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Drained a bog in Ireland and lost 400 euros on a fake Viking brooch
The dealer in Dublin swore it was 9th century, but the metal detector guy down the pub laughed and said it was cast last year, anyone else get burned by these tourist trap digs?
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gavin_mason3111d ago
The bog part makes me wonder though, because genuine Irish bogs do preserve metal pretty well, but they also churn stuff around with all that peat cutting and drainage work. A real 9th century piece would usually have some kind of mineral crust or active corrosion, not a clean shiny surface like those fake Viking brooches they sell near Temple Bar. Also, if it was drained recently, the ground movement alone could have shifted modern junk down there, so even if it came out of the bog, that doesn't prove it's old. The pub guy probably knows his stuff, cheaper to buy him a pint and ask where he got his detector than to trust a Dublin shop with a laminated certificate.
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gonzalez.phoenix10d ago
My mate Dave found a "medieval" coin near Trim last year, paid 200 quid for it at a shop, then the National Museum told him it was from a 1980s tourist set, so he's still bitter. That clean surface in the bog photo screams the same thing to me, man.
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