Englanddetectingtours

Just wanted to drop you a note about my experience with the England Colchester hunt Oct. 2010. I had a great time. One week is not enough! From the first day to the last, each day was filled with the excitement of the potential of finding something extraordinary. Everything you told me about the hunt was as it was. All the fields we hunted yielded relics, coins or both. I found coin and relic keepers on every field I hunted. Items found, by everyone involved, ranged in years from 70 B.C., Morini Gold, to the 20th century modern coins. It was quite the experience for me to find two 1st century Roman bronze coins. I can only imagine what stories those two coins could tell? Everyone involved with the group I was in were very friendly and helpful to me as I was the novice member of the group. Ron, your enthusiasm, was very contagious, you wore us out with your energy. Tim, who will run his own barn in March 2011, was/is a very capable second in command. He, like you, is very knowledgable about what areas had very old history to them and what had been found in those areas. The rest of the group, Mike, Jim, Jeff and Bill were all knowledgable and experienced detectorists. All very fun to detect with. I'm looking forward to another trip across the pond to see if I can find an older coin or relic than my 1st century Roman coins. Thanks Ron and Chris for making this trip possible for me.

At 35,000 feet Brian Feierday felt good. His months of waiting and planning for this one week treasure hunting trip to England was starting to bear fruit, he was on his way. On March 17, 2011 Brian left SETAC for Heathrow Airport, London, England for seven days of treasure hunting with hunt organizer, Ron Guinazzo, a Chicago firefighter by trade and a professional treasure hunter (TH’er) that has been in this business for seven years and has the gold and silver coins to prove it. Upon arrival, Brian made his way to
a bread and breakfast cottage near Heathrow where he would spend the night and team up with other TH’ers that had arrived during the night and morning. The following morning, he and the other TH’ers left for Colchester to drop off their baggage and head for preselected farmers fields, and they numbered in the hundreds, that a TH’er could select from. Each TH’er was provided a map that was marked with the fields that they could treasure
hunt.

After arriving at the Barn, a farmer’s barn which had been converted into apartment style living, and rented to vacationers during the summer, Brian helped the driver unload the other TH’ers luggage and then was off to the field to do some TH’ing. Ron found a gold coin that afternoon
and was obligated to buy a round of cheer for the rest of the group that evening during dinner at a
local pub.The following morning after
breakfast, Brian and the group headed to the fields at 7:30 am for a full day of TH’ing. Up until noon he had not found anything of significance
but the afternoon was a different story as he found his 1st silver hammered coin, a Rose Farthing and a large Roman Fibula Broach from
the 2d Century. During the following three days Brian found his 2nd silver hammered coin and a
Celtic Cunobelin silver coin from 10-40 A.D. Once
Ron saw the coin he knew exactly what it was and
stated “it was a great find.”During this three day period, Brian found two more silver hammered coins, some “greenies”, coins that turn green with age, half a Rose Farthing coin (possibly cut in half) and lots of buttons. By now Brian’s legs and back were feeling the effects of several days of bending and straightening up. He was lucky that he had brought leg wraps and were using them now, and he also changed to a shovel with a longer handle, which helped considerably, as he didn’t have to bend so much.On Thursday, his last day of TH’ing, Brian found his fifth silver hammered coin and a bronze ring.After lunch Brian and three other TH’er decided to move to a different field. Along the way Brian saw a church
ruin and requested to be dropped off near a church ruins.The area was quiet and peaceful with
shade trees and solid ground. He hunted around the ruins for a while and found a “greenie” or two and then moved onto a trail behind the church and found a beautiful gold ring with emeralds and diamonds. That evening at dinner it was Brian’s turn to buy a round of cheer for the group.
Friday, it was off to Heathrow for Brian and the long trip back to Seattle. The experience of TH’ing in England was one he won’t forget anytime soon. He will have the chance this fall to do it all over again and possibly find even greater treasures.

Article by Jim Ratcliff, Sr.