At first sight the coin appears to be a gold half angel. It is of a type that was struck during the first coinage of Henry VIII. If it was genuine then it would be worth at least £2,000 to a collector who could afford such an expensive coin. Sadly, it is a fake.

I’m not sure of the manufacturer but examples are offered for sale in a number of places on the internet. One firm priced then at £5.39 each and another offered them at £4.50.

Similar ‘coins’ are offered for sale by Historic Royal Palaces at £4 with an informative booklet. Presumably, they will be sold at a number of different locations.

The excuse given for the manufacture of many fake coins is that they allow people to buy copies of things that would cost a great deal were they genuine. This is all well and good if they are marked as copies and/or kept in their original packaging. When they are unmarked (very often) or separated from their packaging and fall into other hands they are sometimes thought to be genuine. I call them all fakes and if was up to me I’d ban their manufacture.

The post Fake coins appeared first on Detecting Finds.

Irish halfpenny of George I

The first coin is a type II Irish halfpenny of George I. It is dated 1723 on the reverse but has a queer looking 2 in the date. The coin is in VF condition with attractive surfaces and no flaws show up. In its present condition I would price it at £80 to £100.

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George II halfpenny

Coin number two is a George II halfpenny dated 1753 with the old head of the king on the obverse. The 3 in the date looks somewhat like an inverted 2. This coin would grade good VF to about EF for a copper coin of this period. To a keen collector it would be worth around £150.

If there are any junk shops in your area then do look out for low priced coins. For you might be lucky enough to snap up some real bargains.

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Stephen had his find cleaned and conserved by someone very skilled in this type of work.

The second set of images show how the coin looks now. I cannot remember seeing such an improvement in appearance and whoever managed to achieve this should be heartily congratulated.

Commonwelath

Shortly after Charles I was executed Parliament decreed that the country was now a Commonwealth and Republic. The mint in the Tower of London soon started to strike new coins; the larger ones were nicknamed ‘breeches money’ as the two shields on the reverse looked like a pair of breeches.

In 1653 Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector and when he died in 1658 his son, Richard, gained the same post. However, Richard was not as strong as his father and eventually resigned his position and retired to Europe. After the Restoration in 1660 coins of the Commonwealth are said to have been demonetised but the amount of wear on many extant specimens seems to prove that they continued to circulate long after 1660.

Valuation

There is slight weakness roughly in the centre on both sides and the edge is a bit irregular but the coin is otherwise good VF for the period, with good eye appeal. To a keen collector this 1652 Commonwealth shilling should be worth £500 to £600.

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Would the coins have been purposely hidden in the beam? They would definitely have been placed there, for it would have been impossible to lose them in the same crack. I doubt very much that they were hidden with the intent of retrieving them at a later date. After all, there would be far easier hiding places lower down in the house. So why were they there? Perhaps they were placed there for luck. I’ve heard of cases where strange things – shoes, for instance – have been found in the walls of old houses. These things could have been hidden in order to bring health and/or wealth to whoever lived there, so the two coins might have been hidden for the same reason.

Crown piece of Victoria

The first coin is a silver crown piece of Victoria.

It is dated 1844 on the obverse and had not seen much circulation when it was deposited into the beam. There are two small nicks on the lower obverse and a number of other slight surface nicks but the coin is otherwise in good VF condition.

It’s not a rare coin but its grade of preservation is higher than lots of other examples I have seen. A number of varieties are on record for 1844 crown pieces, some quite common whilst others are rare. In its present condition this specimen (depending on the variety) should be worth at least £250.

Penny of Victoria

The second coin is a copper penny of Victoria, which is dated 1856 on the obverse.

It is the type on which Britannia holds a plain trident and the space between DEF and the colon that follows on is not large.

Halfpence and farthings dated 1856 are fairly common but pennies are very rare. This specimen has a few nicks on both sides but is otherwise in about EF condition. The nicks will reduce its commercial value but to a keen collector this copper penny shouldn’t be worth any less than £450.

The post Coins in the roof appeared first on Detecting Finds.

