Search

Cancel
Minelab
Explorer XS

Father & Son Bonding

05 Feb 2011
Find of
the Month

“Jamie! “ “Yes Dad?” “You can’t spend all day inside on that console, let’s go outside. It’s good for you!” “Outside is boooooring! There’s nothing to do.” “How about we grab the Minelab and go and search the woods?” “aaaaaw …..” “Come-on, it’ll be fun!” “aaaaaw ….OK.” Such started a strange chain of events one Sunday morning. We grabbed our boots, gloves and shovels and set off into the woods that back onto our garden. A normal autumn morning, with the dog bouncing along next to us. To be fair, all I’d ever found in the woods were shotgun cartridges. But this was really about getting some time to do “stuff” with Jamie, and even digging “shotties” outdoors would be better for him than staring at that blasted screen all day. We tramped over roots, tripped on blackberry bushes; all the while waiting for the ever-elusive tone that takes the cross-hairs to North North East on the display! Woooooo-Woop, Woooooo-Woop, Woooooo-Woop. Over and over again we had signals and dug them. “Dad, it’s juuuust another shottie!” “We’re NEVER going to find anything!” “C’mon J’, let’s keep trying. You never know” We moved deeper into the woods, amongst the larger trees when suddenly the XS went off like a rocket. ‘Gotta be tin foil’ I thought to myself but let’s dig it nonetheless... We checked the depth and figured on about eight inches. Did our pinpoint ‘X marks the spot’ thing, and plunged the shovel into the decaying leaf litter. I made a nice little circle around the spot and popped the root-infested plug to one side. Jamie, on his knees, peered into the pocket in the dark soil and reached in. I was preparing for another let-down and the eventuality that would mean us giving-up and returning home empty-handed; Jamie brain-dead in front of a zombie screen again. “Dad” “mmmm?” “DAAAAD?” “mmmmm, what?” “Dad, look. I think it’s gold!” Gold! Now there’s a word that can wake even the sleepiest person. I spun ‘round. I looked down at Jamie. Cupped in his hands was a large thin disc, and between the bits of soil that clung to it I could clearly see what appeared to be gold metal flashing in the dappled light of the woods. At this point, I must say, it is far better to be ten years old holding something you totally believe to be gold, than to be a forty two year old adult who is trying to find reasons why it can’t be. I decided to indulge Jamie’s fantasy and we called it gold all the way home. Jamie was over-the-moon. I was sceptical! But we’d had great fun in the woods, and after all, that was why we’d gone there. I mean, who ACTUALLY believes they WILL find treasure? Turns out the 10 year old was right. A report from the UKFD (United Kingdom Finds Database) based on the image we submitted returned this: “An Anglo-Saxon period copper-alloy disc (Circa 8th - early 9th century AD) with incised and applied decoration. The front of the disc has a voided cross pommée with interlace decoration in the four angles. At the centre of the cross, and the pommée end of each arm, a copper-alloy rivet with a protruding spherical head has been fitted. The back of the disc has the corroded remains of an iron strip, riveted (via the two small rivets visible on the front of the disc) slightly off-centre and spanning the full diameter. The disc has been gilded and much of the gilt surface survives." That night I tucked Jamie into bed. I’m sure I could still hear him fizzing with excitement! “Goodnight mate” “Goodnight Dad”… … “Dad?” “mmmmm” “When can we go Metal Detecting again? Garb– Wiltshire, UK

Return to Top

arrow_back Minelab
arrow_back Main Menu
arrow_back Minelab
arrow_back Product Filters
arrow_back Minelab
arrow_back Filters