I'm sure this coin hoard has been reported on CT before since it was discovered 8 years ago, however, this article was published yesterday by the DailyMAIL.com & is an update with a series of excellent photos. See the link below. The hoard was discovered in Jersey, Channel Isles, & consists of 69,347 Celtic & Roman coins buried around 50 BC ! The clump of coins weighed 3/4 ton . https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...d-discovering-69-347-Roman-Celtic-pieces.html
I have been reading about a couple of Brits that had found a very valuable hoard. It is evident that they either did not know the laws in their country about how to handle hoards of value or they did not know it and were so stupid that they couldn't keep their mouths shut. If they had taken care to remove their find so that only they knew they had found them, they could have taken their hoard to another country without extradition, or any number of ways they could have hidden then and little by little send them somewhere that they could cash in on their find. Is there any source that gives a little more information about this. It's hard to believe that England's law concerning hoards found that put those men in prison for a long time.
These guys are going to jail and for good reason. They were also incredibly stupid. Under Britain's very fair and very successful Portable Antiquities Scheme, they would have received half the value of the hoard and been hailed as heroes if they had declared the find. Here is the story from the New York Times: Viking Treasure Could Have Made Them a Fortune. Instead, They Stole It. Two British men who uncovered a 1,100-year-old trove were sentenced to years in prison for failing to report the find and selling the items piecemeal to dealers. Two of the coins from the hoard. Jewelry and silver bars were also part of the trove, but many of the items have not been recovered.Credit...British Museum/British Museum, via Associated Press By Anna Schaverien Nov. 22, 2019 The men, who used metal detectors to unearth the coins, were punished for failing to follow Britain’s rules on reporting discoveries of treasure. Instead, they hid some of the items, estimated to be worth millions of pounds, and sold others to dealers. The pair were sentenced at Worcester Crown Court on Friday on charges of theft, conspiracy to conceal criminal property and conspiracy to convert criminal property. By The New York Times Mr. Powell received a total term of 10 years, and Mr. Davies was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years. Two other men, Simon Wicks and Paul Wells, were also convicted on Thursday on a charge of concealment for their involvement in the case. Mr. Powell and Mr. Davies were not punished for discovering the historically significant trove. In fact, rewards are often given to people who find treasure in Britain. The judge told Mr. Powell and Mr. Davies that the “irony in the case” was that if they had followed the correct procedure, they might have been in line to receive up to half the value between them, the BBC reported. “But you wanted more,” the judge told them. According to the Treasure Act in Britain, anyone who believes they have found a metal object more than 300 years old is required to report it to the authorities within two weeks. A judgment is then made on whether the discovery meets the definition of “treasure.” Later, a valuation would be given, rewards may be offered and museums have the chance to claim the objects. Instead of following the rules, Mr. Powell and Mr. Davies kept quiet and soon began selling the valuable coins to private collectors. The hoard, a mix of ninth- and 10th-century objects, included Anglo-Saxon coins, a gold ring and gold band, silver bars, and a crystal rock pendant, according to a police statement. Photographs of the artifacts in a freshly dug hole were found deleted on Mr. Davies’s phone by the authorities. Despite a yearslong investigation, only 30 of the 300 coins the men are thought to have found have been recovered, in addition to some pieces of jewelry and a silver ingot. The rest of the treasures are missing, presumed hidden or sold, according to West Mercia Police, the force that covers much of western England. Image Items recovered from the trove.Credit...West Mercia Police, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Yes, but 10 and 8 1/2 years are a brutal sentence for this petty crime. They should apply draconian sentences to keep terrorists locked up, like the last event where this thug was released early and result two innocent deaths.
They are tough sentences but I don't think the crime was petty. Of the 30 coins retrieved (out of an estimated 300), five were of the "Two Emperors" type, which are apparently great rarities. Two were issued by Alfred the Great and three by Ceolwulf. The Court's Opening Note valued those at GBP 35000 - 50000 each. The value of the total hoard was not "petty", certainly not for the landowner who would have received half the value of the hoard if it had been declared. This was a major theft. (This comes from a very detailed article on the story by John Andrew in the Jan. 2020 edition of the British magazine, Coin News). I suspect the judge may also have wanted to send a message to the metal detecting community. If people started to think not declaring finds would only result in a slap on the wrist, the integrity of the very successful Portable Antiquities Scheme would come into question. I assume Powell and Davies will be released early for good behavior and will not serve their full terms. Hopefully they will not reoffend, unlike the two Muslim terrorists who in separate incidents committed murder or attempted murder almost immediately after early release.
We hear repeatedly that this hoard contained Roman coins but the images sow only Celtic. It would seem that Roman coins of the century before the proposed burial dated woul be valuable in dating. It would be important also to know where in the pile the Romans were located (all together on the top, mixed evenly) to get full value from the evidence they provide. A block that size could take quite a while to study properly but all I have seen are repeats of the news of the original find. Where are the coins today? In storage or in progress?
In other words: If you whore'd the hoard, you get no reward, but you may get the waterboard for fraud!
My question is... how fair is the law in determining the value of the find and also how much is the reward. There may have been situations where the reward for the find was not fair and the two men that found the hoard didn't trust the government or legal system in determining the value of the hoard and the amount of the reward.
Let's be clear that this thread has discussed two distinct hoards. The OP hoard is Celtic, and the hoard discussed by @Jim Dale and @talerman is Viking. The idea that they might have gotten "half" is because the other half the value goes to the landowner, from whom you are stealing if you don't have permission and don't report the find. I have heard it is very fair. Often, if the coins are not special, they just give them back after studying them long enough to get the information out of them. If a few are special, they have a group (including dealers) that determines fair (wholesale) market value for them, the finders are paid that and get the rest of the coins back. If other countries had a system like England, we would know a lot more about ancient-coin finds than we do.
