VI.V In support of detectorists ....
Metal detectorists - you either love them or hate them !!
The establishment swings hot and cold on the subject, on the one hand the vast majority of coins and antiquities are found by detectorists, on the other many found this way are unrecorded, retained and sold illegally. Then there is the question of professionalism. Is the detectorist liscensed ? Do they follow The Code ? Are they registered with a club or officially recognised organisation ? Are they responsible on private land ? And then what of the dreaded nighthawk ?
The metal detectorist has had a bad press in the past from [jealous ?] archaeologists, but for the most part these days with Finds Liason Officers, reasonably fair Treasure Trove rewards and so on life is bearable !! A small precentage of 'bad eggs' spoil things for everyone. Nighthawks, or detectorists that search private land illegally at night, selling their finds on the black market darken the image of responsible searchers. This will never be irradicated completely, and every pastime has this element of negativity present somewhere. So dont tar them all with the same brush. Give decent detectorists a break !!
I know many detectorists personally or as aquaintances, and with one exception these are friendly honest people. I often buy finds from detectorists, but make certain that these are non reportable items such as single coin finds [which incidentally I ensure are recorded myself, twice], or items that have been surrendered and returned to the finder. I freely admit that without detectorists my coin collection would not exist in its present form. So please if you own or manage land, consider allowing a metal detectorist to search it. Rewards are paid for gold and silver antiquities found [these usually end up in museums], and often an agreement is made to the effect that anything at all found and sold is split equally with the landowner. Plus of course its fascinating to discover and hold in your hand the history of a particular place.
I do detect myself occassionally, although not very successfully !! I have found a Henry VIII Southwark mint groat, this being my best find to date.
This is a short, simple article to say thankyou. I couldnt collect without detectorists finding the coins I buy. So please keep them coming ....
- Posted by dragonbloodaxe on 13/04/2008.
- dragonbloodaxe's site
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