"Saving the Artefacts Frum Destrukshun"

 

Metal detectorists claim they do what they do to "save artefacts from destruction" in the ploughsoil, and we should appreciate what they do as "citizen conservation". Of course this misses the point that they trash the site and its associations and contexts, but focuses on "saving" the loose objects. Sometimes though, they don't even do that (from the LGD forum):

Gino Goodall  Was thinkin on what to do with my scrap silver coins n heres the outcome my nox 800 keyring even the coil was made from a william 111 shilling n even the arm bands are from william 111 coins

mmm. There are so far 17 comments all praising what the semi-literate detectorist did with "his" 200-year old artefacts.   And the PAS? What is their advice? What here is "best practice" for responsible metal detecting in England and Wales? 

Vignette: When is an artefact not an artefact? When, although it is recognisable, it is no longer saleable as a collectable? And who decides?