A blog commenting on various aspects of the private collecting and trade in archaeological artefacts today and their effect on the archaeological record.
Friday, 16 June 2017
Friday Retrospect: Fate of a Loughborough Private Collection
THIS SALE IS FOR A VAST LOT OF DETECTOR FINDS I HAVE PUT A FEW PHOTOS ON BUT THERE IS LOTS MORE I AM NOT LISTING EVERYTHING AS I WOULD BE HERE ALL DAY. I AM SELLING MY COMPLETE COLLECTION HERE. IF ITS FINDS YOU WANT DON'T MISS THIS LOT. LIKE I SAID THERE IS JUST TO MUCH TO LIST HERE, SO HERE IS JUST A ROUGH IDEA OF WHAT THERE IS: BUTTONS_ FASTENERS_ BROOCHES_ TOKENS_ BUCKLES_ SPINDLE WHORLS_ PINS _MOUNTS ROMAN MIRROR BACKS_ RINGS_ NAIL CLEANER ROMAN _SNAKE BELT HOOKS_DAGGER CHAPES BARREL TAPS +KEYS_THIMBLES_CROTAL BELLS COMPLETE _ HOOK FASTENERS _LEAD SEALS + SEALS HORSE DECORATION ITEMS BELL WHISTLES _THIMBLES _LOTS OF NICE ROMAN COINS AND HAMMERED COINS. LIKE I SAID JUST TO MUCH TO LIST. PLEASE READ, THIS SALE IS BUY NOW ONLY AND CASH ON PICK UP OR I COULD DELIVER FOR SMALL COST I WILL ONLY DO THIS UP TO 100 MILES. AS THIS IS PICK UP I WILL ONLY TAKE CASE SO PLEASE TAKE NOTE OF THIS ONLY CASH. THE BUY ME NOW PRICE AND ONLY PRICE SO PLEASE DO NOT TRY KNOCKING ME DOWN OR SORTING THROUGH IS £500 SO PLEASE DO NOT BUY IF YOU DO NOT HAVE CASH OR YOU THINK YOU DO NOT WANT ITEMS. I AM LOOKING FOR A QUICK SMOOTH SALE. THERE IS LOTS HERE AND WHO EVER BUYS HAS ONE GOOD BARGIN. I WILL SAY AGAIN FOR THE THICK ONES THAT DO NOT UNDER STAND FIRST TIME ROUND, THIS IS A CASH SALE PICK UP NO PAY PAL CHEQUE JUST CASH I WILL DELIVER UP TO AROUND 100 MILES FOR PETROL COST THANKS FOR LOOKING. SELLING AS I AM GIVING UP HOBBY I AM ALSO SELLING ALL MY BOOK SOON SAME WAY JOB LOT. NOT EVERYTHING IS IN THE PHOTOS THERE IS LOTS MORE THE PHOTES ARE JUST A TAST OF SOME OF THE ITEMS. THERE IS LOTS MORE THAN THE PHOTES SHOW
It is rather odd though that according to the feedback, the same seller has been buying metal detector finds, mostly in private sales... including just a few days ago. Now why would one want cash in hand payment that do not show on the bank account? I've met this a number of times with UK metal detectorrists. Are they doing this while on social security benefits? Or perhaps they do not want the solicitors of an estranged partner knowing how much money they make from selling antiquities?
Sadly we do not see the extent of the whole collection to get an idea of how many finds waltzerlad_123 had made in his detecting career. So I guess this means that he has stopped being "passionately intrestid in the past" then? Of course not all of the material visible in the photos is PAS-recordable, some of it seems to be Old-Timey bygones type stuff, collectable, but not as archaeologically significant as the rest.
The photos show some of the "collection" heaped on open glass shelves, no order discernable. Not a single one has a label atached saying where it came from (neither does the seller see fit to tell the prospective buyer where any of them might have come from). There is no mention of a catalogue accompanying the sale. So basically what is on offer are a heap of totally decontextualised artefacts stripped out of any number of sites and assemblages, who knows when. The coins are in PVC coin envelopes, again we cannot see any national Grid References or even parish names on the labels that can be read. Is this typical of the average British metal detectorists' hoard of archaeological geegaws? If so, what kind of curation of the remains of the past are they offering? How many of these objects have had their findspots recorded with the PAS?
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British archaeologist living and working in Warsaw, Poland. Since the early 1990s (or even longer) a primary interest has been research on artefact hunting and collecting and the market in portable antiquities in the international context and their effect on the archaeological record.
"coiney" - a term I use for private collector of dug up ancient coins, particularly a member of the Moneta-L forum or the ACCG
"heap-of-artefacts-on-a-table-collecting" the term rather speaks for itself, an accumulation of loose artefacts with no attempt to link each item with documented origins. Most often used to refer to metal detectorists (ice-cream tubs-full) and ancient coin collectors (Roman coins sold in aggregated bulk lots)
"tekkie" - metal detectorist/metal detecting (a form of artefact hunting)
CDE - Collection-Driven Exploitation of archaeological sites
CPAC - Cultural Property Advisory Committee [US]
FLO - Finds Liaison Officer (post in the PAS)
HER - Historic Environment Record [UK]
IAPN - International Association of Professional Numismatists
MENA - Middle East and North Africa
PAS - Portable Antiquities Scheme
PNG - Professional Numismatists' Guild
UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNESCO 1970 Convention - Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property
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