The stash included 52,000 Roman coins valued at more than $5 million.

The coins were buried in a large jar about a foot underground. The coin-filled jar weighed about 350 pounds.

Treasure hunter Dave Crisp said he started digging after hearing a funny signal from his metal detector.

stash included 52,000 Roman coins valued at more than $5 million.

“I put my hand in, pulled out a bit of clay and there was a little radial, a little bronze Roman coin very, very small, about the size of my fingernail,” Crisp said.

Historians say the coins date back to the 3rd century.

Hundreds of the coins had an image of Marcus Aurelius Carausius, a Roman naval officer who seized power in Britain and northern France, but was later assassinated.

“The late 3rd century A.D. was a time when Britain suffered barbarian invasions, economic crises, and civil wars,” Roger Bland, with the British Museum, said.

17thC Charles II silver button found by Orvin Farmer Jr

I the president of this wonderful club took my third  trip across the big pond (The Atlantic Ocean) for my latest trip to detect U.K. dirt.   If you have ever wanted to find stuff so old that it almost compels you,   to turn into a history fanatic.  There is so much history in that country that it is mind boggling.

The finds that can be found on any given trip could just about be from every country around the world and can even have eyeball finds that date back 10,000years to the stone age.  Now!  That is old.

For this trip was a little different than my past two trips,  we had the rights to hunt some land that had not been detected before this year.  The finds that are coming out of the ground  from this land are amazing.   Even though I did not find anything gold,  I did manage to find some things made of silver,  mainly coins,  but I did manage to find a small button from the 17th Century,  a King Charles II button (pictured at the top of page).  Due to the treasure laws of Britain other than single coin finds (two or more of the same type of coin is deemed a hoard and falls under the treasury act),   anything man-made  that has 10% or more of noble metal and over 300 years old,  can be deemed as treasure.  So my button find,  falls under their treasure act.  It will be viewed by the people at the museum to see if they want to purchase this item at fair market value.   They have many Charles II buttons,  so I expect to get this one back.

One thing that I must mention is that when you go on these detecting trips,  you do get to keep most everything that you find,  unfortunately it stays there to get an export license.  And that takes time.  But,  it is worth the wait.

I did have a really good trip,  the weather was not the greatest but that does not bother me as long as I can stay dry and warm.   Seems that I had all of the seasons during the week,  multiple times even during the same day,  some days.  I had some horizontal rain,  to where I just detected back-wards into the wind.  But for the most part these endeavors usually did not too last long.   The worse thing is when it just rains just enough to get the top part of the soil wet and that is all,  some fields the clay content is real heavy and sticks to everything.  So just a little rain makes the soil  stick to your coil,  boots,  and shovel,   overall just makes a big mess.  When it just rains,  steady,  as amazing as it sounds,  is almost better due to the fact that it keeps the mud from building up on coil,  boot,  etc.

Enough of the babble….

I found some wonderful items including the following:
1485 -1509 Henry VII hammered silver groat
1247 Henry III hammered silver short cross half penny
1341 Edward III hammered silver florin penny -Cross
15thC Angel coin coin weight – bent right leg Circa 1493 – British
Snake clasp ? TD & C Patent 1546  (did research on this one and patent dates to 1780)
17thC clothing fastener
1550-1650 buckle
1845 Victorian milled silver groat
17th mount with 2 integral lug
17thC Charles II silver button – reported as treasure
1696 William III milled silver sixpence
1stC Roman fibular brooch fragment
Roman lead token
Roman writing stylus

And MY FAVORITE find,  a relic from the past that I will soon give a new home too.

Romano/British bronze razor back pig/hog offering - red emerald eyes – 65.56mm L x 39.9mm H 148g

The pig ….it is from the Roman period,  so most likely from 1stC through 6thC  AD.   Date not confirmed as of yet.

You can see pictures for all the finds listed

Romano/British bronze razor back pig/hog offering - top view
Romano/British bronze razor back pig/hog offering - front view 1485 -1509 Henry VII hammered silver groat

These are not near all that I found,  just a portion that got photographed.