Covid

At the start of 2022 Covid was still rampant and in March, after attending a meeting of my detecting club, I caught a dose of it. Half a dozen other members also came down with it and I passed it on to my wife. Our symptoms weren’t of the worst kind and we were free of it after a week and a half but it left us very fatigued. The fatigue was quite severe and it took at least a couple of months to get back to normal. Covid hasn’t gone away but (thankfully) the mass immunisations have checked its progress and at Christmas of 2022 family gatherings will be much safer.

When Covid was at its height detecting was impossible for obvious reasons. When it eased it was possible for club outings and rallies to start up again and many outstanding finds have been reported during 2022. The Treasure Department at the British Museum, which had been closed due to Covid, has now been up and running for some time, with staff doing their best to reduce the backlog that had built up.

Cost of Living

The country seemed to be jogging along quite nicely at the start of the year but dark clouds then built up on the horizon. The cost of gas and electricity shot up, rampant inflation erupted and strikes or the threat of them became commonplace. Boris was removed and we gained a new Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer. The fresh measures that the new pair intended to pursue terrified not only the population of the UK but seemingly the entire world. This led to their removal and a new bunch taking over the reins in England. We still have high inflation, high energy bills and strikes and to those we can now add increased interest rates.

What impact will the increased cost of living have on our hobby? In the short term it could lead to an increase in participants, who hope to make money from the finds they unearth. However, due to the costs involved and the time and effort that need to be put in, many new comers might soon drop out when they realise that very few people manage to make a profit through metal detecting.

Queen Elizabeth II

Many, many people will be like me in that I could never imagine what it would be like without Queen Elizabeth II. She was the only member of the Royal Family that we could always rely on. I remember seeing a report on television about her meeting the new PM on Tuesday but two days later she died. The Queen I had known for my entire life was no longer with us. With millions of others I watched in silence from start to finish her televised funeral. Nowadays there are things we can’t seem to do well but spectacular pageantry most certainly isn’t one of them. We gave Queen Elizabeth II a send-off second to one.

Market for coins

When Covid was really bad many people were unable to do their normal jobs but they benefitted from the furlough scheme. Even though they couldn’t go to work they received an income. I thought this might lead to a drop in the price of ‘collectables’ but it didn’t. Some of those who couldn’t work also couldn’t go to places to spend money so this left them with surplus cash. The market for coins was very strong and during 2020 and 2021 some of the collections that came onto the market achieved spectacular prices.

The position today is markedly different. Now we have high energy bills, inflation, increased interest rates, strikes and the future looks bleak. The price of collectable coins, which has been strong for over 20 years, could now start to decline. If you are in need of cash and have no option but to sell some of your finds, if you take the auction route then make sure you pick a company that issues printed catalogues. Too many auctioneers charge high figures to both vendors and purchasers but have their auctions solely online. This saves them money, which isn’t passed on to vendors or purchasers. So, if the auctioneer you are considering is too tight fisted to issue printed sale catalogues then choose one that does.

Stolen finds in Lancashire and Cumbria

Most detectorists should be aware of the deeply disturbing news in regard to finds that had been handed over in Lancashire and Cumbria. A recent report stated that a large number of items were missing and that all the finders and landowners affected had been contacted and a police investigation was ongoing. I was informed on 20 December that an arrest has been made and stolen finds have been recovered. I’ve no doubt that more information will be available in due course. The arrest and recovery of finds will bring relief to the PAS authorities and the entire detecting world.

Thanks for your support

My thanks go to Paul, my son-in-law, who continues to do all the IT work on the website. As I’ve sad on previous occasions, computers are still a mystery to me and were it not for Paul there would be no website. We both send our thanks to all those who have given us their support throughout 2022. All that remains is for the pair of us to wish you all a very happy Christmas and the best of luck for 2023.

The post Christmas message 2022 appeared first on Detecting Finds.

I know a few detectorists who simply put the nicer coins into a box and when it fills up they start to fill another box. Quite frankly, if a detectorist stores coins in that way then they can’t have much interest in their finds. Therefore, they should stop detecting and start another hobby.

