Le Parisien: Ban on a "treasure hunt" in Loiret to protect archaeological heritage upheld by the courts

In the Loiret region of France, a ban on the organization of a weekend commercial metal detecting rally to protect the region's archaeological heritage has been upheld by the courts ( G.F., 'L’interdiction d’une « chasse aux trésors » dans le Loiret pour protéger le patrimoine archéologique confirmée par la justice'le parisien 14 novembre 2025).

The company La Boutique du Fouilleur and the metal detecting professionals' union Détexpert had wished to organize an event during which, on land potentially located in the Loiret department and two neighboring departments, the precise location of which would only be revealed at the last minute. In fact, “the sole purpose of the Détectland metal detecting rally was to find metal objects deliberately scattered by the organizers across 120 hectares of private farmland”, metal objects would be buried to be “found and unearthed by non-professional participants equipped with metal detectors”.

The Orléans Administrative Court and then the Versailles Administrative Court of Appeal refused to overturn the prefect's decision, in October 2021 and November 2023 respectively.

The Versailles Administrative Court of Appeal said: “The use of metal detectors in a particularly sensitive archaeological environment (…) entails a significant risk of archaeological discoveries likely to harm the preservation of archaeological heritage and lead to an irreversible loss of scientific information”. According to the judges, “given the presence of numerous archaeological sites in the Loiret department, the prefect could, without issuing a general and absolute ban, extend the prohibition to the entire department, limiting it to the context of the Détectland rally and the days of September 21 and 22, 2019.” This ban was therefore ultimately “proportionate to the objective pursued,” an objective that could not have been achieved “by a less restrictive measure,” they concluded.

The shopkeeper and the trade association of "metal detecting professionals" continued their legal proceedings. Now the Council of State has rejected their appeal in a ruling dated September 30, 2025. France's highest administrative court ruled that the ban on the Détectland rally decreed by the prefect “was not disproportionate” given “the presence in the (…) Loiret of numerous archaeological sites of heritage value” and that the fact that he “remained unaware of the location of the sites chosen by the organizers” did not alter its assessment.

OSCE assists UK authorities in "major antiquities recovery operation"

The OSCE (the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe) the OSCE began supporting the United Kingdom Government and London Metropolitan Police in a significant national operation to secure and catalogue just under 200 cultural artefacts (OSCE press release 13 November 2025).

Following a request for assistance from the UK Government and London Metropolitan Police, specialists from the OSCE-led Heritage Crime Task Force will work alongside the Metropolitan Police to ensure the safe extraction, forensic documentation and secure storage of the objects. The collection includes significant items of Cambodian, Bactrian and Gandharan heritage, among others. These items will be examined and catalogued before being repatriated to their countries of origin.

“This operation demonstrates the true power of international co-operation in defending our common heritage and disrupting the networks that are complicit in the trafficking in cultural property,” said Ambassador Alena Kupchyna, the OSCE Co-ordinator of Activities to Address Transnational Threats. “Together, we are sending a clear message: those who profit from the theft, trafficking or destruction of cultural property will be identified, exposed and brought to justice, and these objects will find their way back home.”

As I have already pointed out, in most of these "actions" with their soft-power and feelgood propaganda value, "these objects will find their way back home" (to then create problems for over-stretched museums and officials in the unwitting source-country) takes total precedence over the "identification, exposure and bringing to justice" of those "who profit from the theft, trafficking or destruction of cultural property". In this press release, there is not a peep of that, the usual lack of naming and shaming, no announcement of preventative custody prior to a court case. Nothing. Slapped hand for the culture-criminals, good news for the media.

And of course NONE of this is related to "recovery" of (or fighting the looting of) artefacts looted in the United Kingdom?

What actully has been achieved here, except a few more pretty thgings to put into glass cases?

Treasure finds in England have Again Hit a Record High (General Rejoicing at Increased Scale of Destruction)

As the BBC reaches a new low with the resignation of its officials over fake news scandal, more tendentious reporting:

                                                                        

 Treasure finds in England have hit a record high BBC

 Provisional government figures recorded by the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme show 1,446 discoveries in England in 2024 - up from 1,266 the previous year. [...] Many are uncovered by metal detectorists like Emma Youell, who estimates she has found thousands of artefacts and describes herself as a "massive history nerd".[...] For the first time, the 2024 finds include two objects that meet a new definition of treasure. Previously treasure had to be at least 300 years old and made in part of precious metal such as gold or silver, or part of a hoard. From July 2023, this was expanded to objects at least 200 years old and deemed to be of outstanding historical, archaeological or cultural significance, regardless of what type of metal they are made from.

So, a small army of "nerds" each taking "thousands of artefacts" in 12 years from unrecorded and thereby destroyed archaeological contexts is of course doing the archaeological record [sarcastic font on] "no end of good" [sarcastic font off]. A hundred and eighty Treasure finds more than last year? 

"Dr Geake believes treasure finds have been rising in England because there are now more detectorists" 

And by how many has the number of people taking up the hobby increased in the same period?

 

ONLY AVAILABLE HERE: 

Britain's 'Treasure Blip' PACHI Sunday, 12 January 2020

'Treasure Trace: Why does it go Wibble-wobble-blip?' PACHI Tuesday, 14 January 2020.

'Britain's Wibby-Wobbly Treasure Results' PACHI Tuesday, 17 March 2020

'PAS Statistics For 2020. Cause for Concern?' PACHI Wednesday, 15 December 2021

'UK Local Newspaper Thinks it's Great that the Country's Archaeological Record is being Dismembered by Treasure Hunters' PACHI Sunday, 29 May 2022

 

'2022 Treasure Figures and an Update on The Treasure Blip', PACHI  Saturday, 27 January 2024 

'When Are British Archaeologists Going to Start Taking This Seriously?' PACHI Sunday, 2 March 2025

Provisional graphic representation of situation, but who cares, eh? 

