Slight contraversy with the treasure find in England

[Lord T Hawkeye]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/8272058.stm

I'm sure many have heard of this story.  Some lucky folks down in England found a huge trove of ancient gold treasures that are sure to be of great interest to any historian.  I'm in a minor scuffle with some people about it when I said that I didn't like the idea that the government basically just declared the treasure to belong to the crown.  They did give them a considerable finder's fee but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth.  Would it have been so bad to let other potential buyers have a fair shot at it?  Does the crown in fact have a legitimate claim to it?

[MrBogosity]

Whose property was it on?

[Lord T Hawkeye]

Privately owned farm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/8271241.stm
Article before the items were declared treasure

[MrBogosity]

Then it's the farmer's, lock, stock, and barrel--or chest, in this case. Taking it from him is outright tyranny.

[Lord T Hawkeye]

Of course they say the crown didn't "take it", they gave him a finder's fee for it.

If i find, lets say, a golden Rolex with Diamonds on it... the state would not care. Its mine, i can sell it. A Rolex with Diamonds has no public interest. If you find 5 Kilo bars of gold, dug into the earth back in WWI or WWII by someone thinking it would be safe there... the state would not mind. No nametag, it is yours.

A historical thing... that is a whole another story. This is something for scientists. And scientist shouldn`t have to buy things from the market to investigate it, especially if it is a historical thing from your own country, from your own history. This is a treasure of golden attire from the year 930 after Christ, from the Times of the wars of the angelsaxon Kings Penda, Wulfhere and Aethelred against North Umbria and East Anglia.


And lets face it: Yes, the crown and the state put their fingers on it. But the finder and the land owner both get 2.5 MILLION british Pounds reward from the state for it. That is far more than you would get on the market of collectors for those 1500 pieces of Gold and silver (about 5 kilo Gold, with the actual gold price of 31.200 USD per Kilo, the reward beats that by far). So, you really cannot say that having the state putting his eye on it is "unfair" for the finder.

and

Well, Lord, US LAW extremely strict - the same way like we have it here in Germany, the UK or wherever else. Yes, if things are not older up to 100 years (which may be "ancient" for an American), you can keep it as a finder...(in nearly all states, except Indiana and 10 others more).


For indian things: Whatever Indian things you find, you NEVER get to own it legally. Always to the closest related tribe or, if no tribe claims it, then it goes automatically to the state. See The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA)).

And for any given thing, whatever material it is and is found on US Soil AND older than 100 years (at this age, everything is deemed to be "of archeological interest" in the US, there is ARPA:

Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979

Section 4, Part (3) the archaeological resources which are excavated or
removed from public lands will remain the property of the
United States, and such resources and copies of associated
archaeological records and data will be preserved by a suitable
university, museum, or other scientific or educational
institution...

Section 6, © No person may sell, purchase, exchange, transport,
receive, or offer to sell, purchase, or exchange, in interstate
of foreign commerce, any archaeological resource excavated,
removed, sold, purchased, exchanged, transported,
or received in violation of any provision, rule, regulation,
ordinance, or permit in effect under State or local law.

So in other words, because the crown did pay them money for it and because it's of public interest, it's completely valid.

No, I don't buy that but that's the explanation they're going with.  I didn't even wanna get started about all the inconsistancies and downright nonsense in the indian reparations laws.