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United Kingdom Detector Finds Database Newsletter - Issue Number 5 - January 2008
UKDFD
BORROWED 
 times
 
www.ukdfd.co.uk 
Page 1
GORDON’SCARINUSAUREUS -
 What aCracker!
GORDON’SCARINUSAUREUS -
What aCracker!
 
UKDFD 5578
Gordon Walters (Polgor), whofound his gold coin on Firework’sDay 2006, describes the find as: ‘abloody cracker’ and asks if wewould allow him to blow his owntrumpet. After some thirty-sixyears detecting, Gordon, why not!The aureus of Carinus won themost significant coin prize in
The
 
Searcher
magazine’s ‘Nation’sGreatest Finds’ contest and is,without doubt, Gordon’s best evercoin find.
He says, “My detecting actuallystarted as a spin-off from my interestin electronics. I was looking for aproject and decided on building(from scratch) a pulse inductiondetecting machine. After a few weekswork and after resolving someproblems with the coil windings andsome weight issues, it was eventuallyfinished.Taking it out to the local park for atest run (complete with ‘Pipe FindersLicence’ costing ten shillings), I wasamazed at the depth I was picking upVictorian coins - trust me, it wouldeasily outstrip some of today’smodels! However, the fact that it hadno discrimination soon dawned onme. So, because by this time I waswell and truly hooked, I bought myfirst discrimination machine, which Istill own.I worked the local parks for a fewmonths and made some nice finds,but they were all relatively modern.After reading articles in
TheSearcher
about such things ashammered coins and Saxon artefactsI joined a detecting club to see how Icould improve on my finds. This issomething I would advise allnewcomers to do for it is one of thequickest ways to learn and there isreally good banter.My dear wife, who is my greatestdetecting partner, has made somevery nice finds and is probably amuch keener detectorist than myself.It may sound silly to some of you,but this coin was just too good andrare to keep and after being dulyrecorded it sadly went to auctionwhere it realised the sum of just overfive thousand pounds (with fees).”
GOOD PRESENTATION
Gordon always makes sure thatwhen he presents his finds foruploading to the database they arealways the best he can produce. Nofuzzy pictures; no garish colouredbackgrounds.He says, ‘I’m of the opinion thatif you spend hours finding theselittle treasures, then why not go theextra mile with your presentation!They also look great in yourFinds’ Album .’
Please advise us ofany errors on ourdatabase. We arekeen to maintainthe highest possiblestandards.
I’ll give you an accurate identification with full references, a professionalvaluation, plus an illustrated Celtic catalogue, all free of charge. ElizabethCottam, Chris Rudd Box 222, Aylsham, Norfolk NR11 6TY.
Tel
01263 735 007
 Mobile
07990 840 816 Email liz @celticcoins.com
Web
www.celticcoins.com
 
FIG 1FIG 2FIG 3
EUROPE’S NO.1 METAL DETECTING SPECIALIST
EASY TERMS HOTLINE 01959 571255 
www.joanallen.co.uk 
Page 2
theboysHISTORY
We are very pleased to announce the recent appointment of twonew validators to the team, Rob Lane (BobHoe) and John Mills(John gm). Rob and John first joined the UKDFD team as FindsAdvisers in December 2006, and over the past year they havemade a valuable contribution to the identification process.John said:’I am very pleased to accept my new role. UKDFDis already a fantastic resource and I hope that my involvementwill help lessen the burden on more established team members,thus allowing continual growth of the database.’
RobJohn
ohn
The UKDFD team are grateful for the manymessages of endorsement since the lastnewsletter. They were gratefully received.This is a short selection, some of whichhave been slightly edited . . .Many thanks to all at UKDFD forvalidating my finds. You provide anexcellent service . . .I have found this site invaluable inrecording finds . . . and would like to say ahuge thank you to Rod and the team for thebest service I have ever encountered. At lastmy finds can be put to order, and all thisfrom my armchair! what more can one ask?Thanks, guys.Thanks Rod for the ID on my Romanbronze. I’m chuffed as I didn’t know therewas Roman on my door step. PAS onlyhave one other Roman coin recorded in thisarea so this will make a second. I’ll let myFLO see it at our next meeting.Big thanks for the wonderful service youhave provided during the year . . . thank you so much.A big thank you to the team at UKDFD- the time it takes from upload toidentification and on to the database isamazing. Do you get to sleep at all?Thanks very much for all your help overthe past year. I can’t believe how much Ihave learnt from reading your validationsand articles. I can’t thank you and the teamenough for all your enthusiasm anddedication which has enabled me to takemy detecting to the next level of understanding and have a little educationover what I’m finding. It really is a proudfeeling to belong to something soworthwhile.
IT’S MAGIC!
There is a section on the site whereyou may post your images to see if they are eligible for recording. Alas,and for many reasons, noteverything submitted is accepted.The folded hammered coinposted by Tony Head (Magicman)and shown in
FIG 1
is a case inpoint. He had rediscovered itlurking in his grot box and, as itwasn’t it super condition, hethought that he would have a go atstraightening it. This is his accountof the ‘operation’.‘My DIY on the coin involvedheating it up on the gas thenquenching in a small glass of water.This was done five times and eachtime the coin was opened a little bitwith two halves of a wooden clothespeg. When complete, I tidied up,went to watch television and fellasleep!’
The result of Tony’s DIY labours can be seen in
 