Search continues for missing gold stolen from museum

Leigh Boobyer, 'First images of museum theft gold as hunt continues' BBC Wales 10/11/2025

Police have released images of artefacts dating from the Bronze Age which were stolen from one of Wales' national museums last month, as a police investigation into the burglary continues. South Wales Police said the gold jewellery was stolen from a display case in St Fagans National Museum of History, in Cardiff, at approximately 00:30 BST on 6 October. Gavin Burnett, 43, and Darren Burnett, 50, both from Northampton, were charged with burglary last month and remanded in custody. [...] A 45-year-old woman from Northamptonshire, who was also arrested as part of the investigation, remains on police bail.

South Wales Police have so far been unable to locate the missing stolen items.

Officers are still trying to locate the following artefacts:

Hoard of four Middle Bronze Age gold armlets from Llanwrthwrl, Powys,
Hoard of five Middle Bronze Age gold items Capel Isaf, Carmarthenshire,
Hoard of three Middle Bronze Age gold items from Heyope, Powys,
Early Bronze Age gold lunula from Llanllyfni, Gwynedd.

 

Ancient statues stolen from Syria's National Museum David Gritten

David Gritten, 'Ancient statues stolen from Syria's National Museum' 12/11/2025

As Syria attempts to get back on its feet after a bloody civil war and a decades-long brutal dictatorship, thieves broke into the National Museum of Damascus and walked away with six valuable Roman-era statues. The theft was discovered on Monday, when staff reportedly found that one of the museum's doors had been broken from the inside. The six missing statues were made of marble and dated back to the Roman era, one official told the Associated Press. Syria's Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums said it had opened an investigation to determine the "circumstances surrounding the loss of a number of exhibits", and that measures had been taken to strengthen protection and monitoring systems. The head of internal security in Damascus province, Brig-Gen Osama Atkeh, was cited by the state-run Sana news agency as saying that security forces were investigating the theft, which he said had targeted several "archaeological statues and rare collectibles". He added that guards at the museum and other individuals were being questioned.

Price Case, No News

Court proceedings in the case of funeral director and commercial rally organizer Jason Price, 54, of Purcell Close, Grantham, were supposed to have taken place on 7th November, but so far it is not possible to determine what happened. The man was subject to a police investigation into items that were submitted to the Finds Officer at Lincolnshire County Council between September 2019 and August 2023 that he claimed to have found while metal detecting in the Roxholm and Long Bennington areas. He was charged with four counts of fraud, and Price pleaded guilty to each. 

There has been no announcement of the fate of the "data" entered onto the PAS "database" and present for a whoiile before being quietly "quarantined" hoiping nobody would be any the wiser. Transparency however requires a statement of facts - the numbers and nature of items affected.

Interestingly, according to the Lincoln Crown Court webpage, no such sentencing took place. Another one let off with a handslap?

BM Caught out

 

It seems that more and more artefacts entering museums from the antiquities market are fakes. One such item is a Thor’s hammer pendant, said to have been found south of Carlisle and sold through Sotheby's that was acquired by the British Museum in 1990. It was some years later, when more of the same were popping up on the internet, that they realised it was a fake.

Museum number 1990,0101.1
Description
Pendant; silver: a Thor's hammer with suspension ring with ends riveted together; double-ended hammer shaped pendant with sub-spherical terminal to handle, pierced for suspension; hammer stamped on both faces with triangles containing six pellets; nine stamps on each side; modern forgery.

Two Blokes Accused of Dishonestly Selling 'Tainted' Gold and Silver Artefacts

 

 You are going to court, and this is how you decide to dress:
Robert Long and John Fisher (Pix via SWNS) 

Two men have denied accusations of dishonestly dealing in historic artefacts including trying to sell a rare Bronze Age sun disc to the British Museum.

Robert Long, 72, and John Fisher, 41, face a string of allegations relating to items illegally dug up but not declared as treasure. Both are accused of illegally dealing “tainted cultural objects” between November 2021 and January 2022.[...]

It is not explained how, if the charges are true, these two guys would have actually found the items in the first place in order to be in a position to dig them up. It is a mystery. Long, of Kirby Cane, Norfolk:

"is said to have offered the gold sun disc to the British Museum claiming to have found it in his garden and hoping to claim thousands through the treasure process. [...] Long pleaded not guilty at Norwich Crown Court to 12 charges including theft, fraud by false representation, dealing in tainted cultural objects, handling stolen goods, concealing criminal property and income tax evasion. Also among the allegations are theft by finding of a silver vervel ring – a ring attached to hawks to identify ownership. It is also alleged he sold three illegally dug up gold finger rings on eBay and dishonestly failed to disclose to insurers that a silver mount was fake.

John Fisher of Oulton, Norfolk on the other hand,

"pleaded not guilty to handling stolen goods and money laundering over the sale of the Bronze Age sun disc. He also denies a charge of theft by finding relating to a medieval gold finger ring at Bungay between 2018 and 2020. Judge Katherine Moore set a date in November 2027 for both men to stand trial over the charges.

The trial, estimated to last 10 days, is expected to hear evidence from prosecution historical experts.

Netherlands to return stolen ancient sculpture to Egypt

                                         .                                                 

The Netherlands has said it will return a stolen 3,500-year-old sculpture to Egypt. It had turned up in 2022 at The European Fine Art Foundation arts and antiques fair in Maastricht and, following an anonymous tip-off, Dutch authorities determined it had been stolen and exported illegally. The dealer, who is unnamed, voluntarily relinquished the sculpture. It is "highly likely" the stone head, dating from the time of Pharaoh Thutmose III pharaohs, plundered during the Arab Spring in either 2011 or 2012, according to the Dutch Information and Heritage Inspectorate. The Dutch government said it expected to hand the stone head over to the Egyptian ambassador to the Netherlands at the end of this year. "The Netherlands is committed both nationally and internationally to ensuring the return of heritage to its original owners," it said.

