Gold!

I switched back to baiting the Anderson PMR-II with pure silver on the basis that it should cover almost the entire spectrum of desirable finds, including solid gold, while reducing the apparent sensitivity to gold plate. It worked! It wasn’t long before I was holding an Iron Age gold stater coin, which I had dug up after the Anderson had led my detector to it. One swallow (or is it one stater?) doesn’t make a summer, they say, so I ended my summer with a second gold stater found in exactly the same way.

The coins are Gallic War Uniface gold staters of the Ambiani tribe who were centred around Amiens in Northern France, dating c.60-30 BC. It is believed they were mainly brought to Britain by way of payment to mercenaries fighting Caesar’s armies in Gaul.