A Metal Detectorist's 'Recording'

John Hooker continues eulogising Dean Crawford's "discoveries".

Today's post will showcase some Dobunni gold discovered and reported by Dean Crawford. It is here where the main value of Dean's work can be seen.  [...] Dean's work has been of great value to my own research [sic] (much of it recorded on this blog) and to Celtic numismatists and independent researchers in general. 

Let us examine the "gold" he highlights and its value for research purposes.


1) UKDFD : 4342 Dobunni Quarter Stater, Findspot: "Near Gloucester", September 9, 2006 "Recorded elsewhere: - No"

2)UKDFD : 1068 Dobunni gold quarter stater. Findspot: "Near Gloucester" September 9, 2006 Recorded elsewhere: No

3) UKDFD : 1067 Dobunni gold quarter stater. Findspot "Near Gloucester" November 1, 2005 Recorded elsewhere - No

4) UKDFD : 1065 Dobunni gold quarter stater Findspot: "near Worcester" November 1, 2005 Recorded elsewhere: CCI; CCI 05.0008

5) UKDFD : 1066 Dobunni Quarter Stater Findspot: "Near Evesham" November 1, 2005 Recorded elsewhere: CCI

6) CCI-30692 [03.0692; WAW-AB9E65] Corio stater Findspot: Defford, near Evesham January 2003 "This data [sic] is obtained from the Oxford University Celtic Coin Index. We cannot answer questions on the coins themselves. They were recorded by Oxford University staff".

7) CCI-20247 [02.0247]  Corio stater,  Findspot: Ashton under Hill, near Evesham 1st January 2002

"This data [sic] is obtained from the Oxford University Celtic Coin Index. We cannot answer questions on the coins themselves. They were recorded by Oxford University staff".

8) CCI 981284  Eisu stater, no provenance stated 1998.

9) CCI 010564, Eisu stater no provenance stated 2001.

10) UKDFD : 4344 Cut fragment of Roman aureus of Postumus (263 - 264 AD ) "only eight examples are known to exist", Findspot: "Near Gloucester" September 9, 2006, Recorded elsewhere: No. "from a site where Dobunni coins are also found".

So of these coins, only two (20%) figure in records held by the PAS but only by dint of the fact that they absorbed somebody else's database into their own to boost numbers. The data (plural) are of a different nature and this does not count as responsible recording with the PAS. Neither does entry of privately-owned material onto the private pirate UKDFD website. The number of items hoiked by Mr Crawford showcased here by Mr Hooker which are properly and responsibly reported to the PAS is zero. This is  the Heritage Action Artefact Erosion Counter exemplified in the deeds of one detectorist. How many more are there like this, keeping the information about the bulk of what they have hidden from the public record but bragging about what they've got ("one of only eight known") stashed away in their private hauls which we do not know about?

Mr Crawford candidly admits that the reason he's not reported many of his finds to the PAS is because if he did, he is worried that the sensitive sites among the findspots he reports may be taken under protection, and so he'd get less (or no) further loot from them. So he's keeping the locations out of the public record and continuing to enjoy the glittering prizes from the past all for for hisself. Except where he seeks bragging rights ("Mr Philip de Jersey....").

This is pretty disgusting, and to rub it in, Hooker taunts:

"Today's post will showcase some Dobunni gold discovered and reported by Dean Crawford. It is here where the main value of Dean's work can be seen. After twenty five years of complete neglect by archaeologists of the sites he reported, it is unlikely that future archaeologists will behave in any different manner. Even were they to do so we must wonder what will have survived at all by that time. However, Dean's work has been of great value to my own research (much of it recorded on this blog) and to Celtic numismatists and independent researchers in general".  

So, the rhinos out in the bush are "neglected" by the conservationists, they continue to roam there, and when they die, their horns get lost. The poacher however is out there "saving" the horns from being lost and rotting in the soil (it's keratin). Well, let us see the coins and then hear about Mr FSA Hooker's online antiquarian "research". Meanwhile while these sites remain unreported, the erosion goes on....


UPDATE 20th October 2015

Oh, there's more ("Dean Crawford — Living among the Dobunni: some non-Dobunni finds").

UKDFD : 443  "A cut halfpenny of Harold II. Minted at Droitwich, Worcestershire. This is the second known specimen of the Droitwich moneyer Hethewulf,
Findspot: "Near Worcester" Recorded elsewhere: only in EMC - 1998.0047

UKDFD : 1134   "Henry I (1100-1135). BMC type XII penny, minted at Hastings.
"The Hastings moneyer Wulnoth has previously been recorded from only one coin...."  Findspot: Framlingham, Suffolk, Recorded elsewhere: only in EMC - 2005.0037

UKDFD : 19385   "Richard I or John short cross penny of Rhuddlan.  Findspot: Malvern, Worcestershire Recorded elsewhere: No

UKDFD : 3100   "Henry V penny of London. An extremely rare type struck from a modified earlier die ..." Findspot: Near Worcester Recorded elsewhere: No

UKDFD : 589   Elizabeth I (1558 - 1603) gold half pound (10 shillings).
Findspot: Near Gloucester, Recorded elsewhere: No

Once again, five coins of gold or silver, the majority are described as "rare" types, there are no ordinary artefacts here, this is a cherry-picked display for bragging purposes rather than information about the past of the site they came (were hoiked) from. Not a single one is listed as responsibly recorded with the PAS. How many of the better finds made by this artefact hunter since 1997 were added to Mr Crawford's private collection or promptly sold on to reimburse the landowner for their share of the value?  How many are more closely-documented than the vague findspots listed? And how many more metal objects were pulled out of the finds assemblages of the sites from which these were cherry-picked by the collector? What does the documentation of their nature and distribution vis-a-vis other material look like? Where are they? How many ended up in a "scrap bucket" and how many are properly archived?