The lines have been drawn none the less....the item was initially valuated 200,000.00 - 300,000.00 pounds sterling, and then, within three minutes, was sold for about ten times that amount...the treasure laws are at fault, denigrating bronze to the level of the common classes and there are many instances where silver and gold artifacts should not actually have been called trove, but were, because of the so-called precious metal status. Just one recent example: the singular viking silver ingot here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-11285708In my humble opinion, the treasure laws in the UK are nothing but enrichment for the elite and political
types, who are literally looting the metal detectorists. All across Europe these idiotic laws are rampant, and even worse than in the UK! For every
good find the metal detectorist makes, he probably removes many pounds of trash, amounting to metallic pollution, from the soil, and except for
rare cases, the pay for that service is miniscule, and many times that is taken away by greedy
types in the upper echelons of government and miseducation there. I do not like these precedents, as it gives all the politicians of the world bad ideas, and believe me, they all want to be able to abscond with finds, if they can but figure a way.
The archaeologists are so busy preserving
history they have lost the ability to make
history in their own right, and together those two forces, big education and big government, just love to
work at keeping people in front of their television sets, soaking up the propaganda and other bizarre informations of little or no worth. Metal detecting has introduced untold numbers of people to the wonderful world of
Numismatics, and much else; it should be considered a
boon to the world at large, and instead it more often than not is considered a crime.
That is as wrong as all the faulty laws.
b
