It's really no concern here in the US. We're not old enough to produce the type of hoards found in Europe. Here's one I was reading about today found in Italy.
A group of 176 ancient Roman coins have been discovered in a forest outside Livorno.
www.artnews.com
Then again, perhaps not. Remember some time ago, a couple taking a walk on their property somewhere in Calif., noticed a rusty can sticking out of an embankment, that was full of gold coins, and then discovered a few more cans with gold coins as well, and when they finally revealed it, our Federal Gov. tried to confiscate all of them, saying they MUST have been stolen from the San Francisco Mint, therefore they owned them, not the couple that found them on their property. It goes on and on, but the Government did lose their case, based on the fact that the dates of those coins spanned over several years, and more likely a miner converted gold to coins, buried them but never returned. I am a little fuzzy on detail now I know, but it would SEEM that ANYTHING found here that would have value, the US Govt. wants it, and they would have little problem seizing it, forget about compensation of fair market value. (The IRS instead did demand the taxes that they felt entitled to though) Could go on and on, but I think you all get it, can most likely give stories of your own. Tamrock is right of course, that we here are not old enough to produce here what you might in England, much to our envy of course. I mean, here, in the U.S., it technically could be that you might be charged with violating the "antiquities act" by removing a rusty axe head somewhere, if they really felt like doing so. Now, the two guys that the thread was about? Yes, yes and yes, they were wrong. with the Treasure Trove laws in England they were not only greedy, but a bit on the stupid side as well. To me, in England, finding something like that? I would have no problem declaring it, it would kind of seem like "bragging rights", as in, Oh man, look at what I found.
