Well Summer is finally here and so was Marcus Aurelius

28 degrees here today and glorious. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of going down to Derbyshire with a metal detector who sometimes comes on our land. He along with his friend had found some Roman finds in the local area and they were up for auction. It was an early start and oh my it was such a lovely morning which as soon as he got out of Yorkshire the Heavens opened and it was so cold. They were really excited as they thought they were very rare and very old in fact they were nearly 2,000 years old. I thought they may have been replicas the children had played with and left behind. Probably bought in Barnitts of York as replicas for the garden and were duly named the "Barnitt Bits". I fact they were the real Mccoy. One of the detector is friends with my Dad as they share gardeneing tips and talk about budgies. Before they went to be registered he bought them along for him to see. The grandchildren saw them too - what a lockdown History lesson that was . I went with a friend to see them in York after they had being cleaned up and always game for a photo opportunity asked if I could hold them. It was at Hansons who finally took them on board to sell. I even got a photo with Charles Hanson, who is sometimes on the television as he was selling them. They were articled as The Ryedale Roman Rituals and it was quite unreal as the reached the final bid and with a £60k auctioneers fee on made just short of a quarter of a million pounds ! It was the £185k bid that secured them. They went to a private buyer in London and so after living nearly 2,000 years in the countryside Marcus has gone to live in the bright lights of London. When they were first discovered James was not sure how to keep them safe or where to put them. He worked out on the rigs. So he wrapped them up in a yellow towel popped them in a plastic food container and stuffed them in his work bag and they went off shore for a while. So I think I am right to say Marcus since he was unearthed has had quite an interesting trip