Edition 9 part 2 - Up Yer Kilt Magazine

Toddy's Digs
Sunday 18 November 2012
On Sunday the 18th November 2012, one of Toddy's frequent popular Sunday Digs was
organized that was to have a few surprises in store, for Colin Toddy Irvine has been mainly
holding most of these Sunday digs in and around the Falkirk and Bannockburn areas.
Always hoping to find some evidence of the Bruce?
But more recently venues and locations started to move further afield that as Toddy
secured new land to hold one digs one these back in February at a Perthshire location that
was to prove just quite amazing with the finding of a hoard of hammered pennies
Followed by the Robert The Bruce Rally, and now he has managed to gain another new
permission to do a number of new Sunday dig searches again in Perthshire.
The first of these was at another location in the heart of Perthshire countryside on Sunday
18 November, and because of the interest that Toddy Dig's forum had created over this
new site it was to prove to be his best turn out dig yet with around sixty forum members
arriving for the day.
Even though the early morning weather could have caused some problems with localised
black ice on the roads and the first signs of freezing cold conditions which could have
been a lot worse than they were the ground was thankfully still easy to dig and not frozen
over!
The sun also came out for most of the day adding some warmth in the icy winter air and
also adding some splendid scenery for one to capture on the camera.
Everyone arrived at site having parked near a village centre and for the bigger vehicles
parking was achieved at the side of one of the search fields.
The site for the day was situated next to a village
and Church both of which were dating back to
medieval times and further back more to the
times when standing stones and stone circles
were seen dotted about the countryside.
There was also the possibilities that one of the
fields available may have been used as the site
for village fair or market in former times as was
the case in many old Parish Villages.
The dig kicked off at 9.00 with people spreading
all over a large stubble field that was adjoining a
sloping hill, with Toddy asking everyone to get
together at lunch time for a group photo to be
taken.
As the morning progressed finds were coming up in the shape of copper coins going back
to George II and III, and then a stream of Scottish turners and worn Bawbees started to be
found, plus an assortment of buckles and musket balls and lead seals.
It wasn't until nearer the lunch stop point that some
more interesting finds came to light with a Scottish Half
Merk being found by new member 'Woodyew,' and then a
another Quarter Thistle Merk being found by JagSteve.
As folks stopped what they were doing to congregate
around the lucky finder someone else would come along
with another interesting find!
It wasn't long before some other lucky detectorist
another newcomer came up with a cracking hammered
Halfpenny of Robert The Bruce (sorry didn't catch the
finders name at that point as I was in shock and awe of
the coins condition superb tiny find) but the find was a
complete knock-out for finds such as these wee coins
are extremely rare to find and as such can be quite unique in their own rights.
One of the younger members was seen whizzing around
the field with his detector a young lad by the name of
Noel and yet he managed to make some very good finds
including a George III Halfpenny, that was in good nick
but best of all a very nice decorated lead Spindle Whorl,
and by crikey he was putting some of us older folks to
shame.
It won't be long before Noel gets a deserving silver or
gold find I think.
During lunch there was folks coming forward having
found hammered silver of Edward I, coinage including
finds for Sharon and Laura (freespirith) as well as well as
other Spindle Whorls being found one of which is a bit of a puzzle ? Found by Old Geo as
it looks like a decorated one on one side but shows the lead to be brittle and more like
pewter?
And Jagsteve not contented in just finding his first old
silver Scottish Quarter Thistle Merk also came up with
maybe just maybe the oldest find of the dig by producing
something resembling and oversized enamel button with
the enamel work showing a distinctive design and colour.
First impressions by some folk is that it could be a
brooch or stud of some kind perhaps even Roman only
time will tell if the object is indeed of early age?
Everyone got together for a group photo that was then
taken both by Shug and Toddy.
After lunch an additional field was opened up where you
could go and search and this one was more flatly elevated
than the previous one and yet again was to prove most intriguing for finds.
