Posted on 11/24/2019 10:44:51 AM PST by lowbridge
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.
“The Moon, ma’am. If you can keep it.”
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.
As it is, they’ll have £65,000/year spent on each of them for every year they serve in prison!
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.
Found buried stuff is called treasure trove. It, by law, belongs to the Crown. The coroner determines if it was lost (finders keepers) or hidden (treasure trove). If it is treasure trove, the government will sell any part of it that interests museums and turn the proceeds to the finders/landowners. That which doesn’t interest museums is returned to the finders/landowners to sell on their own.
From what I’ve heard/read the government plays fair in the business of treasure trove to encourage such finds be reported. This allows pros to do the recovery and examination of the site. Otherwise, important information is lost forever.
The guys broke the law. Don’t know if they deserved the amount of time they got, but messing with the Queen’s property is a big no no. I’ll bet the penalty for killing swans is pretty harsh.
I think that the current system benefits all involved in a fair way. To see an example of a lack of a system, look at Iraq over the past 20 years.
“...(King) Alfred the Grea,”....
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alfred was a Grea? And I thought he was Anglo-Saxon.
Tell the authorities that you found them JUST a little bit outside their jurisdiction.
I like my privately owned land as much as anyone on FR. But I always remember the “king” is the one who granted such rights. It’s hard to see a path to defensible property rights without the government. What the right hand gives the left takes.
Same principle with corporations. They are grants by the “king” and originally were given to further the interest of the crown.
This story totally backs up my theory that most of the good DNA left England a couple of hundred years ago.
Two world wars didn’t help.
Should have claimed to be Muslims and the booty belongs to them as followers of Mad Mo.
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. Prosecutor Kevin Hegarty said the coins were estimated to be worth $3.9 million to $15.4 million.
13-Year-Old Boy Finds Treasure Trove of 1,000-Year-Old Silver Coins
Popular Mechanics | April 16, 2018 | Kirsten Grieshaber
Posted on 04/16/2018 10:51:15 AM PDT by C19fan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3647936/posts
British laws for detectorists are very liberal to encourage the activity. These guys would have made a ton of money and enriched their nation’s heritage and museums.
I agree. It doesn’t appear to be their land, so they’re outright thieves. Even it were their land, I have no problem with the law. Title to my residential property doesn’t include the right to build a heliport or an iron mill on it. The rules were democratically put in place by Parliament. Everyone knows what the rules are,
Including these jokers. Stiff penalties ensure compliance.
...and Utred son of Utred.
As an historian I am absolutely in favour of the treasure trove system (actually today, in the UK, it’s been amended by laws made in the 1990s that, again, I believe maintain the fairness of the system).
Britain’s cultural heritage is founded in its history going back thousands of years.
The law exists to ensure that when finds of great historical significance are found they will wind up in museums and similar locations rather than risk being lost to overseas buyers or people who will simply hide them away.
And those who made the finds are compensated a fair amount for what they did - as the article says, these men would have received something like a third or half the value of the items - note - that is the theoretical value - it’s not the value a dealer would give you - you’d be lucky to get half or a third of the value from a dealer (because they have to make their profit as well).
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