"More treasure-hunters could be forced to hand over hauls to museums as the Government wants any finds worth over £10,000 reported within 14 days "

A read for you all...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... seums.html

Could be related to this...

"Revising the definition of treasure in the Treasure Act 1996 and revising the related codes of practice"

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultat ... f-practice

I do not remember that Roman helmet selling at auction for £2.3 million? Was it dug up in the UK? That seems like a ridiculous amount to me???

the roman helmet was found in pieces and was brazed back together before christies auction sale so it was fortunate the finder found all the bits and pieces before it was scattered ..the helmet appears at museums in london and all over occasionally when it goes on display .it was basically just a pile of scrap metal when he found it

the helmet is shown here

https://www.ancient-origins.net/artifac ... et-0011220

Another Roman helmet metal detecting find for you Pete...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/804867 ... -2.3m.html

Thank you very much for that link, what a stunning piece

Thanks Lee

And again..

It looks like the Roman helmet in question was the Crosby Garrett helmet...

"UK Government announces new plans to protect treasure finds"

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2019/02/u ... nds/122619

More treasure-hunters could be forced to hand over hauls to museums as the Government wants any finds worth over £10,000 reported within 14 days "
That counts me out then.

The New CONSULTATION proposals are worth a read and then we should all comment on them it still looks like finders will be rewarded but treasure items have been widened to include base metal items of National importance with a market value of £10,000 upwards.
As long as finders get the proper reward then this looks like it could stop important items going abroad.
As responsible detectorists we must all comment or the changes will just be adopted!

BBC 24 hours news had Dr Mike Lewis being interviewed about 17.30 this evening.

He mentioned the need for more police powers and the huge increase in items being recorded through the PAS.

Many items are not classed as treasure, but they would like to have acquired some of them.

Perhaps they should have asked the owners of these items to give them a chance make a purchase at their market valuation.

As he said many archaeologists and historians are backing these suggested changes and I think many of them will also be supported by responsible detectorists.

I heard elsware that rallies could well be reduced to only 50 participants.

Iam sure that we will be talking a lot about these possible changes in the next few weeks, some of which are definitely required.

Jerry.

Put your hands around someones throat and squeeze, and they will die.

Seems like the press getting facts wrong or mixed up as usual.

For example : "In 2017 there were 1,267 archaeological finds in Britain but few ended up in museums."

Nonsense of course. The number refers to Treasure cases, and if they didn't end up in museums I guess this was mostly because they weren't wanted. Would be interesting to have a breakdown of those that would have been purchased if funds were available versus those that were of little significance and therefore unwanted by any museum.

The article will probably make people think that we are all finding items worth £10k regularly and holding onto them or cashing in. The Crosby Garrett helmet is a one-off and I wonder how many other finds would fall into this category.

There are other aspects of the consultation that may have more impact on us.

It is worth reading through the consultation and as many detectorists as possible should provide their views on it. If you don't comment then don't complain if you don't like the outcome.

The interview is worth watching if it can be seen on replay. Jerry.

Interesting update Jerry...

I know of a couple of instances that museum's had expressed an interest in acquiring some non treasure finds (well below the proposed new £10,000 limit.) The finders have declined the offers, the finds from memory were a complete Medieval purse bar, Neolithic mace head and Medieval seal matrix...
Its a shame that the finders didn't even offer long term loans of the finds of interest to the museum. Personally I have donated a Roman bronze coin hoard classed as treasure, receiving my certificate from Ed Vaizey acknowledging my donation, I have even offered museums long term loans of finds of interest but in all honesty at the time they had no collections officer to facilitate this...

I am yet to read the proposed changes fully but from what I've heard, I myself personally support the proposed changes...

Also like you Jerry I've heard somewhere but I can't recall where now, about the proposed rally limit to 50 participants, there is already a limit of 50 participants on Stewardship land. I myself personally fully support this but I don't see how it can be implemented or policed...

Thanks again for the information Jerry...