Metal detecting is fun no matter how small your finds are. However, most of us are driven by the dream of finding something of great monetary or historical value. Here are a selection of pictures of real finds.
If you would like your finds featured on this page please email or phone us with details.
"Just before Christmas I was lucky enough to find a hoard of Celtic coins with my two detecting buddies Edward and Andrew Clarkson. The field of the discovery was mentioned in a book I had been using for research and even contained a map with an 'X' to mark the spot of a previous discovery. So after gaining permission we set off to the field with our Explorer SEs.
On arriving at the field we sat trying to relate the old map to the modern landscape realising some of the hedgerows still existed today. We walked onto the field to where we thought the 'x' indicated the find spot of the earlier find and sure enough started to find gold coins within a few minutes.
The Explorers soon found 33 coins that first day and then more coins each day we visited the site over the following months until we were no longer able to find any more.
The total was now at 49, but we knew there had to be more. The Explorer fitted with a 15" coil had found coins laying flat to a depth of 26cm, but the plough soil in places was 35cm deep, so we knew there must be more coins, deeper or laying on edge.
We tried other makes of so called deep detectors but none of these fulfilled their promise. Finally we acquired the new Minelab GPX4000 and fitted it with the commander 18" mono coil. We chose the 18" mono for brute power and we weren’t disappointed!
WOW what a machine!!! After using the GPX for three days the total jumped to 70. The signals from these extra 21 coins were loud and clear and some were at depths of over 30cm, but more importantly the incredible sensitivity of the GPX managed to get the coins laying on edge at depth.
I would like to thank Minelab for making such brilliant machines. I know the Explorer SE and GPX4000 will bring me more good luck in the years to come."
Gordon Heritage, UK.
"I was out hunting along side of him when I got a rather large target and figured it was another crushed can, but the tone just sounded too good, so I decided to dig. Since I was still getting used to pin pointing with the Explorer, I was cutting a larger plug than usual, but it turned out to be worth it. When I lifted out the plug I saw a half of a silver bracelet and the other half was still in the hole."
"The GP3000 strikes again! My buddy Frank found this nugget while hunting in a ground sluice area. Someone had dug the piece out of the ground and it rolled down the hill about 2 1/2 feet below the hole. This is the biggest nugget from the area that I know of"
"We started off in the flogged places and around diggings and could not believe our success. The trouble was we never got to go walking much because we could not walk away from gold even though the pieces were small. We met so many people who were disappointed this year after having success other years and they were really surprised when we told them we had found 1541 pieces giving us a total of thirty two ounces.
"
"I was on day 11 of a 14 day detecting vacation in Colchester, England. I was with a group of 5 friends and already a 1500 BC Bronze Age Axe hoard was found, a hoard of 3 gold starters, 1 single axe head, and some nice hammered silver. I was afraid I was going to get skunked on finding something special. I was using the Explorer II at a field we'd be on three separate times. My friend Shawn had a feeling about this field, and he was right. I was in a corner of the field with few targets being found when I got a signal and dug a plug. At first I thought it was a button until I picked it up and realized it was a gold coin ... officially classified as a "Gallo_Belgic E Stater, C. 56BC class 2 of the type."
"The morning was spent detecting and all we got was one small piece along with a few bullets. Stopped for lunch then try a spot just to the side of the main workings. After a while, I got a very faint signal that sounded just like another bullet. I dig away for a while then my mate comes over to lend a hand. We were in hard clay and gravel, the pick near bounced back at you so we took turns digging and pinpointing. As it happens, our pinpointing wasn't spot on with the big coil and we hit it with the pick,- ouch! one gouge. We finally unearthed it and I measured the depth at one hand spread less than the length of my pick, about 22 inches.
Well I'd found my kilo piece. Final weight is 1520 grams and a pretty specimen at that.
