568 [Proc. B.N.F.C, 



At Larne, and elsewhere in the north, there are indications 

 of a survival of the art of working flints to supply the demand 

 for gun-flints and strike-a-lights. Possibly no settled factory of 

 importance existed, and the trade in gun-flints and strike- 

 a-lights was carried on by travelling workmen, who removed 

 from place to place as the supply of materials and the require- 

 ments of trade demanded. 



In still later times, a new and profitable industry has been 

 created in reproductions, counterfeits, imitations, or models of 

 ancient worked flints, such as are vulgarly called " forgeries." 

 This active trade has originated in the extravagant demand for 

 Irish antiquities that has grown up within the last quarter of 

 the century. 



Antrim, and indeed the north of Ireland generally, has been 

 ransacked for every form of ancient stone and bronze object that 

 could be found. Bagmen and ragmen, hawkers of note-paper 

 and Provident Insurance agents have been employed for that 

 purpose, and the greater proportion of the finds have been 

 transferred to the antique departments of public museums and 

 private collections throughout Great Britain. Fortunately we 

 have in the North some judicious collectors, who have rescued 

 fairly good examples of the most typical objects. The rage for 

 collecting specimens, without caring for the record of the 

 particulars under which they were found, has affected so many 

 tourists and visitors, that the demand is in advance of the supply, 

 and the absurdly high prices too often paid for indifferent 

 specimens, have called for the manufacture of spurious examples, 

 which are now produced and distributed by the hundred. The 

 manipulative skill thereby displayed is well worthy of primitive 

 man himself, and highly calculated to mislead any who are not 

 experts in determining the true character of ancient worked 

 flints. 



The practice of using flints in their natural condition, or 

 squared for paving, or for the facing of buildings, has not been 

 adopted in Ireland as it has been in England, with the most 

 satisfactory results. Our architects have yet to learn how to 

 apply this material in the carrying out of their designs. 



