagine searching for old items of historical value and displaying, reporting or otherwise honoring them. Today “Relic Hunters” are often the metal detectorists and armature archaeologists who seek these items in an effort to hold history in the palm of their hand and learn more about the civilizations before us.

But an article titled “Relic-Hunting,” written for the New York Times on August 4, 1881 paints a very different picture. I thought it was interesting and overall I’m quite proud that us Relic Hunters are no longer thought of in such a fashion. Here are some excerpts from the article:

“Mr. Ruskin made a great mistake when he said that we have no ruins in America. The truth is that the country is full of ruins, Roman, Grecian, Egyptian, and Syrian. They have been brought here piecemeal by enterprising American tourists, and a scientific person has estimated that up to and including the 1st of June last (1881) the total amount of imported ruins in the United States amounted to 833,000 tons in round numbers.”

“Persons who have formed the habit of collecting relics have no conscience whatever. They will lounge behind the guide at Pompeii in order to tear up a piece of mosaic pavement, or will knock off the corner of an Egyptian obelisk without the least remorse.”

“Every tourist of this variety brings home a half bushel of relics - pieces of brick, stone, or glass - all of which he has collected by breaking precious relics of antiquity. He exhibits these to his friends and actually glories in his shame.”

“The relic-hunter has of late shown his inventive genius by the way in which he defaces objects which are beyond the reach of a hammer. Ruins, crude or manufactured, should be ruthlessly confiscated by the Custom-house officers. If the relic-hunters knew that every bit of stone for which they could not honestly account would be seized and thrown into the river they would recognize the uselessness of defacing European ruins merely to increase the weight of their trunks.”

Go to The New York Times Online Article Preview to read the rest of this article.

And the next time you see someone tear up because they realize that the Civil War relic they hold in their hand is one of the few and precious pieces of a long-lost life, be thankful that our country learned to respect relics.

Be thankful for your fellow metal detectorists who learn about history, seek out relics, and preserve them for our future generations to learn from.

~ Liz ~

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In my usual online stroll for treasure stories I came across a museum show in Detroit called “Shipwreck!” I am completely fascinated by the things that are on display and the article is really informative about past shipwrecks. However, I was impressed that these items weren’t found on the beaches, washed ashore and found by people in bathing suits. These treasures were discovered right where the fell - 1,200 ft beneath the surface, on the bottom of the ocean floor.

Since a human can’t go to depths that far under water, a “Remote Operated Vehicle” was used named Zeus. The shipwreck they excavated from the bottom of the ocean was the remnants of the USS Republic. “The 210-foot-long steamship was built in 1853. It survived the Civil War, when it fought for both the Confederacy and the Union. And it survived three hurricanes, though it could not survive a fourth.

When it sank, on Oct. 25, 1865, most of the roughly 80 passengers escaped unharmed. The Republic was eight days into its journey from New York to New Orleans, bearing tens of thousands of gold and silver coins, medicine bottles, everyday items like toothbrushes made out of cow bones, and anything else to help rebuild the South after the Civil War.”

Check out the entire article at Freep.com.

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“In a new type of gold rush, beach goers are using metal detectors to hunt for lost treasures as the price for the precious metal hits record highs.

Central Florida dealers said they have been selling out of metal detectors, Local 6’s Ramin Khalili reported. Beachgoer Fay Powell said she’s been using a metal detector to search for gold items that now sell for more than $1,000 an ounce. ‘I thought about getting some gold or some Spanish coins or something like that,’ Powell said.

Piles of gold have been pouring into beachside pawn shops in recent weeks, Central Florida’s Local 6 News has learned.

Some residents are selling items they already have for cash. ‘The jewelry was a luxury to have, but I’m selling it for necessity reasons,’ resident Marie Savickas said. Experts said the previous high-water mark for gold was $800 an ounce in the 1980s. They said they don’t expect prices to drop any time soon. ‘No one in history has ever seen it like this,’ said jeweler Jesse Ross. ‘It is the highest it’s been in the world history.”

I think it’s pretty obvious that we all saw this coming. The good news is that those of us who have been doing this for awhile (and consider it our true love and hobby) will be running circles around the noobs. As for you noobs - good luck out there, and if you really want to find treasure then practice, practice, practice!

Check out my article on Gold Metal Detectors for more information on specific gold detectors.

Check out our sponsors to buy your own metal detector, but remember to do your research first! Metal Detectors For Less has a large and diverse inventory of metal detectors to choose from. And Kellyco Metal Detectors has their own Gold & Prospecting Detectors page.

Good luck out there and happy gold hunting!

- Shaun

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Answer: Truffles. No, not the chocolates. . .

Don’t ask me how, because I’m really not sure exactly, but one way or another I ended up looking at a very expensive type of mushroom on Wikipedia.org.

I know what you’re thinking - “How does this relate to treasure hunting?” Well, these mushrooms, known as “Truffles” are extremely valuable and highly sought-after. In fact they’re worth almost as much as gold. In my opinion, that qualifies as treasure!

These mushrooms, or Truffles, are considered “ectomycorrhizal” - which means they grow near the roots of oak, elm, chesnut, pine and willow trees. The most common places to find them are in the states of Oregon and Washington, or France, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. Duplicating the growing conditions for truffles commercially is not feasible or cost-effective on a wide scale, hence their high price.

