Massive Anglo-Saxon Gold Hoard! (And Some Drollerie Press Stuff)

[dr_pretentious]

I may never get to see the treasures from the gold hoard myself, but I've been enjoying my favorite finds from the meta-hoard. First off, there's the story of the metal detector hobbyist who was wandering his friend's farm, wondering if he'd find an old coin or two. Hooray for people with oddball hobbies who accidentally upend centuries of history! Then, there are the stunning photos of a few of the objects. Best of all, there are the stories we'll come up with to fill the space left by the one story we'll never know for sure: the truth of how those artifacts got buried in that field in the first place. The available early speculation is delicious.

Plus, we get a bonus Mystifying Britishism. I ask the North Americans among you, if someone asked you about a "Portable Antiquities Scheme," which would you think it named: a criminal conspiracy, or a government agency? Cue the usual Shaw quote about being divided by a common language.

Many thanks to vgnwtch for emailing me about this. It'll work its way into something I'm writing, probably within a matter of weeks.

Meanwhile, I owe thanks also to Cindy Lynn Speer, for hosting my post about music and writing, and to Angela Korra'ti (aka annathepiper) for organizing the whole blog tour shindig. Her master post with the month's dozen or so links is here.

This Sunday, on the 27th, there will be a Drollerie Press chat, open to all and crowded with authors, at 4pm EST. I have a prior commitment and will probably miss the chat, but the ones I've participated in have been great fun. Drop by and see what you think. A link inviting you in will appear in the left sidebar of the Press's homepage when the chat room opens at 4pm.

Comments

[kythiaranos.livejournal.com]

I was so excited to read about the discovery of the hoard. Especially its discovery by a rank amateur--how cool it is that?

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

It's almost as cool as the pitch in your icon. Throw in "buddy-movie" or "with courtesans," and I think you've got all the bases covered.

[jamesenge.livejournal.com]

"Portable Antiquities Scheme"

I definitely thought of the criminal conspiracy, but apparently it's really the govt. agency?

This was a great story--and, as a Latinist, I was particularly taken with the "gold strip" with a Latin inscription, which seems to me to be a bookmark. But all the objects were stunningly beautiful. If I lived in western Europe, I would definitely buy a metal detector...

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

From the article with the expert interview, it seems that either:

(A)
"Portable Antiquities Scheme" is the name of the government agency that makes the legal determination of whether a find gets classified as "treasure" and claimed by the state, or doesn't and gets sorted out by the finder and the person whose property it was found on,

or

(B)
a major British news outlet wanted to get a criminal conspirator's take on the find, just so all the angles were covered.

Although (B) would be awesome if we were characters in a media satire, I think it's probably (A).

[laradionne.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for sharing this! Lovely knot-work!!!