[Stones] A penny for your thoughts?

[Ric]

Well, i've become quite philosophical about the experience - i too left a silver 5p piece at the Long Barrow, and deposited coins at Bath. i consider this is 'giving' - what's the term - an offering; then the thing is done. i guess i turn a blind eye to the fact that what i have deposited may actually be physically removed, but in a sense, this does not matter to me - the act of giving has been accomplished
   
  but equally, i am interested in how others perceive this type of custom?
   
  ric
  

J Blain <jenny.blain at freeuk.com> wrote:
    Hm - is there a possibility that the custom at the Smithy and some 
other places - notably springs and fountains - was a form of 'giving 
to the poor'?
   
  there's a bit here - near the bottom (no pun) -
   
  http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/w/weyland
   
   I'll add that offerings in fountains today are 
regularly swept up by local authorities..

It seems to me, given the interaction of metal, esp. copper, and 
stone from some 'offerings', that maybe we should not have a problem 
with people _removing_ these - aside from a caution that some 
removals may make the cracks worse if the coin is firmly lodged. 
However, I think that Dave's post was about why people make 
coin-offerings, not why they are removed..

Ric, I think that the local EH manager at Waylands regularly scoops 
up what is found there - most into black plastic sacks, but I assume 
the coins into the NT/EH vaults... Which is, in my view, fair enough.

Jenny

PS - the most extreme I saw was a huge number of pennies in the 
highest stone at Froggatt Edge (Stoke Flat) circle, in the 'offering 
cup' there. Indeed, friends phoned me, they having gone there, to 
come and photograph this... We removed the pennies (several pounds 
worth) and placed them elsewhere in the environment (not telling 
where).
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