This Hobby Allowing To Many Mercenary Elements To Take Advantage?

[probono]

If they ever grub out the hedges round here there's going to be lines of iron across the new bigger fields courtesy of many of my finds.

Wonder what the detectorists of the future will make of that. Can just imagine some wise Archie. suggesting it had to be an industrial site. 

When the local community archaeology came round to my local burial chamber they found a couple of bits of plough on the mound out the back - I was told by them (with a straight face) that they were shocked that the farmer had obviously ploughed over it - not that maybe he (or one of his predecessors) had just chucked the broken bits out of the way.

Mind you (and I suppose they didn't know who I was from Adam) they didn't want any coins identifying (because they already had a specialist apparently) and when I pointed out some burnt stones in a cist, they claimed that's how the local stone weathers. Now given that I've been going over those fields for 30 years, and when my parents had their dig, I've got a pretty good idea of the difference between weathered and burnt stone (at least the locality). It also put my back up a bit - after all I'm interested in that kind of stuff (hey I even found a leaf shaped arrow head sticking out of the ground in front of the chamber as a teenager which is now buried in the museum) - and tbh have lost a willing volunteer......

[Cymro]

The problem, of course, is that the hobby doesn't have any say in the matter - anybody can just walk into a shop and walk out with a metal detector with no questions asked regarding their motives. Used to be the same with shotguns - you only had to go to the Post Office and buy a licence over the counter, and you didn't have to show it when you went to buy a gun. Or sent for one through the post as I did . . .

Nowadays, of course, the whole shooting thing is deliberately so tied up in red tape that it's putting people off. You (apparently) have to prove that you have a legitimate reason for wanting to own a lethal weapon, persuade the authorities that you're a suitable person to do so, keep any guns securely locked up in steel cabinets and it's generally not a fun activity any more. I sold my guns and gave up my Shotgun Certificate when the whole licencing process got too intrusive and they were just bringing in the secure storage thing back in the 90s. I can see airguns going the same way which I think is a great shame - there are a lot more airguns than assaults or incidents involving them, but that's a whole different jug of worms.

So, do we want draconian regulation in our chosen hobby? It could be argued (and indeed was back in the 70s) that metal detectorists *could* be taking historically valuable artefacts which are of more value in the ground than out of it. That was the view of the archaeologists of the time, but they've since got over themselves and we have a better relationship with them - we're all the richer for this.

I think (hope) that the get-rich-quick detectorists would soon realise that you've got to spent countless hours just looking for a potentially productive site (or is that just me . . . ?) then persuade a farmer to let you loose on his land. After that you have to contend with the weather, waiting for crops to be harvested, digging up skip-loads of scrap iron and eventually find a featureless metal disc which is covered in mud . . . Or you could hit on a hoard first time out. Once you've found something you've still got to identify it - more research.

I'd also like to think that anybody who is prepared to go through all that would have passed the stage of being a get-rich-quick type to one who is engaging with the hobby and has become a committed member of the hobby.

After all, everybody knows that if you want to make money quickly, you just get a detector, go on the beach and pick up buckets of gold - right?

[Chainsaw Bampy]

i must be doing something wrong, i been on the beach a few times now and haven,t found one bucket of gold. lol

[Chef Geoff]

Great post Cymro but unfortunately it's not only the get rich quick mob that are the problem in my view it's the lazy arsed "can't be bothered to record" crowd and they sadly are the majority

[Chainsaw Bampy]

totally agree with you chef, i haven,t found anything of interest yet,but i live in hope, i was on barry beach wed night and couldn,t believe the rubbish people left on the beach and even buried lots of cans plastic bottles and broken glass, they have to walk past the bins when they leave the beach,  just goes to show some people just don,t care.whats the world coming to ey.

[wet feet again]

the lazy arsed crowd are probably put off by the system, i was. had to jump through hoops to self log i know mark gets a lot of flack but he covers all of wales. finds go off not seen for months on end,still not logged on P A S site. we should all be self logging finds even through groups or clubs validated by F L O.
just my thaughts

[Chef Geoff]

Very true and it's something that PAS is now addressing with their PASt Explorers scheme but the system isn't difficult....... You hand your find in, it gets (eventually) recorded and you get it back, where is the difficulty?

[Landyman]

I agree that we should all be recording anything interesting but its not always easy to do so.

