Product Description

David Villanueva has over 30 years of experience in metal
detecting and research, in Britain and is a regular contributor to Treasure
Hunting magazine. He has been responsible for seven reported finds of
Treasure, and has built up a collection of other coins and artefacts that
would be the envy of many. But EVERY ONE of those finds has started from
either getting SEARCH PERMISSION or legally avoiding that obligation.
Where can you legally search without permission? How do you find the
landowner to ask for search permission? How do you persuade the landowner
to give their permission? These are the questions on the lips of many
participants in the hobby. David draws on his experience at successfully
and painlessly gaining search permission on a wide range of sites both as
an individual detectorist and club leader and reveals ALL in this
fact-packed book.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #52106 in Books
• Published on: 2007-01-22
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 52 pages

About the Author
David Villanueva was born in Birmingham in 1951, grew up in the
Midlands and now lives in Kent. In the early 70s his mother bought him a
copy of Ted Fletcher's book: A Fortune under Your Feet, which inspired him
to buy a metal detector - a Goldfinger BFO - the performance was very poor
by current standards but it did find coins and David became hooked. Having
long had a keen interest in history David started researching his locality,
which led to productive sites to search and to write about in the two
British metal detecting magazines - The Searcher and Treasure Hunting -
which have published more than twenty of David's articles between them.
Following a move to Whitstable, Kent, David took to nearby beaches with his
trusty old Pulsedec but quickly found that the machine was not well-suited
to local conditions - the Pulsedec having no discrimination and there being
plenty of iron around. Changing to a locally produced C-Scope 1220B, which
worked well on the drier parts of the beaches encouraged him to try out
some inland sites. He joined a metal detecting club and also gained
permission to search a small farm, making all sorts of finds that
previously he had only read about in metal detecting magazines - hammered
silver coins for instance. Having long had a keen interest in history
David started researching his locality, which led to more productive sites
to search and to write about in the metal detecting magazines .

Continually delving into local history and gaining search permissions,
David suddenly found himself having to report a string of real treasures in
the form of caches of Iron Age gold coins and items of Roman, Saxon and
medieval gold and silver jewellery. No less than seven of David's finds
were recorded under the Treasure Act between 1998-2004. David also has to
maintain a shelf full of trophies he is continuously winning at the Swale,
Search and Recovery Club.

Excerpted from Permission Impossible: Metal Detecting Search Permission Made Easy by David Villanueva. Copyright © 2007. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
INTRODUCTION.

The biggest problems facing the metal detecting hobby today are
undoubtedly finding productive land and securing search permission. My
book Site Research, (Greenlight Publishing, 2006), deals extensively with
the quest for productive land through map, local history and document
research. Research in itself will always help secure search permission by
effectively answering the landowner's question: Why do you want to search
my land? What's more you are almost guaranteed good finds once you obtain
permission. So site research is a very good way of improving your chances
of obtaining permission, which I will cover later along with many other
tips and techniques designed to multiply your land portfolio.

As the new chairman of a metal detecting club, which over the years had
become a `landless society', I was charged with the task of finding land
for the club to search. This is where things can get difficult. Many
landowners will willing give permission to one or two detectorists to
search but facial contours distort somewhat when you say: "And will it be
OK if I bring twenty mates along?" I skirt around this problem for the
club by saying `as few as one or two of us' and if that is the agreement
then the club can run a rota system so that all can share eventually in the
`reduced number searches'. One other potential problem with clubs is the
amount of cars that turn up for a search. Car sharing doesn't seem to go
down well with detectorists and this can be a problem for a farmer. Please
make sure it isn't or you probably won't be visiting that farm again.

Let's now take a look at the reasons search permissions are refused. The
biggest reason used to be the non-committal: we don't allow that sort of
thing. Today, in my area, Kent, the most often quoted reason is that: we
already have a couple of detectorists on our land. As well as still not
allowing that sort of thing, another reason might be that the occupier is a
tenant and in that case, the tenant will usually co-operate if you get
permission from the landowner.

Our task here is not to try and oust other detectorists from land they have
diligently obtained permission to search and any attempts at that may
result in everyone being banned from that particular land. But rather to
work around other detectorists' patches by seeking out productive land
where permission can be relatively easily obtained or no other detectorist
treads, for whatever reason.

One very important point is that you absolutely must work tidily. There is
little point in making the effort of getting permission only to have it
withdrawn because you are making a mess and putting the whole hobby into
disrepute as well. So wherever you are searching - field, beach, garden -
you must leave the site as you found it with all holes filled in and
extracted rubbish removed. If the land is used by domestic animals such as
livestock or horses the consequences of leaving unfilled holes could be
tragic. King William III was killed when his horse stepped into a small
hole - fortunately there were no metal detectors in 1702 so they can't
blame us for that.
Landscaped areas such as gardens and parks need special attention and aim
for invisible extractions. Use a straight-edged trowel to cut a neat plug
with three or four sides approximately 200mm (8") long. Cut the plug with
sloping sides to help its keying in when you replace it. Lift out the
plug, invert it and place it on a sheet of polythene, plastic bag or
Frisbee so that loose dirt and the plug can be put back into the hole, the
same way it came out, without leaving a brown halo on the surrounding
grass. In very dry weather the grass will die back after being disturbed
so either water the grass after find extraction (you may need to carry a
bottle of water with you for this purpose) or only search these places when
the ground is damp.

So now let's go to it and happy hunting!

Customer Reviews

A MUST Read!
It's been a while since I last went metal detecting and the laws have all changed. I decided to buy this book BEFORE I got a new detector to see what I was up against and I'm glad I did. This great little book contains loads of great advice and sample letters you can use or adapt. Also contains useful web addresses so you can research online.

It has given me the confidence and the tools to do this properly and get permission in a strategic manner. For the tiny price this well written book is a must have for anyone half-serious on detecting. And you can buy direct from the author who sent it me immediately.

well written and witty too
Not the largest book but very well written on what is quite a tricky subject. Having read it just once it boosts confidence thus making your permission seeking so much easier. Well worth a read.