The silver piedfort marked Charles IV's ascension to the French throne in 1322
Posted on 02/26/2010 3:55:33 PM PST by Daffynition
A woman who found a 700-year-old silver 'coin' whilst digging in her garden as a child has become the first in the country to be convicted of failing to hand in suspected treasure.
Kate Harding, 23, was prosecuted under the Treasure Act after she ignored orders to report the coin-like artefact to a coroner.
A court heard the silver piedfort marking Charles IV's ascension to the French throne in 1322 was discovered by Miss Harding 14 years ago as she worked in the garden with her mother at their home in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire.
Following her mother's death a short time later, Harding kept the 1.4gram item as a memento until she eventually showed it to museum experts last year.
The silver 'coin' was identified as a piedfort dating from 1322, which, while not of great financial value, was of historical significance.
Experts are unsure of exactly what piedforts were used for but agree they were not intended to function as currency.
While they are designed around existing coins of the period, they were substantially thicker and it was has been suggested they were used as guides for mint workers, or more likely, reckoning counters for officials.
Under the Treasure Act 1996, treasure is defined in basic terms as any single object at least 300 years old which is not a coin but has a precious metal content of at least ten per cent, or when found, is one of at least two coins in the same find of that age and metallic content.
The Act gives a finder 14 days to inform the local coroner of potential treasure and creates an offence of failing to carry out that duty where this is not followed.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Garden Ping!
Is there anyone sane left in Britain?
Remember when “Rule Britannia” said that “Britons never never shall be slaves?”
Scratch that. They are all slaves of The State now.
So if you find a coin on your property its a crime, if you find a gun and bring it to the police its a crime. A group of Muslim teens and 20 somethings go around and rob and beat random people and it is something to look into. Gotta love England.
Looks like a coin to me.
..."hey kate, go out and bury it somewhere, then flip'em the victory sign"
So she was 9 years old at the time she found this, the law hadn’t even be dreamt up 14 years ago.
Ex Post Facto prosecution??
Those 14 days were up 14 years ago.
No statute of limittions there?
I believe the paranoid society we have in the U.S. now is a direct result of the percentage of drug-addled former hippies currently in positions of power. Britain just got there a bit earlier, is all.
It sure doesn’t look like it. This is crazy.
Just makes you want to go postal on someone doesn’t it ?
Ex-hippies is just part of it. It’s the long march victory of the Gramscian progressives/communists.
Retroactive punishment. She found the coin before the law was enacted. The UK government has gone nuts.
With the state of UK education and the elimination of history from the curricula, I’m surprised there is anyone alive who could identify what she found.
Sounds like there’s nobody over there who is smart enough to figure out what she’s got.
Where goest England - America usually follows about 20 years later.
The law says you have to report it once you learn that it is a treasure. Once she gave it to the museum to look at and they determinded it was indeed a treasure and notify her of such(guess they took pictures and returned it to her or something), then the 14 day clock starts ticking. This girl failed a number of times during the 14 day clock to report back to the museum (or coranor, whatever that is) after they contacted her to report back with the coin. It may be a silly law, but she really is at fault of ignoring the law. Anyway, she got off with having to pay only a partial fine.
Was that 14 days to report to the Coroner after going forward in time to find the law had come into effect?
Did the law stipulate that a nine year old minor was required to report a find in the event that her mother had not?
Is it any wonder why we abhor and despise Socialism and lament the tragic destruction of the British Empire?!
So wait....If you find something that people can loosely define as “Treasure” in the ground on YOUR Property you can be arrested? You are required to report it to the state? Are there no property rights in Britian? I know there are certain “rights” that walkers have to walk on others properties to hike on trails......
Excuse me Judge I would like to site the Landmark case of Finders/Keepers.....LOL
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