All of us have met, at one time or another, a member of that elite fraternity of treasure hunters that I like to refer to as having the "Midas Touch." If they were gardeners, we would say that they had a "green thumb." Now, I don't mean that everything they touch turns to gold, or that gold follows them around; but it has always seemed strange to me that, when hunting side by side with one of these "gifted ones," if there was a gold ring to be found... they would be the ones to detect it. I know that it takes a certain amount of skill and expertise to be proficient at detecting gold jewelry, but with all of that equal, most of us ordinary souls get the coins and junk jewelry.

I know what you are thinking. A lot of us get gold rings and such, so we must all fall into that category. Not so... I'm talking about situations repeated over and over again. Five detectors on a park, and only one gold ring is found... who found it? You guessed it. The same guy who wins the gold coin at your club meeting, while you win the salami. Now you know what I am getting at. Well, one such guy is Dennis Crisp from central California

Dennis grew up as one of those little guys who was always finding pennies and such wherever his folks took him... playgrounds, beaches, or even on the sidewalks. Of course, his eyes were closer to the ground than the big folks, but I like to think the magic was just beginning to put its mark on Dennis. it was just ten years ago that Dennis decided to get serious about his attraction to gold. After much research and many hours of pawing through the various mining journals, he decided to invest in a gold dredge. But this was February of 1982, the mother lode was knee deep in snow, and it was much too early to hit those gold bearing streams of the Sierra foothills. All there seemed left to do was to play "armchair" prospector and go to Mining Council meetings and tell stories. Of course, Dennis didn't have any stories to tell, so he just had to sit and listen and dream about dropping his dredge in that cold mountain stream and begin to suck those elusive gold nuggets from the crumbling bedrock.

This was much too frustrating for Dennis... he knew he couldn't hang on till spring and he let this be known to his fellow gold diggers. One enlightened member of the congregation advised Dennis to visit the local treasure hunting club and purchase a metal detector. This he did without wasting a moment, as Dennis is a man of action.

Another "toy" was added to his growing collection of treasure hunting paraphernalia, and his wife Anita began wondering if he hadn't gone a little overboard. After all, none of his promises of covering her with golden treasure had been realized at this point. "Don't despair," he said, "once I get going I won't be stopped." He was right about that.

I can only imagine the excitement in the Crisp home when Dennis returned with his first metal detector. All of us can share in the understanding of that magic moment - we have all been there, and it was the same for all of us - for this is the bond that we share as treasure hunters. Well, the paint was hardly dry on that new detector before Dennis was out the back door, with Anita watching from the kitchen window. Trowel in hand, he began searching his own lawn. What was the very first target he found? You guessed it... a gold ring!

We know all too well the pattern that followed... parks, playgrounds, beaches, etc. The Crisp "treasure chest" grew, and Anita started to resemble the promised "Christmas tree." Dennis had gotten her attention, and it was not long before his was a "two detector household."

Time passes fast when you are having fun, and Dennis was surely having fun. He had not, however, forgotten his initial plan; and as Spring neared, the icy grip which kept him away from the river was quickly melting away. June found him on the river at last, and every spare moment that first spring and summer was spent dredging the rivers and streams of California's Mother Lode. Dennis found a buddy with the same "gold fever," and by late fall the fireplace at the Crisp's was witness to many a yarn woven from the gold which they found and which they would find on another day.

But the excitement of digging treasure with his detector was soon rekindled as winter approached and the dredge was again stored in the loft of his garage. In fact, I think it is still there. For, as Dennis sharpened his skills with the detector, more and more "lucky finds" were made, and his major hobby became "metal detecting." Dredging was great fun and surely a lot cooler in the summer than swinging a detector, but this new hobby was one which Dennis could share with Anita, and after all that is what a marriage is really all about.

The next four years saw Dennis' collection of coins and jewelry grow, and he became exceedingly fascinated by old coins. Like all of us he experienced the thrill of "touching the hand of time" as he uncovered a coin which had lain buried for a hundred years or more. Most of us have dug Seated Liberties and Barbers, and each time we retell the story we relive that same excitement. But how many of us have recovered that elusive old gold coin?

Of course, it is sort of like fishing. The more hours spent on the water, the more likely you are to hook a "big one." But is that necessarily so? I can recall taking my wife's little brother fishing one time soon after we were married. He was only ten years old at the time and had never been fishing before. I left him on my favorite large rock near Dollar Point on Lake Tahoe and went down the shore to test my skills. I came back a while later to find him struggling with a 10 lb. rainbow trout. Luck? I suppose... but then why is it that he rarely fishes, but when he does, be frequently comes up with the "trophy"?

