At the age of seven I visited a place known as St. Albans in an ancient land my Mother and I once called home . While there my Grandfather walked me to the remnants of a wall built by the Romans 1,700 years prior. I was fascinated by this ancient structure protected from vandals by a wrought iron fence. As the adults walked away I squeezed through the iron bars and tore a small piece of that ancient wall from where it had sat for all those years .
It was my treasure and I kept it secretly hidden throughout most of my childhood until I sold it for a quarter to another kid .
Nowadays the wife and I happily indulge our weekends in the hunt of items of interest from times long past to times as far back as only yesterday . I cannot deny my mercenary past and will have to admit that it’s more than enjoyment and love of history that provokes our endless searches…. there is profit to be made.
We are not the only ones who gain from our weekend searches . There are often delighted collectors provided with long sought after items that they wouldn’t find elsewhere. We’ve found , possessed and sold to collectors and historians the likes of early NASA items from the estate of a retired NASA engineer. We’ve “discovered” and parted with one of the finest collections of antique Addis wood carving chisels in the country. Those chisels were from the 1850’s and manufactured in the very London neighborhood my Grandfather grew up in.
I enjoy no end a British television series called The Detectorists . It’s a wonderful story of two treasure hunters in England who spend their weekends in search of treasure with their metal detectors . They scour the English country side in an endless quest of Saxon antiquities and Roman gold. That show brings back many fond memories of that ancient place …… and memories of a fellow adventurer.
A friend …. now deceased…. had similar interests though at a different level. He sought and robbed ancient graves in South America . His many finds were quickly snatched by hard core collectors willing to chance the illegality of their purchase. He was a fellow mercenary that sought treasure for both joy and profit, and I think of him when I watch that wonderful British TV show .