For not long into the search a Vessica Shaped Seal
Matrix was found by Alan (Agmcg), this having what
looks like a King and Child figure on it and probably
dating from the 13th or 14th Century, another very
unexpected find.
Then another classic find of the day moment came
when another newcomer by the name of Fifer found
yet another cracking Scottish coin this time a silver
penny of Robert The Bruce and this time again in
beautiful condition.
The congregation around Fifer said it all and had a lot
of people wowing and awing for the rest of the
afternoon!
John Sutherland found another seal
matrix but this time it was a plain one
with nothing on it.
As the afternoon wore on into early
evening everyone gave it the best to
try and find more Robert's as I am
sure that was on everyone's minds
but alas no more came to light before
it eventually got too dark to see !
The final score for the day was 11
hammered silvers, 5 to 6 crooked
sixpences (love tokens) and again 5
to 6 lead spindle whorls, 2 seal
matrices and a possible ancient
enamelled brooch or stud, among
countless copper coins pre-decimal
and even Bawbees and Turners.
But in terms of coin star finds the
Robert the Bruce coinage is very
Wow some!
A very good day out I think all would
agree there with a big turn up for the
books in finds.
Early Scottish kings and their portraits on coins
David 1st
William 1st
Alexander 2nd
Alexander 3rd
John Balliol
Robert 1st
The Bruce
David 2nd
Robert 2nd
1124 - David I becomes king and introduces the feudal system of landholding to much of Scotland.
1138 - David I of Scotland invades England in support of his niece, Matilda
wife of King Stephen of England, but is defeated at the
Battle of the
Standard in Yorkshire.
1139 - Treaty of Durham in which David I is recognised as King of an independent Scotland by King Stephen of England.
1165 - William the Lion become king
1173 - William the Lion invades England but is captured by Henry II at
Alnwick and forced to surrender Scottish independence
1174 - William I signs the Treaty of Falaise in which he swears allegiance to
Henry II of England.
1185 - William pays Richard I of England money to finance his crusades to
the Holy Land.
1214 - Accession of Alexander II, son of William the Lion
1217 - Peace treaty with England guarantees peace for almost 20 years
1221 - Alexander marries Joan daughter of King John of England
1237 - Southern border of Scotland established in the Treaty of York.
1249 - Alexander dies.. He is succeeded by his son, Alexander III
1249 - Alexander III becomes king and is crowned on the Stone of Destiny
1263 - Alexander III defeats Viking army at the Battle of Largs
1266 - Norway cedes the Western Isles to Scotland in the Treaty of Perth.
1286 - Alexander dies in riding accident leaving the throne to his four-year
-old granddaughter, Margaret
1291 - Claimants to the Scottish throne met King Edward I of England at
Norham on Tweed to resolve succession
1292 - Edward I of England grants the Scottish throne to John Balliol.
1295 - Treaty between King John Balliol of Scotland and King Philippe IV
of France which promised mutual help against the English - the start of the
"Auld Alliance".
1297 - Andrew de Moray and William Wallace lead the Scots to victory
over England at Stirling Bridge.
1306 - Robert Bruce is crowned king at Scone but is driven into hiding by
the English occupation army of Edward I
1307 - Edward I sets out to invade Scotland but dies on his way north.
Bruce begins campaign to drive the English out of Scotland. English forces
defeated by Bruce at Loudon Hill
1329 - David II succeeds to the Scottish throne on the death of his father,
Robert Bruce
1331 - David II (aged 7) crowned at Scone
1371 - Death of David II. He is succeeded by his nephew, Robert Stewart,
the first Stewart King of Scotland. Robert, the hereditary High Steward of
Scotland and grandson of Robert Bruce, is crowned
1371 - Robert Stewart, the first Stewart King of Scotland becomes king
1384 - Truce is arranged between England, Scotland, and France. Scotland
refuses to recognize truce. Anglo Scottish war resumes
1388 - Battle of Otterburn in which Scots defeat Henry Percy (Harry Hotspur)
1390 - Robert II dies and is succeeded by his son John, who becomes
Robert III
The Garrett Euro Ace, A Beginner’s First Impressions
By Alastair Millen
For over a year now I have been writing articles for Scottish Detecting and during that time I did not
own a metal detector. Metal detecting has been something that I have wanted to start doing, due to
my keen interest in history and archaeology, but could not afford a decent beginners detector. At
the end of October this was going to change as I had entered a competition that Regton Ltd were
running on their facebook page, which gave you the chance to win a Garret Euro Ace. I didn’t
expect to win it, but hoped that I
would as the Ace range were in my
metal detector wish list, owing to
good reviews and recommendations
from others. Much to my surprise
and excitement I was the lucky
entrant to have their name pulled
from a hat by, Derek Ingram, the inventor of the s-shaped metal
detector handle.
