Treasures Found With Metal Detectors
Who loves treasure? Most of us do and what’s better then finding hidden or lost treasure with low tech tools like cheap metal detectors? So I spent a few hours combing through stories and found some of the best one’s I wanted to share. If you enjoy treasure or the hunt then feel free to read on but either way enjoy!
“Middleham Jewel”
This little treasure was discovered in Middleham Castle in North Yorkshire by Ted Seaton in September 1985. The story is unclear but it is said that Ted usually was out at the castle with his metal detector a lot until finally in September of that day he found and unearthed the gem. The jewel is an exquisitely engraved 15th century lozenge shaped Gothic reliquary pendant, set with a large sapphire. Seaton’s metal detector had picked up trace metal elements in the setting of the pendant. Shortly after being discovered, the jewel was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in 1986 for the sum of 1.3 million pounds. It was also rumored that a high ranking member of the Royal Family bough it.
A few years later, the jewel was once again up for sale and again it was sold only this time it fetched 2.5 million pounds. Almost double then what it originally started for. The jewel would come up for auction once more, but this time the Yorkshire Museum bought it and it can been seen there on display to this day.
“Hoxne Hoard”
This treasure was a much larger find which was discovered by Eric Lawes on November 16, 1992 with his metal detector in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk. The hoard contained a cache of approximately 15,000 late 4th and early 5th century Roman silver and gold coins. They also discovered over 200 items of silver tableware and jewelery. After its discovery it was declared “Treasure Trove” (meaning you only get a really small percent of the value of the treasure) and it was purchased by the British Museum for an undisclosed amount. Several items from the hoard like the famous Silver Tigress are on permanent display there. Eric Lawes and the landowner who’s land it was found on, received 1.75 million pounds and they divided it evenly.
“17th Century Gold Coin”
Although this story doesn’t involve mass quantities of gold and riches never the less it still involves treasure and an ordinary person which this article is all about. On one sunny day in May 2004 in Overton, London novice treasure hunter Richard Jones was out in a farmer’s field with is metal detector. After a few hours of searching and coming up empty handed he finally got a good signal on his metal detector. Thinking it was an old bottle cap or something, Jones was surprised to see he had found some kind of coin he had never seen before.
The coin was cleaned up a little bit then was dated between 1685 to 1688 and after analysis were conducted the coin was found to have a gold content of approximately 90 percent. Then it was declared treasure by the North East Wales coroner John Hughes at an inquest at Flint Magistrates court. After all was said and done and the coin had been declared treasure, no museum showed interest in the coin so it was returned to Jones.
“Hand of Faith”
Here’s a story of good fortune that happened to one lucky guy in Australia in 1980. Kevin Hillier from Wedderburn, Australia loved to take his metal detector out searching for objects whenever he had time. Although through the years Kevin has found many things but nothing that would compare to what he did end up finding.
He was out one late afternoon searching the ground and so on when he got a good hit on his metal detector. Like many other people, Kevin didn’t get overly excited because he knew from previous times they have turned out to be nails, old metal or caps. Well he started to unearth where the signal came from and to his surprise he saw gold. Thinking it was only a little nugget which isn’t uncommon he tried to pull it out of the ground but with no luck. So Kevin went on cleaning and digging out around the gold nugget. To everyone’s surprise, when it was totally unearthed the gold nugget was huge weighing in at 61 pounds total and at that time was worth around $425,000 US. Shortly after this, the nugget got the name “Hand of Faith” and was the 4th largest gold nugget in the world and the largest known gold nugget on display. It would be sold once more only this time the “Golden Nugget Casino” purchased it for the sum of $1,000,000 US and put it on display in the North tower off their casino where it will remain for generations to come.
“Boot of Cortez”
One summer in 1989, a Mexican local was out in the Sonora Desert with his newly purchased metal detector he had bought from Radio Shack earlier that day. The man was out only for a few hours when he came across something that would blow his mind. Not only did his cheap metal detector end up getting a good signal that, but to his surprise when he unearthed the spot he found something he wasn’t expecting. At first sight it appeared to be just a little nugget of gold not really uncommon in the area, but after clearing the earth from the nugget the size amazed the local man.
After an hour of digging the nugget had finally been brought up from the ground and it was an amazing site. The gold nugget was about 24 pounds in weight and now is the largest surviving gold nugget ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere. It’s not exactly known what the nugget originally sold for but it is on display at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
“Viking Treasure”
On one Sunday morning, David Whelan and his son where enjoying the beautiful morning doing what they did every Sunday which was going metal detecting. They took this hobby up the year before and although they have found many interesting things, they had no idea what they where about to stumble on.
It was about mid morning in a farmer’s field in Yorkshire, England when David got a good signal on his metal detector. His sons face lit up with enjoyment but in the back of David’s mind he was thinking it was probably an old nails or something leftover from building the barns that surround the field. David and his son bent over and started to dig a hole where the signal came from. Within minutes the father and son team had started to unearth old coins and jewelery dating back as far as 1,000 years ago. After the treasure had been all recovered then the historians step in and started to trace the origins of the coins and jewelery. It was said that this discovery was the most significant find of its kind in England for more than 150 years.
Overall value of the treasure was valued around $750,000 to $1,000,000 pounds and David and his son received half the value of the treasure which they split equally with the owner of the land.
These stories just go to show you that fancy top of the line equipment is not always necessary to find big treasures but instead all you need are time and patients and hey who knows what the reward might be!
