Focus on UK Metal Detecting: "i used a hot glue gun"

UK artefact hunters have reason to be grateful to landowners which have entered into 'search and take' agreements to allow them to walk off free of charge with who-knows-how-many-and-what artefacts for their growing collections. The sum total of these small items (if you examine the "wots it werf" pages of any metal detecting magazine, like "The Searcher") are often quite considerable. They frequently express their gratitude for this largesse with token 'presents' of low worth to keep the landowner happy. Over on a metal detecting forum near you, member "Maximuswarks" (from Warwickshire) boasts (Sun Nov 09, 2014 8:53 pm) "Display case for farmer done!"

I have just finished one case for one farmer and i am really pleased with the results The only problem i had was i couldn't fit everything in that i saved for him  i will have to save them over until next year

Saved for him from the scrap bucket? Take a look at it, a number of 'grotty' coins, five Roman brooches, buckles, a weight... all crudely glued with (a surplus of) commercial polymer adhesive to unstable felt in a cut-price frame with hardboard backing all ready to give off organic acids and plasticisers to affect the ancient metal objects inside. How many of the objects are recorded with PAS? Absolutely none of them is labelled, giving a PAS number, saying where they came from (or for the viewer's benefit, what they are). This is hoiked out archaeological evidence turned into barely-decorative trophies all in the guise of 'generosity' ('giving' back the landowner's own property). Were each of the items here signed over to the artefact hunter for him to treat it so cavalierly as his own property?


UPDATE 11th Nov 2014

Maximuswarks is a rare example of artefact hunter who reads around the topic, so we find his a bit lower down on the thread:

It looks like a certain idiot archeoblogger ( you know who i mean) didn't like my use of the hot glue gun. So next time i will use screws and screw the stuff in [...]

Oh, "i" actually wrote about a little more than that, Maxxy; but you use screws if you like. Show your class. The point was, however, more about the ownership and accountability issue which it reveals, an issue that nobody on that thread is going to discuss.