Back to the gold coins and 1986, and we find "Midas" Dennis hunting on the perimeter of an old schoolground. The school had been built on an old ranch site, and the story had it that gold coins had been dug in years gone by when the new lawn had been put in. Dennis started his first pass across the field and continued his normal grid pattern as he attempted to leave no part unsearched.

Dennis tells me he hears a different sound from gold than he hears from other targets. Of course, we all use audio signals and visual identification meters to try to sort out the trash from the treasure, but a good ear for subtle differences can truly help. His 23 years working as a technician for Pacific Bell has obviously done something to tune his hearing for those faint nuances that mean a good target. In true fashion, he lived up to his growing reputation. In short order he had dug an 1879-S $10 gold piece, and exactly an hour later flipped an 1889-S $10 gold coin from the same field.

The next year, 1987, would prove another turning point in the detecting career of Dennis Crisp, for it was that year that he heard of the successes of metal detectorists prospecting for gold nuggets in the Sierra Foothills. Though metal detectors had been used for years for detecting gold nuggets, it was the Australians who really started the ball rolling back around 1979 or so when they began finding gold in the old mine fields of the 1800s. While the Aussies' gold was primarily being found in large pieces, most of what was left in our Mother Lode was small by comparison. But our electronic prospectors developed their own techniques, and better and better units were produced to make the job easier.

Those first pioneers in this new field of "detector prospecting" kept things as quiet as they could and tried to prevent a new "gold rush." But, as always, "the truth will out." Rumors made the rounds of the detecting clubs and were soon backed up at "show and tell" sessions at the monthly meetings with little vials of tiny gold nuggets. Most were so small - measured in the grain category - that they could hardly be classed as "nuggets." But once in a while an honest-to-goodness nugget would surface and could actually be weighed on a scale. These were the "pennyweight clunkers."

Dennis couldn't contain himself. He and his hunting buddy took off for the hills to try their luck. They dedicated their two-week vacation to finding the "elusive gold nugget" and try they did. The first two days produced nothing more than sore arms and lots of blisters. But as Dennis says, "It seems the harder I work, the luckier I seem to get." Could that be his secret... and not magic at all? Well, on the third day a tiny piece of gold surfaced, and then another. Soon they got the hang of it and by the end of the day that first flake of gold had nine companions with it in the 35 mm film canister. At the end of the two week vacation, Dennis and his cohort had collected about 100 pieces of gold, and they would never be the same.

From that time forward, they spent every weekend they could on that four hour trek to the "gold fields" of northern California. That's four hours up and four hours back. But the call of gold is strong, and that is nothing compared to the hardships endured by the original 49'ers. Since that first trip, Dennis has detected 2,030 pieces of gold... one at a time. His largest piece is only 13/4 dwt., and his smallest is an almost unweighable piece of 1/16 grain... that's about the size of the head of a pin. Dennis has tried his luck in California, Nevada, and Arizona, and has his sights on Australia and Alaska for that day in the future when he finds the time... and knowing Dennis, I am sure he will find that time.

I almost forgot, in between all those trips to the gold country Dennis still found time to detect his old haunts on nights, after work, and when weather closed the diggings - and was once more able to squeeze gold from sites worked over by the rest of us common folk. In fact, in 1991 he popped a beautiful $20 gold piece from a vacant lot on an old Victorian site... the magic was still working.

Then in 1992 Dennis signed up for my second annual detecting tour to England. He had heard from those club members who went with me on the first tour in 1991 that it was a trip to be remembered. All of us found ancient coins and artifacts which often dated back over 2,000 years. After all, England had been occupied by civilizations who produced metal artifacts since the Bronze Age. One civilization after the other - Celtic, Roman, Saxon, Viking, and Norman laid down layer upon layer of relics and coins. England was a treasure hunter's dream and Dennis was a dreamer from way back.

He and Anita hit the deck running, and I knew that if anyone found a "goldie" on the trip it would be Dennis. As it was to be, I was only 20' or so from Dennis on a course he had chosen across that beautiful, loamy, plowed field near Walmer Castle and the ancient village site of Ringwold when he stopped to investigate a good signal. His Sierra Spectrum gave a strong audible indication that the target was good, but Dennis himself doesn't remember what the visual display reading was. He wasted no time kneeling down and investigating.

Dennis already knew that he was to repeat once more a scenario dreamed of often but experienced by few. Listening intently, he rechecked the signal, nursing every bit of excitement out of the moment. He broke a clod in half and there, shining in the bright sun - exposed to the light of day for the first time in almost 300 years - was a gold half guinea struck with the image of King George I and clearly dated 1717.

