As I was in Scotland on the farm starving

Feel free to ask what you specifically want to know. I'm not some professional searcher myself. I report actual finds that are under the term treasure (the object must be over 300 years old, or be made of precious metal-silver, gold...). I have previously offered to come to Scotland as part of a tourist search, with the understanding that I would help find accommodation for a few nights and help with transport to and from the airport. If there are any questions, I'd be happy to answer.

So, how does one search in Scotland? Like anywhere you want to search with a detector legally, you need permission from the landowner, field, pasture. If it's town land, permission from the COUNSIL of that town, let's call it the town council. There is no part of land in the UK that belongs to anyone.

It is also possible to register with the UK Seekers Association. The annual fee is something like £10 and it has a few benefits. One of them is insurance for any damage you cause by your activities as a finder.

Also, it is a nice habit to maintain good relationships with the farmers you have permission from. Occasionally bring them a bottle, or the farmer's lady a chocolate, especially around the holidays like Christmas.

You already have permission (and getting it is not easy) and you go on a search.

If, in your search (whether on the farm or on the beach), you manage to find an object that falls under the TREASURE TROVE (it is a treasure according to the exact criteria I have already described-two of which I have already mentioned, the age of the object is more than 300 years, theif the object is made of precious metals, there are more criteria, I won't list them all here), you are obliged to report it to the relevant authorities within 14 days of realising it is a treasure. I'll explain further with my example.

In April, I found a metal (bronze?) ornament from a horse harness and only by sheer coincidence, after a discussion on FB, I discovered that the ornament might be from the Iron Age. I reported this find in August. They claimed it, so I mailed it to the National Museum of Scotland, where after some time they will decide whether or not it is a treasure. If they declare it a treasure and the museum is interested in having the object in their collections, I, as the finder, will be paid 100% of the object's value.

I found it on the beach. It makes a difference whether you're looking on a beach in England or Scotland. In England there are more restrictions on searching, the owner of the beaches is the King or Queen (ours has recently passed away for goodness sake). On the beach you can search between the upper high tide line and the lower low tide line - and again there are some restrictions which I won't list here. However, you can't search on every beach. In fact, we have private beaches as well. In England, you can download a map of where you can look and where you can't. In Scotland it is freer, but there are also restrictions.

If I found the property on a farm, it is good practice to share 50/50 with the landowner. The agreement with the landowner can be verbal, or written - some piece of paper with a contract that has all the information needed in case of a claim for payment of the find price. Where it is strictly forbidden to search and is punishable is the SCHEDULED MONUMENT area aka the archaeological site. It's very nicely mapped out and you have the opportunity to check the area where you are looking. If there is an archaeological site on the property, the policy is that you cannot approach and search closer than 20m from the boundary of the archaeological site. If someone catches you with a metal detector in such a place, there is of course a court hearing, legal action against your person, confisconfiscation of the equipment, a fine of up to £50,000 and a ban from any historic site except as a visitor.

If you don't have your own permit, you have the option of being a member of a local club that organises club searches (say once a month) or meetings with archaeologists. Commercial searches are quite popular, where you pay from £10 and up for the opportunity to search on the land, and you can search in a field where someone else has permission. This sometimes works on a charity basis, and the money that is raised goes to support various charities, according to the wishes of the landowner. This is how companies that are registered work and everything is legally backed up.

What more could I write about the search here in Scotland? There really is a lot and sometimes I struggle to get to grips with it myself. There are a lot of Polish searchers here. I have an interesting story with them. One of them found a beautiful bronze sword on the banks of the Thames. He is an avid finder and wanted to keep this sword for himself and take it to Poland with permission (this gentleman has a shop for detectors and equipment for finders). Legally he has reported everything, but the institutions are unlikely to allow him to do so and there is even a tug of war over payment of the reward as the Thames foreshore is owned by the PORT OF LONDON, so sometimes it works against the finders here in the UK. You need a different permit to search the banks of the Thames. It costs around £80 for three years and again there are different rules. The objects you pull up should be no deeper than 30cm and the bronze sword just mentioned was deeper.

Please excuse my not the best quality of writing. 17 years out of Slovakia and communicating only in English, possibly Polish, is taking its toll on me. My brother makes fun of me for going to the UK to learn Polish.

As I was in Scotland on a farm looking for.

The result of one search on a Scottish farm. Not everyone here has the opportunity to search in the land of legal searching.

Quite unusual for me, but I ran one commercial search in Scotland. I guess it looks like you pay some sort of fee to whoever organises the search and you get to search their fields all day. This time it cost me £10. I work and live in Scotland for a long time. I don't contribute here often. I search on sea beaches (you don't need a permit for those here) but finds of historical value must be reported to the relevant authorities. I don't take too many photos, I try to take a video of each search. You can find me on youtube under the name: ladimirCHA. But back to the actual search. The best find for me was an old silver coin with the monarch James VI - I from 1605. My first and hopefully not my last silver coin. I'm not going to elaborate here, I'll include a link to youtube for anyone who wants to take a look.

All emptied before cleaning.

All after rinsing with water

This is how it jumped out at me in the field

One side of the silversmith

And the other side of the silversmith