Focus on UK Metal Detecting: Pocketing the Lord's Pennies

 

I guess if detectorist janner 53 can quote from the book Advanced Detecting by the late "Norfolk Wolf" (John Lynn) published in 2005 by Greenlight Publishing, so can I:

Nobody has to tell me how hard detecting can be at times and when I find a coin or whatever, I know I have earned it. However, here's the rub, is it really mine. In my eyes yes, if it wasn't for my diligence it would still be there, lost forever. Does the farmer really have title to it? The land might have been in his family for generations, but how was this acquired? The amount that was forcibly taken from the commoner by those in power to line their own pockets is unbelievable. When William I conquered England, he gave his butler thousands upon thousands of acres. A butler? For crying out loud. For me this was particularly unjustified, as not only did he get the land but also the people who resided there. These poor unfortunates were then promptly taxed to boot. However, if one of them had dropped a coin, some of the tax had already been paid to the landowner. So by what right does a future landowner claim title to what I find?”

"Only taking back what William (the Bastard) took from my ancestors?" 

While the late Norfolk Wolf was no doubt intelligent enough to know that philosophical musings like that don't justify pocketing stuff (the modern criminal law is very clear, it all belongs to the farmer or the state and not a molecule belongs to the artefact hunter) it's also obvious there are a lot of detectorists who aren't smart or willing enough to see the distinction. You have to wonder just how much has been stolen from farmers over the years by people who have read and applauded Norfolk Wolf's words.

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Version E, entry for 1087. "King William and the chief men loved gold and silver and did not care how sinfully it was obtained provided it came to them. He (William) did not care at all how wrongfully his men got possession of land nor how many illegal acts they did".

"if it wasn't for my diligence it would still be there, lost forever"; we could put that another way: "if it were not for my concupiscence, it would still be part of the archaeological record, preserved for future generations".

This is "Advanced" detecting? 

Vignette: It is all William's fault (Wikipedia commons)