Farmer Brown: a foolproof way to ensure metal detectorists are honest!

Dear Colleagues,

I’ve just seen this Heritage Journal Comment from a member of the public, Andy Heaton, about a press article, “Mystery of Shropshire Iron Age coin hoard detectorists” :.

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“Bonkers Britain indeed ! Take a look at the ‘facts’ – of which there are few! Two detectorists ‘Andrew’ & ‘Charlie’ and ‘possibly from Kent’, dug up a number of coins and kindly gave them to the farmer. Realistically, they could be called anything and they could be from anywhere; oh yes, the mobile phone number that they gave to the farmer doesn’t exist. Take note, that they ‘gave’ the coins (that they didn’t own in the first place) to the farmer – was that all the coins, or just a few? we shall never know.“

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But of course we all DO know. People called ‘Andrew’ & ‘Charlie, possibly from Kent, with a non-existent mobile number are not there to help any farmer or Britain. Nor are any people with any name from anywhere who claim to be amateur archaeologists yet put finds in their pockets.

It’s simple, friends:
Ask the Portable Antiquities Scheme  mlewis@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk or your local archaeologist or museum to vouch in writing for anyone wanting to metal detect on your land. If they won’t, don’t allow it. How can that possibly not be fair and sensible?

Regards,
Silas Brown,
Grunters Hollow,
Worfield,
Salop

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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