Dearbail Jordan, 'Netherlands to return stolen ancient sculpture to Egypt' BBC 2/11/2025.

Diplomacy Looking Back in Poland

In Poland, President Nawrocki has just created (29 October 2025) the position of “ambassador for historical diplomacy” who will deal with foreign-policy issues relating to history. The person appointed is Dr. hab. Grzegorz Berendt, a well-known historian: worked in the IPN (Institute of National Remembrance), has held roles in museums (e.g., Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk). He was Nawrocki’s PhD supervisor when Nawrocki studied history at the University of Gdańsk.

According to the president’s office, Berendt’s focus “will be on historical topics important to the state, its politics, and diplomacy from a historical perspective”. He will not receive a salary for this role; it’s described as a “social function”. Moreover, his role is not part of the regular diplomatic corps (i.e., he’s not a typical foreign service diplomat). He reports directly to the president, not the foreign ministry.

Nawrocki, head of the Polish "Insitute of National Memory" [IPN] has emphasized historical policy (“history diplomacy”) in his presidency. By creating this role, Nawrocki is signaling that history itself (past narratives, memory) is a central axis of his foreign policy. It’s not just about diplomacy in the usual sense but about shaping how the past is acknowledged, debated, and acknowledged on the international stage.

There are coincerns about the legitimacy of this position, precisely what 'powers' this advisor (I guess he is) will have, especially because Berendt is personally connected to Nawrocki, there’s a risk that this role will be seen as less about objective historical work and more about “political history.” That could undermine its credibility internationally or among independent historians. It has not been clarified what resources he will have, will there be a team? Will this office be supported logistically? If it’s just symbolic, impact may be limited — but if backed with resources, it could be more potent.

A striking feature of Poland’s current political class, and often its electorate, is the tendency to look backward at past grievances rather than forward toward cooperation in meeting the challenges of today and tomorrow. In contemporary Polish politics, it feels at times that appeals to historical legitimacy often take the place of a coherent vision for the future. This backward orientation is sustained by several deep-rooted historical and cultural factors that make it especially difficult for Poland to move beyond past injustices and focus on the challenges of the present.

Poland’s national identity has long been constructed around themes of loss and resilience. For over a century (1795–1918), the country did not exist as a state; it was partitioned by Russia, Prussia, and Austria. Its survival depended on memory and myth. History functioned as a substitute for statehood, and remembering became a moral duty. Attempts to dominate Poland by erasing or reshaping its identity in that period, and then renewed and continued during the Nazi occupation (1939–45) and then the subsequent period of Sovietisation (1949–1989) reinforced the conviction that “if we forget, we disappear.” In this sense, remembrance became an act of political self-defence rather than mere nostalgia.

Poland’s modern history has also made it difficult to overcome a persistent sense of geopolitical insecurity. The country’s borders and sovereignty have rarely felt permanently secure. Its geography, positioned between Germany and Russia, ensures that historical experience continually intrudes upon the present, for example, Russia’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 and continued occupation of parts of the country have reawakened collective memories of Soviet domination within living memory. For many political leaders, invoking the past serves to keep the population alert and unified against potential external threats.

The political right, notably PiS and its allies, has been particularly adept at using history to mobilize patriotism, defend “national dignity”, and portray itself as the guardian of truth against Western or liberal “distortion”. The current project of “historical diplomacy” is of course an expression of justifiable resentment about past injustices suffered by the Polish people and state, and the fact that the world in effect washed their hands of the Polish issue at Yalta, and then a mere nod at massive atrocities through a highly selective showtrial (Nov 1946- 1 Oct 1946) at Nuremberg that went nowhere to punishing German and Soviet war criminals. It is therefore a reflection of a continuing hunger for acknowledgment. Many Western Europeans today possess only a fragmentary understanding of what occurred in this region during the “missing” half-century from 1939 to 1989. The constant rehearsal of historical grievances is, in this sense, an attempt to make the world listen.

While the cultivation of historical memory has served important functions, it can also be taken too far. When remembrance becomes selective or centred exclusively on victimhood, it risks turning history into a moral enclosure rather than a field of understanding. A narrative that dwells only on loss and injustice overlooks many dimensions of what Poland has been and might yet become. A history written solely in black neglects the complexity and richness of the past, its creativity, diversity, and moments of cooperation, achievement, and generosity. The danger lies in mistaking suffering for the whole of national experience, and in defining identity primarily through what was endured rather than through what was, despite everything, created or contributed.

Poland need not erase its past, but it would be useful to learn to reframe it. A mature historical culture recognises the coexistence of pain and accomplishment, trauma and resilience. It acknowledges both the wrongs committed against Poles and those committed by them, seeing these not as contradictions but as parts of a shared human story. This means broadening the frame of remembrance to include not only the wrongs suffered but also the responsibilities borne, including difficult episodes such as Jedwabne or anti-Ukrainian violence. Only by embracing this fuller perspective can Poland move from defensive remembrance toward reflective understanding. In doing so, history becomes not an instrument of grievance but a source of dialogue, empathy, and renewal — a means of understanding rather than accusation. True balance is achieved when memory informs identity without imprisoning it, when “never again” signifies not “never forgive” but “never repeat”.

Numerous Polish intellectuals, writers, and historians have long advocated this forward-looking balance, among them Adam Michnik, Olga Tokarczuk, and Paweł Machcewicz. They remind us that Polish culture also contains a humanist and cosmopolitan strand, one capable of empathy, irony, and reinvention. Yet politically, such voices remain less powerful than those who can transform pain into votes.