Was this luck? Was it skill? Or was it the "Midas touch"?

Needless to say, Dennis and Anita have already signed up for our 1993 tour.

Many years ago my wife Win and I made our first trip to the U.K., and I wrote about it for W&ET in an article titled "A Yank in King Arthur's Court." We spent time in Scotland, visiting White's factory managed by George McRae, and we were fortunate to have him take us to a nearby castle to do some detecting. I finished up my tour with a day or so of hunting surface targets on the foreshore of the Thames in London, for I had no hip boots or shovel with me. My best find was a 16th century jeton from a local heath on the outskirts of London. Although I found very few targets to brag on, I knew detecting would never be the same again.

Up until then, I had been content with an occasional Indian Head penny or large cent and considered it a particular stroke of luck if I came upon a Spanish silver real. Seated Liberties and Barbers were the coins that my hunting buddies and I sought - and are still seeking, for that matter. Although cache hunting and, more recently, gold prospecting have occupied a lot of my time and enthusiasm, searching out old sites for an interesting bit of history has always been my first love.

Since our history only goes back a few hundred years, we worked hard and long or waited for luck to fulfill our dreams. I would read articles about detecting in England or other foreign lands and my mouth would water at the thought of making "really old" finds. It was this strong desire that brought me to the U.K. six years ago and compelled me to return again last year.

On that first trip I learned that you just cannot expect to have a place to detect by merely showing up in England with a detector in hand. After all, one can't expect to show up in California and start finding gold nuggets just anywhere. So, this time I prepared myself by making some important contacts with real live detectorists... the kind you read about in the treasure magazines. Sue Thompson, who works with me at White's of California, got the ball rolling by introducing me to a fellow treasure hunter, Fleming Nielsen. He and his wife Diane had made numerous trips to the U.K. and become acquainted with a small cadre of detectorists from various parts of England. As it happened, Fleming and Diane were planning a trip to include attending the South of England Rally at Deal, near Dover, and he convinced me that this would be a wonderful way to kick off our second trip to England.

The rally... the counterpart of our American competition hunts... was most amazing. We were met at the gate by David Barwell and Roger Reid dressed in medieval costume. Many of the participants joined in this fantasy by dressing accordingly, and the atmosphere was reminiscent of Robin Hood and his Merry Men. A jousting match on horseback was the highlight of the entertainment, and an on-site feast of roast pig topped off a most spectacular weekend. The rally, attended by almost 600 detectorists, was a sight to behold. The hunt site incorporated hundreds of acres of a farmer's land and had been the site of a Roman road, a Celtic and Saxon village, and a center of medieval activity. The hunters could be seen far and wide as we drove up to the rally site. The hills were not crowded, and everyone wandered at will.

The English rallies differ from our own hunts in that the main thrust is to locate natural finds, items which are not planted but were lost hundreds or thousands of years before. Tokens are placed in the ground for the organized competition, good for prizes of all sorts, but they are found along with the natural finds. Many fantastic coins and relics were produced, and a local antiquarian and archaeologist identified the various finds for the owners. Fleming found a particularly rare Saxon book clasp and donated it to the local museum in Dover. Roman coins, both silver and bronze, came off the field, as well as hammered silver coins from the 13th and 14th centuries. Numerous medieval artifacts appeared in the hunt display case throughout the day.

After the rally we were treated to a plowed field in Deal by hunt organizers David and Roger. It had produced Roman and hammered silver coins over the years and thus was a potentially good site. It was there that I found my first Roman coin, a small bronze piece about the size of my little fingernail, but it looked like a king's ransom to me. My dream was fulfilled, but not over. The field produced Romans and hammered silvers for all present, and numerous pieces of artifacts. The plan was working.

We had arranged with Roger and David well in advance of our visit to give them time to research a field that would be ready when we got there. As I had learned, you just can't show up and go hunting. Weather and the farmer's whim have a lot to do with providing hunting sites. The timing must be just right, as only a few weeks, or some times only a few days, occur between the plowing and the planting of the next crop. It is during this time that a detectorist may be allowed to ply his trade. Thus, a potential site has to be re searched, the farmer contacted and convinced, and the timing of the field preparation taken into consideration. It is no wonder that after all of this preparation, mother nature is not a deterrent to the English detectorist. In other words, rain gear is an essential part of hunting the Roman fields in England.

