My UK Trip .... Double Ancient Gold!

[Gwcracker]

From the OP post..

"ready infact are considered "treasure", being made of a precious metal and being over 300 years old. If the Museum claims them then a fair market value will be put on them and that amount would be split by the landowner and me. If the Museum disclaims them, then an agreement will be made between the landowner and myself. Either we buy one another out. Or we put them up for auction and split the money."

seemed about right as I saw it as well. Not worth the argument but anything considered treasure, with monitary value ain't coming back home unless the finder has deep pockets.

Let's see what the gold egg and ring costs the OP after all is said and done. I guarantee it will not be cheap.

what many fail to see is the stuff we consider rare and worth digging here, the Colonial stuff is considered junk over there... No value to the locals. Like modern coinage is here. They care not if we bring a ton of that stuff home as long as we pay postage.

Some is even used to seed the fields from what I was told by someone that I figured knew what he was talking about.

Would love to go back and hunt but would not go on an organized hunt for someone else to profit from my labor.

gw

[Ill Digger]

1 hour ago, Gwcracker said:

It is a detectorist adventure.. Targets everywhere, buttons, coins, relics but..reality sets in when it's time to label and bag it all up...and tell it all good bye where it is then cherry picked and anything of value is skimmed off the top. What you get is all the base metal coins, modern day relics, the newer stuff, less than 300 or so years old. What is mailed to you after all is said and done is not worth the cost of it's postage.

I did have a good time in England, but I felt like I paid big bux to be a digger for the land owner as well as the fellow that runs the hunt, being as they, not me, were going to wind up in posession of anything of value that I found.

I would equate it to a charter tuna fishing trip, expensive, and all is said and done the charter captain gets the tuna fish and I get the bait.

I do hope it works out for you and you wind up with what you dug!

gw

Really? What did you find and not get back? Or not get compensated for?

[Gwcracker]

Let's discuss that after final disposition of your finds ?

I am indeed interested in the rest of the story.

You done good ??

gw

[Steve Herschbach]

It is no different than making a deal with a claim owner to hunt their ground for a percentage, and then complaining after the fact about the deal that was agreed on in the first place. Or worse yet being a thief by reneging on a deal and sticking the finds in your pocket. And it is stealing, no other word for it.

If making deals and abiding by them is an issue for some, then do us all a favor and get out of detecting entirely. It is the scammers that ruin it for those of us who honor our word and actually have some integrity.

[Gwcracker]

Not at all like claim jumping.. Transportation, lodging, the right and permission to hunt cost in the thousands.

What many fail to see is the fact that you are free labor for the land owner as well as the hunt organizer, not to mention the thousands you pay to get there and to have permission to hunt.

When you leave, unless things have changed, all finds are bagged and tagged and kissed goodby.

Good luck on having anything other than pocket change, old base metal coins, buttons of no value, and such retruned with out sending more $$$ to buy it after you dug it.

If you got all your finds back it's a pretty good indicator that you spent a buttload of money and found nothing but worthless junk.

gw

[Ill Digger]

6 hours ago, kiwijw said:

I wonder how many good finds just end up in the finders pocket without them saying a word, & no one is any the wiser, & they just take it home. Would have to happen often I reckon. The temptation would have to be great knowing you could well lose it or only get, at the best, half its decided value. I am sort of with you Gwcracker as far as you doing all the work & brunting the cost of your hunt, & on finding something of value don't end up with it true worth. Sharing it with someone else who put in little to no effort in its finding. Sort of sucks. I know I wouldn't be happy if someone took half my gold finds & they had contributed nothing in the way of the costs, both in time in research & time out in the field, costs of fuel in travel & accomodation, costs of detecting gear etc. I guess for some the thrill of sharing what they find at the time of discovery is worth more to them than monetary value. The excitement, thrill, buzz & jubilation out waying that other value. That is until that wears off & they no longer have that item in their possession & may never see it again. Tricky one. But rules are rules & you know the rules before you get involved. Well I guess you should do anyway. Bit like mining on some else's gold claim & have them bust you & you crying out that you didnt know it was claimed, when you probably really did. The onus is on you to find out more than it is for them to tell you & make you aware. Ignorance isn't bliss these days.  

lll Digger: You did very well.? Good for you.

Good luck out there

JW  

Alot of finds probably do get pocketed.  But like Steve said, it's being stolen.  Plus you won't find any of these items without permission to be on the land in the first place.  That's what the organizers are payed for. Obtaining permissions. Plus handling every single step of processing through the British Museum.  I tell you one thing.  I don't know how to process a pouch of finds. So its money well spent in my eyes. But I'm honest. 

[Ill Digger]

3 hours ago, Gwcracker said:

Not at all like claim jumping.. Transportation, lodging, the right and permission to hunt cost in the thousands.

What many fail to see is the fact that you are free labor for the land owner as well as the hunt organizer, not to mention the thousands you pay to get there and to have permission to hunt.

When you leave, unless things have changed, all finds are bagged and tagged and kissed goodby.

Good luck on having anything other than pocket change, old base metal coins, buttons of no value, and such retruned with out sending more $$$ to buy it after you dug it.

If you got all your finds back it's a pretty good indicator that you spent a buttload of money and found nothing but worthless junk.

gw

I was there in the spring.The last week of February and first couple of days of March.  While we were there in October I picked up my entire pouch from my February hunt. The only item I haven't got back yet is my Celtic gold quarter starter. And that's because it's part of a hoard and is still in the bowels of the BM. But all 10 coins found from this hoard prior to mine have been disclaimed and returned to the finders. So I'm not too concerned.  I didn't have to pay anything to bring my finds home. Or have to pay anything on top of my initial investment of the vacation. But I will have to buy out the land owner if I want to keep the coin.

[Gwcracker]

Not a chance phrunt although I do know a few people who receive nice discounts from the hunt outfits for publishing mouth watering writeups about their successful hunt. ;)

Treasure defined.. note, a hoard is two or more objects.

gw

1Meaning of “treasure”.

(1)Treasure is—

(a)any object at least 300 years old when found which—

(i)is not a coin but has metallic content of which at least 10 per cent by weight is precious metal;

(ii)when found, is one of at least two coins in the same find which are at least 300 years old at that time and have that percentage of precious metal; or

(iii)when found, is one of at least ten coins in the same find which are at least 300 years old at that time;

(b)any object at least 200 years old when found which belongs to a class designated under section 2(1);

(c)any object which would have been treasure trove if found before the commencement of section 4;

(d)any object which, when found, is part of the same find as—

(i)an object within paragraph (a), (b) or (c) found at the same time or earlier; or

(ii)an object found earlier which would be within paragraph (a) or (b) if it had been found at the same time.

(2)Treasure does not include objects which are—

(a)unworked natural objects, or

(b)minerals as extracted from a natural deposit,

or which belong to a class designated under section 2(2).

 

[Gwcracker]

I feel like I need to add that I am not dishonest, I am not a thief. My point is 

I will not spend the money as expensive as it is to hunt, dig, and not keep what I dug.

As I said earlier, I would not pay a fee to hunt diamonds in Crater of Diamonds Park if I had to hand them over to see if the State of Arkansas wanted them.

To end my participation and bow out of this thread, anyone detecting in UK will experience a hunt like you never experenced here, unless maybe you, as I, was one of the earlier hunters and hit some prime areas before they were made off limits.. Have thought about giving the Czech Republic a look!

Happy hunting all, good luck, and best wishes.

GW