More than 1,000 items stolen from Oakland Museum of California storage facility in huge art heist

Museum's sprawling site (Nicholas Klein/Getty Images)

More than 1,000 objects have been stolen from the Oakland Museum of California in what appears to be one of the most significant art thefts in the institution’s history, and yet the public remains largely in the dark about what exactly has happened. 

The OMCA offers collections of art, history and natural science inside a 110,000-square-foot gallery on a seven-acre campus situated between downtown Oakland and Lake Merritt.

In the early hours of October 15, at around 3:30 a.m., burglars broke into an off-site storage facility belonging to the museum and removed hundreds of items from its collection. According to official statements, the stolen objects include Native American baskets, jewellery, and numerous historic artifacts, many of them donated by private benefactors and forming part of California’s shared cultural heritage.

Authorities have confirmed that the total number of missing objects exceeds one thousand, but beyond that, little information has been made public. The Oakland Police Department has not disclosed the precise location of the storage site, nor have they released an estimated value of the stolen items. No arrests have been made, and the museum’s management has offered few details about how such a large-scale theft could have taken place.

The investigation is being led jointly by the Oakland Police Department and the FBI’s elite Art Crime Team, a small, highly specialized unit of roughly twenty agents responsible for art-related cases nationwide, ranging from theft and forgery to antiquities and cultural property trafficking. Despite their involvement, officials have provided minimal updates, and key facts remain withheld from the public.

Museum director Lori Fogarty described the theft as “a brazen act that robs the public of our state’s cultural heritage”, emphasizing that the looted pieces represent not just financial loss but a deep blow to collective history. Yet even as investigators pursue leads, the silence surrounding the incident, the secrecy about what was taken, where it was kept, and how it was secured, has left the public with more questions than answers. 

Anna Bauman,'More than 1,000 items stolen from Oakland Museum of California storage facility in huge art heist', San Francisco Chronicle, Oct 29, 2025.

Spain Launches Investigation into Auction of Yemeni Artifacts in Barcelona

'Spain Launches Investigation into Auction of Yemeni Artifacts in Barcelona', YemenOnline 2025-10-20

Spanish authorities are investigating the sale of two ancient Yemeni tombstones from the Kingdom of Qataban (1st century BC–AD) at a Barcelona auction held by Templum Auction House on July 30, 2025. The probe, sparked by Yemeni antiquities expert Abdullah Mohsen, focuses on the artifacts’ provenance amid suspicions of illegal export from Yemen. Mohsen flagged one tombstone’s bull’s head decoration and potentially falsified Musnad inscription. The case highlights concerns over the global trade of looted cultural heritage from conflict zones, with critics condemning the sale as a violation of UNESCO conventions and a threat to Yemen’s legacy.

Heist at the Louvre

The Louvre Museum in Paris was closed this morning following a robbery in which several historic jewellery pieces were stolen. The theft occurred at around 9:30 a.m. local time, shortly after the museum had opened to the public, prompting the evacuation of visitors.

According to French media, the thieves entered the Apollo Gallery via a mechanised lift connected to a service area near the Seine. They reportedly used small chainsaws to remove nine items, including tiaras and brooches associated with Napoleon and Joséphine, before leaving the scene on scooters and heading toward the A6 motorway.

Officials have described the operation as highly organised. No injuries were reported. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the stolen pieces are of “incalculable value,” while Culture Minister Rachida Dati confirmed that the museum remains closed as police continue their investigation.

'France: daring daytime heist at the Louvre Museum in Paris', France 24 19/10/2025

US War Loot Ends up in a Garden

        How did that get there? And why was it left behind?                  

Becca Monaghan, 'Ancient artefact containing mysterious 'spirits of the dead' message discovered in a backyard' NewsBreak.com 15.10.2025

"mysterious 'spirits of the dead' message". Trump's Americans are so funny and so weird. Dis Manibus... a common formula in Roman funerary art. 

The small marble tablet recently unearthed in a New Orleans backyard turns out to be WW2 loot, and the item came from a museum in Italy. Originally discovered in the 1860s in a Roman military cemetery near Civitavecchia, Italy, it marked the grave of a sailor named Sextus Congenius Verus. The object entered the collection of the National Archaeological Museum of Civitavecchia, where it remained until the Second World War. During heavy bombardments in the early 1940s, the museum suffered extensive damage, and numerous artefacts were lost or stolen amid the chaos. Among them was the gravestone of Sextus Congenius Verus.

It is believed that a U.S. serviceman stationed in Italy around this time took possession of the piece — either as a keepsake or as part of the widespread movement of cultural property that occurred during and after the War. The tablet was later brought to New Orleans, where it passed quietly through a family for decades, eventually serving as a decorative garden stone.

Its true identity remained unknown until 2024, when new homeowners accidentally unearthed it during garden work. Scholars quickly matched the find to records from the Civitavecchia museum, confirming its authenticity. Today, the FBI and Italian authorities are coordinating its repatriation. It is a shjame that it was looted in the first place. More shocking is that not only did the family keep it, but then when they moved house just left it behind lying in some weeds in the garden.

"When news of the discovery broke, Erin Scott O'Brien's ex-husband called her to watch the story. She instantly recognised the marble piece, which they had used as a garden ornament. They had forgotten about it before selling the house to Santoro in 2018. O' Brien explained she inherited the tablet from her grandparents: her grandmother was Italian, and her grandfather, a New Orleans native, had been stationed in Italy during World War II."

"Significant destruction of the archaeological record and serious corruption of the corpus of knowledge".