During the following week we rented a car, and I left the driving to Win. I'm better at following a map, and Win was "hands down" better at managing the driving on the left side of the road and the hair-raising "roundabouts," which take the place of our cloverleafs and intersections. We headed west to Somerset, experienced the eerie beauty of Stonehenge, and then visited the small town of Crewkerne, where Win's family had emigrated to the New World in the mid 1600s. We visited the Roman ruins at Bath and sat in Shakespeare's house in Stratford-on-Avon.

The enormous span of British history was sinking in, and it saturated the mind. The coins I had found in Deal dated to the 2nd century A.D., already 100 years after England was successfully invaded by the Roman emperor Claudius, and just 43 years after the birth of Christ. But even the Roman legions were preceded by the original Celtic migration to England. The first Celtic coins were actually minted in England over 100 years before Christ. The Romans colonized and remained in England for over 400 years, and it is their market places, villas, fortifications, and camping sites which were located on the farmer's fields that are hunted today.

Coincidental with and following the Roman presence was the extremely colorful period of the Anglo-Saxons. Their kings minted many coins for over 400 years, considered choice finds by today's detectorists. A.D. 1066 marked the invasion of the Normans from France, beginning the Medieval Period, or Middle Ages as some historians define it, but the various cultural transitions had been continuous and smooth, spanning some 2,000 years. It is only by seeing the whole of the picture, and realizing that each succeeding culture built upon the ruins of the last and thus produced the rich array of coins and artifacts blended into the plowed fields, that we can truly appreciate the vastness of this experience.

Visiting the museums, historical locations, and the castles and cathedrals is the best way to understand what detecting in England is all about. We went on to Long Eaton to hunt with Tim Corser, another of Fleming's friends. Tim felt a nearby farm would make interesting digging. Along with a great deal of historical research, I am certain that the English detectorists develop a strong sense of intuition. We found the farmer, stopped by his gate, and got permission to hunt. I found five Roman bronzes on the slope of a very dry hill side and had to chip each coin out of the ground with my digging knife. The site of a Roman villa on another plowed potato field produced my first medieval bronze finger ring embedded in a clod of hard dirt. A young fellow who joined our hunt to try out his first detector found a small bronze Roman statue.

Win and I traveled on to Tamworth, where Ron Wright had procured a small green next to an Elizabethan cottage, which dated to 1530. Hunt as we would, neither of us could unearth a coin of any great age, only a few Georgians. Georgian coins (1714 to 1830) are not considered old by English standards. The ground had not been plowed, and Ron had hoped for some rain to soften the earth before I arrived. A month after we left, and after a week of rain, Ron and his club searched the field and uncovered a forged George II gold guinea, a rare Bristol silver sixpence, a Victorian silver sixpence, and at least 80 copper and bronze coins, including two Roman bronzes. As they say, "What a difference a rain makes."

Our trip to England, as I mentioned in Part I (February 1992 W&ET), was full of fun and excitement. We finished our trip in Yorkshire at a site which had been recommended to us by Brian Cross and Mo, whom we met at the Rally in Deal. This is a very extraordinary couple. While both admit to participating in some form of normal livelihood, they spend most of their time traveling in the "Red Rocket," a van conversion which serves as a home on wheels, and writing articles for English treasure magazines. Their finds are mind-boggling and their stories enthralling. Brian, who has five books in print, detailing locations of almost every viable detecting location in England, hinted that I should try a small farm near Brough (pronounced like hoof) which had produced 500 Roman coins a day in the early years of detecting.

Malcolm Jubb, White's representative at the rally in Deal, came down from Doncaster to meet Win and me on a very cold and windy day. While Win investigated the shops in the local village, Malcolm and I stumbled over the heavy dirt clods. It was there that I discovered "coke," a charcoal-like substance that abounds in fields and sounds every bit as good as a coin. Since most pieces are on the surface, they are fairly easy to deal with, just annoying and hard on the nerves. It was also there that I learned to follow the plow furrows. Such large fields are hunted, and there is no sense in walking over the same place twice. These natural lines of division make it very easy to use a grid pattern in searching.

Both Malcolm and I found Roman bronzes, and I found my first lead token. These frequently fond tokens are usually imprinted with a long cross on one side and are obviously hand made. They were probably used during the Middle Ages during local shortages of coins of the realm. It is one of my favorite finds.

We returned to London and spent the last few days wandering in wonderment through the British Museum, where we recognized many of the items we had seen found: coins from all ages, Roman fibulae (bronze fasteners use to hold their garments together), shoe buckles, jewelry, weapons, tools, etc. Now that we could see the complete objects, the bits and pieces, which in time we be came able to identify, took recognizable form. I saw a medieval shoe buckle, a similar part of which I had dug up at the rally site. Thinking it to be a piece of trash, I almost tossed it out. A nearby detectorist took the time to identify it for me, and I put it into my pouch. Not a valuable artifact as finds go, but nevertheless an important item for me, as it helps to fulfill that craving which stirs inside of me to touch the hand of history.