Envelopes

Small plastic and paper envelopes are available and these are ideal for the storage of coins.

These can be individual, in a sheet or in an album, all available relatively cheaply. Details can be written on the envelopes or on sticky labels. Alternatively, just a reference number can be placed upon the envelopes, which matches those on a detailed list of the contents of each one.

Coin trays

Another way to store coins is in trays with divisions for individual specimens.

This enables the unrestricted viewing of several coins in one go. However, care should be taken when handling these trays.

A detectorist recently contacted me to say he had been showing a colleague a couple of trays full of coins when somehow or other both fell to the floor. He ended up with dozens of coins scattered about and he was unable to match them up to his written records.

Photographs

Nowadays most people have telephones that are capable of taking really excellent photographs. These are invaluable for keeping records of finds. Had the chap who dropped the trays photographed them prior to them being dropped it would have been a relatively simple task to replace the coins in their correct order.

Tell your family

Finally, I’ve said this before but it is well worth repeating: do inform your family about your collection of detecting finds, especially about items in it that are valuable. If you do this then your nearest and dearest are less likely to consign your collection to a dustbin when you pass on to greener pastures. I’ve heard of Roman gold and all sorts of other coins and medals being found in a skip and tales about rare coins sold for a pittance at car boot sales. Your collection might be precious to you but not necessarily to your loved ones. Therefore, it is vital that you leave them with instructions as to what to do with it.

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One such find is this Roman period copper alloy ring recorded in the last couple of weeks at the PAS as DUR-89E5A6. It has been designated a Find of Note of Regional Importance. It may have been sitting in a detectorist’s collection for a while as the find date is given as 2005.

The hare is quite a common symbol in Roman jewellery and other artefacts and so this could be of British or continental origin.

British Museum collection

However, in their research the PAS recorder found some very similar rings in the collections of the British Museum. One of these is shown below.

This ring fragment is part of a collection made by a Charles Masson which had been mostly acquired from the modern states of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the late 1830s.

The PAS record goes on to suggest that the found ring could have been collected by Charles Masson, or an associate of his, brought back to England and accidently lost.

The PAS record gave a brief summary of Charles’s extraordinary life, which I’ve expanded on below:

Charles Masson

Early Life

Charles Masson was an explorer, archaeologist and numismatist from the first half of the 19th Century. However, this was not his real name; he was born James Lewis in London in 1800. He was well educated, being versed in Latin and Greek and was fluent in French. At the age of 21, after a quarrel with his father, he enlisted in the army of the British East India Company and travelled to Bengal. His work involved depicting zoological specimens for publication. In January 1826, he fought at the siege of Bharatpur.

Deserting and travels

The following January he deserted and assumed the name Charles Masson. For three years he travelled around; across the Bikaner desert, on to Peshawar, through the Khyber Pass into Afghanistan before finally ending up at Bushire on the Persian Gulf. He convinced the EIC officials there that he was an American from Kentucky. They provided him with funds for archaeological research in Afghanistan.

Amassing a collection

In 1832 an anonymous witness in Kabul describes Masson as having “grey eyes, red beard, with the hair of his head close cut. He had no stockings or shoes, a green cap on his head, and a faqir or dervish drinking cup slung over his shoulder“.

Between 1833 and 1838, Masson excavated over 50 Buddhist sites around Kabul and Jalalabad in south-eastern Afghanistan. In 1833, he discovered the remains of Alexandria ad Caucasum, (one of the cities founded by Alexander the Great), on the plain of Begram, to the north of Kabul.

The illustrations are from Charles Masson book of 1841 “A memoir on the buildings called topes. In Ariana Antiqua: A descriptive account of the antiquities and coins of Afghanistan”

Masson’s collection grew from finds and purchases in the bazaars. It is estimated that he amassed up to 68,000 coins and about 9,000 artefacts. The British Museum has many of these, as well as his manuscripts, and has a Charles Masson project.