"
"I have been metal detecting for almost 30 years and I have owned a Minelab detector for over two years. Six months ago I upgraded from an Explorer XS to the Explorer II ... I never cease to find more ways to configure and operate my machine to suit my particular needs.
I live in an area where other detectors just simply will not work due to the ground effect but the Explorer II just tunes it out.
"
"... I got a sweet coin tone on my Explorer XS hard up against the low ferrous tone of an iron target. Down between some large rocks I dug a handful of dirt and out with it came a large rusty object. I began banging it against my shovel blade to remove the rust and crud from what I thought was an old door hinge but which looked oddly familiar. What a wonderful surprise as I recognized it for what it was! In my delight at finding this Musket 'hammer', I don't even think I pursued the coin tone.... Just might have to go back and see what it was. If that coin tone hadn't shone through the iron tone, I would never have recovered this artifact.
"
"I pinpointed the signal and quickly dug the target. I knew immediately that this was no pull tab but because of the dirt and failing light I didn't know just how nice of a find I had until I got it home.
The ring is 14k gold with 45 diamonds. The marquise stone is 1/3 c with 10 round cut stones and 34 baguettes totaling another 1.5 c. (total of just under 2c) The stones were tested by a jeweler and verified to all be diamonds.
"
"... I set the machine in Variable Tone / Auto Sensitivity / All Metal and started to detect, the very 1st signal that I received was the coin as illustrated, a Hammered Silver 3d of Elizabeth I. Over the next two hours I was amazed at the loudness of the signals received, even better than the Explorer, and with far less weight, many of the finds were coming from beyond 7" in depth and were just minute buttons."
"After assembling the Elite and adjusting the settings, I went off to one of my usual haunts to try it out. Upon arrival at site, I turned the Elite on and took two steps into the filed, only to receive a positive signal straight away. I dug down to retrieve the target and turned the sod over and checked through it for my prize, but it was still in the hole. I then dug down a further spades depth and to my surprise a beautiful silver hammered coin at over 9 inches!"
"In the photo you will see a few items that my wife Leslie & I found ( Don't forget family hobby ) while out metal detecting in February of 2003. While out using our Minelab Musketeer Advantage (with a 10" Coil), these items were all found at sites that we have hunted in the past. The round item in the center was found at a site where we have found Civil War Relics in the past, but I do not know what it is for sure yet. It's made of brass an it has some type of crystal or marble in the center of it (could be a rosette or hat pin). The item below it is a Civil War belt buckle keeper there is a number in the top left hand corner that will match the number on the belt buckle (when we find it) This belt buckle keeper was found at an old home site. One item that I really like in the photo is the Ladies Silver wedding Band which was also found at an old house site ( Being small an thin like this ladies Sterling Silver Wedding band proves a great metal detector ). This house site goes way back, I could tell by the metal that we were digging. They did not have electric and they did not have a car this was a old site that we found with our Advantage."
"After digging through over 2 foot of gravels and then entering a rich red clay zone, he started to question if he was just chasing ground noise, but as the signal was still present he continued to dig. After digging a further foot through the clay, expanding the hole as he went, when he passed the 3ft mark he finally saw that magical glint of gold colour at the bottom of the hole and thought he had found a nice 5oz piece. However, as he kept digging around the nugget to prevent any damage to it, the hole just kept getting bigger, and a huge nugget eventually came out of the hole that later weighed in at a little over 110 oz's"
Home
Shopping Basket
Detectors price list
Accessories
Books
Used detectors
0% apr credit
Contact us
Sales hotline
Field test reports
Help
Showroom
Opening Hours
Directions
Brochures
Your Privacy Terms & Conditions How to order
© Joan Allen Electronics Ltd, 190 Main Road, Biggin Hill, Kent, TN16 3BB, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1959 571255/574234 Fax: +44 (0)1959 576014
Email: sales@joanallen.co.uk
: £0.00
Now you can buy your detecting books and detecting accessories online at Detectors Direct too!