A few weeks ago, I was searching an area of river dredging and drainage development. Having spotted numerous old bones, shells and bits of pottery, I thought this would be a cool place to search. I have searched the same area for 20 years now but with much topsoil being scraped away I wanted to check it out. I came across a small area of disturbed soil literally where the excavator bucket had skimmed off several inches of turf and soil. However, despite a good search all I found was a crumpled piece of tin foil. The next day I returned to a point much further down river. As I worked my way up, I looked over and saw the small patch of clear soil again. I thought "That looks so good, but I searched it thoroughly only yesterday." Carrying on I once again was at the edge of the small area so I gave it another search.
The first signal was a shot gun cartridge tip..."How did I miss that yesterday?" I wondered. Then as if to make the point I had another signal. I dug down and broke the soil up into pieces passing each in front of my coil. I wasn't really paying much attention but then I found the target. Looking down I was stunned because in a small lump of very dark soil was a golden rim just visible. Firstly, I thought I had found an 18th century gold guinea. Then I carefully wiped it and the dark soil emphasized the design...now my close vision eyesight is really poor. So I then thought I had found a Georgian gold gilded button...but as I felt it, there was no loop or raised section on the reverse...and it was so heavy. A quick wash in the river revealed what it was.
A Gallo Belgic Celtic gold broad flan stater (my first in 40 years). One side shows the abstract head of Apollo and the other a large horse. These coins date to around 150-50BC and are based on the earlier gold issues of Philip I of Macedonia. Talk about a dream coming true and I had only been talking to my buddy two hours before about the very same coin.
Yes this was a dream that came true and for me was a real WOW!!!
Jules – England, UK.
