St Ninian's Isle Treasure

[sheepshagger]

The fact is the scots and then the uk have been helping themselves to anything of value in our islandswhile at the same time trying to erode our identity this is not going to change any time soon unless the the people of shetland stand up and chuck them out unfortunately most folks believe we are not capable of this I for one don't understand this apathy. the islands to our north west have managed rather well as an independant state.

they have a very high standard of living a fishing industry that is thriving why not the same in orkney and shetland.

If this came to pass we could demand the return of all our treasures historical and maybe even get some real benifits from whats left of the oil round our shores. we would be able to bank enough money to live quite comfortably of the interest no more need for the sic chucking money away on hair brained schemes, or having investment consultants trying to make the most of a dwindilling pot while helping themselves to large fees for fu**ing up at every turn.

we owe it to the future generations of shetlanders to at least try an retain some of our natural wealth before it is all gone

[islandhopper]

Well, I'm afraid the things are a bit more complex. For illustration just two questions:

 

i) Shetlinker ex-isle uses the Sandness Pictish symbol stone as his avatar (turned by 90° compared with the original drawing). That stone used to be in St Margaret's Kirk, Sandness. Where is it? Officially it never left Shetland but is reported as lost and probably ended up in a private collection.

 

ii) The same is with the Sandness silver hoard of some dozen early medieval coins and Viking ring money. We know about that hoard because the then Zetland Sheriff had accurately recorded what was found. Again: Where is it? It never left Shetland officially but all we can see are two early English Ethelred coins in a private collection outside Scotland.

 

And thirdly: The fact that the treasure is placed "somewhere down in the basement" does not indicate any kind of disregard. It is simply due to the somehow "idiotic" but "modern" overall design and concept of the museum.

Simplified: Dark Age stuff into the dark - Modern Scotland into the light.

 

When I did my first book about Orkney & Shetland I had the chance to visit the "magazine" of the then National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland. From that I guess only: If you want all that Shetland stuff back which is stored there you would need a new museum ... probably three- to foutimes bigger than the new venture actually is - just to keep it in the magazine there, not speaking about show rooms to make it available to the Shetland public ...

[ArabiaTerra]

The British Crown (or Government as we like to call it) has been helping itself to the world's treasures for centuries. Why should they stop now?

[ex-isle]

They should stop, and should repatriate key artifacts, because we no longer live in a world where such cultural avarice is acceptable ...

[Fifi]

http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/news_06_2007/SNP%20will%20return%20St%20Ninian's%20treasure.htm

 

This is the shortened version of the above link:

 

http://tinyurl.com/26g3gv

[Para Handy]

http://www.shetland-news.co.uk/news_06_2007/SNP%20will%20return%20St%20Ninian's%20treasure.htm

 

This is the shortened version of the above link:

 

http://tinyurl.com/26g3gv

 

Is this just the SNP buying votes

[ex-isle]

Toght: wid hit no be bettir still if da St. Ninian's Isle treasure wis repatriated ta St. Ninian's Isle, an da Papil Staen ta Papil? Eftir aa, why sood Lerook hae dem?

[Ghostrider]

^^^ Weel, idda case idda Isle een, seein is da ownir idda place is noo a cooncilir, hit cud be sed it will mak little odds whiddir he taks it hame til im, ur laeves it idda Museum it his "wark", he'll still be ih chairge oh it.

[ex-isle]

[sheepshagger]

So da snp is gaen ta repatriate da sy ninians isle treasure ir dae also gaen repatriate control o wir seas an wir oil.

I doubt it, alex salmond and da rest o dem need wir wealth ta prop up dir economy

[Ghostrider]

^^^ The SNP giving the treasure back has echoes of the giving of coloured beads in exchange for Manhattan....

 

....but of course, I'm a cynical beggar in my auld age noo.

[sheepshagger]

afore da election da SNP wir a for da tressure coming hom noo dir no needin wir votes dae have renaged on dir promise. lets wis see joost whit a bunch o twa faced erses dae are.

I'm said it afore an I'll say it again da sooner wir clear o yun theivin scumbags da better

[RickB]

I still think that this is a pointless debate.

We are unlikey to ever get it back permanantly and as I said before, could any of us really tell if the treasure behind the glass was real or not?

[Ghostrider]

^^^ Would you still be saying it were a pointless debate *if*, instead of the status quo, someone had happened to lift that flag in the kirk floor 500+ years sooner than it was, and the items were currently housed in a Museum in Copenhagen or Oslo?

 

The point is, regardless of what happens, is, it has a right to be here, it has no right to be in Edinburgh, Copenhagen, Oslo or anywhere else. This is where it had resided for a very long time, and it's prior history is unclear so cannot rightfully be claimed by a prior owner before it was here. The fact it is in Edinburgh rather than Copenhagen or Oslo is purely accidental through the fact we just happened to be under the thumb of Edinburgh when it was found, and that had nothing to do with the will of Shetlanders, but everything to do with a handful of old "Monarchs" using people as a commodity and shunting populations around like pieces of a chess set in their own petty power plays and social climbing.

[Siggar]

Should we not look after what we have first. Theres a unique stone in the old Eshaness kirkyard with runes on it. A past council and locals stopped it being preserved.