During the flight home, I remembered each of the new friends we had made while in England. Their friendship and warm hospitality was the real treasure that I recovered. Each had shared finds with me: a coin from one, an artifact from another. I knew the energy, the time, and the research that went into the recovery of each of these objects, and it made their generosity even more appreciated. I hoped that I could return someday, but how or when I really wasn't sure.

Little did I know, however, that a casual remark by David and Roger at the rally would spark what was to follow. Upon arriving home, I got a letter from them asking if I thought some other Americans might be interested in visiting their rally and detecting some fields, and whether I could put together such a group. They might just as well have asked me if bears like honey. The rest is now history...

In September 1991 I took my first group of Americans to England. I had, quite by accident, infected them with my enthusiasm during a program I gave at a club meeting following our previous trip, and they had been the first to sign up with this novice tour guide. Roger and David collaborated with Jeremy Hawes of Operation Europe in London and put together a wonderful tour package. They created a two-week itinerary that kicked off with the South of England Rally and ended up with a couple of days in London. Half of the trip was dedicated to detecting plowed fields, and balanced with this were side trips to castles, cathedrals, and historical sites.

We were fortunate to have some very fine sites to hunt. On a field across from a Tudor castle, many found their first hammered silver coins. Bob Livesay of San Andreas was the first to score with an Edward III. Their success was soon followed by Aaron Pingree of Lafayette, who turned up a beautiful Edward I hammered silver penny from the 13th century. I found my oldest Roman bronze to date right before lunch, a large sestertius of the Emperor Lucius Verus, A.D. 161-169.

The next day we hunted another site just a stone's throw from a church listed in the Domesday Book of A.D. 1086, England's first census, ordered by William the Conqueror. Now, as Crocodile Dundee would say, "That's a field, mate." This field produced the best finds of the trip for us. Jerry McKim of Reno uncovered numerous Roman bronzes, and both Norma Littlefield of Mill Valley and Hazel Livesay proved that ladies have the most patience. Norma found two tiny bronze quarter-staters, Celtic coins from the 1st century B.C. These little guys are only half the size of your little fingernail. Hazel even had Roger and David jumping up and down with her silver sceata from the Saxon period, about A.D. 700. It, too, was as tiny as Norma's coin.

Hal and Norma Thornbrugh of Union City continued to get their share of interesting finds. They ran their discrimination level a little lower than most, in order to dig more targets. Their system worked, for they got a number of interesting relics. Norma also dug two large Roman bronze coins (dupondii), and Hal retrieved a nice medieval silver strap end along with his Romans before the day was out. On the way off of the field, Bob Livesay found a strange-looking piece of jewelry which was later identified as a 13th century medieval brooch. The local antiquarian thought it was quite unique, and Bob donated it to the local Dover museum. It is now on display along with Fleming Nielsen's Saxon book clasp, which he donated after our trip in 1990.

Nancy Guth finished the trip off on the last day by recovering the only complete Roman fibula found. This was the first form of safety pin and is usually called a Roman brooch. It was used to fasten a Roman garment at the shoulder. This was a beautiful example and in perfect condition. It came from an archaeologically abandoned hill fort site.

We had our own private coach, which took us everywhere we needed to go from the time we were picked up at the Heathrow airport until our trip back to the airport from London two weeks later. We stayed at a wonderful country club hotel on the White Cliffs of Dover called St. Margaret's. The meals were fantastic... they even prepared box lunches for the "diggers" when they were in the field. Those who didn't detect were always taken somewhere for shopping or touring. My wife Win, Elfie Pingree, and Jelaire McKim, along with Win's mother Kay Anderson, who acted as tour photographer, managed to fill all the empty spaces in their suitcases with finds from the local shops. They didn't need detectors to find some great "treasures." Needless to say, we always had much to discuss at the dinner table.

From the looks of it, I may be on my way to another career, as David and Roger have asked me to gather some more American detectorists for 1992. They have asked me to put together two groups of about 25 each this time, and start each off with a visit to a local rally. About the middle of August we will shoot for the rally in Lincolnshire, and then the first part of September a rerun of the South of England Rally in Deal. I am getting excited already, and so are four of the original group who already want to do it again in '92. As they say in the Olde West..."Tallyho, podner!"

"There he goes again," a comment once made by a prominent politician in response to an opponent's remarks, might soon become associated with my yearly articles on metal detecting in England. I hope, however, that it would be used as a positive response to the sharing of what has become one of the most rewarding and exciting phases of my career as a treasure hunter.