 For instance in my situation I used to show everything to my local flo in Swansea. He is now retired but still helps with recording. He then sends it off to Cardiff and if I am lucky I will get it back about 3 months later. After a few things of mine went missing for 18 months I stopped letting him take anything. He lives nearby and I show him any interesting finds and tell him where found. I am happy for him to examine them and I also give him photos but he aint taking them. I dont know if he records them or not.

For any new detectorists that want to record finds but dont know a flo or do not want to join a club, if they google "how to record finds", or words to that effect every result tells them to contact the flo.

I have heard of some that self record with pas so I thought I would try that. Found the pas internet site and it says "To report your finds get in touch with your local Finds Liaison Officer".

WE NEED MORE FLOs.

So, although they are wrong, I can understand why some people cant be arsed.

[probono]

Very true and it's something that PAS is now addressing with their PASt Explorers scheme but the system isn't difficult....... You hand your find in, it gets (eventually) recorded and you get it back, where is the difficulty?

I looked up the PASt Explorers scheme - doesn't seem to be anything happening round here - I'm sure there are quite a few of us on here who would be willing and able to help.

[Val Beechey]

I'm sorry to have to say Cymro that there's a small group of detectorists you left out. I've been looking at finds posted on here and a couple of other sites for the last 5 years and I've occasionally thought  no one could find that sort of thing or that many things unless he was where he shouldn't have been. We all know it happens even if we don't know by who or where. We've even seen them boast about how much they got

Now they are the real get rich quick kind and none of those finds are reported.

[Dungbeetle]

I have to agree with Cymro, I used to shoot a lot years ago but the sport was ruined by syndicates buying up shooting rights and then the draconian firearm laws. Metal detecting seems to be heading this way slightly with clubs vying for new land etc. Detectorists would do themselves a big favour if they recorded finds with the PAS as it would show the powers that be that it is a hobby of responsible people not just " Treasure hunters "..  I don't think that anyone in this country could be  in the hobby purely to make money as finds are too random or haphazard. Some parts of of the country do throw  up more finds of interest than others probably down to habitation. I've seen some lovely items from up here in North Wales, just the luck of the draw if it's you that finds it ! So come on boys and girls record your finds properly and don't give the archaeologists anything to gripe about.

[Cymro]

I'm not a big fan of Facebook but I've recently re-joined because I want to look at some of the groups on there (not that sort of group - BMW and BSA bikes . . .  )

So this evening I logged on and there was a post on the 'Metal Detecting finds values and for sale' group where one of the members had just been detecting in the local park and found £28.88. Cue applause all round and some comments that others were going to try their park too . . .

I know that *most* councils won't allow it, but even if they did it's bad press for metal detecting and a possible nail in our coffin. I once contacted Flintshire County Council to ask about detecting on a rented farm owned by them and the short answer was that anything found on their property must be returned to them. Didn't bother after that . . .

[dingdong]

Food for thought.....ONLY
Phemmm!!!,it seems to me that there needs to be some sort of legislation put into place.
Why isn't there a legal requirement that when a person purchases a detector from a dealer/shop/friend,anywhere for that matter,that a legal proof of ownership/ownership transfer of ownership,so where ever that detector goes it's registration goes with it.
So that when finds are put up for sale,a serial registration number must be accompanied with the item(S) up for sale,then the prospective purchasers go to buy the item(S) they can check up on the authenticity of the proposed sale
IE:no number no sale,and if it were found not to have a legitimate number the sale would be suspended,or even "blacked"
This system would work in the same way as a vehical transfer,no papers,no purchase!!
And if a non registered detector was found being used,it would be deemed as being used illegally, and then disposed of.
Detecting legislation has to be brought up to date,if not,well ,the problem is only going to get progressively worse!!
As I said at the beginning, just a thought!!👍

[Val Beechey]

It's like a lot of good ideas Chris.  Un-fundable and un-enforceable.  There are worse things going on that cannot be policed, like burglary. If you've watched the news lately you'll know what I'm talking about.

[dingdong]

Hi Val,yes as I said,"just a thought"and yes it is a great shame that unfortunately that's the way it is!!
And as you say its the world that we now live in!! And also unfortunately it is going to get far worse,after all who would have thought that the mass destruction of irreplaceable  artifacts in the middle East would have been allowed to happen,and again,as you rightly say,burglaries and the ever increasing rate of everything "nasty"
It don't bode well for anyone now or in the future, and as for Detecting...WELL!!
It was just a thought.