HOARDS AND COLLECTING

💰 Types of Hoards

  • **Savings Hoards ("Stash Pots"):**

The idea:* A peasant's piggy bank. Built up over years.

Where:* Under the corner of a house, under a stove, in a garden plot, near a marker tree.

Contents:* Copper and small-denomination silver.

  • **Emergency Hoards ("Panic Stashes"):**

The idea:* Buried in a panic (war, dispossession campaigns). "Grab it and bury it."

Where:* Close to home, in a forest, near a road. Shallow depth (just a shovel's depth).

Contents:* Everything of value (gold, jewelry, silver tableware).

  • **Relic Caches:**

* Hidden stashes of documents, weapons, banners.

📚 Collecting

Detectorists are the main source of material for:

  • **Numismatics** (Coins).
  • **Phaleristics** (Medals, badges).
  • **Philobutonistics** (Buttons).
  • **Sphragistics** (Seals).

Tip: Keep a catalog. Record the date, location, and depth. This increases the historical value of a find (provenance).