Sunday, 9 September 2018

"Not in it Fer th' Munny, Not at Orl M8'


Tool for Treasure hunting,
or "citizen archaeology"? 
Facebook page: "Auction Your Detecting Finds Club" Open group. Price it, Auction it, Sell it, Collect it, SOLD. The organizers and administrators however ( Colin Philip Walters, Alvechurch and Stephen Booth, Trowbridge) do not really seem to understand the principles behind an auction...
'This is an Auction Group [...] YOU HAVE NO OBLIGATION TO SELL AT FINAL OFFER IF IT DOES NOT REACH YOUR PERSONAL PRIVATE FIXED RESERVE ( Don’t post your reserve price this is personal to you emoticon])'
I suspect the trading standards people might have something to say about that, but is probably why a facebook pseudo-auction is preferred by cash-hungry metal detectorists to a proper auction portal that regulates rogue dealers that do not respect the regulations concerning bids. Another noteworthy thing is that it seems the guys here do not even know the Treasure Act or are particularly concerned about 'responsible detecting' and reporting recordable non-Treasure items to the PAS:
This is a U.K based site [...] Disclaimer:- All members are themselves responsible as the finder to inform PAS-FLO of any coins of a precious metal over 300 years old the club takes No responsibility for any finds.
I spotted one thought-provoking case at the beginning of the page: Claudiu Ciucur Lives in Gloucester, comes from Caransebesu Nou, Caras-Severin, Romania. But while he's in England, is exploiting laissez faire British laws to make a bit of cash by flogging off bits of the English archaeologicasl heritage to anyone who wants it:
For sale 230 coins, buckle, and much more... Action start at 14:40 ends tumorrow at 14:40,price start at 20 pounds plus postage, pay by bank transfer! Unclean coins, I start with 500 coins but to many complaints about the how heavy is will by the postage. And now 230.
Anyway, its members do not seem to trust the site enough to put many high-value items on it,  there is a lot of tat and barely-collectable broken objects here, and they are mostly coins.




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