The end of the crop circle era?
As previously noted, crop circle quality has been plummeting and the most recent ones have just been embarrassing. See here and here. At the same time, “expert” interpretations of what they are have become ever more bizarre and desperate ….. an illustration of Westminster Abbey, a polar clock and a symbolic doorway to another dimension…..
The only certainty is that whoever or whatever made them is a lot less good at it than whoever or whatever has been making them previously. So might this signal the beginning of the end of the phenomenon? Possibly not. As The Sun tells its readers: “Experts still believe that one in five are the result of paranormal activity.”
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Golden gate fastener
In 1816, an antiquarian noticed something about the loop of wire fastening a Welsh farm gate. It was a gold torc, made in the Bronze Age – one of the earliest pieces of goldsmithing in Britain. You can see it in the superb exhibition of some 400 golden objects at the Goldsmiths’ Hall, London, until July 28.
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Beat this, Tescos! Out of the ground and sold to customers the same day!
The Loughborough Coin and Search Society’s “Detecting Liaison Officer” (yes!) has just revealed that providing a day’s detecting for his 50 club members will net a farmer £400. Or, a large weekend rally could earn him “up to £8,000”. Not half bad for opening a gate to a field that’s perceived by the customers to be “productive” (or “an unprotected archaeological site” as archaeologists would term it!)
But there’s more to the story than that. The club is merged with a coin collecting club and it lets the artefact hunting members take their finds back to club HQ to finds tables and flog them to the coin collector members. Tidy. Rumours that the operation is overseen by a gent called Fagin are yet to be denied. However, the fact the farmer doesn’t get to see the stuff but is later sent “a brief resumé of what was found” suggests it may not be Mr Brownlow, Oliver’s charming old grandfather.
The Heritage Journal 
10 comments
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07/07/2012 at 20:57
Debs
It would be nice to think they were created by visiting aliens but judging by the poor quality of this years circles, we can safetly say it is the work of mere humans and that perhaps we should mourn the passing of a once great crop circle maker
08/07/2012 at 06:18
Paul Barford
The metal detecting club, do the Portable Antiquity Scheme visit this club, and do they stand next to the artefact sales tables? I think we need to know. The Finds Liaison Officer for Leicestershire & Rutland is Wendy Scott.
08/07/2012 at 17:42
Debs
I’m not so sure the description ‘ superb exhibition of some 400 golden objects’ Should have the superlative ‘superb’ when the items are described so;
“All the exhibits have been loaned from distinguished institutions and private collections, both in the UK and abroad, and many items have rarely been seen in public before”
Hmm, private collections. Private collections of our common heritage wheeled out for display in some sort of crass gloatfest. And what of the historical provenence of these items I wonder?. how did they come to be in private collections in the first place?
09/07/2012 at 07:57
heritageaction
Debs, Claire, Maggs, Emma, Womble, Sean, Blue82, Liz,, Greg, Sparticus, Jonty etc – we are aware you are the same person, using the same computer, and a metal detectorist keen to disrupt a conservation website. You make our case perfectly, as have your many predecessors.
09/07/2012 at 11:55
Pete Twinn
Hi Nigel, whilst I’m sure you must have checked your facts about this detecting club, I fail to see (from the link you’ve posted to UKDN) that any such information can be gleaned from the posting there. JCMaloney actually states that the club initially started from a coin collecting club 37 years ago, and is in fact a detecting club. Neither can you say that they sell their coins stright from the fields as there is no mention of that in his posting either.
I’m assuming that you have seen something about this elsewhere on some other forum and if so then fair enough, but if not you’ve made some huge assumptions about taking finds from the fields and selling them at club meetings from a posting that reads as folows:
JCMaloney wrote, “Our lots been going 37 years (started as a coin collecting club). 50 odd detecting members, has some “Club Land” for members to use and has paid digs on new farms (Average £10 a dig… £8 for farmer £2 for club funds). As young Jerry said make sure you share the workload. A website is a great help and there are plenty of cheap/free easy to use varieties out there.
Keep it simple to start and grow from there!
Good luck & if you want any pointers just shout.
Most important rule………. Fill your holes…. we have zero tolerance on it. If they can`t fill what they dug they`re out.”
Regards
Peter
09/07/2012 at 16:04
Nigel
Hi Pete,
No, no assumptions, all from their website. I’ve moaned about this before, as has Paul, so it’s old hat really, but such a rotten hat it’s worth highlighting again.
It’s the silence from PAS and responsible detectorists wot gets me. There’s no excuse or defence so why excuse or defend it through silence? I’ve often claimed I’m the detectorists’ best friend as I point out their worst features, thereby giving them the chance to agree and thus improve their image. But most of them are such blockheads they just go for the unity is strength stance, which means defending what can’t be and making themselves look bad. Mr Maloney and his outrageous antics are a perfect example of what a truly responsible, history-loving hobby should be condemning.
Anyhow, on a happier note, you got your archie degree – and a FIRST! Fantastic. Congratulations.
‘Course, this means the pressure’s on you to stand up for what’s right not what the muttering asses want you to say, but with a first you’ll know that better than me. 😉
09/07/2012 at 18:30
Trenchfoot
No assumptions have been made. Taken from the club website.
http://www.lcss.org.uk/
Loughborough Coin & Search Society was established in 1968 to foster good relationships between the kindred hobbies of coin collecting and the relatively new (at the time!) hobby of metal detecting.
Our monthly meetings also offer the facility of “Fixed Price Tables” to provide a link between buying & selling members at a realistic price to both parties and a minimal commission charge towards Society funds.
It is disgracefully like wildlife rangers co-operating with elephant tusk sellers and claiming it is OK, the tusks were going to be taken by poachers anyway.
09/07/2012 at 19:21
Trenchfoot
I have been racking my brains to think of any other hobby so inexorably linked between people finding things as a hobby and buyers of things as a hobby to the extent they form a club to join the two and cut out the middle man. Beggars belief they can get away with it.
10/07/2012 at 08:34
SpencerL
“I have been racking my brains to think of any other hobby so inexorably linked between people finding things as a hobby and buyers of things as a hobby to the extent they form a club to join the two and cut out the middle man.”
They might as well set up a stall at the side of the field and cut out the geography! Creeps.
10/07/2012 at 17:59
Cnut
The willful plunderers feeding the greedy market directly and without concience. Only in the UK sadly and all openly supported by the PAS whom I fund through my taxes.