As far as the crown is concerned, finders no keepers.
[ British metal detectorists George Powell, 38, and Layton Davies, 51, dug up the 300 coins along with gold and silver jewelry in 2015 on farmland in central England but never reported it. That reporting is a legal requirement. ]
This makes me glad that we left the stupid UK.
Sadly we also have the same sort of dipshit laws like this that prohibit full dominion over our own privately owned lands.
Unfortunately there are a significant number of government employees within the Department of the Interior that agree with what Britain does with metal detector enthusiasts.
And it would not have mattered if it was their own land... They would still have had to report it, and then the British government gets to decide what it’s worth, pay them that amount, and take the coins away.
A rapist wouldn’t have received that sentence.
“Both men instead tried selling the coins through antique dealers. Some of the jewelry and some 30 coins have been recovered.”
Idiots. They deserve to be caught.
Finding buried coins, who no living person could possibly claim, is theft.
Monarchies suck.
At least in Europe they share. In the US the Feds will swoop in and take it all. You get zip. Thats why you almost never hear of gold/silver caches being dug up here.
The first rule of treasure hunting club is don’t talk about treasure hunting club.
If I know my government math, they would have received £1.3 million in taxable income to split between them on a £15.4 million trove! IMO, they would have been lucky to bank £65,000 apiece.
In the UK, by law, found treasures must be reported. The treasure is examined and valued and museums may bid to buy it. Once sold to a museum or public institution, the prize money is divided among the finders and the land owner.
This system works very like the old Admiralty courts who handled prizes seized by the Royal Navy and privateers. Prizes were the property of the Crown, but these courts rewarded those who had taken the risks. If the prize had been illegally seized, the Crown kept the whole thing.
Well, it's easy enough to identify the problem.
The government has a legitimate interest in documenting the historical find. Once the archaeology is done, however, the value of the find should go to the finder and the landowner. If the find is significant enough to go into a museum, the government can buy it at fair market value.
I've suggested to years that the National Park Service in the U.S. work with the relic hunters instead of treating them like the enemy. Take as an example a Civil War battlefield. Do controlled sweeps with the local relic hunters. The rule would be that they work under the supervision of a trained archaeologist. The relic hunters would be entitled to whatever they find, but the archaeologist would first get to record the location, photograph and tag the item. In return, the relic hunter would get a certificate of authenticity linking the artifact to a site, which would dramatically increase its value. And he would get to hunt on public land without breaking the law. That's a win-win solution.
“...(King) Alfred the Grea,”....
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Alfred was a Grea? And I thought he was Anglo-Saxon.
Should have claimed to be Muslims and the booty belongs to them as followers of Mad Mo.
...and Utred son of Utred.