I took my first trip to the U.K. many years ago and wrote about it in a series of two articles for W&ET. Even though my success was modest by any standard, I was bitten by the bug and my recreational detecting would never be the same. As I mentioned in previous articles, I made this first trip as a loner. I thought I could detect almost any where and duplicate the wonderful finds that I had so often read about both in our magazines and their English counterparts. Not so...l would soon find out.

Sure, I was able to detect around a Medieval castle in Scotland, but the results were nothing to be bragged about. Fortunately, I made the acquaintance of a detectorist in London and was able to bring "a little bit of England" home with me. I vowed, however, that I would never return unless I knew that I would have a worthwhile place to detect. In 1990, that opportunity presented itself in the form of a fellow detectorist, Flemming Nielsen, and his wife Diane, who had planned a return trip to attend the South of England Rally at Deal near Dover.

I have never been much for participating in treasure hunts as a contender in this country, as I would prefer to dig natural finds on my own. Those of you who have followed my other articles on metal detecting are aware that a good deal of my detecting time is spent developing, testing, and perfecting various models of metal detectors and improving techniques for their use, both in gold prospecting and general coin- shooting use. Though I enjoy any time I can get to use a detector, much of this is hard work and doesn't provide much relaxation or enjoyment, which is the very reason I gave up my career in pharmacy and switched to metal detecting in the first place.

I also have written a good deal about various detecting adventures I have had in the search for hidden and buried treasure...some successful and others not. ..but all rewarding in their own way. These hunts have always been exciting and fun, but they are a serious business and thus always require a kind of concentration and intensity which, again is far from being described as relaxing.

Because the aforementioned activities don't allow much other time for that part of detecting which I still regard as my "hobby" or "sport," I have to make that time, and arranging my trips to England each year does just that. So, when Flemming informed me that the English "rally" was really an excuse to get together and hunt an historical site with good expectations of finding rare or ancient coins and artifacts, I jumped at the chance to try again. Off I went to England in '90 with my wife Win and the Nielsens. The rest is history.

I wrote about the success of that trip in subsequent articles, and when I returned to England the following year in 1991, I brought my first group of 15 American detectorists with me. This was a courageous group. With no experience as a tour guide, I needed all the help I could get, and their patience and advice helped me to develop the talent and expertise which would be required of me on hoped-for future trips.

The trip was a fantastic success. The founders and producers of the South of England Rally, David Barwell and Roger Reid, arranged for the private fields for our group to detect on after the rally weekend. The detecting days were balanced with some great sight seeing trips to museums, castles and ancient cities and cathedrals. Top this off with wonderful meals, and we had some "happy campers" when we headed for home. Four of the 15 returned with me in '92, along with 38 eager detectorists from across the U.S. ... one from as far away as Hawaii. And from this group, 16 have already signed up for the 1993 trip. I guess we are doing something right after all.

What better combination of objectives could I ask for? I get to share with others the experience and excitement of a sport to which I have dedicated a good portion of my life. Watching the excitement of someone when he unearths his first hammered silver coin dating back to the 13th or 14th century makes me relive that same exhilaration over and over. I still remember the look in Aaron Pingree's eyes when he showed me his first hammered silver coin on the '91 trip, an Edward I dating from A.D. 1272 to 1307. Aaron was one of that group that returned this year on the 1992 trip. His list of finds this time included over 30 Roman coins dating to the first century A.D. and included two beautiful silver Roman denarii to add to his growing collection of Medieval hammered silver pennies.

Aaron found something that is fairly common in English fields. ..a "love token." These are usually silver sixpences and were created all through the Medieval period. A young lover would take a silver sixpence and bend it on opposing sides in opposite directions, thus deforming the coin to the shape of an "S" when viewed from the side. The legend is that if the young maiden accepts her lover's advances, she keeps the token; if she rejects them, she tosses the token away. Given the numerous "love tokens" that I and others find... I have found at least one or more on every trip.. .there must have been an awful lot of unhappy suitors in days of yore! Oh yes, Aaron's "love token" was fashioned from a 1692 silver sixpence from the reign of William Ill.

It seems like the English Tour is becoming a family affair for Aaron. In 1991, he brought his wife Elfie and his daughter Nancy, and on this '92 trip he was accompanied by his son Jim and grandson A.J. Do you think Aaron might be finding things I am not learning about? Just kidding, Aaron. I am sure it is really just the same pleasure of sharing which prompts me to return over and over again as well.

