Metal detecting: PAS in public appeal for financial support!

Just now, as PAS teeters on the edge of being a victim of post-COVID-austerity, one might ask: why don’t those tens of thousands of artefact hunters who benefit from it’s existence offer it financial help? Why doesn’t PAS ask them? Well in fact it already has – see its 2015 Just Giving page! So far, £1,248 has been raised – from 30 supporters (including us!) That’s £41.60 each, not bad.

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However, when PAS loses its funding, and detectorists shed tears because they so love to record finds (apart from most of them!),  keep in mind that between 27,000 of them they’ve given less than 1p a year each to keep it going! To put 1p in context: “Kimbo’s Rally Week” at Boxted next September costs £100!

Saying one thing and doing another has been the defining characteristic of  most UK artefact hunters for two long decades. So it’s ironic that when PAS ends it will expose one last artefact hunting hypocrisy.

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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