This is an interesting extract from the following webpage:
http://www.archaeology.co.uk/others/thinktank/who/tt.htm* There is an interesting addendum to the saga of the
Nether Compton hoard. In September 2005, I received an email from John Cummings, as follows:
I thought you may be interested in what really happened with the
Nether Compton hoard. I purchased the hoard from the finder and the landowner jointly. The hoard was available for sale after being retrieved from Dorset County Museum. The finder, a Mike Pittard, acted absolutely correctly when he found the hoard and handed it in to the authorities. It was declared not to be treasure trove with instructions to return the coins to the finder. Both the finder and the landowner agreed that the coins should be left at the County Museum to allow the hoard to be recorded. Some 12 months later, the finder contacted the museum to ask when he could collect
his coins Apparently he was spoken to very abruptly and told that he
had already received the hoard back. It took very strong communication from the finder, now under serious suspicion of theft from the landowner, to convince the museum that he
had not in fact received the hoard. After a prolonged
search, the hoard was found in a cardboard box in a cleaner's cupboard at the museum along with the cleaning utensils. The boxes in which the hoard was contained hoard
had not been opened since it has been received from the coroner's court.
Mr Pittard retrieved
his coins. Since he was under an obligation to pay the landowner half the value of the hoard, the hoard
had to be sold and it was. Approximately a month after I purchased the hoard I received a letter from Dorset County Museum stating that they
had heard that I
had purchased the hoard and assumed that I was going to do the proper thing - record it fully for them. I telephoned the curator and explained that I
had effectively tied up my entire working capital to buy the hoard and that it was not possible either to delay
selling the hoard,
nor to spend several months of
work recording it. The conversation became rather terse on
his part along the lines of "irresponsible dealers, loss of archaeological knowledge" etc etc. I pointed out that
his museum
had had the hoard for a year in order to carry out exactly that function and
had failed to do so and asked him why. "We do not have the staff to carry out that kind of
work" was the verbatim reply. I suggested to him that if
his department were responsible people then they would surely each have been prepared to contribute a couple of hours voluntary
work a week to record such an important find. I found it quite amusing that he could not seem to grasp the idea of himself and
his staff working without getting paid for it - yet he continued to insist that if I was a responsible person who was interested in the nation's heritage, I should devote three months of my time working for them voluntarily to do the job they should have done.
All the above is verifiable with the finder Mike Pittard.
John Cummings Lodge
Antiquities [j.cummings@btinternet.com]