In the 1930s a French archaeological team in Afghanistan found some scribbling in a cave. It read ” If any fool this high samootch explore, Know Charles Masson has been here before“

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The vervel has a hedgehog symbol and the inscription ”  N x HereFORD x SHEERE”. It was found in Much Marcle, Herefordshire.

The inscription, find site and hedgehog symbol are three pieces of information that should lead us to the owner. Let’s look at each of these:

Inscription

As there is a clear inscription, that is a good place to start. This would normally provide a name and/or address, or a title so that the owner could be identified.

So what does “N x HEREFORD x SHEERE” mean. Seeing that somewhere else might lead to reading it as “North Herefordshire” but that is too vague and we’ll see later that it doesn’t fit geographically.

“Hereford” could be a surname but is an unlikely first name and so if it’s a name and address it is “N Hereford of Sheere”.

As a title it can be read as “N of Herefordshire” where N is the shortened form of the title.

Find site

The find site is Much Marcle, a few miles north of Ross-on-Wye in the southeast of Herefordshire. When I looked at the official tourism website for Herefordshire it refers to an annual hedgehog festival in Ross-on-Wye “the hedgehog, which is the symbol of Ross-on-Wye and to raise the profile of Ross-on-Wye as the Gateway to the ancient kingdom of Ergyng (AngloSaxon: Archenfield: Land of Hedgehogs).“¹

The find site of a vervel has to be treated with a bit of caution. The bird may have decided to ignore the ever more frantic calls of its owner and fly off into the sunset, never to be seen again, ending up some distance away. However, a hedgehog symbol on a vervel found in the “Land of the hedgehog” seems to be lead worth following up.

“Land of the hedgehog”

The vervel was found in south-west Herefordshire a few miles away from the historic region of Archenfield, formerly Ergyng.

The hedgehog is the historic symbol for this area and is seen everywhere; on coats of arms, signs, stained glass windows etc. Many websites refer to it as the “Land of the Hedgehog”.

So why is this area “The Land of the Hedgehog”. The history of the area, Ergyng and later Archenfield, might shed some light on it.

Ergyng

Ergyng was a Welsh kingdom between the 5th and 7th centuries, shown here at the southeast corner of Wales.

Its spread is a little uncertain but it probably went into the modern Monmouthshire and east of the Wye. This included the old Roman town of Ariconium (about 3 miles east of Ross-on-Wye).

There are two competing theories as to how Ergyng got its name. One is that it is the Welsh name for Ariconium. ² The other is that it is the Celt word for a hedgehog because the character of the inhabitants were likened to a hedgehog.

Archenfield

Ergyng became known as Archenfield although it was probably smaller in size.

On this 18th century map, I’ve highlighted the region of Archenfield which is bounded by the river Wye to the east, river Monmow and Monmouthshire border to the southwest and river Worme to the northwest.

I’ve also highlighted Ross-on-Wye, which is now on the border of the modern Archenfield and the find site, a few miles to the north.

There continue to be two competing theories for the name of Archenfield. One is that it is anglicised form of Ergyng with the addition of “feld” to give “land of the Ergyngers”. ²

However, the much more popular theory, which is repeated widely on the internet, is the idea that the inhabitants were known as hedgehogs and Archenfield means “Field of hedgehogs”. The historic word for a hedgehog is urchin³ (the heraldic term is urcheon) and the theory goes that Archen is just a version of this. This theory goes that the people of Archenfield earned their hedgehog name due to their “fierce independence and spikey nature“.⁴

Alfred Watkins

Alfred Watkins, a keen antiquarian, wrote one of the more thoughtful pieces of research on this theme in a book of press cuttings compiled from 1922 – 1925. He lists various instances of Archenfield in documents from the years 915 to1679, including Ircingafelda, Urchenefeld and Irchinfield and concludes “how can it be doubted that it was hedgehog-field’ all down the Middle Ages” ⁵ Alfred was a very interesting man with interests in photography and archaeology.⁶ More from Alfred later.