Once it had sunk in, that I had won
the Euro Ace, and the excitement
had worn off, I started looking at
videos online and reading bits on
the Euro Ace, I even downloaded the
manual from Garrett’s website. So
that before I started using the Euro Ace, I would know how it worked and how to get the best from
the detector. The two main pieces of advice were, low and slow swings of the coil, as the Euro ace
has a narrow footprint, and take your time practicing, learning how it works, so that you get the best
from the Euro Ace when you hit the field.
The next day the Euro Ace arrived and I was keen to see what was in the box, to get the detector put
together and start learning how to use it in the garden. This felt like the ideal place to start as you
never know what has been dropped in a garden over the years. It was a bright and sunny day until I
had put the Euro Ace together, then it started raining, so my plans to get started were put on hold
for a nicer day. It was very easy to assemble and set up ready for use, with three preset discrimination modes, Jewellery, coins and relics, a zero discrimination mode and one custom mode that you
can set for yourself. For this mode I went with Regton’s recommended settings for UK soils, which
came included with the detector, there is also a video on their site showing you how to do this.
Once the weather had improved I took the Euro Ace into the garden to start learning how to get the
best from it, with old coins and other bits found while doing the gardening, I know there is more
than junk out there. However with the detector so far I have yet to find any of these, but as the main
aim of going to the garden was to learn how it worked, so the quality of the finds was not a priority
for me. I have read about making a detecting plot to learn how your machine works, but as my
garden has been quite prolific with metallic objects while gardening, I decided to just detect it and
see what I find. With the aim in mind to get a clean area so, that if I chose to make one of these plots
I know that I will be finding what I buried, not random pieces as well.
It didn’t take too long to get the hang of the swing rate, which is recommended to be one meter a
second, and the pinpoint mode using the various methods that were recommended in the
instruction manual. I have found that I get the best pinpoint by using a combination of the cross
and spiral methods, admittedly after a few false starts. I get the initial pinpoint by the ‘on the fly’
cross method, then double check using the spiral, holding down the pinpoint button for this step,
just to make sure I have locked onto the target correctly before I start to dig.
In my first few hours of detecting in the garden I had dug out an assortment of nails, screws, small
pieces of copper pipe and other assorted detritus. As I was detecting near where there has been a
shed for many years, these came as no surprise, but they
all helped with me learning how best to pinpoint targets
with a 2-D / Double D coil. The better I get with this, the
more productive my days detecting will be and the holes
I dig will be less intrusive, why dig a trench when all you
need to do is dig out a small plug of earth? At the end of
my first afternoon’s detecting in the garden, I had a
signal that could have been either a ring or a small coin,
by what the Euro Ace was indicating, using Regton’s
custom settings.
So I set about digging to see what it was, as you never
know what you will find until you dig it up, checking to
make sure I had not dug the find out with the spoil, until I
Plumbing Compression Ring
found it. When I did I will admit I was a little excited, it
was just over 20 cms down and while covered in mud I
could tell it was a ring of some sort, what sort I wasn’t
going to find out until I had cleaned the mud off of it. When I did this I found it wasn’t a ring lost by
someone at the top of the garden, it was in fact a common plumbing compression ring. In a way you
could say it was a ring that someone had lost in the garden, but not the type of ring I was hoping it
would be.