In fact, I too brought some more members of my family with me this year. My son Jim and his wife Carol joined us at Sherwood Forest on the second week and interviewed many of the group on a video camcorder. After the tour, Jim and Carol chauffeured us on a two week tour of Wales and Scotland, ending at White's Electronics' factory in Inverness.

I can truly appreciate the joy Aaron has gotten from bringing his family with him. I am sure they appreciated it as well, as both of them dug some very nice Romans and hammered silvers. In fact, Jim unearthed an 1805 King George, an extremely rare coin, even though not particularly old by English standards, and A.J. recovered part of what is probably an ancient Bronze Age sword blade, as well as a part of a Bronze Age tool, both dating back to 1000-1500 B.C.

Our next adventure continues, with more ancient coins, jewelry, and artifacts. Don't miss Part II of "Touching the Hand of History Again."

Our 1992 trip was the first for Jim and Joanne Lowe of Plymouth, California, and a far shot from the kind of detecting they are used to in the heart of the Mother Lode country where they live. However, Joanne must have brought this familiarity with nugget shooting with her to England, for she "banged out" a beautiful 150-year-old gold wedding band from the first plowed field that we worked after the rally. Finding a gold "any thing" while detecting is always a special occurrence, and this goes for hunting in England as well as in America. It is especially fun to find wedding bands in England, as the hallmark inside the ring can date the age of the find.

Joanne went on to find a number of nice coins, including a silver Roman denarius of Phillipus (244- 249 A.D.) in excellent condition, and her husband Jim made a find that made my mouth water when he uncovered a brass horse bridle decoration with the initials J.S. engraved on it. Don't you know that "Jimmy Sierra" was supposed to find that one, Jim?

The plot thickened later that afternoon when Bob Livesay also struck gold. Bob and his wife Hazel are also returnees from the first tour and by coincidence are also natives of California's Mother Lode, residing in Railroad Flat, and no strangers to gold prospecting. In fact, Hazel found a beautiful quarter- ounce gold nugget while coin hunting on a slope near her home just a month before the trip. Well, Bob popped a gold wedding band as well.. .this one was 24K and hallmarked in the mid 1700s. Even the English hosts were duly impressed.

It seems awfully strange that both of the gold rings were found by our "Gold Country" detectorists. Of course, Bob and Hazel are fast becoming old pros on the plowed fields and amassed a beautiful array of Medieval hammered silver coins, Roman bronzes, and silvers, as well as some great artifacts. Bob donated a rare Medieval brooch to the Dover museum after his last trip.

I can't possibly list all of the finds recovered by our group, or you would either die from anxiety or boredom, but I would like to mention some of the more interesting items. As you can see, the most frequently dug items were the Roman bronze coins of varying denominations. This year we were fortunate to get into a number of fields which insisted on producing Roman silver denaril. To give you some idea of the relative values of Roman coins, it would take four sestertii to make a silver denarius. A sesterius is a bronze coin about the size of a half dollar, but much thicker. It would take two dupondii to make a sesterius, two asses to make a dupondius, two semisses to make one as, and two quandrantes to equal one semis. Twenty- five silver denarii were equal to one gold aureus.

Now that you understand the coinage... think about this. At the time of the Romano Britain occupation, during the first four centuries A.D., a loaf of bread cost about one as, an amphora (about 25 liters) of wine cost 250 denani... now that is expensive... far more than a slave boy, which only cost 175 denarii. But then you had to feed the slave boy. Peaches were a luxury in Romano-Britain and cost on average about 7-1/2 denarii each. To put this in perspective, a Roman Legionary soldier earned 225 denarii per year and lived a very rough life. On the other hand, a senior civil servant could earn as much as 50,000 denarii a year... sort of like our politicians today.

Another of the more interesting items recovered from the plowed fields are jetons. These are bronze or copper coin-like pieces with elaborate designs on them. They come in varying sizes and were manufactured all over Europe as well as in England, starting as early as the 13th century and continuing well into the 18th century. English manufactured jetons are quite rare; the most frequently found are those that were made around Nuremburg, Germany in the 15th and 16th century.

I found my first jeton just outside of London... it was a Damianus Krauwinkel from Nuremburg. These "coins" were actually counters and used on a checker-type board to calculate business transactions, like the oriental abacus. This is where the post "Chancellor of the Exchequer" comes from. With that bit of trivia, it becomes more interesting when one of these unusual "coins" is found, and Tom Johnson, of Petaluma, California did his share to fill his "exchequer board" as he managed to retrieve five of them. I think he might have set an all-time record for our group.