The consensus amongst the academic papers I have seen is that the name comes from the Roman town. If so, where does “Land of the hedgehogs” come from. A look at the region’s history may provide a clue:

History of Archenfield

Although now part of England, Archenfield is “both a geographically and culturally distinctive region, as it remained Celtic in character until the twelfth century, and the vast majority of its place names are Welsh“ ⁷ It was a semi-autonomous Welsh district effectively acting as a buffer zone between the Welsh and the English. It was allowed to keep it’s own customs and practices in return for providing a barrier between the parties and is offered as an explanation as why Offa’s dyke does not continue into the area.⁸

A document from the late tenth century entitled Ordinance Concerning the Dunsaete survives and appears to refer to Archenfield. It provides detailed regulations for dealings between the English and the Welsh both for trade and settling disputes. It gives a sense of a cordial relationship.⁹ After the Norman conquest, Arcenfelde (as it was recorded in the Domesday book) continued to be treated as a separate entity; not part of Wales or England.

Some certainty to the border area was provided by the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542. However, it ignored any ethnic and linguistic considerations and simply bundled Archenfield into Herefordshire, as the Hundred of Wormelow.

My theory on the name

If you accept that Archenfield got its name from the Roman town of Ariconium how do you square Alfred Watkin’s point that “Archen” looks like, and possibly more important, sounds like “Urchin”. For me, the only explanation is that the derivation is the other way round. It’s not been named “Archenfield” because the inhabitants were known as hedgehogs, they are know as hedgehogs because the place name sounds like “hedgehog field”. So, it was effectively a nickname for the area and inhabitants. One reason it stuck was because a couple of leading families adopted the hedgehog on their coat of arms. And, as we’ll see, one of them in particular built many public buildings in Ross-on-Wye, each probably carrying his crest, the hedgehog.

Possible owners of the vervel

Therefore, the hedgehog on the vervel suggests the owner has a strong connection with Archenfield and will probably have a hedgehog into their coat of arms. The PAS record suggests two families from the area with hedgehogs on their coat of arms; the Kyrle and Abrahall families.

Kyrle family

The Kyrle family were a significant family in Herefordshire dating back to the 14th century and provide several candidates. The family had properties in and around Ross-on-Wye and the name can be seen around the town, principally due to John Kyrle, the “Man of Ross”. However, In a footnote to the entry on the Kyrle’s lineage, John Burke writes “There were many families in various parts of England, in the middle of the sixteenth century possessing names and arms, each nearly approaching those of Kyrle, who were probably connected with this family“¹⁰

The Kyrle name was previously spelt with variations of Crull (a common name among the Norman aristocracy¹¹ ) and later Curl. The Kyrles of Herefordshire can be traced back to a Robert Crul in 1295 who lived at Homme (now Hom Green), a couple of mile southeast of Ross-on-Wye. A couple of centuries later a James Kyrle inherits Walford Court, about a mile away from Hom Green.¹⁰

Kyrle motto – Nil Moror Ictus

I have seen the Kyrle’s motto, Nil Moror Ictus translated as both “I delay not when struck” or variations of “I heed not blows“. In looking for a translation, I stumbled across this curious image.

This page from Emblematum Centuria from the 16th century is headed “Nil Moror Ictus“. Below is an image of a hedgehog defending itself from an attack by two dogs.

Below that reads: “Integritas virtusque suo munimine tuta, Non patet adversæ morsibus invidiæ” which translates as “Virtue and integrity are their own fence, Care not for envy or what comes from thence.”

The sense of the motto and the image give the hedgehog a quality that would be attractive to have as a symbol and on your coat of arms. It gives support to my idea that the inhabitants of Archenfield were happy to be called hedgehogs and why the Kyrles and Abrahalls adopted it.

Abrahall connection

Back to James Kyrle. His son Thomas Kyrle (born 1500) marries Johan Abrahall (born 1520), the sole heir of Hugh Abrahall.