About a week later I went with my Father to the closest piece of Crown Foreshore to me, to get
started detecting in the field so to speak. The beach is not a nice sandy one that lends its self to
easy detecting, but a pebble beach strewn with large rocks and only a limited area of sand at low
tide. At the back of the beach are towering chalk cliffs
that suffer from coastal erosion, they are retreating at
bout three foot every year and the most common
form of pebble there is flint. It is also an area that is
known for fossils and meteorites, so there are plenty
of things to look for as well as pieces picked up by
the detector.
Fishing lure / spinner with hooks
We spent a pleasurable afternoon on the beach
detecting and fossil hunting, my Father found some interesting fossils, that he is still trying to ID.
He also tried his hand at metal detecting and was impressed at how easy the Euro Ace was to use
and is keen to go again to see what we find. We are just waiting for a decent day for it and one
where we are both free to go out detecting, which I hope will be soon. Our finds for the afternoon
were not impressive, but one was a good example of why thick gloves are a must when beech
detecting, it was a fishing lure / spinner covered in hooks. A dog walker who was curious to what
we were doing on the beech was glad we found that and picked it up, as it could have injured someone, or a dog on the beech.
I have still to burn through my first set of batteries for the Euro ace, but my first impressions of the
Euro Ace are very good ones. It is very intuitive to use, lightweight and for a beginner to the hobby
a perfect starter machine to go for. The controls are easy to use and understand, the display and
tones used for the different metal types are clear and easy to interpret, which is just what you need
when starting out. My finds as yet have been nothing to write home about, but I know in time as I
get out detecting more and I become more proficient with the Euro Ace, the good finds will come.
I know that this machine will bring me many happy days detecting and will be well used over the
years to come.
Garret Euro Ace On The Beach
Not all treasure is gold or silver
Have you ever found a bit of bronze or copper alloy that you though was unusual and put it in your
finds bag instead of your tin because you think its just a piece of junk. What you could be throwing
away is an artefact of great significance. Here below are some pictures of some things that are on
the finds U.K. database. See if you can tell what they are answers will be on the following page.
You might have found one of these
already.
3
1
2
4
5
6
8
7
9
Number 1
5th or 6th century
Anglo Saxon
mount
Number 2
5th or 6th century
The hooked section of an
Anglo Saxon two-part hookand-eye clasp for fastening
the sleeve of a garment at
the wrist.
Number 7
A single loop 4th century D-shaped
buckle, complete with pin and folded rectangular sheet-metal plate. The front face
of the plate has decorative notches along
both edges. One iron attachment rivet remains in situ.
Number 3
A late medieval to early post-medieval
one-piece cast button; circular; flat
front; convex back; integral shank
with rounded end, undecorated. It is
unclear whether the shank is drilled or
has an as-cast aperture. The latter
type is slightly later.
Number 4
A plain sub-circular harness pendant
with convex front, concave back and
very long-necked suspension loop.
13th to 14th century
Number 8
A button-and-loop fastener of the early
Roman period. The 'button' is ovoid
(teardrop or petal-shaped) and the offset
loop is sub-circular. The front of the button is recessed with a domed boss at the
centre.
Number 5
A copper-alloy Jew's harp
with lozenge-shaped crosssection and circular bow.
The tongue is missing 17th
to 19th century
Number 6
A late 15th to early 16th century
purse bar, complete with swivelling
oval suspension loop. The bar has
a central shield-shaped boss with
plain circular-section side bars and
globular terminals. The terminals
have a circumferential ridge around
the centre, with a groove on either
side. The ends are notched across
the centre.
Number9
The upper element, or pestle, of a twopart cosmetic (woad) grinder of the late
Iron Age to early Roman period. It is
crescent-shaped, with a central suspension loop.
The ancient Britons cultivated woad (a
biennial herb, Isatis Tinctoria) for its blue
dye. The dye, which they used to paint
their bodies, was obtained by grinding
parts of the plant between a mortar and
pestle.
