A short article, but rather remarkable find! http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-37118242
Wow, interesting. Metal detecting in England appears not to be as regulated as it is in other countries where I have read that it is illegal.
Metal detecting in England appears not to be as regulated as it is in other countries where I have read that it is illegal. It is regulated to the extent that people are supposed to report certain finds, but they are encouraged to do this by being paid a fair market value for anything required by museums, etc. Usually, single coins are deemd 'lost' and are the finder's since the owner is unlikely to turn up, but stuff that appears to have been deliberately hidden is usually the property of the Crown,although, as said, the finder gets compensated. The hunter should have permission from the owner of the land, and usually the value of anything found is shared with the landowner. It is a tiny bit more complicated, but in general there is no regulation of actual prospecting apart from scheduled ancient monuments being out of bounds. The typical British detectorist is a bit of a geek who may live with his mother and wears clothes rather like layers of sacks, not a profile associated with criminality. So they just get on with it. Anything other than full compensation or the finder keeping the finds seems absolutely sure to ensure that many finds go unreported.
It was reported through the PAS(Portable Antiquities Scheme) which makes the find documented and gives the coin a provenance. I own an Irish token from 1672 that was found in rural Shropshire back in 2002 - ordinarily such a find would not get a report - but this one did because it documented an Irish token being found in NW England, a bit of an unusual circulation pattern. Usually Irish tokens didn't leave Ireland.
I do think Britain legislated metal detectors go the right way. I always s wanted to do some when I lived there, but never had the time...
There must be more left than has been found already. Britain looks small on a map but it is a good big size if taken field by field and mile by mile of beach and riverbed. And people have been losing and hiding stuff for a couple of thousand years.
More detailed information about this coin: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/761455 And here is another example from what appears to be the same design (not sure if same dies): https://www.spink.com/lot-description.aspx?id=15005000365
interesting, I wasn't really sure what was and what wasn't considered "treasure". this recent article about a find is related and interesting as well. http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-derbyshire-37109225