The Abrahall family have three hedgehogs on their coat of arms and their motto was “Qui me tanget poenitebit” which translate to “He who touches me beware‘

Marcle Manor – the find site

Thomas and Johan have thirteen children; nine sons and four daughters. In 1574, one of their sons, another Thomas, acquires Marcle Manor (later to become Homme House) in Much Marcle and becomes Lord of the Manor of Much Marcle. It has been passed down through various links within the same family to this day. ¹² The find site could well be in the extensive grounds that originally came with Marcle Manor. Therefore, Thomas Kyrle and his decedents look like prime candidates.

Dates

Falconry enjoyed great popularity among the Tudors and Stuarts, with nobility and gentry, before declining towards the end of the 17th century. The PAS record dates the vervel to 1530 – 1560; I think it could be later.

With that in mind, here are some potential owners:

Thomas Kyrle (1539 – 1577), 1st Lord of the Manor of Much Marcle

Thomas was a lawyer and a moneylender. As well as the manor of Much Marcle, he owned the manor of Moor Court and property in Walford. He was MP for Chichester in 1571 and recommended for the Privy Council by the bishop of Hereford. By 1574 he was on the commission for Herefordshire.¹³

Sir John Kyrle ( 1568 – 1650) 1st baronet of Much Marcle

Thomas’s son, John served twice as High Sheriff of Herefordshire, in 1609 and 1628, and was created a baronet in 1627.

His tomb is in St Bartholomew’s church, Much Marcle. Have a close look at his feet; they are resting on a hedgehog. His motto “Nil Moror ictus” is placed underneath the hedgehog.

Fireback of Sir John Kyrle

Alfred Watkins (1855 – 1935), who we met earlier, was a pioneer photographer. He took this photograph at the turn of last century. It’s Sir John Kyrle’s fireback, dating to 1620, at Fawley Manor (where John died, aged 82).

It depicts the arms of Kyrle, with a hedgehog crest, quartered with Abrahall, with its three hedgehogs (the horizontal bar or “fess” seems a mistake) and Warnecombe (John’s uncle, Walter had married Joan Warnecombe).

Walter Kyrle (1600 – 1650)

He was an English lawyer and MP for Leominster from 1640 – 1648.

Sir John Kyrle 2nd baronet of Much Marcle (1617 – 1680)

Grandson of the 1st baronet. He was proposed as a knight of the shire although there is some doubt as to whether he acquired the title.¹³

John Kyrle, “Man of Ross” (1637 – 1724)

Son of Walter Kyrle, he was known as “the Man of Ross” due to his philanthropy. Given his reputation for having a frugal lifestyle from an early age¹⁵ he is an unlikely candidate for the owner of the vervel.

There are numerous things named after John Kyrle including halls, streets and a church.

Perhaps most importantly, he has a pub named after him with a wall hosting a picture and tribute to him.

A very interesting man but probably not our man. However, he does provide something pertinent to the search; he donated a silver tankard to Balliol College, where he studied. “It weighed upwards of five pounds, and the cover was lifted up by his crest, a hedgehog“ ¹⁶ . This shows that he used the hedgehog crest and because he built so many public buildings, the hedgehog would have been seen in many places around Ross.

Roger Hereford (1595 – ?)

Remembering that the inscription could be interpreted as “N Hereford of Sheere” I thought I might be on to something when I found that a Roger Hereford had married into the Kyrle family in 1620. He and his wife, Penelope, had 12 children but none of their names began with an “N”. Also I was struggling to fit “Sheere” to a place name.

Conclusion

Given the find site and the Kyrles strong association with the hedgehog, the suggestion that one of them is the owner is very plausible. A few of them held a title which was “something of Herefordshire”. This fits with the idea of the inscription on the vervel representing the title “N of Herefordshire”. However, what the “N” stands for is not clear, and that is probably the key to solving this mystery.

As always, any suggestions or comments are very welcome.

Update

Kev Woodward to say “Just been reading your piece on the ‘Hedgehog’ vervel. I think it may have the crest shield fixed partly over the word ‘IN’ or ‘ON’ which would account for the ‘N’ only.“

The photograph on the PAS isn’t conclusive but I think Kev’s suggestion would make sense; more sense than I have found for the “N” on its own.