Christos Tsirogiannis; David W. J. Gill; Christopher Chippindale, 'A Corrupt Cycladic Corpus of Marble Figures ', Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies (2025) 13 (3): 203–233. https://doi.org/10.5325/jeasmedarcherstu.13.3.0203

ABSTRACT
The urgent seeking for Cycladic figures since the nineteenth century has caused significant destruction of the archaeological record and serious corruption of the corpus of knowledge. Unsurprisingly, there is little prospect of this corruption ever being understood in detail due to the lack of records. The problem proves impossible, as the loss of knowledge cannot now be undone. To address this issue, we examined the contribution to knowledge of collections based in universities (The Ashmolean and the Fitzwilliam), public museums (The J. Paul Getty Museum), and a private collection (Leonard N. Stern). By examining how these Cycladic figures’ collections were historically formed, we understood that they can add nothing to our knowledge of the Early Bronze Age in the Aegean. Therefore, we divided the collected corpus into four distinct parts, suggesting sensible and practical guidelines for the future by which we can salvage some trustworthy understanding from a corrupted mess.

Now it is time to do the same to the "database" of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, where there is equally little control over the hygeine of the "data" included, there being many apparent out-of-place artefacts in it and potential for many, many more "dirty data". A problem blinkered arkies in the UK desiring to work with artefact hunters and collectors rather than dealing with the problem they cause.

German Collector Returns Stolen Artefact from Ancient Olympia After Six Decades

A limestone fragment of an Ionic capital, illegally taken from Ancient Olympia in the 1960s, has been offcially returned to Greece from Münster, Germany, the Greek Ministry of Culture announced on Saturday. The artefact, measuring 24 cm in height and 33.5 cm in width, was removed from the Leonidaion, a 4th-century BC guesthouse that once hosted athletes and dignitaries in the sanctuary of Olympia. It bears traces of stucco and stylistic similarities to other Ionic capitals excavated at the site. The Leonidaion’s northern section was unearthed by German archaeologists between 1875 and 1881, with the full excavation completed by 1956. A German woman visited the site in 1960 and somehow acquired the fragment. The repatriation ceremony took place on October 10, 2025, at the Ancient Olympia Conference Center (SPAP). The German woman who had taken the artefact more than sixty years ago was inspired by recent restitutions of Greek antiquities by the University of Münster, she voluntarily surrendered the piece to the institution, which then coordinated its return to Greece.

Stella Mazonakis, 'German Woman Returns Ancient Greek Artifact Stolen Over 50 Years Ago' Greek City Times 8.10.2025. by

Bronze Age Gold Artefacts Stolen from St Fagans National Museum of History

Several Bronze Age gold artefacts have been stolen from St Fagans National Museum of History in Cardiff, one of Wales’s principal repositories of archaeological material. The burglary occurred in the early hours of 6 October, when intruders forced entry into the museum’s main building and removed objects from a "secure display case".

The stolen assemblage is reported to include gold bracelets and a lunula. Such artefacts are of major archaeological significance, representing some of the earliest examples of metalworking in Atlantic Europe and offering key insights into prehistoric craftsmanship and long-distance exchange networks.

Two men from Northampton have been charged in connection with the theft, police named them as Gavin Burnett (43), and Darren Burnett (50), while a 45-year-old woman from Northamptonshire has been arrested as part of the investigation and is on police bail. The men appeared at Northampton Magistrates' Court today. The stolen objects have not yet been recovered.

The loss of these artefacts constitutes a serious blow to the preservation of Wales’s Bronze Age heritage and underscores the vulnerability of archaeological collections held in public trust in Britain.

Dr. Khaled El-Enany Elected UNESCO Director-General

Dr. Khaled El-Enany has been elected as the new Director-General of UNESCO by the organization's Executive Board, though his nomination still requires final approval from the 194 member states at the General Conference on November 6, 2025. The former Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities is poised to become the first Arab and only the second African to lead UNESCO, succeeding Audrey Azoulay in mid-November 2025.

El-Enany is a distinguished Egyptologist and professor at Helwan University. He previously served as Egypt's Minister of Antiquities (2016–2019)* and Minister of Tourism and Antiquities (2019–2022). During his time as minister, he oversaw significant heritage projects such as the Grand Egyptian Museum and the renovation of other historical buildings such as the Baron Empain Palace, Graeco-Roman Museum and Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue. He also played a key role in the Pharaohs' Golden Parade, which relocated 22 ancient mummies to the new museum.

* Succeeding Mamdouh Eldamaty June 2014- March 2016

Museum Secures Iron Age Hoard After Reaching £10,500 Target

OODLES of pukka archaeological information no doubt came out of this keyhole "archaeology"
 alongside the "gotta-gettem-orl-out" artefacts. Don't leave shovels blade up around the trench.

A rare Iron Age hoard — including a 2,000-year-old horse harness brooch, Roman coin, and enamelled bowl handle — will remain in public hands after the Friends of the Oxfordshire Museum successfully raised the £10,500 needed to acquire it.

The hoard, found in 2020 by a metal detectorist in Rotherfield Peppard, near Henley-on-Thames, had been at risk of being sold into a private collection if funds weren’t secured by 6 October. But after a last-minute fundraising push, including public appeals and donations through the Oxfordshire Museum Resource Centre, the charity announced with gratitude that the goal had been reached.

The hoard was buried in a pottery urn around AD 50–150, shortly after the Roman invasion. It includes:

A enamelled copper alloy brooch from a horse harness
A fibula
A silver Roman coin
An enamelled bowl handle
A lead weight

Declared treasure, the hoard was excavated by archaeologists after being reported by the detectorist who found it. Experts quickly realised its rarity and significance — particularly the horse harness brooch, which has been described as the best-preserved example since the Polden Hill hoard of the early 1800s.  The Oxfordshire Museum service now plans to put the hoard on public display, ensuring that it remains accessible to residents and visitors alike. Donors who contributed over £20 will be invited to a special preview of the collection.

Angie Bolton, the museum’s curator of archaeology, emphasized the importance of this moment:

“This hoard belongs to all of Oxfordshire. Now, for the next 2,000 years, everyone will have the chance to see it, enjoy it, and be inspired by it.”

I would ask though, why did the public have to buy back its own heritage from artefact hunters?

