Yes - this hoard was actually found several years ago and over a number of years. Most of it was handled correctly and reported and the recent news covers the Coroner's decision to record it as "Treasure". This will work very well for the finder and landowner as the value they will get is the full market value - far better than black market. Another detectorist found a further 10 coins and attempted to sell on the black market without declaring. Not only did he not get the money, he is now an ex-policeman and received an 18 month prison sentence to boot. See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-59151380
The British Portable Antiquities Scheme for reporting finds seems to work really well. The finders get the coins or value. Archeologists get the location so they can study the site in detail before any significant disturbance. The museums get the artifacts if they are significant. It sounds like a win for everyone. I wonder why the archeology community isn't pushing for this across the rest of Europe and the middle east? Portable antiquities site https://finds.org.uk/ [yes, I know why some Archeologists refuse to acknowledge the success of the British system. They feel that they should be they only ones capable of making the finds, yet alone study them. And God forbid common artifacts should go to the great unwashed masses, when they could be rotting away away in museum basements waiting decades for elite archeologists to find time to study them] Just my opinion
So, in your opinion, this is an example of the Brutish law on found antiquities as working to protect the national and international interest while keeping a balance with private ownership of such discoveries? How many years did this take to work out?
Yes, I would say the British law as it stands works reasonably well. The majority of metal detectorists are now happy to comply with the reporting process. Those that don't are either those hunting on land without the owner's permission, or on scheduled monuments, or those who seek to defraud the landowner of his legal share. The law changed a few years ago - I don't recall exactly when. Prior to that I believe the compensation set by the coroner for items deemed treasure was much lower with little relation to market value, and so there was a much bigger temptation to dodge the system.
I read about important discoveries found by re-analyzing objects in museum "basements". I never read about anything new learned from something in someone's curio cabinet.