John Rebman came from the farthest away to experience his English adventure, with over 17 hours in the air, starting in Honolulu with a stop in Los Angeles. Add that to the usual airport delays, and we have a real marathon. It is lucky he started as the youngest of our group, because I am sure he aged a bunch before he landed in London. None of this dampened his ability to detect, however, as he managed a unique find on each and every day, including a very nice Roman fibulae (a brooch used to fasten a toga and probably the world's first safety pin) and a bronze Roman finger ring; but the one which almost got away was an exceptional Roman "hare brooch" found the last day of detecting in Sherwood Forest. In fact this find points up the most important "credo" of detecting in England... "Don't throw anything away until you find out what it is."

As we were leaving the field that day, John came up to me and showed me what he had found. It was a very sparse field compared to others we had hunted, and he didn't have an awful lot to show. Had it been found on one of our busier fields, it might have been overlooked as unimportant. It looked like a child's pin from a Cracker Jack box. It was obviously an animal, but looked like a rat. It was actually a rabbit with ears flat against the body and it was striped with yellow and black stripes. This inch-long pin was actually Roman and over 1500 years old! The enamel was still intact and colors clear. Its crudeness testified to its antiquity and marked it as a much sought-after find.

One of the great things about detecting in England is that there is rarely a field void of metal targets. If man has occupied the land for any part of the last few thousand years, you can bet on finding targets to dig, whether it be ancient coins or relics or Victorian "modern" artifacts. Tom Elliott from San Jose, California filled out his digging pouch with numerous nice artifacts, along with his allotted Romans and Medievals. I particularly liked the solid silver spur-strap buckle which he found at the rally site, and the beautiful silver 18th century thimble which he dug in a field near the site of the ancient village of Ripple. This Medieval village was mentioned in the Domesday Book, compiled in 1086 A.D. by the order of William the Conqueror.

It is these small artifacts which do the best job of linking us with the people who lived on this land. When we handle the items that they handled, we are truly touching the hand of history. Many of these items have not seen the light of day for hundreds or even thousands of years, and bringing them to the surface lends a special importance to items as simple as the lead tokens, book clasp, or Medieval key which Tom also found in his plowed fields.

I must not forget to mention a very common item found in the fields, and that is buttons... You've got it... plain old buttons. Suspender buttons to military buttons, copper buttons to gold gilt buttons, pewter buttons to brass buttons, buttons of all sizes and descriptions. My button collection is growing every year and is as important to me as my coins or other artifacts. Terry Chamberlin of Kerman, California found a beautiful silver button at the South of England Rally site, and I am sure she values it as much as anything she found. I have been displaying them just as I do my coins, but I had never made any attempt to clean them till this year, after I saw what one of the English detectorists did with his collection.

Mine all looked alike - the color that is. The pewter and silver ones did look different, but most were a nondescript dirty color, and the designs were in many cases totally obscured by corrosion. I cleaned the silver and pewter buttons just as I usually clean my silver coins. However, I used a pickling solution I got from the local lapidary shop to remove all the corrosion from the copper, brass and bronze buttons. I then tumbled the buttons for only about 20 minutes with steel shot to restore the original luster.

I couldn't believe my eyes! There was a variety of designs that I had never dreamed of. The military buttons, most of which dated to the 18th and 19th century, were extremely interesting and elaborate. One of the buttons I dug in Sherwood Forest revealed the head of a stag after it had been cleaned. I was told that it probably came from the coat of a gamekeeper for the local manor, Thoresby Hall, and dated to the 1700s.

Back to the Chamberlins for a moment. Terry's husband Phil produced one of the most sought-after finds of the trip... an Anglo-Saxon sceata. This very tiny but thick silver coin, in Very Fine condition, was minted around A.D. 690 and bears the image of a porcupine on the face. It is fondly referred to as a "porcupine skeet." The Celtic and Saxon coins and artifacts are the rarest of the finds to come from the plowed fields in England. A find like this is enough to make an entire trip worth while for any treasure hunter... me included.

I could go on and on, as you can probably guess, but an article like this is no substitute for experiencing the plowed fields of England for yourself. I have therefore made a pledge to myself to return each year for as long as my old legs will carry me, and to bring a group of American detectorists with me as long as they will follow. Roger and David and I are already planning our trip for 1993, and with the help of the critiques of the participants hope to make the tour even more enjoyable than ever. One of the attractions we are adding for '93 will be an authentic Medieval feast in Chilham Castle in Kent, just for our group... complete with entertainment in costumes of the period. We have also been given permission to hunt on the 300+ acres of the castle grounds.

Cheerio for now, and I hope we will cross paths on one of England's ancient fields someday soon!