Think I’d have kept my mouth shut about it. It didn’t belong to the Crown when the owner was alive, so why the hell should it belong to them now?
Although the sale is indeed forced under the Treasure Trove act, the pricing is done over a period of months by independent experts. Keelo vs New London this ain't.
And it's way better than what happened in 1933, when the Roosevelt Gold Confiscation Order seized all Gold in the US with no compensation except for transportation costs, and under threat of a ten-year prison sentence. I still can't believe that really happened.
> Think I’d have kept my mouth shut about it. It didn’t belong to the Crown when the owner was alive, so why the hell should it belong to them now?
Because it is the stuff and essence of History. It does not “belong” to the finder. There are some things that should never find their way onto e-Bay and be sold to the highest bidder.
If, for example, an original copy of the Declaration of Independence were to be “found” somewhere, that should never be allowed to be sold to, say, a conglomerate of hi-value ChiCom investors and relocated offshore. It is a part of America’s History. It belongs to America, not to whoever “found” it. Sure, the finder should get a fair finder’s fee, but that’s all.
I believe that major military medals ought to be treated the same way: the Victoria Cross, the Medal of Honor, &tc. They should belong to the country that awards them, and be granted a lease in perpetuity to the recipients and their decendents for as long as they want them, ultimately reverting back to the state.
A couple years ago, Charles Upham’s VC with Bar was going to be put onto the open market by his surviving daughters. It is a one-of-a-kind medal, as only one has ever been awarded to a combat soldier, and it is a huge part of New Zealand military history. Had it found its way into a private collection, we would never have seen it again, ever.
Fortunately for NZ, the Imperial War Museum bought the medal, and then leased it back to New Zealand in perpetuity.
However, in my opinion, it should never have been the daughter’s property to sell in the first place. It is a national treasure, not a trinket to be bought-and-sold.
Same with this Saxon hoard. “Finders-keepers-losers-weepers” doesn’t work when it comes to national treasures.