While it’s a victory that the Oxfordshire hoard will now remain in public hands, the process by which it got there surely deserves scrutiny.

Why, in a supposedly equitable and heritage-conscious society, must members of the public crowdfund to keep ancient cultural artefacts — found in their own countryside — from disappearing into private collections? Why is the public expected to pay what is effectively a ransom to retain access to objects that are part of their shared history?

Under UK law, when someone finds "treasure" (as legally defined), it's not automatically owned by the state. Instead, the finder and landowner are entitled to a market-value reward, often determined by the potential price the object could fetch on the antiquities market. The museum, even if it represents the public interest, must then raise that amount to "buy" the item. If the money is not raised the objects go back to the landowner (who often have a private agreement with the finder).

This market-driven approach:

      Treats heritage as commodity: something to be bought, sold, or withheld

      Risks cultural loss if museums can’t raise the funds in time

      Penalises underfunded public institutions, while rewarding private gain

      Creates a perverse incentive for more valuable finds to end up in private hands or foreign markets

Contrast this with other countries — like Poland, France, Italy, or Egypt — where heritage items belong to the state by default, and are protected as part of the national patrimony. In those systems, objects of historical or archaeological significance cannot be privately owned or traded in the same way, and are instead safeguarded for the public good.

So yes, while we can celebrate the community effort that saved the Oxfordshire hoard, and while acknowledging that 'the law is the law', we should also be asking: Why did we have to buy back what should never have been for sale? British archaeologists, any comments?

Because there is another question here. Noddy the Detectorist was good enough to follow the Code of Good Practice (as the law reequitres) and report the items so "the archaeologists could conduct an excavation" as we see in the attached photo of a nice clean square hole. But just look at that, I dont think you could have a much smaller one. Noddy and farmer Giles got £10,500, the archaeologists look almost as they dug a hole for a fiver plus petrol money. What on earth is that? What archaeological context for the deposition of the hoard was retrieved here? Even if you come back next year to dig a wider area, how will it be relatable to what was done in this jamjar-sized fossicking? British archaeology needs to sort this out. 

Egypt arrests four for robbery of pharaoh’s 3,000-year-old bracelet

'Egypt arrests four for robbery of pharaoh’s 3,000-year-old bracelet' AP 19/09/2025
Four individuals, including a museum restoration employee and accomplices, have been arrested in Egypt in connection with the theft of a 3,000-year-old ancient gold bracelet from a safe in the restoration lab of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The bracelet was stolen on 9th September 2025, sold through intermediaries, and then melted down by a gold workshop owner into new jewellery. The incident has sparked public outrage and calls for improved museum security, especially with major exhibitions planned. It was stolen by a restoration specialist working at the museum./ The woman contacted a silver jeweller she knew, who sold the bracelet to a gold jeweller for $3,735 (£2,750). He then sold it for $4,025 to a gold foundry worker, who had melted it down with other jewellery to be reshaped into other gold jewelry. Presumably the two shop owners and the thief were among those arrested. The four individuals confessed to their crimes after being arrested and the money was seized. The disappearance of the braxcelet was detected in recent days as museum staff were preparing to ship dozens of artefacts to Rome for an exhibition.

Anger in Egypt after Pharaoh's gold bracelet stolen from a Cairo museum is melted down

Anger in Egypt after Pharaoh's gold bracelet stolen from a Cairo museum is melted down AP 22 Sep 2025

"Egyptians reacted with outrage this week after officials said that a 3,000-year-old bracelet that had belonged to an ancient pharaoh was stolen from Cairo's famed Egyptian Museum and then melted down for gold. Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy said in televised comments late Saturday that the bracelet was stolen on Sept. 9 while officials at the museum were preparing artifacts for an exhibit in Italy. He blamed "laxity" in implementing procedures at the facility and said that prosecutors were still investigating. The bracelet, containing a lapis lazuli bead, belonged to Pharaoh Amenemope, who reigned about 3,000 years ago. Authorities said it was taken from a restoration lab at the museum and then funneled through a chain of dealers before being melted down. The minister said the lab didn't have security cameras".

The theft and destruction of Pharaoh Amenemope’s 3,000-year-old gold bracelet is both tragic and infuriating. This isn't just a loss of material value — it's the erasure of a piece of Egypt’s irreplaceable cultural heritage. Egyptians — and indeed, anyone who values world heritage — have every right to be outraged. The values of artifacts like this go far beyond their physical components. Melting it down for gold is not just theft; it’s cultural vandalism. Cultural heritage belongs to generations — past, present, and future. Once destroyed, it's gone forever.

That a relic of such historical importance could be stolen from the heart of the Egyptian Museum speaks volumes about the lapses in security and oversight within institutions that are meant to safeguard history.

This must be a turning point. The incident should prompt immediate and comprehensive reforms to Egypt’s museum security protocols. It’s unacceptable that a restoration lab housing priceless antiquities lacked basic surveillance equipment. Accountability must go beyond vague mentions of "laxity." Clear consequences and real structural changes are needed to prevent future losses.

UK Gold hoard found whilst weeding the garden

Jordan Farrell, "RICH FIND. Couple find £230k of English treasure while weeding their garden" the Sun 25 Sep 2025 

A Hampshire couple made a remarkable discovery in clumps of clay soil while weeding their back garden in 2020, a hoard of seventy gold Tudor coins. The earliest of these coins dates from the reign of King Henry VI in the 1420s, while many others originate from the 1530s, during the rule of Henry VIII. The discovery was made in Milford-on-Sea, not far from the historic Christchurch Priory, and experts speculate that the hoard may have been buried for safekeeping by a wealthy church cleric at the time of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries. The discovery is an interesting reminder how finding of archaeological traces of the past goes on, regardless of circumstances. It is notable that these finders found it weeding their own garden in 2020 when the first Covid lockdown was in force banning metal detecting on external properties.