The ring would then read “[Hedgehog symbol] in Herefordshire”. For that to identify the owner, it must belong to the leading family in the county using that device, which is the Kyrle family.

References

1. Ross-on-Wye Hedgehog Festival, Eat Sleep Live Herefordshire
2. Wikipedia – Ergyng
3. Wikipedia – Hedgehog
4. Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire a market town in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
5. Archenfield: origin of name, Alfred Watkins 1922-1925
6. Alfred Watkins: A Herefordshire Man by Ron Shoesmith 1990
7. Archenfield: Continuity and Change in an Early Medieval Border Landscape, Eddie Procter, December 2003
8. The Welsh Border: Archaeology, History and Landscape, T Rowley 2001
9. The “Ordinance concerning the Dunsæte” and the Anglo-Welsh frontier in the late tenth and eleventh centuries, George Molyneaux, 2012
10. Family Names and Their Story, Page 354 by Sabine Baring-Gould, 1910
11. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions Or High Official Rank: But Uninvested with Heritable Honours, page 615, by John Burke, 1836
12. https://hommehouse.co.uk/history/
13. The History of Parliament, KYRLE, Thomas of Much Marcle
14. The History of Parliament, KYRLE, Sir John 2nd Bt of Much Marcle
15. Wikipedia – John Kyrle
16. J. B Whitbone writing in A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC, 1852

The post Vervel from “The Land of the Hedgehog” appeared first on Detecting Finds.

What is the significance of the pins? The PAS record says “The presence of the pins is suggestive that the ampulla may have been treated like a ‘witch bottle’ although this would be an early example of one.” Sounds intriguing – I thought that a quick look at how ampullae and witch-bottles were used may shed some light on it.

Pilgrims ampulla

Detecting finds

Pilgrims ampulla used to be rare objects until they were dug up in their droves by detectorists. There are over 2000 recorded on the PAS with a handful being added each week. The frequency of these detecting finds, usually on cultivated land, supports the idea that they were used to bless fields.

Use of Pilgrims ampulla

Ampulla were popular from the late 12th to the early 16th century. They were purchased at the shrine of a saint, filled with some holy liquid. They were both a souvenir of the pilgrimage and an amulet to provide protection.

Just like today, trade was boosted by good reviews; Thomas Beckett had plenty. An example is this stained glass window from Canterbury Cathedral which depicts Sir Jordan Fitz-Eisulf reviving his son, who had died from the plague, with some “water of St Thomas“.

It was the liquid that gave the connection with the saint and transformed the ampulla into a holy object. The protection continued even after the liquid had been used. Therefore, as well as providing a cure for ills, ampulla also provided protection for property such as buildings and livestock; they would be hung in barns and stables and have been found in house foundations to protect from illness, disease and evil spirits.¹

Witch Bottles

The use of witch bottles appears to have begun in the mid seventeenth century.²

Initially, the most common form of vessel was the Bellarmine jug or bottle, especially the type with a bearded mask on the shoulder.

A bottle could be filled with various items from the person needing protection, such as hair, nails or urine. Added in could be small bones, bits of wood, pieces of glass etc. However, by far the most common was iron pins or nails, which are found in 95% of witch bottles.

The idea being that if a witch had established a connection with you then by using your own hair and urine you could throw the spell back on them. The pins or nails would then cause them harm. One of the key points for a witch bottle to be successful was secrecy. Its power remained active as long as it was intact and remained hidden.

Tasting the contents

In a 2016 episode of Antiques Roadshow, glass specialist Andy McConnell speculated that a with bottle that had been brought in to the show might contain port or wine and so tasted a small amount. He noted the “rusty” flavour from the presence of nails. It was later analysed and shown to contain “urine, a tiny bit of alcohol, and one human hair“

Is this ampulla an early witch bottle?

