There has been a few people that have mentioned on here and on other forums that metal detecting rallys get a lot of their finds planted by the organiser,is this true and if so what are your thoughts on this??
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There has been a few people that have mentioned on here and on other forums that metal detecting rallys get a lot of their finds planted by the organiser,is this true and if so what are your thoughts on this??
That thought has been around for a long time. I went to a big rally many years ago called The Newbury Rally, guys came across from the USA, it was huge. Back then some people were saying it was seeded after a gold coin or two came off. I personally don't know whether or not they are. Obviously you could argue that if you seed a field or two with desireable finds you are likely to get a good number of detectors turn up for the next years rally and thus take more money in ticket sales, but in all honestly if I was organising a rally it would be a case of telling everyone that finds cannot be guaranteed. There will always be people at a rally who find something desireable and some will just be unlucky on the day and not find anything special and be disgruntled. Back to your question though, only a handful of people know the truth and I've never seen anyone who has been involved in the organisation of a rally admit that a field has been seeded with finds, it's usually a fed up detectorist who makes the statement.
Id put my Life saving,s on it that it happens and probably allot more than you know.
It happened on on one Rally that i have been on.??????
Some have for sure No names No pack drill.
One dig a few years back had many roman coins coming up near a DMV and a young lad came by and said have you found any Mr.
I said I have a couple roman ones, he replied that he had 3 which were lying on the surface using eyes only.
They were obviously not coming out in the condition that we would expect for buried coins and more like the job lots off e-bay.
It keeps the newcomers to the hobby happy going home with a few roman grots but its certainly not good practice. Jerry.
Years ago I heard of three detectorists who travelled many miles to a charity dig. Showing their finds to the organiser a "well done" was the response. They in turn said that it was a shame that the finds had been barrelled, asked for their money back and then went home :mad:
Dave
We went to a dig about 4 years ago. One of our crew found a lovely denarius which we all admired, Then someone pointed out a small 'R' at the bottom of the coin which indicates thats it is a replica. We have never been on a rally organised by this well known dealer again! Also there are adverts in the back of detecting magazines requesting roman grots. I'm sure these are required to seed fields on rallies.
One of the organisers of a very well known rally that was held years ago in the south of England told me and several others at a club meeting that he had a fall out with the other organiser of the rally as the site was barren of natural finds,he was against seeding it but went with it in the end,they made a fortune running these rallies but much of it was seeded with finds. I was in the finds i.d. tent when rumour was going round that a gold viking coin had been found,I laughed when I saw it as it was a barrelled bright button with a ship on one side, should of seen the organisers face when I said so, bet he was thinking oh balls must of not seen that in the bucket as I was chucking the ' finds ' round the fields !
Yes,it does happen.I know of one person thats done it in the past (no names mentioned) but we were on a rally and grots were coming up all over a certain area, suffice to say the following year, not a grot was to be seen in the same area.
Not the slightest bit interested in people who stoop so low to make money.Shame people do this,that's one reason i don't do many rally's.I suppose the lure of money from organiser's and land owner's is too much to resist .No different to night hawking imo,only this time we are the one's being robbed.
WHY? whats the point theres plenty of land out there to go on why seed them if its in the ground youll find it,the people who do this should be named and shamed out of the hobby :)
I wouldnt have minded a few seeded finds of any description today at the newark rally.They will probably appear tomorrow .:nod:
Rallies are now big business for some - no finds - no business - its not difficult to figure out whats done......
Land is so unpredictable - the best on paper can produce nowt......a hand full of grots and bent hammered with the odd beaut thrown in will secure future bookings......simple business.