Trip to Yorkshire by Rob Fallon
My little brother and I headed off to Yorkshire for a week to see an old friend we had not
seen in a few years. We used to gold prospect and he got me into detecting.
We went down with a CTX 3030 an E-TRAC and I brought my mate a pro coil to keep for his
Explorer II.
We detected as and when we could, and when he felt up to it. The results pretty much
speak for themselves.
With the CTX 3030 I found a
Roman Denarius from AD 159,
a broken Eddy (I think) groat, a
cut half Henry III and many
other items such as a pilgrim’s
ampula, silver buttons,
medieval buckles, pewter
buckles, lead tokens, Roman
copper grot and loads of the
usual junk finds such as tiny
bits of lead, bullets etc.
Every day the CTX 3030
seemed to pull out more and
more. I did have a battery
charger issue however, which
seems to have fixed itself. The
Roman site we were on has
been hunted to death by a local
club but they managed to miss my denarius! Phew!!
I managed to turn some other detectorists into CTX 3030 owners. They have all ordered
one, and my mate is going to order one too. So there you go Minelab, one week away and
a few CTX 3030s sold!
I set my little brother on a mission too with my E-TRAC and SEF coil. He is a newbie
detectorist. I had it maxed out and told him go as slow as he could, put up with the noise
and learn the machine. Two hours later he is running his little legs off up the field towards
us with his very first hammered, a Henry VII half groat. The next day he finds a farthing and
the day after, a cut half Alexander. He managed plenty of other finds too, and was finding
the machine great to use after he eventually managed to get his head round it!
I have been taking people out locally with the CTX 3030 to gauge interest and opinions as I
am interested in what other people think. So far all were impressed and it seems many
now have the CTX 3030 on their Christmas list.
Before I left for Yorkshire, Neil Oliver and Tony Pollard were doing a dig on one of my
permissions at Cambuskenneth Abbey in Stirling. They had a local club with them and a
few archaeologists. They did most of the fields looking for stuff and pulled up only lead
and one hammered of Edward the First. (well done, Adrian!)
I spoke to one of the people on the dig and took them out the following week for a few
hours. The three other detectorists didn't find much, but I did manage to pull out a cut half
of John, a medieval sword hanger, a bar mount and some other small bits and pieces that
have been claimed as treasure trove so was pretty happy.
I did take an HD video of the whole York trip but my memory stick became corrupted, so
that was that!
Take care and happy hunting all.
Rob
Limoges Medieval Enamelled Crucifix Mount
(Throw nothing away until you’ve checked it out)
When I dug up my little Limoges figure, my first thought was, “it’s a daft wee figure from an old fireside
companion set”. I soon realised though, that I had found something interesting, but it took a few weeks
to find out what exactly it was I had found.
This copper alloy figure would have fitted on the end of the ‘arms’ of a cross, with another gilded figure on
each of the other ‘arms’. Either a plate with the letters ‘IHS’ would be fitted in the middle of the cross, or
else a representation of Christ on the cross. The whole thing would have looked amazing with bright
enamel, and gilding (some of which you can still see on the picture below), and is dated to the early 13th
Century.
So what is a Limoges figure, and what, or more appropriately, where, is
Limoges. Well the town of Limoges, is in central France, and has had a
long and busy history. What with the town itself being founded by the
Romans, then various invasions by the Germans causing the area to be
abandoned on several occasions, life was not dull. But the story of
Limoges and its role as the bespoke maker of enamelled reliquary, and
crucifixes, starts in the 11th Century.
The town developed around the tomb of St Martial (9th Century), and
turned into not only a flourishing artistic centre, but also the largest
centre of production of these medieval Christian objects.
The signature colour of enamel used by the Limoges workshops was
blue, some of which is still visible on my little figure of a saint. These
beautiful items were expensive to produce and were sought after over all of Europe. Interestingly, the
Limoges workshops used an early form of production line manufacture, to cope with the massive demand
of their products.