There are a few things to consider:

1. Dates

The ampulla and the pins both date to about 1300 – 1500. However, witch-bottles start in the mid seventeenth century following the peak in witch trials from about 1560-1630 (Pendle witch trials were in 1612). That’s quite a gap if pin filled ampullae were a forerunner of the witch bottle. Also, of the hundreds of ampullae found, this appears to be the only known one with pins in it. If this were a common practice then similar finds would have been expected by now.

2. Christianity

Ampulla were directly connected to Christianity; they were bought at a pilgrimage site, filled with holy liquid and have been found in sacred spaces, for example mounted on communal prayer books. In medieval England, although there was some movement as time went on, mainstream Christian doctrine denied the existence of witches and witchcraft.

However, on the PAS website Simon Nicholson writes about Ampulla and graffiti. He notes the use of the same “so-called witch-marks ” found as graffiti in churches are also found on medieval ampullae.³ This supports the idea that ampullae were used to scare off witches.

3. Different strategies

The ampulla and the witch-bottle have different strategies. The ampulla was inextricably linked with the associated saint. It was he or she that provided the protection. It’s not clear how adding pins would provide more protection. In contrast, the witch-bottle was very much linked to the person under threat. The protection was gained by sending the spell back and causing harm to the witch. Hence, the need for the pins or nails.

4. Expert view

I contacted Brian Hoggard, author of Magical House Protection: The Archaeology of Counter-Witchcraft and www.apotropaios.co.uk for his view. He said “This ampulla does have the pins, one broken, one bent and one whole so could have been a protective charm yes, but not the same as a witch-bottle.“

Mundane explanation

I think at times there can be a temptation to reach for an exotic explanation when unusual artefacts are found when a more mundane one would fit just as well.

Although there is no definitive evidence, some believe that ampullae were nailed to buildings to provide protection. This find could just be a ham-fisted attempt to do just that; three nails were accidently dropped into the ampulla during the process and, not wishing to damage it in trying to retrieve them, they were left there.

As always, pleased to receive and opinions or comments.

References

1. Ampullae and their Protective Functions: Magic, medicine and religion by Cheryl Cooper
2. http://www.apotropaios.co.uk/witch-bottles.html
3. Ampulla and Graffiti by Simon Nicholson, 20 April 2020

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The coin about which Alan was suspicious is illustrated here and is supposed to be a penny of Coenwulf, who was King of Mercia from AD 796 to 821. On the obverse is a diademed bust facing right and a legend reading +COENVVLF REX M. Within the inner circle on the reverse is a cross pommee with wedges in the angles and the legend on this side reads +EABA MONETA. Pennies of this type were struck at Canterbury between AD 805 and 810 and are listed as number 344 in J. J. North’s English Hammered Coinage.

Both sides of the coin are blurred and the surface is porous, so this is definitely a cast copy of Coenwulf penny. As a cast copy this ‘coin’ would be of minimal value.

There are two main reasons why you should never let someone make a mould of one your finds:

1. Damaging the original coin

Most moulds are made from a two-part substance, which is initially soft but hardens fairly quickly. Whilst the substance is still soft a coin or artefact is pressed half way into it, together with channels to let metal in and let air out. When it has hardened up more substance is placed on top and allowed to harden. The two part mould is then separated, the coin or artefact and the material that has formed channels removed, and the mould is then ready to start producing things. When pressing something into the first part of a mould a delicate item can easily break. 

I remember seeing an extremely rare Scottish coin soon after it was found. The next time I saw it the edge was badly chipped. It turned out that the coin had been damaged whilst a mould was being made of it.

2. Devaluing the original coin    

Reason number two why you should never let a con or artefact be reproduced relates to another extremely rare coin. The finder of this rarity had agreed with a leading London dealer a price of £1,000. However, just as the deal was being finalised the finder happened to mention that some copies had been made. On hearing this the dealer immediately withdrew the offer. You might ask why this happened. Well, if I was buying a rare coin I would not like to think that there were copies of it readily available on the internet.

Call them reproductions, copies, forgeries, clones or whatever you kike but at the end of the day they are not the real thing. The best place for them is a melting pot.

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