Coins Found in Iron Age Village

The destruction of a "clearly high status" Iron Age village "may represent reprisals after the Boudiccan revolt", an archaeologist has said.

More than 17 roundhouses were discovered in a defensive enclosure at Cressing, near Braintree in Essex.

The site was burned down and abandoned during the late First Century AD.

The excavation by Oxford Archaeology East ahead of a housing development began during the first lockdown and lasted eight months.

To read the complete article, see:
Boudicca revolt: Essex dig reveals 'evidence of Roman reprisals'(https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-55337814)

Rare "Mitchell card" Surfaces

Mark writes:

Postmarked 100 years ago, on Dec. 16, 1920, the famous "Mitchell card," as this United States postal card has been known, is so rare that, after considerable searching, an image of it cannot be found online for the collecting public to see.

In fact, in 2013, experts from the United Postal Stationery Society only had a poor quality, black-and-white photocopy of the card to use for a scholarly article about it in the society's journal, Postal Stationery.

In 2020, however, this rare card surfaced in an inherited collection.

Mark adds:

To read the complete article, see:
Century-old postal card rarity surfaces(https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/century-old-postal-card-rarity-surfaces)

Tome Raiders: Solving the Great Book Heist

During the investigation, Ward and his colleagues trawled through 50 hours of CCTV footage, eventually identifying two cars used in the burglary, and vehicle insurance records provided the investigation's first lead. "It became apparent that the people we were identifying were Romanian nationals," says Ward. "But they weren't known to our criminal systems." Around two weeks after the burglary, Ward received a phone call from a senior officer with the Romanian national police. Ward listened as the man recounted intelligence that connected the raid to an organised crime gang that operated out of Romania. Following the call, the two forces opened a joint investigation.

Over the subsequent months, officers linked the Feltham raid to a series of other burglaries at commercial warehouses across the UK. Elsewhere, the thieves had stolen high-value electronics rather than books. But the break-ins all carried the hallmarks of a professional team. As the scale of the gang's activities began to emerge, the case was elevated to the Metropolitan police's specialist crime squad, led by detective inspector Andy Durham, and Ward joined the team to assist with the investigation. Their first goal was to try to prevent further offences. "There was an ongoing risk to London and to the UK from this organised group," says Durham. "But the other main objective was recovering these books." That meant grappling with an unprecedented question: what might an organised crime gang want with a trove of rare books?

To read the complete article, see:
Tome raiders: solving the great book heist(https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/dec/13/tome-raiders-solving-the-great-book-heist)

Berlin Police Raids in Big Maple Leaf Theft

Berlin police raided more than a dozen jewelry stores and apartments on Wednesday with suspected links to the 2017 heist from the city's Bode Museum.

Three years ago, thieves stole a €3.75 million ($4.6 million) giant gold coin called "Big Maple Leaf," which has never been recovered.

During Wednesday's raids, police seized suspected counterfeit coins, counterfeiting tools and a five-digit sum of money, according to the police and the Attorney General's Office in Berlin.

Police are still evaluating the evidence, but those targeted are suspected of involvement in commercial receiving of stolen goods and commercial counterfeiting. No arrests have been made.

The eight suspects, aged between 14 and 51 and of different nationalities, are suspected of having procured stolen gold in order to melt it down and use it to produce counterfeit collectors gold coins.

These coins were allegedly then sold through jewelry stores operated by family members in the Berlin districts of Neukölln and Reinickendorf.

Howard adds:

Putting Time In Perspective

To read the complete article, see:
Putting Time In Perspective - UPDATED(https://waitbutwhy.com/2013/08/putting-time-in-perspective.html)