There would be several men in the production line, working on each one of the highly decorated book
covers, crosses, pyxes (used to house the Eucharist), and chasse (house shaped boxes to hold relics of the
saints).
It is not always easy to work out the identity of each of the
Evangelists, especially on the ‘T’ pieces, where the saints
were highly stylised. Although Limoges did use certain
enamel colours and shapes to represent each saint, and
there are a number of identified examples still existing
today. One of the more famous being a Limoges cross
(circa 1250) with figures of saints, showing the blue
enamel Limoges was famous for. This cross is in the V & A
collection. (See picture, right)
Limoges maintained this popularity and mass production
of the enamelled reliquary until the 1700’s, when they
wisely moved into porcelain.
Medieval Limoges Alter Cross Mounts Another example of a Limoges Cross, showing the stylised ‘T’
mounts, which in this example would have
been heavily gilded.
These five cast plaques dating from the 12th
Century, would be attached to a wooden alter
cross. Some of the grander crosses would also
have a figure of a saint in each corner. They
can also have a central gilded panel depicting
the figure of Christ on the cross.
The area where I found my part of a Limoges
Alter Cross has yielded only one other piece, a
very bent ‘T’ or terminal mount, in blue and
green enamel. It has a stylised representation
of one of the four Evangelists (possibly John),
similar to the example in the photograph right.
This lack of success hasn’t stopped me checking
the area over and over again, in the hope that
another piece of the cross may just appear.
Lovely Example of a Limoges Ridge Top Chasse (c.1190).
The front piece depicts the Martyrdom of St
Thomas of Becket. The Chasse was used to house the relics of Saints, and were highly prized until such
reliquaries fell out of favour with the coming of Martin Luther and the Reformation. Sadly, this is also not
one of my finds, but imaging turning up this in a field.
This may not be as far-fetched as first may appear. As already stated, these artefacts were very sought
after at the time, even in the smaller churches in Scotland. If a medieval church had the patronage of a
local and important family, they
may have provided their church
with such adornments.
Over the last 3 years I’ve been detecting, I have found a number of
items that have been claimed by
the Treasure Trove, but the Limoges figure and ‘T’ mount are my
favourite finds so far. The cherry
on the cake for me was when I
heard that these pieces have been
claimed by my local museum, and
will stay within the area they were
found.
So next time you dig up a bent
piece of metal, or a funny looking
‘little grinning man ’ pay attention. It could just turn out to be one of the best finds you’ve ever made.
Maureen Bruce (www.scottishdetectorist.co.uk)
Are we anoraks?
Are we anoraks, are we nerds, are we sad people?
Many of us have been called something like this on a few occasions by passing members of the
public while out doing our hobby. Many people, who don’t understand the thrill of pulling up a
piece of history from whence it came, they cant for the life of themselves see the attraction of walking around in the mud in the midst of winter digging holes in a field. If you asked that same person
that’s berating you if they would dig up a field to find a pot of gold they wouldn’t think twice about
it. So why then do we detectorists have this
stigma?
Every advert on television that has something to
do with metal detecting has always joked about
the hobby or made the detectorists look silly.
Take the latest advert by Aviva Insurance with
“Detector Jim” where they have a comedian doing
a sketch of someone who gets a signal and it
turns out to be his car. This used to be the kind of
publicity the hobby used to get.
Why then is the hobby of metal detecting growing
so rapidly?
In my humble opinion it’s all to do with the internet?
With more and more people on the internet today
they are seeing the finds that we as detectorists
are pulling up. This is never more so when at the
click of a button we can read “The Auchtermuchty
Times newspaper or some other local paper that
has a picture of their local “Detector Jim” with his
find that’s been Treasure Troved and is expecting
to get the finder a pretty penny. Just look at the Hoard found on Jersey recently supposed to be
worth around £10 million. Another great advert for the hobby is YouTube videos. If you type in
metal detecting on YouTube there are around 30,000 videos you can watch people digging up
treasures from all over the world. Here in Scotland we have some great forums that people can look
at as well with loads of good finds, videos and Story’s. Once again it’s only a click away.
