When, for the fourth time, I headed back to jolly olde England in search of more goodies I had no dreams or even a hope for gold and because of that, you will never imagine my feelings when I dug a clod and thought I saw a thin gold streak within the meatball-sized glob of clay. My first reaction was... "must be another gilded button." The next was utter and total lack of senses when I removed the clay halves and found the "streak" was the edge of a 1620-21 hammered gold half-laurel of King James the First! The only word I could utter (yell) was "KATHeeeeeee!" as I screamed to the nearest detectorist, dropped my detector in the hole and started running toward her. From that moment I could not speak - only sob in disbelief. Correction, I didn't sob. I bawled, whimpered and shook at the knees. Within a few short minutes, several of the gang had encircled me, hugging, kissing etc. At the same time, like the Indians in a 1940's western movie, a band of other detectorists were circling the hole left by my recovery. No, I didn't fill my hole! Yes, I finally checked it again and then filled it.
Many thanks to Norma Littlefield for providing these first photos of my coin.
My thanks also to Len Dombrowski for these recent close-ups!
The coin remained in England for an additional eight months to be "treasure troved" by coroner's inquest before being returned to me. What does that mean? Well, in the old (very old) days, there was a law that any treasure found that was hidden with intent of future recovery would belong to the crown. The English court must decide if the treasure was meant to be recovered later or was a casual loss. My coin fell into the latter case.
