Tom_in_CA
Gold Member
- Mar 23, 2007
- 13,837
- 10,360
- 🥇 Banner finds
- 2
- Detector(s) used
- Explorer II, Compass 77b, Tesoro shadow X2
Brett2259, I too asked the same thing when this link appeared on another forum. It clearly has to do with salvage, treasure (gold bars, piles of silver, motherloads, etc...., ala Mel Fisher type stuff), not solo coins/relics on land/beach. And yes, clearly seems to do with underwater stuff, with no mention made of land sites. But I believe the answer to your & my's question is in the precedents it sets. The mere use of arguments and premises they use, as reason for their logic of what belongs to the state, (or who can hunt for it, retrieve it, etc...) would have no problem in applying land hunters. Granted, the average land hunter hunts for individual coins and relics. And to the extent there are some cache hunter, and land caches found, we can agree that they don't stack up to the stuff found on shipwrecks! But the logic is still there, and nothing stops it from applying to us. That is the scary thing.
For example: If you or I go down to the old park in town, and find a barber dime that's worth $50, no one really pays attention, on a bureaucratic level, right? Ie.: just some geek plying the sandbox or turf for loose change. But wait, what if that "geek" found a gold bar, and word got into the newspaper? Afterall, who's to say that back when a barn stood in the 1800s, where the park now stands, that a miser couldn't have buried such a thing? There's nothing to stop the local city (or county or state, or wherever it was you were detecting) to catch wind of your good fortune, and say "hey wait a minute, that belongs to ALL the people (ie.: the govt. agency who owned the park), not just you!" Sure, they didn't care when it was only pocket change or some random silver coins you found. But who's to say what the financial cutoff is? Is it $100 items? $1000 items? $10,000 items? I mean, heck, there are some rare gold coins that've sold for $10s of thousands, right? You know the govt. can't get in the business of setting value limits and such, so they just say "no" across the board, to make it easy.
That is why some people see a slow encroachment, in that the logic can easily fit land hunters, if you construed it enough.
If you ask me, it's almost a self-fulfilling prophesy, when we fight these things, ask too many questions, etc... I mean, sure, maybe it you asked enough bureaucrats "Can I keep the gold coin I found in the park?" you'd find some to tell you "no, that belongs to the city or county" or whatever. But in the meantime, no one cared, UNTIL YOU ASKED. So on the one hand, it's instinct to fight these things, but on the other hand, it only gives them "food for thought" that "gee, we better address this pressing issue of land hunters too who are filling up our on-line comment boards" doh!
For example: If you or I go down to the old park in town, and find a barber dime that's worth $50, no one really pays attention, on a bureaucratic level, right? Ie.: just some geek plying the sandbox or turf for loose change. But wait, what if that "geek" found a gold bar, and word got into the newspaper? Afterall, who's to say that back when a barn stood in the 1800s, where the park now stands, that a miser couldn't have buried such a thing? There's nothing to stop the local city (or county or state, or wherever it was you were detecting) to catch wind of your good fortune, and say "hey wait a minute, that belongs to ALL the people (ie.: the govt. agency who owned the park), not just you!" Sure, they didn't care when it was only pocket change or some random silver coins you found. But who's to say what the financial cutoff is? Is it $100 items? $1000 items? $10,000 items? I mean, heck, there are some rare gold coins that've sold for $10s of thousands, right? You know the govt. can't get in the business of setting value limits and such, so they just say "no" across the board, to make it easy.
That is why some people see a slow encroachment, in that the logic can easily fit land hunters, if you construed it enough.
If you ask me, it's almost a self-fulfilling prophesy, when we fight these things, ask too many questions, etc... I mean, sure, maybe it you asked enough bureaucrats "Can I keep the gold coin I found in the park?" you'd find some to tell you "no, that belongs to the city or county" or whatever. But in the meantime, no one cared, UNTIL YOU ASKED. So on the one hand, it's instinct to fight these things, but on the other hand, it only gives them "food for thought" that "gee, we better address this pressing issue of land hunters too who are filling up our on-line comment boards" doh!
