undervalued..

[deepseeker]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-26992696

[Hectorsfarm_]

I must admit - for whatever reason you do detecting for, that does seem a shockingly low value price for such treasure items!

[Puffin]

Mate handed over a couple of Viking silver ingots a few months back, letter arrived last week, £75 between the farmer and his self?

[Hectorsfarm_]

..again shocking! I know the main purpose
Is to record history and bconsequent

[sandman1960]

Looking at the size of the rings and assuming they are a high carat purity, they must be worth that in scrap gold value alone

[Hectorsfarm_]

...phone died earlier and hadn't finished my comment!
I was saying that again puffin's friend's Viking silver ignots value was poor also - and though the main point is to record history and the consequent finds, man cannot live on detecting alone!!!
I do think the poor value put on such obvious treasure finds will deter people from reporting
Can the amount offered by museums be refused once finds have been declared?

[lammytheman]

Finders are able to dispute the valuation committee,s valuations and show evidence to support their case, such as prices of comparable items sold on the open market or previous valuations given by the treasure valuation committee.
The committee are supposed to base their estimates on current market values.
So another independant valuation given by an expert in such items can be submitted as evidence to be considered by the committee.

[Deetektor]

It's a shame the finder didn't get a valuation before handing them in.
Although it was said that he couldn't afford to.

His own estimate of their value seems a little OTT to me. Is the £500 what he gets ? £1000 split 50/50 ?

[unrhif]

I don't seethe problem with this.
It is a hobby. They are up on the deal in every way.
They may have missed it on the day, they may have found a treasure item 20 times as valuable or 20 times less valuable. Luck and only luck bought this person to this find.
Some may say, "yes but he had this great land to search". However maybe he was lucky he lived there, lucky he caught the farmer on the right day with a good pitch or lucky the land was not forested.
If it is truly a hobby then they should accept the valuation, be happy they have a find in a museum and go away and have the thrill of trying to find another find even better.
Financially speaking i don't think any museum would sell an item on for gain and the numbers visiting will not be increased by this find.
I have find in a museum for which i received a sum well below "market value". I am quite satisfied.
What is market value anyway. Certainly not that brought about by the likes of e-bay "buy it now" or Wildwinds. These are just chancers looking for the gullible.

[coreservers]

great post unhrif. and funnilky enough exactly what i was thinknig on reading the article. there are undesirables in this hobby, who'se main motivation is money, i have a couple of items in the museum in Edinburgh, that's recognition enough for me. where did this £6000 valuation come from? are they taking the scrap gold value? surely not! better to have these displayed for all i think.

[Old Git John]

Also, here we have a situation, which some of our detractors will hone in on.

Metal detectorists love to spout on about just how much we contribute to our past history, and all done for nothing. Yet, time and time again, when a find goes for valuation, folk crib about it being undervalued.

We in the U.K are in fact in a very lucky situation, wherein, if we find any item which has to go through the Treasure Process, and it subsequently is declared treasure, the chances are we will receive a "reward", not for finding it, but for handing it in to the right authority for dealing with.

In many other countries there is no such reward system, you find, you hand it in, you get zilch, not one penny.

Our make up causes us to complain, the others do not, because their culture says it is not right to do so.

Who in the end gets the greatest satisfaction from making a major discovery, and seeing it on display in a national museum I wonder.

[blue_yeti]

Disagree with some of the sentiment here.

I have never sold a find other than Treasure items purchased and have never disputed a valuation- so I am most definitely not in the mercenary camp.

However, the law is there to protect both sides and encourage finds to be handed in properly. Part of that law is that a 'fair market valuation will be provided'. If it isn't then it will drive more finds straight onto the market with out being recorded as some will see that they may as well sell at a lower price with no provenance as wait two years for payment (as I am) for the same amount.

Detectorists pay for their own machines, batteries, fuel and time, there is always the option for any finder to donate whatever they find, but if they don't want to do that then they should be paid 'fair value' for the item, not some stupid outrageous figure dreamt up by a Sun newspaper headline writer but a fair figure.

To undervalue things badly is a dangerous way to drive more finds onto the black market.

The law should work both ways, punishment if you don't abide and fairness if you do.

BY

[Deetektor]

To undervalue things badly is a dangerous way to drive more finds onto the black market.

The law should work both ways, punishment if you don't abide and fairness if you do.

BY

The law does work both ways, but who is to say that an item has been undervalued ?
With the axe head for example, you see the prices people are asking for them, but that
doesn't mean that's what they've got.

If you look here: http://finds.org.uk/treasure/advice/people
You can see who is on the TVC. It's not just a few museum curators and archaeologists.

[blue_yeti]

What is fair value is a much harder question, I don't dispute that for one second. Asking prices could be anything but fairly easy to get recent sale prices on many items.

Put it another way- Does anyone honestly think they could go out today and buy what was found and purchased for £550? I don't and if you can please tell me where!!

Taking the opposite end of the argument- the top end 'hoped' for valuation I am certain you could find very similar for and have change so clearly thats over the top.

What I would like to see is some consistency... I saw a single gold (they said plated) bronze age ring money get a TVC of £750, then all this gets £550, one of them is valued wrong.

My point is it shouldn't be a lottery of extremes, valuations are always going to be difficult I get that, no perfect science for sure... but 'market value' means that just that. I can go and buy a bronze age ring money for the value they offered so that would be market value, there is no way you could get the other items at what was offered according to the article, so how is that market value, perceived or otherwise?

BY

[Donnydave]

I am with blue-yeti on this we need to get the proper market value no more no less , but we don,t want to drive finds onto the black market, it can not be that hard to get a proper fair valuation, and its got to be more than the scrap value surely