Bronze Age Ring Uncovered in UK

"It had lain undiscovered for around 3,000 years.

But now a ring dating back to the Bronze Age has been uncovered by a Winchester metal detector enthusiast, an inquest heard.

Alan Cracknell was on the verge of giving up his search for the day when he came across the rare find.

In his 30 years doing the weekend hobby, Mr Cracknell had found items like buttons and buckles from the Georgian period to the medieval period, but nothing like this."

Read more HERE.

Gold Ring in UK Saved from the Dirt

"A metal detection enthusiast scouring the soil around Thurcroft unearthed a 14th century gold ring studded with a ruby and an emerald, an inquest heard.

Metal finishing plant worker Paul McEvoy, 44, found the medieval finger ring just six inches beneath the surface.

He had been using his metal detector to search a stubble field in Thurcroft"


Read more HERE.

Indie Film Star a Treasure Hunter

"...

How did you guys do with the hurricane?
We actually did pretty well! My house is fine, we actually have a shore house, so we got pretty lucky. But all our power was out, so we stayed with my Aunt Kathy for a few days. I just got back to the house today and I cannot wait to go out on the beach with my metal detector!  I am telling you, I am a professional treasure hunter and I am going to find the jewels!"

Read more HERE.

Aussie Hobbyist Finds The Lost

"It’s an all too common sight on Sydney beaches: A group of people on their hands and knees at Bondi, Manly or Balmoral, frantically digging through the sand.

Sometimes the lost item is a missing engagement ring. Other times it’s a treasured necklace or even a rare signet ring -- a family heirloom.

Buried among millions of grains of sand, the situation can seem hopeless.

For many years, one person’s loss has been the gain of lone 'metal-detector guys' who scour the beach at sunset looking for the day’s lost treasures."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: Michelle Wranik / CNNBO

Scottish Treasure Stays Put

"The man who unearthed a hoard of Roman coins said the 'Gods will be pleased' after it was announced they will stay in the county where they were found.

The Frome hoard – the largest collection of Roman coins ever unearthed in a single container – will go to the Museum of Somer­set thanks to a grant of almost £300,000 from the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

The silver and bronze coins were found in Somerset last year by metal detector enthusiast Dave Crisp, from Wiltshire."

Read more HERE.
Another article HERE.

Image Credits: Ben Birchall / PA Wire

Bottlecap Jewelry

Today I accompanied the girlfriend, her sister-in-law and her children to tour the production factory for Celestial Seasonings in Boulder, CO. I'm really not a tea guy, but I have a fascination for TV shows like Unwrapped, or How'd They Do That, or How It's Made?... so seeing a factory operation peaked my interest.

Anyhow, in the gift shop I came across the items pictured above. Bottlecap jewelry... who knew!? All those freshly dropped bottlecaps we find could go to bringing in some hard earned income if we just spruced them up a bit and tied some string around them!

Have any bottlecap art or jewelry comments? Please feel free to leave them, I'd love to hear from you!

Russian Farmer Digs Gold

"A Russian turnip farmer who hoped to get rich by buying a metal detector to look for hidden treasure dug up a hoard of gold jewelery worth more than 1 million GBP.

But dozy Gennady Zimin, 51, from Annenkov said he thought the trinkets were junk, and asked a pal to put them on ebay for 50GBP.

He said: 'I got the metal detector second hand. I had always heard local talk of treasure around here but I would have been happy with some scrap metal.'"

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: europics.at

eBay Odds 'n Ends

For the sake of passing time, I found myself on eBay today going through looking at various metal detecting related auctions. It's fun to see what's out there at any given time.

I came across two auctions for extremely low bids on both a Cen-Tech (Harbor Freight) pinpointer and also one of those Autmax V4 pinpointers that KellyCo gives away with their bundles. I've been wanting to do a "Pinpointer Comparison" and once I get five different models, I'll give it a whirl. These two would make five.