So the next time you are asked what you are doing by a passer-by. Do what some of these witty
Scottish detectorists did and answer:
“I’m digging for snakes so keep back please in case one comes out quick....”
“The farmer has lost his tractor while ploughing. He says it’s buried around here somewhere”
And my personal favourite:
“There are usually two of us, I dig the hole and the other guy plants the tree, but he’s off today and I
still have to work”
Who said that Scottish detectorists don’t have a sense of humour.
A late medieval (Agnus Die) pendant from Fife by Sidlawman.
Firstly, I have to admit, when this gold coloured pendant was found there were no
cartwheels, no running around the field hands in the air, no Highland Jigs etc. Why? Well,
despite its very clear religious connotations I assumed (stupidly I now know!) it to be very
modern, hence it was quickly stuffed away amongst the other non-descript bits and pieces
already recovered. There were certainly no doubts about the quality of the site - a site that
has produced a great many English and Scottish medieval hammered silver coins of all
denominations over the years, and because of this the detecting sense of anticipation was
quite powerful, basically meeting all the prerequisites one could wish for in a site. So it
was only after the passage of time, and a lull in my metal detecting activities that I decided
to show the pendant to some friends in England.
This is where the fun starts. I asked the question (using a generic detecting question)
"What are your opinions on this piece of hedge fodder?" Well of course the response was
utter shock! It was at this point I was given various web links etc, and that was when
everything clicked! The realization! The obvious! All the web links said the same thing!
What I'd thought to be a modern religious souvenir
was in fact a late 15th to early 16th century silver
gilt pendant. One side depicts a magnificent image,
possibly of Christ, or John the Baptist. The other
side shows an equally impressive depiction of the
Lamb of God, or to give it its proper appellation
"Agnus Dei"
The history behind these objects is quite
fascinating. In a nutshell it's suggested that these
pendants - when blessed - where worn for their
protective powers. It is thought that inside there
may be a wax medallion (pending x-ray), possibly
made from the wax of candles lit at Easter in Rome,
and stamped with the Lamb of God (Cherry 2001). In recent days (December 2012) the
pendant has safely arrived at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh for Treasure
Trove assessment and further investigation, including as mentioned, an x-ray to determine
the all important contents. Presumably this may take some time, but I'll wait with baited
breath!
I don't think detectorists in Scotland find medieval artefacts of this quality all that often. It
would seem to be the more conventional, mundane everyday things used by the common
people, ie buckles, thimbles, the occasional harness pendant, not to mention the coins of
course. It was probably because of this quality that I failed to see exactly what the item
was, leading me to conclude it was modern. Safe to say (and even after detecting for over
twenty years!) a very important lesson has been learned. If there's any doubt at all, get a
second opinion about your finds. You never know, like me you could have something
pretty special!
One final interesting point that's just come
to me was found on the Treasure Trove
Facebook page, where the piece has just
made an appearance and a very thought
provoking point was made by Stuart
Campbell when conversing with a colleague:
"This is a very high quality piece, as good as
any in the British Museum" - his colleague
being formerly of that institution.
High praise indeed!
Sidlawman
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Editor’s Ramblings..........................................................2
A Brief History of Hygiene...........................................3/4
Buttons.............................................................................5
The Thetford Hoard.........................................................7
Charity Dig 3 in Fishtown Of Usan................................8
Get out of jail free............................................................9
Stevie’s Bronzes............................................................10
Found a ring and a wife...........................................12/13
Mary Queen of Scots................................................14/15
Cry for help....................................................................16
The Life and Adventures of "Toshie".....................17/20
Toddy’s Digs ............................................................22/24
Earlt Scottish coin portraits.........................................25
The Garrett Euro Ace...............................................26/27
Not all treasure is gold or silver..............................28/29
Trip to Yorkshire ...........................................................30
Medieval Limoges ...................................................31/32
Are we anoraks?............................................................33
(Agnus Die) pendant ....................................................34
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