The couple, who have chosen to remain anonymous to avoid attracting treasure hunters to their quiet suburban street, reported their find to the authorities in 2020. Although the coins were initially declared treasure, they were later disclaimed and returned to the couple after no museums or institutions were able to afford to acquire them during the Covid pandemic. Now, the hoard is set to be auctioned in Zurich, Switzerland, this November, where it is expected to fetch around £230,000.

 

Bloke Caught Out in Dishonest Reporting of Finds, including Veterans' Rally Haul

          Jason Massey's Detecting for Veterans         

I think this happens a lot in the UK, just the arkies really do not bother in checking what the tekkie says about where a find came from - just accepting it in good faith. So the data hygiene of their records (like the PAS database) is very suspect. After a number of other cases, we have this example of lack of due diligence.  A 54-year-old British metal detectorist has pleaded guilty to four fraud charges relating to artefacts submitted to the county Finds Officer. Price pleaded guilty to four charges of fraud at Lincoln Crown Court on Thursday (Grantham man admits fraud at Lincoln Crown Court over “historical” artefacts he submitted to Lincolnshire County Council - including now (in)famous Leasingham horse brooch Lincs Online Reporter, 11 September 2025). 

According to the BBC ('Metal detectorist admits fraud over historic finds', BBC 11 September 2025)

A man has admitted four charges of fraud after he claimed to have found historic artefacts while metal detecting. Jason Price, 54, of Purcell Close, Grantham, was summoned to court following a police investigation into items that were submitted to the Finds Officer at Lincolnshire County Council between September 2019 and August 2023. 
The items included a brooch, Roman coins and figurines, which Price claimed to have found while metal detecting in the Roxholm and Long Bennington areas.

The distances involved are between 12 and 17 km.  According to the BBC: 'the BBC (11 September 2025), 

The Finds Officer found something suspicious about the sudden rash of “artifacts,” and so contacted local authorities. Following an investigation, it was determined that the artifacts were not actually found by Price. It’s unclear how he came into possession of the artifacts. Price, a native of Purcell Close, in Grantham, was then summoned to Lincoln Crown Court on Sept. 11. There, he was charged with four counts of fraud; Price pleaded guilty to each.

A sentence and “trial of facts” has been set for Nov. 7, 2024.

Interestingly, the contested items included the high-profile “Leasingham Horse” brooch claimed to have been found on a "Detecting for Veterans" rally - but now apparently not (see ''Detecting for Veterans' Leasingham Rally Find Acquired by Museum' PACHI May 13 2023). The PAS database record for this find (which readers may recall I suggest was 'seeded' somehow [see here too] was pretty extensive (all that work for nothing, eh Lisa? Should have verified the provenance FIRST - what a waste of public money)

Unavailable record: LIN-09AF6A
Object type: BROOCH
Broad period: ROMAN
Institution responsible: LIN
Workflow stage: Quarantine Find in quarantine
Relevant FLOs
Lisa Brundle
Created: 5 years ago
Last updated: About one year ago
This record is currently unavailable to view for your access levels. Please contact the relevant FLO to gain access.

So this have been going on undetected (pun not intended) since 2019, and only now are British archaeologists reconsidering those records. Time, maybe to review those "data" gathering procedures. 

New York court issues arrest warrant for collector of looted Anatolian statue

Caveat emptor, buy with caution and responsibility ('New York court issues arrest warrant for collector of looted Anatolian statue', Türkiye News Hürriyet Daily News September 13 2025):

A 74-year-old American collector is facing legal trouble in New York after prosecutors accused him of knowingly purchasing an ancient statue looted from Türkiye. According to a report by The New York Times, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has issued an arrest warrant for Aaron Mendelsohn, who in 2007 bought a 2,000-year-old Roman emperor statue originally stolen from the ancient city of Bubon in the western province of Burdur. Investigators say the statue, one of about ten illegally excavated from Bubon in the 1960s, travelled first to the United Kingdom before reaching the United States. Despite being aware of its illicit origins, Mendelsohn acquired the piece from a gallery and continued to display it. Court filings revealed that he even sought advice from a former museum curator on how to avoid legal consequences, who reportedly suggested showing the piece only to private guests. The case gained momentum following the establishment of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in 2017. Working in close cooperation with Türkiye’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, prosecutors gathered electronic correspondence and documentation that linked Mendelsohn directly to the illegal acquisition. The evidence, authorities said, made clear that the collector had full knowledge of the statue’s stolen provenance.

"Small Number of People in Hugely Respectful Community of Artefact Hunters"

Well, it's called "nighthawking innit?" Dr Jonathan Berry, Senior Inspector of Ancient Monuments and archaeology, is interviewed in a feature on heritage crime in Wales in BBC News online:  Will Fyfe ' Night-time treasure thieves threatening a nation's heritage' BBC News 17 August 2025

As darkness falls in one corner of Wales, police officers begin their hunt for treasure thieves - a crime that would sound like fantasy if it wasn't for the evidence. In Gwent Police's patch, the hills are littered with ancient forts and Roman remains - and have become a regular target for those hoping to unearth rare artefacts for the black market. Often, investigators are left with nothing but a hole in the ground - with little idea of what has been stolen or its value - though some looted treasures have been worth millions. Nighthawking, as it is nicknamed, is now seen as a genuine threat to the nation's heritage.