So how much is a Truffle worth? Well, in 2005 at an international charity auction in Italy a 2.5lb. Truffle sold for $112,000.00!

Now I know you can’t find a Truffle with a metal detector, but I figured that you all should probably know about them. The next time you’re dirt-fishing and you come across something strange buried around an oak tree,… remember this post. You may have stumbled onto a different kind of treasure entirely. And trust me, there’s a market for them.

Check out the Truffle Wikipedia Page, or the wiseGEEK Truffle page for more information. It’s worth wasting a little time.

Happy Hunting!
~ Liz ~

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Greek workers were in the process of excavating tunnels for a new subway system in the Mediterranean’s second largest city - Thessaloniki - and they stumbled upon almost 1,000 graves. The state archaeological authority said Monday that some were filled with gold treasures, and the graves themselves dated from the first century B.C. to the 5th century A.D.

Ancient treasures include jewelry, coins and various pieces of art from the city that was founded around 315 B.C. and flourished during the Roman and Byzantine eras.

Most of the graves (886) were just east of the city center in what was the eastern cemetery during Roman and Byzantine times. Those graves ranged from traces of wooden coffins left in simple holes in the ground, to marble enclosures in five-room family mausoleums.

A separate group of 94 graves were found near the city’s train station, in what was once part of the city’s western cemetery. More findings were expected as digging for the Thessaloniki metro continues. Digging started in 2006 and the first 13 stations are expected to be done by the end of 2012.

This makes you wonder when a cemetery crosses the line from ’sacred burial ground’ to ‘treasures that represent ancient civilizations.’

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Thanks to the folks that submit their stories to Kellyco. Just saw this one pop up and I wanted to share. Gotta love those Civil War relics! These were found with a Nautilus Metal Detector, which are for those serious relic hunters.

- Shaun

“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 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.

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I know, I know… we took almost a whole week off from blogging. But it’s almost Spring time here in Florida and it was worth it!

Adam and I stopped by Kellyco Metal Detectors (one of our great sponsors) earlier this week, spoke with some of our favorite folks there and got some good news we wanted to share. Whites is offering a limited edition version of the DFX and MXT metal detectors. They’re called the DFX-300 and MXT-300, and feature the 300 LTD 12 inch Spider Loop coil. Also, they come with the Whites Bullseye II pin pointer and a whole slue of other accessories.

I’m sorry this post is short, but this year is flying by and Spring is just around the corner. As soon as March is over and all the Spring Breakers are off the beaches, we’ll be there ready to go! Check out these packages on some of Whites best machines if you’re looking to upgrade. Happy hunting and good luck!

- Shaun

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If you consider yourself a metal detectorist of any caliber then you have an extensive collection of pull tabs. If you’re anything like me, you wonder where the heck they all came from. So I did some digging around online to see what I could find about them and got a pretty good history lesson.

In the early 1960’s the Pittsburgh Brewing Company introduced “Iron City Beer” in ‘self-opening cans.’ The concept was pretty novel – just pull up on a tab and you had an open can of beer in your hand! No accessories like a ‘church key’ or bottle opener neccessary - imagine that! These early pull tabs were known as “zip tops” and were disposable. But because of the rough edges of the aluminum, the cans often left people with cuts on their fingers, lips and even noses.

But the revolution had begun! By 1965 the design was changed to the ring style, which I’m sure every metal detectorists has seen his or her share of. The ring style was even easier then the zip top; just put your finger into the ring, yank forward and have your beverage with less potential for physical injury - even better!

Needless to say, the swift evolution of the zip top to the ring tab revolutionized canned beverages. By the mid-60’s over 75% of all cans produced in the U.S. had a pull-tab opening.

But for all their convenience, the pull tabs were an environmental and metal detectorist’s nightmare. For 10 years people opened cans, ripped off the pull-tabs and threw them to the side because they were encouraged to - there was nothing else to do with these removable metal pieces. Pets and wildlife died from ingesting them, as did a few people who dropped them into a can and accidentally choked on them. They wound up everywhere – from beaches and parks, to playgrounds and garbage disposals. People routinely cut themselves in a time when hand sanitizer wasn’t in every woman’s purse.

Ten years after the “ring” version of the pull tab was introduced, an answer to this environmental and safety nightmare finally came. The “stay tab” style was introduced in 1975 by the Falls City Brewing Company, and they were here to stay – literally. These ring-style-stay-tabs are what we can see on every can of coke and beer in the grocery store today. Unfortunately, they don’t stay quite as well as the designers would have liked. But at least this style doesn’t force people to throw the tab aside… they actually have to do a little work to get it off.

Thankfully, metal detectorists like you and me pick these up as we go… cleaning the beaches, parks and playground for the future, all in the name of a healthy hobby. Personally, I think we live in a disposable world now-a-days, and I wonder when we’ll figure out that convenience comes at the price of our environment. But that’s another conversation, meant for another day. In the meantime, keep picking those pull tab’s up, and thank Pittsburgh Brewing Company for the introduction of your most frequent find.

For more history of cans, specifically beer cans, see Brewery Collectibles Club of America. Also look at RustyCans.com for a great history of cans in general.

- Shaun

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