Metal Detectorists Ordered To Repay £1.2 Million Between Them 'Immediately'

[Red-Coat]

It's really no concern here in the US. We're not old enough to produce the type of hoards found in Europe.

Our Treasure Act deems a 'hoard' to be two or more silver or gold coins found together and at least 300 years old. But it also covers individual gold or silver items less than 300 years old, if deliberately hidden with the intention of recovery and the owners or heirs are unknown. The US certainly yields finds in both of those categories which would be regarded as "treasure" if found here.

 

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[RelicFinder77]

The issue in the U.S.A. is that once a museum has it, some museum curator eventually ends up with it in their personal collection, never to be enjoyed by the public.

this has happened to me personally with a site where we stumbled onto a major American Indian camp.

DONT TELL A SOUL.. ITS ONLY TROUBLE. IN THE U.S.A. under current law.

All this being said, I wish we had more treasure trove protection as the U,K, does, and I believe ANY treasure or historical find needs to be treated with respect and dignity as it deserves, and if it is historically beneficial, a public museum should be the place for it to be enjoyed and researched by all, instead of only for profit.

 

[sprailroad]

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 Trove of 175 Roman Coins, Hidden for 2,000 Years, Was Found in an Italian Forest

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.

 

[Red-Coat]

Two more thieves convicted today, plus more of the coins from the Herefordshire hoard recovered following a Police sting. Significant jail time expected when these two are sentenced next month:

Men guilty of Anglo-Saxon coin sale plot

Craig Best and Roger Pilling were caught in a police sting trying to sell coins valued at £766,000.

www.bbc.co.uk

Best and Pilling each jailed for 5 years and two months:

Anglo-Saxon coin plotters Craig Best and Roger Pilling jailed

Craig Best and Roger Pilling were caught in a police sting trying to sell coins valued at £766,000.

www.bbc.co.uk

Two of the coins they were trying to sell (of particular rarity and worth more than £100,000) are still missing. In court, Pilling claimed those two were fragile and broke when he dropped and stood on them… so he “binned them”. Yeah, right… LOL.