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First day out with the CTX 3030

15 May 2012

Well I recently obtained the new Minelab CTX 3030 metal detector and, as always with a new detector, I was initially operating in Factory Preset mode. I like to do this as it’s always the best platform from which to make later modifications to suit both the operator and even the site being searched. However, for this first day I was going to stay in this mode for some time.

The site I was searching had been detected for 40 years, but of course finds over the last decade were becoming scarce. Its main reputation is as a site of some considerable Saxon importance and, since the 1970`s, many Sceats and artefacts had been located here. In general, we can expect 1-2 Saxon Sceats (small thick flanned silver coins) and perhaps 1-2 artefacts, such as brooches or fragments, every year.

I set up against a section of hawthorn hedge, surveying the site and also sheltering from a rather cold wind. I looked down at the brand new detector, “well CTX 3030 this site will certainly test your abilities and performance” I thought. In the past I have detected here for an hour or more before the first signal, but things were different today. My first signal came just 10 minutes after starting. And what a signal it was!!! - converting itself, in a few seconds, to a lovely silver Anglo Saxon Sceat.

a lovely silver Anglo Saxon Sceat found with the CTX 3030

It went quiet for about an hour, after which another crisp signal converted itself into yet another Saxon Sceat.

Another Saxon Sceat found with the CTX 3030

In just over an hour the CTX 3030 had produced what we expect to find in a whole year from the site!

Back to my finds: Are these the first Anglo Saxon objects to be found by a CTX 3030? Possibly yes, but once again undoubtedly not the last. Other objects of note found during this search were:

- A highly decorative mount most likely Victorian, 

- A 0.303 practice dummy round from World War Two,

A highly decorative victorian mount and practice dummy round from World War Two found with the CTX 3030

- A selection of wonderfully patinated copper coins dating 1750 to 1930 and a shoulder badge of the Bedford Regiment,

A selection of wonderfully patinated copper coins dating 1750 to 1930 and a shoulder badge of the Bedford Regiment found with the CTX 3030

And finally, a Civil War (1640`s) period musket ball that has impacted something very hard. Did it impact the rough bark of an old Oak tree or did it smash through muscle and bone of a Royalist or Cromwellian soldier? There are no recorded battles or skirmishes here, but with the CTX 3030 I bet it`s not long before even history may have to be re-written.

Whilst writing this blog, I considered something rather strange based on the CTX 3030`s new GPS functions... one day I’m sure someone will want to plot the position of all those shot gun tips we all find... yes shot gun tips!!!!... There is a very high chance that future researchers may well be extremely interested in such find spots in order to know where the guns stood on those great Edwardian Pheasant shoots. If anyone wants to undertake such local studies, right now, then the CTX 3030 has made this an easy issue... the humble shot gun tip is, after all, an historical artefact in its own right...

For my next CTX 3030 blog post, I will tell you the story of two amazing finds from this same field on the same day... 

Julian Evan-Hart

Comments

Awesome Julian, I have had so many experiences like yours at sites that I have returned to where targets had been scarce, but the CTX 3030 is a whole new ball game. There were solid signals in areas that I have hunted heavily to the point of wondering how I had missed it being so crisp as you would put it. I am finding after retrieval that there will be something in the ground that would have been masking the target. Happy hunting Mark.
Posted By: MarkW on May 15, 2012 04:25pm
Great post Julian.. thanks for sharing.. can't wait to get my hands on this machine.. Evan G....
Posted By: gonehunting on May 15, 2012 04:34pm
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