Thanks for viewing,

Orv

President,  BBSRC

ASHLAND, Wis. – Ever since Scott Mitchen unearthed his first Indian-head nickel at the site of an old country store parking lot in Benoit at the age of 10, he has been infected with allure of treasure hunting.

“It just sparked my imagination, and from then on I knew that I was going to be involved in some kind of exploration and hunting for treasure and antiquities.”

But unlike many who seek the riches of lost booty, Mitchen has always wanted more than mere artifacts, he has wanted to know who lost these things, why they wound up in lake and swamp, ocean and hidden under the ground. It’s an insatiable curiosity we can all relate to — who hasn’t found a misplaced valuable and wondered how it could have gone astray, to be lost and then found again through luck or fate.

Therein lies the premise for a reality based television series Mitchen hopes will one day result in the world sharing his fascination for finding treasure, whether they be gold and jewels or a lowly GI dogtag lost for decades.

“It’s been in the making for several years,” Mitchen said. “And now it is coming to the point where we are getting a pilot episode.”

The main premise of the show, to be entitled “Handing Over History” is something of a cross between the historical appeal of “Antiques Road Show” and the emotionally charged elements of a docu-soap like “The Crocodile Hunter,” Mitchen said.

“It could involve anything from a lost class ring to a shroud we found for a Synagogue in Illinois,” he continued.

Mitchen is the first to say that the series isn’t about him, that it involves a team affiliated with his International Explorations organization. It is being produced by LifeLike Entertainment Corp. of Valley Glen, Calif., a firm with lengthy credentials in creating programming for many television networks.

However, Mitchen is uniquely qualified to head up a project like “Handing Over History.” With over 25 years of treasure-diving experience, and a one of a kind resume that goes from finding sunken Spanish treasure to raising lost old growth timber from Lake Superior, his real life experiences read like something out of a Clive Cussler novel.

But for Mitchen, it has never been just about the dollar value of the treasure he seems to have an uncanny knack of finding.

“Over the years I have collected so many neat things that I have wanted to try and find who they belonged to,” Mitchen said. “I don’t know that I have ever been in it just for the gold. Some people are in it solely for the material things, to convert it into cash, and though I have a collection of things, I have always wanted to return things that could go back.”

The pilot episode is a remarkable tale of just such an occurrence, outlining the story of a Zippo lighter Mitchen found on the floor Lake Delavan in the southern part of the state in the 1985. Mitchen was diving in the area of an old swimming beach at the site of a lake lodge that dated back to the 1880s.

“It was dirty, encrusted with crud and tarnished,” Mitchen said. He set it aside in his collections until the winter of 1991 when he finally got around to cleaning it off.

He was astonished to find the name of Spc. 4th Class Don Sunstrom on the lighter, as well as the emblem of the 101st Airborne “Screaming Eagles.” More time passed as Mitchen couldn’t begin to figure out a way to contact the former trooper. It wasn’t until November, when thanks to dogged determination and some Internet sleuthing that Mitchen was able to contact Sunstrom, now 65 and a resident of Blaine, Minn., and speak to him about it.

“I asked him if he had been in the 101st Airborne, and he said yes,” Mitchen said. “I asked him several questions and the pauses between his answers got longer and longer. Then I asked him if he had ever had an engraved cigarette lighter with the 101st Airborne crest on it and he got all choked up.”

The story Sunstrom told was even more amazing than the fact that Mitchen had recovered the lighter.

“I told him that I found it in a lake in Southern Wisconsin, and he told me that was impossible, because he had lost it in the jungles of Vietnam,” Mitchen said.

Mitchen said Sunstrom recalled the day he bought the lighter from a vendor, attracted by the Screaming Eagle logo on the brushed stainless steel side of the lighter. The vendor embossed his name onto the side, adding the motto “I’m sure to go to heaven because I spent my time in Hell. Viet Nam 68-69.”

The motto was the clincher, Mitchen said. There was no question it was Sunstrom’s lighter; returned 40 years after he lost it in the jungles of Southeast Asia.

How did it find it’s way to southern Wisconsin?

“Some other soldier probably found it and kept it, and lost it again at the lake,” Mitchen guessed.

While that part of the story may never be told, Mitchen takes immense satisfaction in returning a simple lighter, which cost only a few bucks, but is priceless in the memory of a combat veteran.

