Hello and welcome to the first newsletter of 2021. We hoped we would all be meeting in person by now and have the opportunity to return the finds we have been recording in lockdown. At the moment we do not have any confirmed dates for when this will take place and our initial priorities will be dealing with treasure. Your local FLO will be in touch when we can start meeting with finders again. We hope this will be sometime this summer.
If you intend to go metal detecting please read through the latest government guidance before you set off as the rules may have changed since your last trip. You must ensure you are complying with the law, including the restrictions on meeting with other people (currently rule of six).
Some larger rallies may be able to go ahead if they have the correct local authority permits and safety measures in place. It is up to you as an attendee, as well as the responsibility of the organiser, to ensure that the correct permissions are in place for a larger group meetings to happen and that the event is operating within the law and government guidance. If they are not then you maybe liable for a penalty fine. Please also note that permissions are granted by local authorities on a case by case basis, so an event that is authorised in one region may not be permitted in another. This process is outside the control of PAS so any enquiries about larger metal detecting events should be made to the relevant local authority in the first instance. Keep up to date with current guidance here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/guidance-on-searching-for-archaeological-finds-in-england-during-covid-19
You may have heard in the news that Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery will remain closed throughout 2021 while essential electrical upgrade work takes place. Please be assured that another suitable safe accessible venue will be used as an alternative and we will keep you posted.
You can find some useful videos on our YouTube channel such as a guide to searching the database. This is a useful tool if you wish to search for Roman brooches for example or a specific coin type. You can also use the search for statistics, such as how many coins have been discovered in a specific county or how many coins are recorded dating to Elizabeth I. Another video gives you an introduction to the county pages. This is where FLO’s and volunteers write blog posts relating to their county, so do have a look as we post blogs and videos about specific news and finds relating to the West Midlands here.
Have you heard the PAS Podcast yet? PAStcast is available to listen for free on a number of platforms and now has seven episodes including episodes on treasure, Roman coins and also finds from the Midlands. The podcast is hosted by Lucy Shipley (FLO for Devon) and Ben Westwood (FLO for Durham). Episode 1 tells you about how the Portable Antiquities Scheme started and Lucy and Ben describe their favourite and least favourite finds to record.
The West Midlands PAS team contributed to series two of River Hunters which is aired on the Sky History channel on Monday evenings at 9pm. Our role was to help identify individual finds and advise which objects could be historically significant. Episodes include; the Viking Invasion of York, Scotland & the Civil War, Canterbury Murder, Colchester Siege and Knaresborough Castle. You may just spot FLO’s Teresa and Susheela in the series!
(HESH-EB4141) A Medieval silver penny that has been deliberately folded in two.
The PAS database holds a large number of folded coins, scholars have suggested there was a widespread custom of bending coins in the Medieval period. Folded coins have been discovered with organic material within them for suspension and coins have also been discovered folded over one another. Later in the Post Medieval period sometimes coins were bent into an S-shape to form a love token. They were particularly common in the reign of William III (1694-1702). They may have also been bent and carried as good luck tokens. So next time you find a bent coin in the clod please take care to leave it as you found it. It may just be that it was purposefully bent and this act all adds to the story of the object.
(WMID-01D66A) This coin has been purposefully folded to form a triangle with the obverse of the coin on the outer face.
Merry Christmas from us all. We hope you will be able to spend Christmas with your families after what has been a very strange year. We have got used to new ways of working from home and meeting with finders when the restrictions allow. But we do hope we can get back to meeting with our finders next year and visiting clubs and hosting finds days. We will continue to work from home for the foreseeable future as our work places remain closed to the public. We will continue to record finds and process treasure, so please do get in touch with us via email or telephone.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love sent to me….
Five Gold rings:
We thought we would have a look at some of the common types of finger ring we see here in the Midlands that are reported as treasure and explain their meaning and function.
The tradition for mourning rings began in the seventeenth century. Money would often be left in a persons will to have a ring made to remember the deceased by. This example was discovered in North Warwickshire and depicts a skull in white enamel with the inscription DIE TO LIVE on the bezel. Many examples of memento mori also include the initials of the deceased. The white enamel used in this example is thought to represent an unmarried person with black enamel used for a married person.
The tradition for mourning rings began in the seventeenth century. Money would often be left in a persons will to have a ring made to remember the deceased by. This example was discovered in North Warwickshire and depicts a skull in white enamel with the inscription DIE TO LIVE on the bezel. Many examples of memento mori also include the initials of the deceased. The white enamel used in this example is thought to represent an unmarried person with black enamel used for a married person.
This example discovered near Slimbridge, Gloucestershire dates from the Late Medieval period and is silver-gilt. The bezel is decorated with geometric decoration instead of religious imagery which is often seen on rings of this type. Many examples are engraved with religious imagery such as saints, the Virgin Mary and Christ.
Posy, posie or posey rings as they are also known get their name from the French word “poésie” meaning poem. This is due to the devotional messages that are normally inscribed on the inside of the band. They would then be shared with loved ones who knew the secret of what was written inside. Those inscribed with Roman capital letters were first used in the 16th and 17th centuries. Inscriptions in italics then became more popular later in the mid-17th century. This example was discovered near Tamworth in Staffordshire and is inscribed with “A friendly pleadge” The small size of the ring suggests it was worn by a female. Does the use of friendly suggest it was given by a friend rather than a lover? Of course we will never know.
