Find, excavate and preserve

Machine translation of the original editorial information.

Archived issue; a purchase offer is not currently confirmed.

Inside this issue

1. 16 · The Secret of Henlein’s Whip
2. 26 · Into the Vltava for a piece of history
3. 48 · A post-war gem from the Šumava region

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

Dear readers,

The latest issue of Detektor revue has left the printers and is on its way to your letterboxes and the usual retail outlets. It is marked as No. 2/2018 and, as always, we’re offering you a little taster in advance.

As is our tradition, we begin with our regular ‘Artefact of the Month’ feature, which this time features a rare badge from the Russian Imperial Air Force. We have summarised three perspectives on the collaboration between treasure hunters and archaeologists under the heading ‘Explorers on a Journey Through History’; the authors are Tomáš Bek, an archaeologist at the Regional Museum in Vysoké Mýto, and the treasure hunters Rovin and Tonys Šimon. Ivo Tomáš, a collector and expert, answers your questions about button finds in the regular column ‘The Button Collector’s Advice Corner’.

Luděk Schmidtmayer gave his article the title ‘Seven Metres’. It was within this area that his unique find was scattered, a discovery which sent even such an exceptionally experienced treasure hunter as Luděk, without a doubt, into a veritable trance. Do you switch between detectors, or are you loyal to one particular make? This is the question we put to treasure hunters in our next regular ‘Poll’ section. The following is an article entitled ‘The Secret of Henlein’s Whip’, which sets out to trace the origins of a unique attic find discovered by treasure hunter Vašek whilst renovating his house.

In the third of a series of interviews with Kasander, the legendary treasure hunter Nek recalls the early days of metal-detecting in the Czech Republic in the 1990s and beyond; this instalment is entitled ‘A Site Worth Three Hundred’ – or on envy, friendship and their end’.

‘Into the Vltava for a Piece of History’ was the title given to his report by the young treasure hunter Michal, who was drawn to magnet fishing and was successful right from the start. ‘Death in the Hanoi Hilton’ is the title of an article describing the search by US Army veteran Manuel F. Van Eycka on the fates of his comrades-in-arms – American airmen missing in action from the Vietnam War.

The sixth instalment of our series ‘The Conservator’s Lair’ is dedicated to those who do not wish to treat their finds like delicate pansies or cause irreversible damage through improper handling. Acci is sharing his practical experience as a museum conservator with you. This time, we’ll be offering advice on how to care for lead finds. Next up is the ‘Archaeological Snippets’ section, this time featuring a unique discovery of a fragment of a Venus figurine in Moravia, followed by a story on how archaeologists identified, from skeletal remains, the first dog to have lived alongside humans as a friend, and a piece on an Israeli gardener who found an exceptionally rare, 700-year-old ring bearing an image of St. St Nicholas.

Those interested in military technology will certainly welcome another study by the military technology historian Jan Škarka: ‘C-series Mountain Cannons’. Fans of short stories will certainly enjoy The First Phase – the first instalment of a trilogy of treasure-hunting stories, not just for treasure hunters, penned by the writer and treasure hunter Zdeněk Jarchovský. ‘A post-war gem from the Šumava region’ – that is how our long-standing contributor, Wood, titled his article about a find by a novice treasure hunter, which helped shed light on an event dating back over half a century that took place in the airspace above the Czechoslovak-German border, our long-standing author, Wood.

Finally, we would like to extend our warmest invitation to you to attend the Sloup 2018 treasure hunters’ gathering, which will take place from 25 to 27 May 2018 in the village of Sloup in Bohemia. As always, you can look forward to a friendly atmosphere, fun competitions, interesting talks, delicious barbecued pork, which our friend Láďa will prepare with the utmost care, and, as usual, a very generous raffle. So don’t miss out on this unique event – just come along and have some fun with other like-minded individuals ;)