A find that travelled across the ocean

Machine translation of the original editorial information.

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Inside this issue

1. 8 · Let’s try to accept that archaeological finds are the property of the public
2. 20 · The Knights of Hřebíkov
3. 38 · A unique find from Solingen

Historical introduction: prices, events and dates refer to the original publication.

Dear readers,

The latest issue of Detektor revue has just left the printers and is on its way to your letterboxes and the usual outlets. It is marked as No. 4/2017. And, as always, here’s a little taster to whet your appetite.

As is our tradition, we begin with our regular ‘Artefact of the Month’ feature, which this time features a rotor from a German Enigma cipher machine discovered by treasure hunter Radek in southern Bohemia. We have titled the article ‘The Enigma Code’.

Let’s try to accept that archaeological finds are public property – that is the title of an in-depth interview we conducted with our leading archaeologist, Mgr. Balázs Komoróczy, Ph.D., on the relationship between treasure hunters and archaeologists. In this issue, we present the first part of this series. This is followed by the article ‘Objects with a Soul’, in which Miroslav UC Kratochvíl uses two exceptional artefacts to remind us that behind many of our finds lie specific human stories. Another example of how even thoroughly searched sites can hold a pleasant surprise is provided in the report ‘It’s All Down to Chance’ by treasure hunter Elpos, who stumbled upon yet another ‘Sudeten’ find. ‘What obstacles might prevent you from searching?’ is the question we put to treasure hunters in our regular ‘Poll’ section. Acci, our regular contributor and a master at unearthing unique, surprising stories and destinies buried in the layers of time, has this time been captivated by the extraordinary story of an ordinary nail, behind which lies the little-known history of the creation of war memorials during the First WW refers to ‘nailing’. The result is an exceptionally interesting article entitled ‘The Knights of Hřebíkov’.

‘The Coins of Franz Joseph I That Never Saw the Light of Day’ is the title of an article by Martin Furugláš, author of the popular series ‘Crown Currency in Bohemia’, which you will be familiar with from DR. How to search for a ‘vulstring’ – that is the mysterious title of an article by our Danish contributor, the treasure hunter Lars. Behind this name lies a unique find of an exceptionally rare type of armour plate, at least two and a half thousand years old!

The ‘Archaeological Snippets’ section reveals the secrets of the ‘immortality’ of Roman concrete; you will also learn that the Aztec tower of skulls is not a myth, and discover the find of the decade uncovered by the Bratislava bypass. What follows is the extraordinary story of one extraordinary ‘attic find’, described by Kasander in the article ‘The Secret of a Little Box’. For those who do not wish to treat their finds like delicate flowers or irreversibly damage them through improper handling, we present the next instalment of our series ‘The Conservator’s Lair’. acci shares his experience from his work as a museum conservator with you. In this instalment, we’ll advise you on how to care for finds made of bronze, brass and nickel silver. Ivo Tomáš, a collector and expert on buttons, answers your questions regarding button finds in the regular column ‘The Button Collector’s Advice’. ‘A Unique Find from Solingen’ is the title of an article by our Slovak contributor Petkozbratel, who this time set out to trace the fate of the owner of a Wehrmacht dagger manufactured by CHRISTIANSWERK SOLINGEN. Those interested in military technology will certainly welcome another study by the military technology historian Jan Škarka, this time on the subject of the 6.6 cm naval gun model 30 and the patrol vessel President Masaryk. And finally, we’re all certainly looking forward to the ninth instalment of the diary kept by our fellow treasure hunter Jarda, who has been writing it since the 1990s – back in the pioneering days of metal-detecting in this country. We are reprinting it under the title The Treasure Hunter’s Testament.