DetectingWales.com

had a chat with someone the other day who warned me never to put photos on here of things you have found or information where you found them as people can claim them and you can be done for theft by finding is this true

Well you can read this:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theft_by_finding)

If you are really interested look up the 1968 theft act.

given the age of the cases listed in wikipedia (mostly in the 1860's) then it's unlikely anyone would be prosecuted. Essentially, there's a difference between coming across a pile of £50s lying in the street (in which case you should hand them into the police to see if someone claims them) and finding lost items that are buried - the law would perhaps argue you should take reasonable steps to find the owner of the lost items.

The other point made in the article is that essential Theft is taking possesion of another person's property with the intent to permanently deprive them of that property, so finding things on a beach would seem to miss the 'taking possesion with intent' part of it.

Understandably if there is a name engraved on an item and it seems recent, it would be far easier to try and find the person who lost the item, compared to most of the artifacts that are dug up, as most of the owners are dead and so could have been said to have abandoned or given up ownership of the items.

Hope this helps.

I generally don't think you can get accused of  theft by finding on most items but if you do beach detecting and post the latest gold ring or whatever and the owner spots it then yes I soppose you could leave yourself open to prosecution, but anything found inland is very different as probono says most inland stuff has been there a while and therefore probably impossible to trace the owners unless of course you have a piece with some sort of clue on it .
personally I don't post stuff usually any more {I used to and lots of it}  but I think that backslapping over finds is a ugly concept of the hobby and now will only post finds that I think people may like to see if they are rare,important historically or unusual {or some items that I don't have a clue about  ;D.}

I think it's a sad sign of the times to have a thread about how to avoid getting caught breaking the law :'(
As Probono has said the section relating to "taking possession with intent" is what could effect detectorists, 30 odd years ago it was quite common to drop rings in to the police and then pick them up a few months later, I did know someone who did have one claimed though and he said the feel good feeling was far better than finding the ring.
Beach detecting is definitely the area that IS relative as finds are generally newer and there is the outside chance that the loss has been reported, the simple act of finding and putting it in your pocket is "taking possession" and if you don't report the find it's the "intent to permanently deprive them" part but if someone did contact you because of a find I'm sure you and all on here would be all too happy to see it returned.
Not posting because of being worried that you'll get prosecuted for breaking the law sticks you firmly in the Nighthawk camp of "knowingly" breaking the law, however translation is all important and I doubt  that the DPP would be very keen on pursuing it.
So either post and be prepared to return the item if contacted, hand them in to the police or give up detecting ;)

i agree with chef geoff ,
its a difficult one as you could get someone pretending to be the owner theres always some chancer out there but i think that if someone has lost an item of value (sentimental or otherwise) and has reported the loss to the police with a discription then the owner should have the item returned to them.
I dont see many people posting locations on DW as detectorists  quite rightly tend to keep that confidential as they may well want to visit a high yeilding section of beach a number of times and dont want to come back and find loads of other detectorists have stripped the area they were working on after they put in a lot of time hunting for good sections.
Personally if someone saw one of my items and could prove ownership i would be happy to return the item.
The police would not charge a detectorist with theft unless they had absolute proof that the item did belong to the owner such as a previously filed report .
for me to  hide my finds away for fear of the true owner being able to prove ownership personally goes against my own morals.

geoff i never said anything about trying to break the law i was asking if this was a true statement of fact

When I go Detecting on the beach where my auntie lives I leave my contact details at the local tourist information centre just incase someone loses a item of value or sentimental to them and I can reunite it with the owner . I have found in the past car keys , house keys etc which I have handed into the tourist information centre . 

I don't know some of the topics we get on here  ;D ::) if I find anything that someone can prove belongs to them they will get it from me and I would be very happy but I doubt a man over 130 years old is going to knock at my door

Hmmmmmm big can of worms this one  ;)

                                     Interestingly, I was recently taking in the sun on a Spanish beach and bumped into a detectorists. We had nice chat about detecting in Spain and I told him of a gold ring I found in the UK and my attempts to find the original owner.
                                     The gruff reply was, "As far as I am concerned it's finders keepers!"  :o

                                     

                                     

Thats my big can of worms you have there Richie! I'd like it back please or I'm calling the Police  :D

lol Will okay hands up I surrender  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Wriggled out of that one, eh?  ;)

lol Chris  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

surely they would have to prove without any shadow of doubt that they are the true owner of the lost items that you found .
 ;D

if you are told of someone losing a ring and deliberatly set out to find it for yourself then that is theft,if you find a ring dropped fitty years ago its yours in my eyes ,good job i never find anything lol.loads of people dont post their beach finds cos they dont want peeps on their beach finding gold.selfishi think they call it..
 especially barry island,its a gold mine but your not suposed to know about it,
 remember the grief i had by mentioning how good llanstephan was ,ooops i did it again.if you can be arsed to go out and find it go for it,if someone says its theirs and can prove it give it back,end of problem,
plenty of old gold out there for everyone but some peeps are greedy and want to hide their hot spots.
  now all of you **** off my beaches and leave my gold alone or the browning is coming out of hiding lol :D :D :D :D :D

I agree you lose you snooze, but we are coming to get your gold on them beaches.

Kidding reallh but we'll try.

plenty about cass ,when you have a good day you will see whats actually out there

Was down barry island 2 weeks ago and found  70 coins a lead soldier and a educational travel badge in one rock pool. Eyes only. Only been doing this for 6 weeks. Was completely made up! So exciting!

its mad when your finding but most of the time u go home empty,the good days make up for it ;)

Was at last weeks rally, in moorlinch. Gutted no roman but had our oldest find yet, a 17 century button. Made up for just 6 weeks of land fishing!

you should have followed me lol,everyone else did

Never been addictive personality, but I cant believe how addictive this is. I wish I had found it years ago. Need a few pointers so any advice would be appreciated.

We did follow to my shame but found nothing. Never mind I live in an area that is  blessed with history, just have to find a farmer who likes the look of me!?

Cass, we all live in an area blessed with History. Trouble is finding whats left. ::)
 Plenty of advice on here but giving it in a broad sense would be impossible. If you have a specific question just ask, one question at a  time and you'll probably get a dozen answers (just to confuse you).

Val

just keep of my beach lol :D precious hmm shmeagles gold it is hmm

Love it lol  :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Ha Ha chill metalmonster ;) I have placed many photoes on hear mostly inland all with permissions, any one who wants to declare ownership better take it up with the land owners or me  :) in fact to find the original owners you will have to dig them up aswell ??? If the landowners allow you to keep stuff and providing it doesn't fall within the treasure act happy days :D I been detecting beaches and in land for 30 years and not been up inront of a judge yet!!! Enjoy your wonderfull hobby mate and good luck : ;)

well said paul. ;)