“He said he would keep it with his other mementos, but that he would probably take it out 20 times in the next couple of weeks and recall the memories of that time,” Mitchen said.

Sunstrom’s lighter is only the beginning of the possibilities, Mitchen said. Among the artifacts he has to research is a bracelet of the kind worn by World War II aviators, clearly identifying “Lt. Richard C. Hobbie AAF Pilot,” along with a serial number. The collection to be checked also includes a shipbuilder’s brass identification button with a stamped serial number.

“They all have their own story,” Mitchen said.

The unmistakable appeal of such a show has put “Handing Over History” to the top of the pile of story ideas being pitched for production at LifeLike.

“We went to number one out of 24 shows, being considered,” said Explorations International Secretary-Treasurer Pete Viater.

“That’s because, as they said, you can put a face to the treasure,” said Mitchen. “No one has ever done that before.”

That makes it different from the traditional treasure hunter’s quest.

“I can’t return a ring intended for the Queen of Spain in 1750, but I am sure to get a smile from a prom queen when I return her class ring from 1939,” Mitchen said.

Since1987, the German scholar has been researching maritime culture and the history of the Malay Archipelago.

As scientific advisor, Liebner, 49, who is based in Makassar, Sulawesi, has painstakingly pieced together information gathered from diverse sources to identify the two 10th century cargo ships that went down, now codenamed the Cirebon/Nan-Han and the Karawang.

Gold artifacts

Besides 10th century coins as well as white and green-glazed ceramics from China, Liebner also documented gold artifacts including a dagger handle, glass bottles and bronze mirror. He has set up a database to register, measure, describe and evaluate underwater finds. Malayologist, Horst Liebner

Malayologist, Horst Liebner

“Shipwreck finds are of huge interest to me, as they provide the only first-hand information on trade, ship construction and life on the sea, etc.

“However, I do not have any commercial interest in ‘treasure hunting’. The real treasure of any archaeological find is knowledge for our future and the future of our children.”

Bugis culture

An expert on ancient boat-building techniques especially Bugis ships, Liebner was engaged by Indonesia’s Research Agency for Marine Affairs and Fisheries, to study the origin of the Cirebon/Nan-Han wreck in 2004. He travels between Jakarta and Makassar, where he lives with his wife.

“My first research was about Bugis boat-building and navigation. Thus, I had to do research in south Sulawesi. Until today, the peninsular is still one of the main centres of Indonesian/Malay maritime activities — not surprisingly, I got stuck there.

“However, I have to spend more time in Jakarta for work, and we now have an apartment there. But we still maintain a house at the Somba Opu Cultural Park in Makassar.

> Horst H. Liebner will address the Southeast Asian Ceramic Society, West Malaysia Chapter, on Cargos for Java: Two 10th Century Shipwrecks on Dec 10 at the Central Market in Kuala Lumpur. The lecture is open to the public with a donation of RM20.

This article is from The Star Online (http://thestar.com.my) URL: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/12/5/lifeliving/5226739&sec=lifeliving

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On loan from the University of Pennsylvania, the exhibit will be displayed until May 3, when it travels to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

Around Central and South America, rumors had run rampant for years about the gold pebbles used by children for toys. In the early 19th century, the Rio Grande de Coclé in the Coclé Province in central Panama flooded its banks during the rainy season, sometime from December to April.

“Everybody knows about the pirates of the Caribbean, but very few people remember why the pirates were hanging out in the Caribbean in the first place,” said Jennifer Hamilton, head of visitor services and volunteer manager for the Hilliard Museum.

“It was because the Spanish had made Panama the colonial headquarters for getting everything to Spain.”

“And also Cartagena in Colombia,” added Claudia Méndez, a University of Louisiana at Lafayette graduate student in communication.

She is a native of Colombia who works in public relations for the museum.

“It was the most important port for the entry of gold for the Spaniards.”

Overflowing its banks and cutting a new channel, the Rio Grande de Coclé revealed the secret buried beneath its currents since before William of Normandy conquered England in 1066.

