MD group finds 3000 year old treasure hoard

[MiddenMonster]

Note especially the last sentence in the article. The find was referred to as "treasure" several times in the article, and a hearing will make the determination if the find should be classified as treasure. Gee, I wonder how the courts will decide?

Under British law, I believe that if the find is declared to be treasure it will be confiscated and the finders will receive a token amount of money that doesn't come close to the market value of the find. No wonder we rebelled against the British!

http://www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk....3_000yearold_hoard_of_treasure_unearthed.php
3,000-year-old hoard of treasure unearthed

A HOARD of 3,000-year-old buried treasure unearthed in the region has provided an intriguing insight into the area's past.

Three amber beads, two bronze rings, a bugle-shaped fitting and a fragment of a spearhead, found six inches below ground in a field near Sedgefield, County Durham, are thought to have been part of an ancient burial ceremony.

Robert Collins, from the Museum of Antiquities, in Newcastle, said the items, thought to date from between 1000 and 800BC, also suggest there were fixed settlements in the Sedgefield area.
continued...

He said: "This find helps to fill in some of the gaps in our knowledge of what was happening in County Durham during that period.

"Sedgefield does seem to have been an area which was occupied. Apart from this find, we have also found items from the Neolithic period (4000-2000BC) in the area."

The hoard was discovered in August last year by Susan Lister and Philip Townsend, two members of Quaker Acres, a metal detector group, which was scouring the area in search of treasure.

Mrs Lister, 51, of Wolsingham, County Durham, described the moment she found the treasure. "I got a signal on my metal detector and when I dug down I was elated. I knew it was something of interest when everyone started gathering round to look. It was all stuck together with hard clay, but I could tell it was old."

The discovery has just come to light because the courts must now decide whether the item should be legally classified as treasure. The items are being stored in the British Museum, London.

However, the Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, is thought to be interested in buying them and if the courts decide the items are treasure, they could be returned to the region.

Mr Collins said: "There is not a lot of treasure found in the North statistically, so it's nice to have this find."

The hoard promises to further boost a growing interest in local history in the area. Since Channel 4's Time Team explored Sedgefield's soil back in 2002, Durham University has kept up an interest and earlier this summer local people were invited to take part in the Sedgefield Community Archaeology Project, a two-week-long dig searching for Roman settlements.

Alison Hodgson, of the Sedgefield Local History group, said: "I think it's great that people are taking a greater interest. When people are engaged with something, they're less likely to be involved in destroying it."

The hearing to decide whether the hoard should be classified as treasure will be heard at Chester-le-Street Magistrates' Court, on Tuesday, September 12, at 2.50pm.

 

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[digman]

Thanks for posting it. Very interesting.
Are there any pics of the finds ?
Be also kind enough to inform us on the decision of the Magistrates' Court, on September.
Digman.

 

[alabama]

i thought if they decided it was a treasure and the gov wanted the materials the finders received actual value of items not a small amount ie way below market value. May be wrong - it happened once before LOL

 

[MiddenMonster]

In response to the two posts:

There were no pictures at the article site. Since they are now in the custody of the British Museum, I doubt there will be until this is resolved. As to the value paid to the finder should a find be declared treasure, it is an amount determined by the government. Kind of like eminent domain, in the U.S. If your house is condemned through eminent domain in order to put in a luxury condo you don't receive the market value for the property of the luxury develppment. You get slightly more than the current appraised value, which is a fraction of the value once it's developed. If the British government paid market, i.e. auction value for these finds they would go broke in a hurry.

 

[MalteseFalcon]

Usually your find in the UK is looked at by a board of pre-eminent historians, etc. who make a determination as to the value of it.
And that value does depend somewhat on whether or not there are museums that want to buy the articles in question, as well as how much they are willing to pay.

In most cases, the person who finds it gets an amount equal to a large percentage of the value. So the British Government does NOT just offer a pittance to the finder....they will give you the far market value or something close to it.

 

[MiddenMonster]

Usually your find in the UK is looked at by a board of pre-eminent historians, etc. who make a determination as to the value of it.
And that value does depend somewhat on whether or not there are museums that want to buy the articles in question, as well as how much they are willing to pay.

In most cases, the person who finds it gets an amount equal to a large percentage of the value. So the British Government does NOT just offer a pittance to the finder....they will give you the far market value or something close to it.

I'm not saying the amount given to the finder is a pittance. But I would argue that a board of pre-eminent historians or any other appointed board can not accurately determine true market value. The only way to determine that would be an open auction where the bidders make that determination with their wallets. One of the complaints coming from museums is that they can't compete with private collectors and pay market value for finds. They just don't have the funding to do it. So by factoring in what museums want or are willing to pay, you at best get an approximation of "public value", not market value. In nations such as Britain, where items determined to be treasure are taken from the finders the fairest way to compensate them would be to have an open auction among private and public bidders, with the government having the option to beat the top bid once the bidding has closed, and pay the finder/seller on that basis. If the government declines to beat the highest auction bid then the item goes to the highest bidder, who can always donate it to the museum of his/her choice or keep it in their private collection until they want to auction it off at a later date or donate it.