Hoard of Roman coins found in England

[BKW]

 

 

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/03/27/hoard-roman-coins-found-in-england/?intcmp=features

 

 

Wonder if any will make it into the marketplace.

[CyberspaceVoid]

I hope! My daughter is a grad student of archeology at Cambridge and I want to obtain a few nice Celtic, Viking and Roman coins to share with her. That, or maybe try my luck with a metal detector on a visit (naw ...)

[RWB]

If I remember correctly, this hoard was discovered four years ago and kept quiet so that professionals could study the site.

[Conder101]

Wonder if any will make it into the marketplace.

Considering they were found on a professional dig, probably not. They will boxed up and put in storage somewhere and never see the light of day again. If it had been found by an amateur then Treasure Trove rules would apply (If they were gold or silver) and the finder would probably have gotten the coins back and they could have entered the market.

[PerryHall]

Wonder if any will make it into the marketplace.

Considering they were found on a professional dig, probably not. They will boxed up and put in storage somewhere and never see the light of day again. If it had been found by an amateur then Treasure Trove rules would apply (If they were gold or silver) and the finder would probably have gotten the coins back and they could have entered the market.

 

I never understood why governments would hoard coins rather than keep a few of the best specimens and sell off the rest. Even the U.S. government sold off its silver dollar hoard.

[Oldtrader3]

Because they are politicians and to politicians, even hoardes represent power and wealth in their minds? It would be nice to actually get to see some of this stuff in museums.

 

My daughter is a Anthropologist and they often have really big problems getting some government bureaucrats in many countries to even allow access for study to teeth and bones which are in national collections.

[comicparadox]

What a fantastic story. Only 450 feet away from the famed Roman Baths - sitting undisturbed for almost 1800 years. Amazing!

[Conder101]

I never understood why governments would hoard coins rather than keep a few of the best specimens and sell off the rest. Even the U.S. government sold off its silver dollar hoard.

In most cases I don't think the governments want to hoard the coins. Usually they would rather sell them for the money. But the museums and scientists are often the problem. There is a large contingent in the archeological community that believes that collectors should not be allowed to own ancient coins and that ALL of them should be in the hands of the professional archeologists and museums. (Locked away in closets, or used as trade bait between museums for items they want for their collections.) That is a large part of the push behind these "cultural heritage" restrictions. In some cases where it is the governments pushing to recover the coins for themselves, they will eventually re-emerge sold onto the market now with the proper export licenses and the money from the sales going to the government coffers.

[BKW]

I never understood why governments would hoard coins rather than keep a few of the best specimens and sell off the rest. Even the U.S. government sold off its silver dollar hoard.

In most cases I don't think the governments want to hoard the coins. Usually they would rather sell them for the money. But the museums and scientists are often the problem. There is a large contingent in the archeological community that believes that collectors should not be allowed to own ancient coins and that ALL of them should be in the hands of the professional archeologists and museums. (Locked away in closets, or used as trade bait between museums for items they want for their collections.) That is a large part of the push behind these "cultural heritage" restrictions. In some cases where it is the governments pushing to recover the coins for themselves, they will eventually re-emerge sold onto the market now with the proper export licenses and the money from the sales going to the government coffers.

 

I can understand the museum / archeologist position to a point - they want to restrict the market to prevent "treasure hunters" from illegally digging, excavating and potentially destroying sites and items that could have great historic, cultural and/or scientific value. At the same time, when you are talking about 30,000 coins, a good portion could be sold into the market with the part of the proceeds going back to the musem, university, etc., to fund future archeological expeditions. And while I udnerstand there will always be a black market out there, I think "proper paperwork" would go a long way to allievating some of the concerns.