Yesterday and today, we visited the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. It’s a huge museum devoted mostly to art and history. Among other items, it has a huge coin collection. I took pictures of three items. First is the Fitzwilliam Coin Cabinet; see the pics below. So, toss your Whitman and Dansco albums and get one like it! Next are a couple of gold coin hoards found in Britain. Descriptions are in the pics below. The UK has a very enlightened policy toward using metal detectors to find coin hoards. Detectorists must be licensed; many are in clubs. If a hoard is found, it must be reported to the government. An official will inspect and decide whether it’s “treasure” or not. If treasure, archaeologists may be called in to assist. The find belongs equally to the detectorist and the land owner. It may go into a commercial market or a deal may be struck with a museum. The above is a simplified version. The UK policy is very different from most of Europe. There, detecting is banned or licensed. If a detectorist makes a find, it belongs 100% to the government, which may or may not reward the detectorist. So, there is a lot of surreptitious detecting. The finds go into underground commercial markets or, worse, are melted. The provenance is lost forever. Tomorrow, we move on to London. We’ll be staying in a flat on Royal Mint Place! The mint moved to Wales in the 1970’s. But the mint still has a shop nearby. Should I visit it? Definitely! Mike
There's one just like it at the local Goodwill......(devil). Very engaging thread, Cal. I assume there is more to follow as your travels progress? Looking forward to it.
