The Staffordshire Gold hoard

[Northern Lass]

Where do you think it should stay
in West Midlands
or
London

http://www.artfund.org/staffordshire_ho ... hire_hoard

[a5baggie]

Goes without saying, West Midlands.

Keep it as far from London as possible.

[mikleed]

STAFFORDSHIRE......near where it was found.....West Midlands covers a big area !!!
Mike.

[Northern Lass]

They put this in that article

"Our aim is for the Hoard to be acquired jointly for two key museums in the region: Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery via Birmingham City Council and The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent via Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

Both museums are also working with their partners, Staffordshire County Council, Lichfield District Council and Tamworth Borough Council. But we need your help to make the acquisition possible.

If the Hoard is secured, it will go on display at the two museums so that visitors from all over the UK - and beyond - can marvel at the treasures it contains."

sounds fair enuff

[gardener]

I think it should be local for the first year and then some of it should be on loan to the British Museum or somewhere - that might be done for a fee which would provide funds for the "home" museum. It is a lot of stuff isn't it? The main thing is to make it possible for people to see it, and to try and make money from it

[BC Wench]

I think it should be local for the first year and then some of it should be on loan to the British Museum or somewhere - that might be done for a fee which would provide funds for the "home" museum. It is a lot of stuff isn't it? The main thing is to make it possible for people to see it, and to try and make money from it

I fully agree gardener. We saw the Hoard in Birmingham and it's absolutely beautiful.

[Northern Lass]

I wonder how they stop other treasure finders from going looking for more of it
on the same field?

Does it become crown property once a find is made?
Or if the same field yields again is it the farmers to decide what he does?

[MarkCDodd]

All finds must be reported.

Teams of archeologists etc decide if the "find" fits within the definition of "treasure".

If so, then it it valued and the finder gets 20%.

The finder can challenge the value attached and have it revalued.

If it was found on private land and the finder did not have permission then the 20% goes to the land owner.

Otherwise it is up to the land owner and finder to split the profits (hopefully they had a written agreement).

Anything found on crown land must be covered by permission otherwise it is simply confiscated.

Nearly all revelations of a "treasure" find occur long after the site has been searched to ensure all items have been recovered so it is a waste of time for others to look for more.

I know all this becasue I was heavily involved in metal detecting in Australia and the Australian regulations were based closely on those in the UK.

Shropshire was by far the wealthiest county for many centuries and has, theoretically, fantastic amounts of sites yets to be found.

Staffordshire has many good sites as well, mainly along the old Roman travel routes.

In Australia we simply do not have the history to find anything "european" more than 150 years old. Of course there are aboriginal artifacts going back 40,000 years but they are of cultural importance and mostly left where found.

I spent many many months going over the old goldfields and paid for my metal detectors many times over.

I did find a watch that had been lost in 1897 and tracked down the decndants of the farmer it belonged to.

I am thinking of getting back into it but searching for metoerites instead. They are worth a packet!

[Northern Lass]

Thanks Mark for that
I used to do a bit of it too in the 70's loved it
didn't find too much though

what a nice gesture about the watch!

[MarkCDodd]

The family had the watch restored and sent me some photos. It kicked off their passion for family history and they ended up doing an excellent and well researched family tree.

That was way back in the early 1980's.....

[gardener]

Nice to see a bit about this on Sky News this morning

[mallosa]

..here's the latest news - here

[MarkCDodd]

Some of the detail work is astounding.

More delicate than the Normans were capable of.

It is about time the Normans issued an appology to the Anglo Saxons.

We had to appologise to the aboriginees

[Northern Lass]

I can't believe they kept it quiet from the locals and said it was a murder enquiry
How on earth do you keep that quiet and stop others from looting whilst you uncover it