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fake half angel

Fake coins

Marcel Mitchel sent these images in. He said that he couldn’t determine if the coin pictured here was authentic or

george ii halfpenny

Bargains in a junk shop

These two coins, which were sent in by Mike Ruczynski, aren’t detecting finds. Instead, they came from what his wife

commonwealth shilling

Remarkable cleaning of reader’s find

The first pair of images is of a Commonwealth shilling, which was found some months back by Stephen Palmer. Shillings

victoria crown

Coins in the roof

I’ve heard of coins being found in all sorts of places, which include the ground, soil in a plant pot,

Christmas 2022

Christmas message 2022

Looking back at 2022: Covid At the start of 2022 Covid was still rampant and in March, after attending a

Lot 1054, Miscellaneous hammered coins

How do you store your coins?

Badly worn or corroded copper and bronze coins are often consigned to the ‘grot box’. Silver coins, even those in

charles masson ring

Charles Masson, 19th century explorer, and a Roman ring

One of the fascinating aspects of detecting is that sometimes relatively mundane finds are connected with an extraordinary life. One

hedgehog vervel

Vervel from “The Land of the Hedgehog”

In search of the owner of a vervel, a trip to the land of hedgehogs is needed

ampulla with pins

Mystery of the pins in a pilgrims ampulla

This unusual find was recorded at the PAS last week as WMID-62DDD9. It’s a medieval pilgrims ampulla which contains pins.

cast copy of Coenwulf penny

Beware of a cast copy

This coin is one item from a collection built up by a detectorist. Alan Hewitt was thinking about buying the

Fishpool Hoard

“Delays placing heritage at risk” – my reply

On 29 April a news article was put up on the BBC website, the header to which read: “Delays placing

second oldest cannonball

Unique War of the Roses cannonball rediscovered

This War of the Roses cannonball is the only surviving artefact from the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461.

Have detectorists solved the mystery of Robin Hood?

Every once in a while I see a detecting find posted somewhere and it catches my imagination. Has this one solved the mystery of Robin Hood

Hazelbury civil war hoard

Reader finds hoard of gold coins – Part 2

Update Last week, I published the story of a hoard of hammered gold coins found by reader, Steve Simmons and

Update on the split between the NCMD and the newly formed AMDS

NCMD torn apart By now, all detectorists should be aware that the NCMD has been torn apart by a small

Hazelbury civil war hoard

Reader finds hoard of gold coins

A few months back Steve Simmons contacted me to say he had found a small hoard of hammered gold coins.

Gaming Chip from Edward IV Shilling

Mystery of the Shovel-board shilling

The mystery of why this Edward VI shovelboard shilling has had slits cut in it. The history of shovelboard.

Roundel of William Warham

Story of how the coat of arms on this roundel were identified as being those of William Warham

IOD – the hidden agenda

How one man, Keith Westcott, wants to control metal detecting.

Ringlemere Cup

PAS: Top 10 Finds

The Top 10 finds recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme, of which 9 were detecting finds

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