How to search for war relics in Romania

Machine translation of the original editorial information.

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Inside this issue

1. 12 · Jiří Militký: an interview on Celtic coinage
2. 16 · Luftwaffe observation unit dagger
3. 26 · In the pioneering days without a metal detector (2)

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. 5/2018 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 historical anemometer – or wind gauge – used by aviation pioneers at the start of the last century. ‘How to Search for War in Romania’ is the title of an exclusive interview with Michel Bressan, a member of the ‘Romanian Military Archaeology’ club. Here is a look back at the sixth meeting of treasure hunters with Detektorweb in Moravia. This year, we had a great time in Jedovnice in 2017. The rarest coin is always the first one found – Jiří Militký, a numismatist at the National Museum, will guide you through the curiosities and mysteries of Celtic coinage from the pre-Piddal period. In the following article, PetkoZberatel presents another unique item from his remarkable collection – a dagger from a Luftwaffe observation unit. The regular column ‘Archaeological Snippets’ will, amongst other things, take you to a rich Mediterranean graveyard of shipwrecks; you’ll find out what sort of archaeological find earns the title ‘Discovery of the Year’, and how archaeologists are unearthing the remains of a Communist-era labour camp. This ninth and final instalment of our series ‘The Conservator’s Lair’ is dedicated to those who do not wish to treat their finds like pansies, or to cause irreversible damage to them 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 finds and leather items.

In the Pioneering Days Without a Metal Detector – the second instalment of the memoirs of the legendary treasure hunter Kazim takes us back to a time when treasure hunters, even without a metal detector, would come across interesting finds ‘just by looking’. In his subsequent investigation into air disasters, Wood set out to trace the crash of a MiG-19 in 1961 and titled his article ‘MiG-19 – A Fall into the Darkness of Oblivion’. Below is a report entitled ‘The Find of a Lifetime’ by a new treasure hunter, Rudolf, recounting how he bought a metal detector and was immediately rewarded with a ‘prize’: a ducat of Sigismund of Luxembourg dating from 1404–1405. ‘Do you specialise in searching a particular location?’ is the question we put to treasure hunters in our regular ‘Poll’ column. The legendary treasure hunter Nek recalls the early days of metal-detecting in the Czech Republic in the 1990s and beyond in the sixth instalment of a series of interviews with Kasander; this episode is entitled ‘A Knight’s Ring with Diamonds Still Lies Somewhere in Our Waters’. Ivo Tomáš, a collector and expert, answers your questions about button finds in the regular column ‘The Button Collector’s Advice Corner’. Those interested in military technology will certainly welcome another study by the military technology historian Jan Škarka, who this time focuses on another outstanding weapon from Škoda in Plzeň: the 21 cm calibre gun. Fans of short stories will certainly enjoy ‘Phase Four’ – the fourth and final instalment in a series of short stories not only for treasure hunters, penned by the outstanding writer and experienced treasure hunter Zdeněk Jarchovský.