THOE podcast promo (draft) October 2014

lordmarcovan

David- I've got some more prizes for next time around. Arguably the best yet, I think.

First is another Edward I penny. Might even be better than the first one we gave away- I forget. And it's from Canterbury, which is kind of neat.




An Edward I penny was my favorite find of last November's detecting trip, but this is not the one I dug. It's actually nicer. (Which makes it a little depressing that for less than forty bucks I could purchase a medieval coin that's nicer than my favorite find of a trip that cost nearly four thousand bucks. But the adventure was priceless.)




Next is a cool medieval artifact. An interesting and masterfully decorated bronze mount. It's obviously dug, probably in Britain. Such things are commonly found by the detecting club I went on my trip with. But this wasn't one of my personal finds, either- I bought it, too. However, I do have some personal finds to give away, as you'll see below.





Naturally, you may give these away on any timeline or order you choose, but...

May I suggest a slight modification to the two-tier giveaway theme?

First, we do a prize draw from amongst all your donors in the given period.

That winner will get to choose the prize he or she wants.

Then we do a second prize draw from amongst the donors AND commenters.

That winner will receive the remaining prize.

Better that way, I think, because it gives your monetary donors more choice, and a second chance to win.

But it still recognizes the commenters and gives them a shot at a nice prize.

And there's still more below...

lordmarcovan

"And now for something completely different", as the Pythons once said.

See what you might think of this. Maybe it's time to give away something other than a coin or two, for a change.

I'm talking old buttons. Yes, grubby old dug-up buttons, with the dirt still on 'em.

You may think the whole thing too silly or too cheap, but that's why I thought I'd show you the draft first. Just for a lark.

While an artifact that's only 150-350 years old is perhaps boring on your side of the pond, it might be suitably "historic" to your American and Australian listeners.

The advantage is that I have over a hundred of these things, so you can pretty much dispense with any random drawing and we could send 'em to anybody and everybody who speaks up to say they want one. Free for the asking, in other words. According to my export license, there were 154 of these, though some are broken. Let's just set a limit of 50 or 60, initially, and if they're popular we can do some more.

Or you could hand 'em out to your mates down the pub. (Who will no doubt give you a quizzical expression and lob darts at you.)

Or use 'em as slingshot ammunition to plink at birds in your garden, so a future metal detecting hobbyist can dig them up all over again, a century or two hence. Then the archaeologists will surmise that your yard and garden were the site of a major button manufactory, and Time Team 2114 will come shoot a holographic TV special there, long after we're both dead.

Here's a group photo of some of the buttons, along with front and back of the little tag that could accompany each.



Tag and button would be put into one of those little 2" x 3" ziploc baggies, of which I should have plenty.

I saved these buttons from being chucked out by my fellow detectorists on the trip.

Sure, they're not exactly museum-worthy artifacts fit to display in the Tower of London, but I thought they were kind of fun and too interesting to be tossed in the recycling bin.

But I'm weird that way. Old artifacts just kind of "speak" to me. (Though I realize they're only so much crap to more "normal" people.)

So I exported them in my pouch, figuring they might make a fun freebie.

I was going to give some to my coin cohorts here (and may yet), but I suspect the more diverse THOE-listening audience might actually appreciate them a little more, as curiosities.

Except perhaps as curiosities, they're practically worthless, of course. The cost of shipping them will almost certainly exceed their monetary value. But I can assist with that, either by prepackaging them in envelopes for you, or by handling all the shipping myself.

Which would still leave you the burden of relaying all those names and addresses to me somehow. Hmm...

We can work that out, hopefully with as little hassle to you as possible.

Tell me what you think.

(I know- you probably think I've got entirely too much time on my hands. You're right. But it keeps me preoccupied during my long, solitary overnights at work. I have fun with it.)