Thanks Red Badger.
Posted on 08/26/2019 6:23:24 AM PDT by C19fan
A metal-detecting couple have found one of the biggest treasure hoards in British history which is believed to be worth around £5million.
Adam Staples and partner Lisa Grace unearthed the 'once in a lifetime' find of almost 2,600 ancient coins that date back 1,000 years.
Although the find is smaller than the famous Staffordshire Hoard - the biggest collection of buried coins and artefacts discovered in Britain - it is thought to be at least £1million more valuable.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
So, they didn’t shovel and shut up? Too bad.
Or they will confiscate and compensate at face value.
“Detectorist”
Interesting.
There seems to be no other word that describes what we do. I don’t like this word either, but, “I’m a metal detector-er”, doesn’t quite fit, so I’m good with this usage for now.
The UK has very strict and peculiar laws regarding finding cultural artifacts. If it is one coin, you can keep it, but if it is two or more, it’s a “hoard”, and you will go to jail if you don’t reveal it. Of course it’s more complicated than that, but that’s basically it.
If the coins are 1000 years old, they aren’t ancient coins, they are medieval coins.
“Mine Sweeper”
Is close
But
No Cigar!
As not so patiently explained in the first episode of ‘The Detectorists’ (first two seasons available on Amazon Prime—worth checking out) the machine is a metal detector, the operator is a ‘detectorist’.
The UK has very strict and peculiar laws regarding finding cultural artifacts.
Thanks Red Badger.
Fixed it for you.
The government doesn’t get any money. All it means is that they have to give museums the opportunity to buy them first. Both landowner and discoverer get to split the value of the coins whether the museum buys them or not.
Of course they do. You've heard of taxes, right?
And who decides what the stuff is worth? Would that be the free market or the "experts" at the museum?
Do the finder and the landowner get to refuse the museum's offer if they think it's too low? And would that be a private or government museum?
And what if the finder and landowner really like the stuff and want to keep some or all of it for their respective "collections"?
There might be VAT tax due immediately on the appraised value of the stuff. That would effectively force the find to be liquidated.
The right way to do that would be to consign it to an appropriate auction house so that museums and private buyers could compete in a fair and open process.
One advantage I do see with the law is that it would tend to prevent disputes between the finder and the landowner which could be brutal if a lot of money is involved.
I used to work as a commercial numismatist, they go off the values published in the latest ‘Spink’ catalogue, not some made up figure they pulled out of their arse.
That is correct. I just don’t want to type that much via iPhone. Thank you for clarifying for everyone. (I’m listening to my metal detecting podcasts as I now type during my walk home.)
“The Dectorists” is one of the most charming programs that has ever graced my television. Love it!
Amazing find. With the Normans grabbing everything they could find Harold II coins must be exceedingly rare. Harold and William coins together - amazing. Apparently, the owner didn’t live past the Conquest long enough to dig them back up.
Or, he or she buried a number of caches, and eithermore are to be found nearby, or never got to this one. :^)
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