We have many finger rings with inscribed bezels on the PAS database. Some feature the owners or receiver’s initials . Roman examples may feature religious symbols or animals and birds. This Medieval example discovered in South Staffordshire depicts the bearded figure of St John the Baptist, who is cradling a lamb and has a cross behind them. Iconography associated with Holy images are commonly found on Medieval finger rings and are thought to represent personal devotion.
This finger ring is dated to the Medieval period and features a small light blue cabochon turquoise semi-precious stone setting. Research by Adam Daubney (Former FLO for Lincolnshire) suggests “Turquoise was not a particularly valuable stone in the middle ages, but one that was valued for its amuletic properties, protecting the wearer against poisoning, drowning, or having an accident while riding. It was also supposed to have the property of indicating the state of health of the wearer by the shade the Turquoise went.”
Treasure Annual Report 2019
This year the treasure annual review was released in a slightly different way. Unfortunately the usual presentation and chance to see a display some of the year’s most important treasure discoveries could not take place at the British Museum. This year a zoom presentation was made which included discussions from The British Museums coin specialists, The Treasure Registrar, Michael Lewis the head of the scheme and Simon Maslin FLO for Surrey who discussed how 2020 has affected the daily working life of a FLO and our ability to meet with finders. 2019 was another recorded breaking year for treasure with 1,311 cases reported. Highlights from this region include:
This year the treasure annual review will be released in a slightly different way. Unfortunately the usual presentation and chance to see a display some of the year’s most important treasure discoveries will not take place as usual at the British Museum. This year it will instead take place via zoom on 9th December. 2019 was another recorded breaking year for treasure with 1,311 cases reported. Highlights from this region include:
HESH-237E03 Lead disc struck from the dies for a silver penny of William I (r. 1066–87) or William II (r. 1087–1100) found near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire. Its function is uncertain, but may have been as a receipt to show that customs dues had been paid or a teststriking of the coin dies.
WMID-FAEC68 Silver shilling of Elizabeth I (AD 1558–1603) which has been modified into a mount or similar decorative item of unclear function. The piece is most unusual and doesn’t have any parallels on the database. It is thought it could perhaps be a mount, possibly for a book. It was found at Flagg, Derbyshire.
Finds Identified II
A new publication was released in November 2020 by Greenlight Publishing. The book is written by Michael Lewis (Head of the Portable Antiquities Scheme) and Kevin Leahy (Finds Advisor for the scheme with a specialist knowledge in Early Medieval metalwork). The publication is a really useful reference book for metal objects and contains some 300 pages of artefacts from brooches and belt fittings to strap fittings and spurs. The book is packed with images of objects recorded on the PAS database. You may even spot one of your finds in there! The image size and quality is fantastic making it a really useful guide for the finds you may bring back from the field. Maybe one for your Christmas list!
Cast Your Vote
A cast gold finger-ring, circular in form and with an octagonal outer circumference. The finger-ring has eight concave facets, each decorated with a motif inside an oval panel. One object from a ‘hoard’ of finds recovered from Herefordshire and dating to the Viking Period.
The 13th annual Current Archaeology Award is now open for voting. These are voted for completely by the public and you can have the chance to vote here https://www.archaeology.co.uk/vote. Voting closes on 8 February 2021. All the nominees are projects and publications that made the pages of the magazine over the past 12 months, and are believed to have made outstanding contributions to archaeology. The Herefordshire Viking hoard: unpicking the story of a stolen treasure is one of the nominees for rescue project of the year.
Our very own Peter Reavill was involved in a project to identify and retrieve a number of objects that are unique and help tell the story of Herefordshire in the Viking period. You may remember the story from the press last year with the finders who did not declare these archaeological significant objects facing tough prison sentences. Sadly, some of these items have never been retrieved and their full significance will not be understood. The work that Peter contributed as part of a collaboration with Herefordshire Archaeology, Birmingham Museums Trust, Herefordshire Museum Service and The British Museum is worthy of this award, well we think so anyway! Good luck Peter and don’t forget to cast your vote online.
Crystal sphere from the Viking Age hoard
We need your help – Do you have one of these in your collection?
Could
you have one of these silver plaited wire rings in your collection at home?
Historically the belief has grown up that they are all 19th-century
walking-stick mounts and so are not only considered not treasure, but not worth
recording as they are too modern. Recent research suggests that at least some
are from 16th– to 18th-century sword-grips, and that
others are certainly early-Medieval, either Anglo-Saxon or Viking. So if anyone
has one in their collection please get in touch. They won’t be reported as Treasure,
but will be recorded as of unknown date. Once a wider number have been recorded
the relevant experts can then work out how to distinguish the Post Medieval varieties
from the Early Medieval examples. These small research projects are just one of
the ways that prove by working together with metal detectorists we can advance
knowledge and learn more about our shared past.
If you want to keep updated with the West Midlands FLO’s activities on Twitter follow: Peter @PeterReavill; Susheela @WandWFlo; Teresa @StaffsW and Victoria @FloMidlands
