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White's have been making wonderful finds throughout the world since their introduction into the ever popular hobby of metal detecting.

We're always delighted to receive stories and photographs from White's users. Please contact us by email and lets share your experiences whilst detecting with many other interested readers.

Surf n' Recover

Celtic Gold Stater found with XLT

Rare Silver Ring Found

The Middleham Jewel

The Hoxne Treasure

More results at bottom

Surf n' Recover

Submitted By:

Robert Morton (GB)

Keywords:

RETURNED JEWELRY

UK DETECTOR NET provides link to gold ring

Early on Tuesday 18th June Brian & Mo' received an e-mail from a Themos Tsikas, from Oxford, England, explaining that he had lost a heavy 18 carat gold ring the previous evening whilst working in a friends garden. He asked if we could direct him to somewhere he may hire a metal detector.

UK DETECTOR NET could do better than that for the site contains a database of detector users from all over the world, and.... one lived in Oxford. Within minutes Brian & Mo' had e-mailed Themos back with the e-mail address of Robert Morton, a detectorist living in Oxford.

Robert logged on to his works e-mail system that same morning and found Themos' e-mail passed by UK DETECTOR NET. He replied straight away enclosing his phone number and awaited a reply.

He received a phone call at 7.30 pm that same evening. As they were only twelve miles apart, Robert suggested that he could pop over that night to try to find the ring. The following is Robert's story of the search:-

"Themos had been cutting long rough grass and had moved it to the bonfire a little distance away. I used my XLT to search the area where he had cut the grass. After an hour I had found nothing except a grimy 20p. The site where the garden was had a history dating back to the 1600's and was heavily contaminated with metal."

"I then moved on to the bonfire area. At this point I got my second machine out of the car and gave Themos a quick demo on how to use it. We spent another hour detecting around the bonfire but were unable to find anything."

It was now 10.00 pm and as the light was fading fast I suggested that we move back to the first area and try again for another twenty minutes. The twenty minutes passed and we still hadn't found the ring. I started to head back to my car and at the same time tried to think of the best way to admit to Themos that I wouldn't be able to find his ring that day, and to suggest that I should try another day, when the XLT produced a beautiful sound. It was too dark to see what had produced the signal so John grabbed a torch and shone it where the signal had come from to show the wonderful glint of gold."

"After two and a half hours searching I had found Themos's ring. Although it was dark at the time, the little light that the torch produced was enough to show the grin and relief of Themos."

Celtic Gold Stater found with XLT

Submitted By:

Mr Gregory (GB)

Keywords:

GOLD COIN

The Celtic gold stater pictured above had been found with a White’s Spectrum XLT by Mr Gregory of Nottinghamshire. Mr Gregory wrote, "Many thanks to all at White’s who have contributed to the wonderful Spectrum XLT. I hope it proves to be as reliable as its performance. It’s brilliant!

I found the stater earlier this month with the XLT. It’s been recorded by the local museum curator, who is most helpful. The machine had its first outing at the Bridlington Rally and was custom programmed by a young man I met at Bridlington, John Muir.

The pleasure I get from the excellent relationship with the local farmers makes detecting a wonderful, relaxing hobby, if not a little tiring.

The XLT is wonderfully balanced hence the reason why my legs ache after six hours detecting but never my arms. I thank White's for helping me find this lovely, ancient coin."

Rare Silver Ring Found

Submitted By:

Andrew Southwell (GB)

Keywords:

RARE JEWELRY RELIC

White's user Andrew Southwell has discovered a rare silver ring dating as far back as the 12th century using his XLT.

Andrew from Staffordshire found the rare silver and jasper ring whilst detecting some farm fields in his native Staffordshire. The ring is engraved with the words 'Secreti Sigllum' - meaning 'secret seal' - and is inset with a third century jasper stone, with a carving of the Roman god Jupiter.

It would have been used as a wax seal. It is currently in the hands of experts at the British Museum in London and could be worth many thousands of pounds.

"It is a stunning find", says Andy, It has probably been lying in the ground for 900 years. It is a very exciting find".
Sealed inside the ring jewellery repairers also discovered a small piece of cloth, said to be a holy relic, and which once could have belonged to a saint's robe.
"I had not been metal detecting for about a month," Andy said. "It was the first field I went onto. I turned the XLT on, walked about eight feet and got a decent signal".
"The ring was buried about eight inches down. It had been damaged, and I did not realise how rare it was."
"I have been doing the fields for two years now, and the ring is probably worth five times more than everything else I have ever found".

The Middleham Jewel

Submitted By:

Ted Seaton (GB)

Keywords:

JEWELRY RELIC

Ted Seaton and two friends had been detecting near Middleham Castle, England on a cold, wet day. As the three detectorists made their way back to the car with bags full of nothing more interesting than iron scrap, two of them weren't even switched on. Ted continued a pessimistic search so much so that he was tempted to ignore a faint signal at the edge of the bridleway. From 15" down he unearthed what appeared to be an old compact which joined the other rubbish in his bag.

It was only when he got home and washed the find that Ted realised what he had found. It was a gold pendant weighing 68 gm together with its blue sapphire stone which measures 12 mm x 10 mm and is 10 ct plus. A Trinity scene engraved on one surface of the diamond-shaped pendant has a border of highly-burnished gold surrounding a raised panel which gives a cameo effect and highlights the engraving.
The border carries a Latin inscription in Gothic style which identifies the pendant as a charm against falling sickness (epilepsy). Overall size of the amulet was 65 mm high, 59 mm wide and 10 mm deep.

In record-breaking time the discovery was adjudged not to be Treasure Trove. The amulet belongs to the period of Richard III and is almost certainly a reliquary containing perhaps a fragment of wood reputed to come from The Cross, or some other relic associated with Christ. This wonderful find was later sold at auction where it realised the incredible sum of 1.3 million. It has since changed hands for the sum of 2.5 million..

The Hoxne Treasure

Submitted By:

Eric Lawes (GB)

Keywords:

COIN GOLD SILVER JEWELRY

On Monday 16th November 1992, Eric Lawes, a retired professional gardener, decided to go detecting. He moved to a part not searched, of a field on which he'd previously had no luck. Just short of three hours later a clear, non-ferrous signal welcomed him into a life of luxury. At four inches depth, a silver Roman coin appeared. Advancing the searchhead a further eight inches and digging to the same depth produced a similar coin.
Two sweeps, approximately eight inches onward, a very strong non-ferrous signal, continuing as he excavated, brought him to twelve inches down and the biggest surprise of his life.
Contained within the handful of earth he drew out of the hole were a number of Roman gold coins. Placing these to one side his second view of the excavation revealed a solid layer of gold coins. He scooped out a mixture of earth and gold coins by the handful.

Then the mixture changed to earth, gold coins and silver coins; followed by small gold bracelets, silver spoons, a long gold chain and pendant with semi-precious stones. Peering into the hole, he could see a mass of silver spoons. Eric realised that he had hit upon a very important treasure and took the appropriate action.

Eric called in the Suffolk Archaeological Unit, the landowners and the local police. Careful excavation resulted in the discovery of further precious metal objects of great archaeological significance, including; precious metal figurines, a silver lioness, bust of a human, decorated strainers, silver spoons with animal head terminals, gold bracelets, heavy jewelled chains, a gold necklace and, in total, over 14,000 gold and silver coins!

Eric was subsequently praised for the manner in which he had handled the finding of one of the greatest treasures ever found in Britain. He later received 1.75 million as a reward.

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