Anyhow, these items caught my eye while browsing:

-Lego Metal Detectors
-Green Army Man w/ Metal Detector
-Sterling Metal Detector Hobbyist Pendant
-Gold Plated MD Hat Pin

Gold "Bead" Found

A rare piece of treasure which is believed to date back to pre-historic times could be the first find of its kind in Suffolk.

Images of a gold personal ornament, probably a bead, believed to date to the late Bronze Age period
The British Museum said the gold personal ornament, which was found in Glemsford, near Sudbury, was an 'important item'.

It is currently in the hands of the British Museum, which carried out the report into the object, but it could come home to Suffolk."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: East Anglian Daily Times

Years Past, Pin Declared Tudor

"A tiny piece of treasure has delighted experts after it was left to gather dust at the home of the man who unearthed it six years ago.

The small silver pin was dug up by pensioner Len Fisher using his metal detector in 2004 and has just been declared a rare Tudor find.

The 500-year-old pin is the size of a five pence piece and elaborately decorated with circles.

Danielle Wootton, of Exeter's Royal Albert Memorial Museum, thinks it is worth hundreds of pounds and is getting experts in London to officially value it."

Read more HERE.

Medievil Seal Holds Roman Jewel

"An amateur enthusiast has unearthed a mysterious treasure said to bear inscriptions from a forgotten medieval code.

Ivor Miller’s find is thought to be a medieval silver seal containing a Roman-era jewel and engraved with as-yet undeciphered lettering.

Some have speculated a medieval farm labourer may have found the Roman jewel, a semi-precious stone, and handed it to their noble or lord, who placed it into their correspondence seal."

Read more HERE.

Image Credits: The Northern Echo

500yr Old Estonian Jewelry

"Local resident Aivar Piirsalu from the town of Öötla in Järva County was exploring a seemingly ordinary field with his metal detector on October 26, when he discovered and dug out jewelry from 500 years ago.

After digging a 35-centimeter hole, Piirsalu called archeologist Mauri Kiudsoo to the scene, wrote the newspaper, Järva Teataja. They found nine greenish chest ornaments, as well as five silver beads and several gold-plated silver pendants."

Read more HERE.

Image credits: Järvateataja

Below is a VERY ROUGH translation of the actual source article from the original Estonian site.

"Typical Järvamaa resourceful! "Said archaeologist examined the treasures of Estonia Mauri Kiudsoo Öötla the village the day before yesterday in the field, which was dug out about half a thousand-year-old costume jewelry treasure.

Flower on Monday combed the village municipality Öötla man Aivar Piirsalu metal detectors completely normal fields. He then was never found, although a few coins, but nothing special. "If the processor along the trail by taking the wheel suddenly began detector signal that something important is in the ground, thought that probably it is a metallikolakas," he explained.

Piirsalu dug a hole about 35-40 inches deep, and looked at him with a greenish discs. "I thought this is slang, but when it came to the silver thing (Kroll - editor), I realized that there is something else, and told it to heritage conservation," he explained.

Already the day before yesterday stood spades kellude, brush, and instrumented with specialists in the field, and four hours, baring the hidden secret of the earth's crust.

Carefully examine the archaeological treasures excavated in Estonia Mauri Kiudsoo chair about 40 cm deep hole in the bottom end of the brush was cleaned out of nine breast ornamentation käelabasuurust site of what women wore around the neck.

In addition, it became apparent krõlli way, a few beads and plated hõberipatseid, which were parts of a necklace. Jewellery from the ferocity the remnants of a wooden bottom."

More Treasure on Outskirts of York

"Meral detector enthusiasts have unearthed gold jewellery that could be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds at a secret site in North Yorkshire.

One of the finds, an Iron Age twisted gold bracelet, may have belonged to a relative of Cartimandua, Queen of the Brigantes, and an expert says the site where it was discovered along with a brooch, a ring and an armlet may be of 'real archaeological significance'."

Read more HERE.

Image credits: The York Press