As most of the regular members here on the ancient forum know, I had to sell off a large majority of my coins and artifacts I had found metal detecting while living in Spain. Well today I was cleaning out an old desk full of old papers and I found this old pic. Although it is not a coin it is one of my most memorable moments metal detecting. It is a Roman signet ring (1st-2nd century AD) with a red carnelian stone in it. The stone has engraved into it from the left a wolf, fish, and rabbit. I can only imagine the life story of the original owner of this ring, if I were to guess I would think this person might have loved to hunt or possibly this was His profession. I remember very well the day I found it like it was yesterday. It started out with me getting up early to go metal detecting with another metal detector Guy by the name of George, whom I had never gone detecting with before. We had both agreed to show each other a spot of ours to each other. So I took Him to a really good spot and we found quite few coins, Then it was His turn to take me to a spot of His. He took me to a spot that was terrible with no finds at all so I said to Him come on I showed you a good spot do the same, so He took me to another spot. I had found a few coins and was working around an old Roman water well. My metal detector would make different sounds depending upon what metal it was, one sound that was almost always a disappointment was the sound for lead, aluminum foil and gold almost always it was some little piece of roman lead. Close to the well I heard that sound from my detector that I hated so much but dug it up anyway like always that way I could get rid of it and never have to dig it up again in the future. When I was pushing away the wet sticky dirt I saw what looked like the gold foil to a candy bar wrapper but upon further cleaning I realized it was real gold that had such a weird color compared to modern diluted gold. I started shaking really bad and had to sit down I pulled out my Cigarettes and lit one and then another. Meanwhile George had noticed me sitting down and asked me if I was ok, I told George I just felt dizzy and left it at that. I did not tell George what I had found so He would not be kicking Himself for showing me the spot. I never went detecting with George ever again cause I had two other friends I always went with, but that was a day to remember for sure. Hope you like my story. Picture is of poor quality sorry.
The stone looks like it might be carnelian, or perhaps Roman glass. It also appears to have been carved.
What a great find and a lovely story@bcuda....... I've just started going out now after the strong lockdown here and have been picking up quite a few Roman coins a few have got some nice detail....I live near to ancient Tarraco so if you ever head back out here again give me a shout and we'll have a day of 'pinging'..........Paul
Man you Europeans are so lucky that you can dig a few inches in the ground an unearth literally ancient artifacts. Here in Southern California, nobody does much better than the occassional sterling ring or a 100 year old coin.
If I lived in England or the Continent, in a place where metal detecting is legal, I'd want to try it too. I'm always envious when I read about people finding ancient coins that way. I suppose people in the USA must find Native American artifacts, although I don't know how many are made of metal. And I don't know if it's legal to keep them.
In my neck of the woods, all of the Indian museums I've been to tend to be almost entirely ceramic or stone artifacts (pottery, grinding stones, arrowheads). The metal artifacts seem to be much more recent, often consisting of metal or lead fish hooks, fishing weights, and stirrups and the like. One of the reasons I suspect that Indian heritage is difficult to find is that much of it was made of plant matter or mudbrick. Even the large adobe-like structures in the Southwest wear away rather quickly and leave little behind. A real shame.
