Roman "Cathouse" Token

"An amateur archeologist out walking along the River Thames with his metal detector discovered a rare and unique coin believed to be about 2,000 years old.

Regis Cursan, 37, discovered the long-hidden bronze token (described as 'spintria') in the mud near Putney Bridge, West London, at low tide. The spintria, believed by experts to be a token used in ancient Roman brothels, depicts two people in a sex act.

According to the Daily Mail, historians believe it is the first token of its type to be found in Britain."

Read more HERE.

Image Credit: Museum of London

10K Park Gold

Last night before bed, I got a call from Digger Magoo determined that we were going to head back up to Cheesman Park in Denver to give it another go at finding that lost wedding set. I picked him up from his place around 10a this morning and off we went. He said he had spoken with her again and might have narrowed the search a little more than what we were dealing with before.

The tempperature was already rising and with no looming storms currently off in the distance we put the coils to the soil.

The first hour was by far the most exciting. Concentrating much of our efforts within a 2000 square foot area closest to where she parked along curb next to the grass, we really felt this wold be the day to score the gold. Well, we weren't wrong in that thought... it just so happened it wasn't the correct item we were looking for.

I got a jumpy low 20s to mid 30s VDI on my XLT, and knowing what we were looking for, I was digging almost anything that was from about +10 - +50. And knowing that the item would be shallow, anything I could dig less than 3" (especially just using a screwdriver) felt like it could be it. Well this one, at roughly 2.5" just so happened to be a hefty, 10K men's class of '73 ring from Evergreen High School in Evergreen, CO. It has some initials in it, we'll see what I can do in terms of returning it. But leaving for work in the Gulf of Mexico for the next five weeks will most likely limit that venture for a later time.

But I tell you what, as evidence on the picture provided by my good friend Troy, I sure was grinning when this came out of the ground. And truth be told, it's my first gold ring, and first class ring I've ever found. Just never can seem to get the coil over all them lost goodies out there.

We swung around for the next two hours and both of us we're able to round up a few bucks in clad. Troy did happen to come across a sterling silver cased nail file. The file part was rusted to hell, but the silver sure looked nice. I did find another key, and even a sweet little pocket spill of 7 RTD tokens. I know they aren't old, but digging tokens is just plain fun, I don't care who you are.

So though we didn't find what we came for, we sure left with our pouches full of keepers. And that gold ring will be in teh back of my mind for future hunts to come. The clad totaled to $2.21 over 33 coins. And if you're curious, that ring, in the air, comes in at a solid +42/+43 on the XLT.

Happy huntin' folks, and may the next dig be a good one.

USS Alabama Coin

Back in the beginning of September I traveled to Mobile, Alabama for work. It had been about two years since I was there last. We had some time in port and were able to leave and explore from time to time. So one day me and a few mates decided to grab a taxi over to the USS Alabama Memorial.

It was a really great afternoon spent exploring the insides of the ship, viewing many of the military aircraft used over the last 40 years in the huge hanger, and then crawling through the bowels of the USS Drum submarine.

I ended up leaving with two things... a bunch of pictures and the neat two sided USS Alabama/USS Drum gold colored coin pictured above. Wonder if anyone has ever dug one up? It's got some good weight to it and is a bit bigger than a US half dollar.

RTD Token on Lookout Mountain

Today the g/f and I decided to hit up some local places of historical significance. The first place we stopped was the Colorado Railroad Museum. A cheap entrance fee was all it took to spend a few hours viewing their indoor exhibits and then outside to all of the coolness. Even better that you can get in quite a few of their displays.

After that we headed up to Buffalo Bill's Grave at the top of Lookout Mtn. here in Golden. Not much going up there, but on the way down we stopped at a little pull-off that has access to some rocks that stick off the mountain. On the way back to the truck I noticed the token pictured above, an RTD token from the public transportation here in Denver.

Mystery Coin Reproduction

A friend in the Navigation on my boat from Malaysia saw me looking at some coin finds at American Detectorist and said he found a coin on his plane coming to the states at the beginning of June.

He brought it down and I started the search. The text on the coin reads:

MONETA DOMINORVM PRVSSIE
HONOR MAGRI IVDICIVM DILIGIT

Latin sure, but I can't translate it and no luck online. I found references to some deutch coinage from the 1300s with the same text and same coin design, you can see them in these pics.



This coin is gold in color, and 28.18mm in diameter according to my electronic calipers, and 1mm thick. It has a smooth edge.

I told him moneta is money, prvssie is sweet, and dominorvm is like a dominating lady, haha... so it's a hooker token from Germany... he thought it was funny I know that's not what it is... maybe someone can find some better info?

It's definitely a reproduction, and new'ish.

UPDATE: Perhaps a modern token for the German Order of The Teutonic Knights?

UPDATE #2: Dan, a buddy of mine from the MD circles things maybe the inscription translates as follows:

MONETA DOMINORVM PRVSSIE = MASTER OF PRUSSIA
HONOR MAGRI IVDICIVM DILIGIT = HE ADVISES TO BE LORD

UPDATE #3: Possibly a better translation from a German source of the text?

MONETA DOMINORVM PRVSSIE = Money of Prussian Lords
HONOR MAGRI IVDICIVM DILIGIT = The honour of the master loves justice

CO Trip, Books + Tokens

I spent the past week in Colorado visiting a friend and experiencing some of the state. It has 10+ years since I remember traveling through and seeing my Great Aunt who lived in Colorado Springs, so it was nice to return. I wasn't prepared for the cold, and witnessed the first snow of the year in Golden.

I had high hopes of going to see the Rockies in the playoffs against the Phillies, or even the Broncos hosting the Patriots, but both fell through. But I had many other adventures on the trip so it was all good. Below are images of said adventures. As far as nature goes, I made it out to Red Rocks, and also Estes Park, which is an entrance to the Rocky Mountain National Park. Estes Park is also where the hotel from the movie, The Shining is located. I also HAD to visit Casa Bonita, a huge, themed Mexican restaurant that I first heard of from watching South Park, and couldn't believe it was real. I saved a token from here.

On my last full day there I made it out to Gold-N-Detectors, a sweet prospecting and MD shop in downtown Golden that is a must visit if you are ever in the area. It's run by a fun gentleman by the name of Bill. He has all sorts of cache finds displayed, and many machines to play around with in the store, or across the street at Cleer Creek History Park. Bill gave me a token on my way out after purchasing two books for my XLT.

Enjoy the pics!