Macalistbr — Oh a Hoard of Remarkable Gold Objects. 179 



This letter obviously referred to the find, but it puzzled us considerably. 

 None of the axes acquired by the Museum were plain, and none of them are 

 impressed with circles and dots. All of them, as will presently appear, are 

 decorated with impressed spirals. If the informant of Canon Greenwell was 

 to be believed, there must have been two finds of these unprecedented objects, 

 one in Co. Down, the other in Co. Clare, made at about the same time. This 

 was much harder to believe than that a mystification was being practised by 

 someone trying to evade the pains and penalties of the law of treasure trove ; 

 and that Co. Clare was dragged into the complication through a reminiscence 

 of the fatal find of gold ornaments in that county many years ago. The 

 problem was not made easier by the information which the dealer supplied, 

 in a further communication, that he believed that the shield was found in 

 Co. Wexford, having been told so by the man from whom he had purchased 

 it. 



After consultation with Count Plunkett, I wrote again to Canon Greenwell 

 asking if he could put us into communication with his informants. "We 

 thought that it might be possible to elicit some more definite information 

 from them, now that the objects had been acquired for the Museum, and no 

 further question of commercial interest could be involved. The Canon's 

 answer was as follows : — 



Durham, April 1, 1914. 

 Dear Sir, 



The person from whom I had the information will not tell me anything 

 more, nor will he allow me to mention his name. I have, therefore, no more 

 details than you already have. 



My own strongly held opinion is that the gold articles were not found in 

 association with a burial. 



The difficulty in all these cases is the neglect of the good rule that 

 finders should be keepers. Under the claims by the law of treasure trove, 

 manorial rights, &c, I have personally known many objects of the greatest 

 interest disappear, and have heard of any amount of other cases. 



Yours faithfully, 



W. GREENWELL. 



Such, then, is the not very satisfactory information that is available as to 

 the circumstances of this remarkable find. That the objects belong to one 

 hoard is, I think, unquestionable ; they are linked together by various points 

 of resemblance. On the whole, I am inclined to accept the story that they 

 came from somewhere in the neighbourhood of Strangford Loch. That they 

 should be found with a cremated interment is, as Canon Greenwell says, 



