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NCMD has written to its members in halo-wearing mode … “The NCMD and its members are long-time supporters of the Portable Antiquities Scheme”, and “we strongly believe that the recording of our finds is an important part of our hobby”. BUT “in our view, both the current finds recording process and the treasure process in their current form are not fit for purpose and as a result, are making it difficult for our members to record their finds.”. “Indeed, it seems that some of our members have given up recording altogether”!

So that’s it! They’ve been forced into non-recording by the system! So they’ve written to PAS asking for clarification “as to what the recording process is” and “what the service levels should be”. The poor dears. Some of us think the reason for not recording finds is that they don’t record finds – which amateur archaeologists and children are able to do without difficulty.

“The recording process” is the 16th bogus excuse NCMD has come up with over the years. Here is the full list:

“Don’t criticise us or we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t tell us what to do or we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t undertake surveys of nighthawking else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t let PAS dominate us else we’ll stop reporting” (and later: “Don’t reduce PAS’s funding else we’ll stop reporting”), “Don’t impose a Code of Responsible Detecting else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t discuss licensing us else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t ban inappropriate rallies else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t impose restrictions under stewardship schemes else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t tighten up EBay else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t ever, ever, ever short change us on the Treasure rewards else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t abate our Treasure rewards for not calling an archie out else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t talk of using some of our Treasure rewards to finance proper excavations of our findspots else we’ll stop reporting”, “Don’t write to farmers without us dictating what is to be said else we’ll stop reporting” “Don’t extend the items covered by the Treasure Act beyond exactly what we say else we’ll stop reporting.” And now: “It’s the system that prevents us from recording”.

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More Heritage Journal views on artefact collecting
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