FIG 2.
Tony says that when he looked inthe washing-up bowl next morning,he was surprised to find a cut-quarter!
FIG 3.
He could onlyassume that the coin had beendeliberately bent to secure thesmaller piece. But why?Unfortunately, although aninteresting discovery, the detail onthe coin wasn’t clear enough forclassification and for that reasonwas not accepted for the database.
Recorders are reminded that theconvention is that the obverseimage is shown 1st and on theleft. The reverse is shown 2ndand on the right. You may, if you wish, show the two sides of a coin together in the first field,as shown below.
Coin Display Convention
 
Obverse Reverse
 
Page 3
Please note thatmilled regalcoins, i.e. thosestruck after1662, are noteligible forrecording onthe database.We make exceptions to thisgeneral rule for gold coins, andsilver coins up to 1816, providedthat they are in a minimum of Finecondition.Non-regal tokens of all typesare, however, eligible.
MILLED COINS
The
Remember This?
You may recollect reading about WayneBurton’s gold chain in a previousnewsletter. The story was highlightedbecause Wayne hadn’t realised that itwas so old until after the UKDFDidentification when he was advised toreport it under the Treasure Act.This he duly did and the article endedby saying that the item was currently atthe British Museum going through theprocess.Wayne found the item in October2006 and is still waiting for a response.He said:A disgruntled Wayne added:
 ‘I am not happy with the lengthof time it’s taking to go through thesystem. We are now into 2008 and thereis no date set for the inquest. I’ve asked the FLO to chase it up and was told that  I could always contact the coroner myself!’
 
‘I’ve just placed another item in the system . .. but I’m not holding out for a quick response!’
1039027834808
 
The
When I was a lot younger I used to raid my mother’s button jar looking for onethat was particularly large and colourful. Then I’d string it on a long piece of twine and tie the ends together. With the button in the middle and the stringheld in both hands it was twirled and twirled until a twist was built up in thestring. I’d pull the string outward, let my hands come together and then pulloutward again. This was repeated was long as the string kept its twist. Thespinning button made a humming or buzzing noise as it twirled.The lead disc whirligig often found by detectorists is sometimes discardedas just being a lead weight. The ones shown above have a ’saw-tooth’ edge,feathered pattern markings, and three piercings and are a crude form of musical instrument and toy. Similar to my button, when pulled taut betweentwo hands, the spinning of the disc produces a rhythmic humming (amplifiedby the toothed edges), which rises and falls with each pull of the cord.Such toys have variously been home-made, not just from buttons, but morerecently from cardboard, these being given as a free gift in comics as late as the1950s-60s. With coloured panels printed on the cardboard the spinningproduced a visual as well as audible toy.These musical toys have their origin in more ancient times when pigmetacarpals and metatarsals were drilled and threaded to serve the samepurpose. They have been found in Saxon to early post-medieval deposits inBritain. Lead ’saw-tooth’ medieval/post-medieval discs such as these havebeen found during surveys of Thames foreshore deposits in the City of London.Whirling toys made of hammered lead musket balls or coins too old or thinto be of value have been excavated from early American towns, plantations,and military campsites. The sound of the whirling disk lends this folk toy itscommon name of ’buzzer’, although it appears in English literature as early as1686 under the general name for spinning toys, whirligig. The scalloped edgeof our buzzer identifies it more particularly as a ‘buzz saw’ toy. In past timesthe edge was often sharply cut into a sawtooth pattern, but a buzz saw with anyshaped edge will produce an impressive loud, whizzing noise when it reachesfull speed . . . .http://tinyurl.com/2syewm
 Examples below kindly provided by Dave Watson and D R Edwards
of 00

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