metal detecting in France

[vercingetorix]

Hi all of you !

i'm french and i've been practicing this hobby for a few years . i find it very interesting .all the more i love history . my best find so far is a gold coin from the 3th century i think i'll never forget the day i found it ...!

see the picture below

thanks

 

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[Proolio]

nice find! now thats what i call an old coin. how do yo know its from the 3rd cenutry

 

[popcorn]

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[Mona Lisa]

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on the gold coin.

Please, tell us more about this coin. Where did you find it? What country is it from?

 

[birdman]

Nice! What part of France are you from? I have been told that it is not leagal to detect there,just wondering what the laws were.I am an hour from the border and have thought about crossing over for some hunting. I have been told they find lots and lots of unexploded shells from the two wars. We went to Verdun a few weeks or so ago .Beautiful country side but sad history.HH

 

[vercingetorix]

to answer your question detecting in France is allowed ,or at least tolerated . we just have to get the owner's permission and also if we find an archeological site we must declare it ...though as a matter of fact few people here do it . but you are right i believe that must be forbidden in this part of the country due to the unexploded shells that are still buried everywhere in those aeras ...it's very dangerous and there has been some serious accidents in a recent past . personally i practice in the southern france near Toulouse ...it's rather quiet here !

this is a roman gold coin called "aureus" of Faustina mother . obverse "DIVA FAVSTINA" reverse " C E R E S" i found it just a few miles away from home under a big rock . there were a few silver coins from the same period too ... i was very surprised cause there are few roman sites around and this type of coin is pretty rare to find even over an archeological site . honestly i think it will be hard to do better , i suppose everyone would dream to find such a thing .

renegadeRider3.7 indeed ... not the 3rd century but around 141 AD i think .but all the other coins were from the 3rd century. here is a link in English ...although it's not exatly the same : http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/frames.shtml?...

thanks

 

[birdman]

Great information! Thanks. I was in that area in 1995 ,I was in the Navy then and we stopped in Toulon for about 5 days. Very nice beaches there. Good luck and keep the post coming.

 

[Raoul]

Congratulations, great find.WOW 3rd Century,be careful the government doesn't come and ask for it.

 

[vercingetorix]

Thanks Raoul for the good advice ... and sorry for my bad English

 

[PrizmIV]

Thats awesome! how deep was it?!?

 

[tsgman]

Thats a beautiful coin, congratulations to you. Be careful and continued good luck !

 

[Crutch]

I'd like to see the silver to if you have it. I can imagine it being hammered but about all my imagination will do. Thanks if you can and thanks anyway for the post.

 

[vercingetorix]

sorry .... but I cannot ...even on an English forum . as raoul put it i really have to be carreful ...that's the problem in France we have the right to buy a metaldetector but strictly to find trash or nails ...if the find does have any value we are directly charged with robbery ! really sad ...

but by emailing possibly

 

[TORRERO]

to answer your question detecting in France is allowed ,or at least tolerated . we just have to get the owner's permission and also if we find an archeological site we must declare it ...though as a matter of fact few people here do it . but you are right i believe that must be forbidden in this part of the country due to the unexploded shells that are still buried everywhere in those aeras ...it's very dangerous and there has been some serious accidents in a recent past .? personally i practice in the southern france near Toulouse ...it's rather quiet here !? ?

this is a roman gold coin called "aureus"? of Faustina mother . obverse "DIVA FAVSTINA"? reverse " C E R E S"? i found it just a few miles away from home under a big rock . there were a few silver coins from the same period too ... i was very surprised cause there are few roman sites around and this type of coin is pretty rare to find even over an archeological site .? honestly i think it will be hard to do better , i suppose everyone would dream to find such a thing .?

renegadeRider3.7? ?indeed ... not the 3rd century? but around 141 AD i think .but all the other coins were from the 3rd century.? ? here is a link in English ...although it's not exatly the same :? http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/frames.shtml?...

thanks

I'm American but lived in Spain for several years, and did extensive hunting there, I got several Roman Silver Dinarias but never a roman gold coin.
The law, or rules of the hunt are generaly the same (or were 10 years ago) but reality is "Out of site-out of mind" if the landowner did not care
you were in his field hunting, then you might only be in trouble if the Guardia Civil (Civil Guard) showed up. but this was unlikely.
Also the Spanish seemed to think that if what you were digging was less than 600-700 years old, then it was not really very important or
was not really very old.
( we did a lot of hunting for Napoleanic relics on battle sites in Spain, but the police would say, "that's not old just junk" refering to buttons
and buckles and round balls from that war between Napolean and Europe 1808 -1812)
I was able to bring back with me most of my collection from Spain when I returned to the US in 1996.
I also remember that "Roman coins" could show up just about anywhere and many were extremly common and not worth much at all.
I almost (with few exceptions) would rather have a Brittish or Spanish or French belt plate, button or other war relic than a common
Roman coin.
anyway just my 2 cents.

 

[Snee]

That is a truly awesome find!!! I swear, Europe civilizations have basically always existed...imagine how much stuff is really out there!

 

[cwtrader1863]

Great coin, congratulations

 

[TimmyNY]

nice stuff. even here in the states we have greedy governments. In New York you can hunt in state parks by permit $20 bucks but you have to turn over anything worth more than $10 bucks to the state. Go figure.

Tim

 

[vercingetorix]

to TORRERO : i believe the laws in Spain are pretty much the same as in France , and personally i've never been in trouble with anyone neither the French authorities or even the landowners ...but that also depends on the value of the stuff you may find and also the area where you hunt , and that is not so simple in fact . all i can say is i wouldn't dare to hunt near a protected site cause here in France that's strictly forbidden , but the problem is most of those are only known from the authorities and anyway there are so many archeological sites in France ....,i would say probably 2-3 every miles , that you can always be suspected of hunting near one of them .....of course i think nobody would annoy you for only 2-3 old coins or buckles or stuff like that but when it's about a roman treasure that's quite another thing !
yeah that's true roman coins are pretty common in Europe , especially bronze coins but gold coins are extremely rare in good condition ...that's why i can tell this is definitely my best find so far .
if not in my aera in the southern France there are also lots of buttons and medievales buckles and also lots lots of bronze coins hammered over the last 400 years , most of the time in very bad condition though ..

to snee : you are right and i can also tell you that several great treasures have been found over the last few years here in France .
to TimmyNy : i understand but in France that's even worst ...you have the right to buy a metaldetector but not to use it ... !!

Laurent

 

[schlooppy]

Very nice find!! Congratulations

 

[The Seeker]

Gold is gold....It brings out the best in all of us...Were Pirates at heart!!!!!!!!Keep posting....Seeker