That secret was the more than 30 burial sites, including “Burial 11,” which housed a total of 23 interments on three levels and is considered to be the richest burial site found by archaeologists in the Americas.

On the middle of the three levels, the site housed an ancient Panamanian paramount chief, or queví, along with a plethora of gold discs, nose rings, other ornamental pieces worn by people during his time and more than 3,000 gold necklaces buried on or near the chief’s body.

This site, dubbed Sitio Conte, for the Conte family on whose land the burial area was found, is approximately 100 miles southeast of Panama City.

In pre-Columbian times, the political borders were non-existent. Instead, the area that makes up modern-day Panama, Colombia, Venezuela and parts of Brazil and Peru was called “Le Grand Colomb,” or the Great Colombia.

The Chibcha-speaking tribes in the area had their own borders. All the indigenous people’s history was found in the pottery and wall drawings, but they were all destroyed by the Spanish Conquistadors, who destroyed everything they did not see as valuable or saw as pagan.

“The history we have of the Native Americans is the Spanish and European version of them, not their own,” Méndez said.

Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology began the first excavation in the 1930s, but the archaeologists failed to uncover anything of great value.

The real finds came in the 1940s when J. Alden Mason, curator of the University of Pennsylvania Museum’s American section, took over the excavation of Sitio Conte.

Mason used early forms of motion picture filming to document the dig.

It is believed the indigenous peoples used Sitio Conte as a burial ground for more than 500 years, the earliest being around 450-700 A.D. and Burial 11 around 700-900 A.D.

Mason discovered the unnamed chief on the middle level of Burial 11.

The Panamanians, like the Egyptians, believed in killing and burying servants for chiefs and priests so that those heralds would be able to serve their masters in the afterlife. Most of the skeletons were found face down, meaning they were commoners or servants.

Thorough examination of the some of the gold artifacts revealed that it was not pure, but contains 3 percent silver and 0.2 percent copper.

All the plaques, beads and headdresses are made of a copper/gold alloy called tumbaga, which contains a copper content of 25 percent and higher.

“I wish there was some way you could see what the pieces looked like when they were new,” said Amanda Burleigh, a junior in mass communication at ULL who toured the exhibit.

“Some of them are kinda worn and beaten up. I bet they were really beautiful when they were first made. It’s amazing that they had the ability to create such intricate pieces so long ago.”

Some of the more interesting pieces are animal effigies worn by the chief to indicate his high status and prominence.

The pieces are rare in their detail and composition. They combined animal features, such as an alligator’s body with a bat’s head, to create beautiful jewelry. The minuscule detail by the craftsmen using primitive tools is astonishing.

The most significant find was the intricately carved animal effigy pendant embedded with a pristine emerald.

Other pieces include a handful of gold-sheathed pendants made of bone, resin and whale-tooth ivory and polychrome pottery with animal imagery and symmetrical designs.

The most alluring pieces are the gold.

“Gold is always cool to look at and knowing the crazy history behind these pieces really makes it interesting,” Burleigh said.

Hamilton described the early residents’ love of gold as something beyond the aesthetic.

“We think of gold as something that’s worth money and maybe it might be pretty but for them it was something more than that,” Hamilton said.

“It did communicate class, but it also was part of religion. It was part of their understanding of spirituality. God was in the light.

“Anything that was shiny not only was a symbol of that light and that spiritual power, but some of those people believed that those objects would actually store, like a battery, divine energy, and so when you wore those gold objects, it was like you were strapped up to all these Duracell batteries that have divine power.”

“The light comes from the sun and the sun is God,” Méndez added.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/18032674.html?showAll=y&c=y

By RYAN BROUSSARD

Special to The Advocate
Published: Apr 23, 2008 – Page: 1BA – UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

Bus driver and metal detector fanatic Tom Peirce is in for a bumper pay day after unearthing 500 Bronze Age artefacts – one of the largest ever ancient finds.

Amateur treasure hunter Mr Peirce started combing a field after dropping off a school coach party at a farm – and now he could have a haul worth more than £80,000 on his hands.

Within a few minutes, the device began beeping and the 60-year-old dug 10 inches into the ground to find a partial axe head.  

Read full article

Check out this news article guys, especially those of you planning on going to England again.