Everyones happy.....not to say all are but in sure many wool be
im new to the game and have been thinking of going to some rallies in the future but im not so sure now as i wouldnt like to pay good money to participate in what could possibly be an Easter egg hunt, is it really that wide spread ? surely the veterans would be able to suss seeded sites ? i want to make finds and not find something that has been deliberately placed for me to find if that makes sense :confused:
I think there may be the temptation to seed a field if you're holding a rally and you're charging £20 a head and have advertised in a national publication, without knowing the productivity of the field. Yes, it's dishonest, unethical, patronizing, and nearly impossible to prove. The examples given here on this thread about "R" stamped coins would be a valuable indicator of tom-foolerery. You would think some of the guys with decades experience at rallies could discern a seeded field, but if they did, how would they get the word out? I will always try to join our yearly outing (now that we're looking for pastures new, says Tony Hunt), but I'll probably shy-away from rallies advertised in the hobby mags.
so a scam is called simple business jerry ?
corrupt if its happening but that a signs of the times with todays dumb corrupt greedy business men.
it would get my back up to think someone had planted the find - and totally lose the sense of uncovering the past.
so the problems not night hawking now - its greedy business men/women sneaking onto land to plant finds for there business rally lolol jokers
A friend of mine goes to loads of rallies all over the place, he has been very disillusioned over some he has been on in the past which were advertised as being undetected on only to find holes all over the place and clean grots laying on the surface, obviously seeded and were eyes only finds.
As said before it is big business for some, certainly to be tax free income and as long as detectorists keep on going and paying their £20+ per day nothing will change, some go for the social and meeting up, others in the hope of hitting it big. Everyone has a choice to make and they can be great fun, I would tend to recommend going to charity rallies closer to home and save on the travelling costs where proceeds go to supporting something local such as a school or church, etc, but that is just my view for what it is worth.
No more rallies for me thats for sure, only club digs when i can. As for seeding i know one place that is seeded every day and i love the results :D
I don't like big rallies, they are there to make money for the organisers. That's all.
But Corfe is a different matter......
What with seeded fields and people bringing their finds with them, is anything kosher ??
Personally I dont think I've been to a seeded rally as I've returned empty handed so often, on the other hand maybe I'm just that bad I can't even find seeded stuff :):):):)
I wonder how many illegal finds are shown at rally's just so they can bring them out in the open.
We have been to Corfe now for I think 12 years and every one of them has been Kosher. I have always made a point of telling everybody way in advance you pays your money and take a chance, nothing guaranteed finds wise. Every year I worried about doing another one incase people started getting at me for a crap time. Every penny I have taken in ticket and raffle money after I have looked after our farmers has gone to Gary to help him cover forum costs like the server and his travelling costs, this year it has gone to Gordon because he's the new forum owner. He has promised to post exactly how much I gave him and what its being used for. Not a penny goes in our own pockets so theres nothing to gain from seeding anything which is how it should be. Because this year finds have definitely been a lot less although theres still been a few nice ones we will be seriously thinking of going elsewhere next year for our yearly meetup.
Seeding does go on for sure like Jerry and a few others have mentioned above.We have been around and are not stupid, sometimes its so obvious. Personally I don't do rallies anymore because of it. I have been on rallies in the past where roman coins have suddenly started appearing after lunch where there were non in the morning. Like the others I am not mentioning any names but they know who they are. Basically its fraud, big monies are involved and people get greedy. I feel very sad for all the new detectorists who after reading about all the big hoards that have been found lately have spent lots of their hard earned money on a state of the art detector only to find they have nowhere to detect apart from rallies or the beach.
Club rallies are the best bet or maybe even form a small syndicate like shooters and fishermen do and offer a farmer some money for his favourite charity or whatever, at least what is found will be genuine.
Well said tony, as I said in another post corfe is not about the finds its about the member and if you find something it's a bonus.
I think every Platinum member takes it as read that contributing to the Corfe rally is, in effect, contributing to the upkeep and maintenance of the forum server. No one expects miracles from a site that's been gone over by rabid minelabowners for the past 12 years. It's the fellowhip and hog roast that draws us out. I was one of those who couldn't make it at the last minute, and neglected to post the change in plans. Mea culpa.