PC Dan Counsell had never heard of the term nighthawking before he took a call in September 2019. He was told locals of an ancient village near Chepstow had awoken to find more than 50 holes mysteriously dug among the gravestones of their churchyard. Residents were horrified and newspaper headlines spoke of "grave robbers." PC Counsell understood the upset - many of his own family members, including grandparents, were buried there. In truth the robbers weren't interested in the dead, but the artefacts that may be buried beyond them, deep into the Earth. Before it became a Christian church about 700 years ago, there were Romans here. [...] After PC Counsell's first case in the graveyard, he began looking out for the phenomenon. Within two years his team had uncovered 23 suspected incidents in the force's patch - a 600 sq mile (1,550 sq km) corner of south-east Wales peppered with imposing castles, ancient hill forts and Roman ruins. Reports of people in fields at night and mysterious holes being discovered has all led PC Counsell's team to uncover cases of nighthawking. He said one of the most worrying things was that most targeted Scheduled Monuments

Not worried about the rest then... If knowledge thieves go out in daytime and pocket stuff without telling anyone, that's "OK....." yeah? That's what cultural resource management looks like these days in Brexited Britain. 

I can't help but think that if Wales has an area of 20,779 km² (8,023 sq mi), PC Counsell's patch is 1/13 of the whole. He alone has spotted 23 suspected incidents (that's ones where thieving idiots were seen, or neglected to fill their holes properly) so, extrapolating from that this might be the equivalent of a minimum 23 x 13 = 299 cases. That's a minimum of 150 a year. But the text says:

Cadw, the authority charged with protecting Wales' 4,000-plus protected ancient sites, said it saw 10 to 20 nighthawking incidents each year, but that the nature of it meant was very likely underreported.

Indeed. By how much? Once upon a time in the UK they did a half-hearted "nighthawking report" (2008). I produced arguments at the time that this was severely underestimating the problem - which the report facilely tried to make out had been "solved" by having the PAS. If there have been a minimum of 150 nighthawking episode that could have been found in each of those 17 years since the report was treated as the definitive answer... that means at least 2550 sites have been "nighthawked" under the noses of the self-satisfied arkies and their pals in PAS 

But the scale of the site-looting problem is pretty massive in Wales. If there are however just 60700 finds reported from all of Wales in the period from 1st Jan 2008 to today (an average of 3570 per year - this is a higher figure than was being shown by the PAS database at the time of the 2019 estimate - I'm not clear why). That does not tally well with the figures from even six years ago that everybody ignored then:

   The Scale of the Artefact Hunting Recording Crisis in Wales, PACHI Thursday, 10 January 2019.

The estimate there is that "the total should be therefore somewhere around 40,660 objects". It seems that, however many of the evidence-trashing blighters there are (because the size of the UK metal detecting community has gone up since the 2019 estimate), VERY FEW OF THEM ARE RESPONSIBLY REPORTING/RECORDING THEIR FINDS. The rest are just taking, who knows whether with or without the landowner's knowledge and permission? Basically the only thing we know is they were not caught.

So Plonky Plod the policeman has not the FAINTEST justification for saying the usual British crap-fluff:

Archaeologists and police point out this is a small number of people in an otherwise hugely respectful community of metal detectorists.

Except for the ones that aren't eh? Why do we need this misleading bollocks from British archaeologists? How much actual thinking and research lies behind such hopelessly glib and unnuanced statements misleading the public? [that is a rhetorical question].

 

US Antiquities Dealer Sentenced for Smuggling Hundreds of Egyptian Antiquities

Ashraf Omar Eldarir, 52, a Brooklyn resident and naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Egypt, has been sentenced to six months in federal prison for smuggling hundreds of ancient Egyptian artefacts into the United States. The sentence was handed down by United States District Judge Rachel P. Kovner in Brooklyn federal court following Eldarir’s guilty plea in February 2025 to four counts of smuggling.

 According to court filings, Eldarir trafficked artefacts on at least four occasions between April 2019 and January 2020, using falsified provenance documents to sell the items through U.S.-based auction houses.  Eldarir fabricated provenance records to disguise the illicit origins of the looted antiquities. The case came to light on January 22, 2020, when Eldarir arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport from Egypt. He falsely declared that the goods he was carrying were worth only $300. A search of his three checked suitcases revealed 590 artifacts wrapped in bubble wrap and foam, many still covered in loose sand and dirt. Among the objects were gold amulets from a funerary set and wooden tomb model figures with linen garments dating to around 1900 BCE. Officers also discovered a kit containing materials used to forge documentation for the items. 

 Subsequent investigation led to the recovery of additional smuggled artefacts, bringing the total seized to more than 600. All have since been forfeited, and U.S. officials stated that they intend to repatriate them to Egypt. The usual performative statements are included in media reports of the case.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys William P. Campos and Nomi Berenson led the prosecution, with support from Paralegal Specialist Amara Padilla. Forfeiture proceedings are being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura D. Mantell. Eldarir will serve his prison sentence and forfeit all seized antiquities, which are expected to be returned to Egypt.

US CPAC Trudges on its 1980s Path to Nowhere

 In the US  the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs announces that the Cultural Property Advisory Committee intends to meet September 15-17, 2025, to review a new request for a cultural property agreement from Cameroon; to review the proposed extensions of the cultural property agreements with Colombia and Türkiye; and to review the proposed extension of the emergency import restrictions unilaterally imposed by the United States on archaeological and ethnological material from Afghanistan.

I don't know why they bother going through the rite of pretending to care any longer. Trump has withdrawn the US frtom UNESCO, whose treaty this pathetic ritual pretends to be honouring.

Facebook Pages of Interest

Facebook: Ancient Artifacts Information and Identification
Public group
19,700 members.

Administrators and moderators:

Darren Gold (Administrator)
Works at: Florida International University

Tim Haines (Administrator)
Expert in the Group
London

Kerry Drew (Moderator)
UC Berkeley

Damon David Knell (Moderator)
Expert in the Group
University of Toronto

The old Ancient Artifacts Discussion List
AncientArtifacts@groups.io 1,711 Members, started 31 Dec 2002.

Then there is the "The Other Artifacts":List : 

Some of you may have noticed that there is an area of ancient artifact collection which focuses on rock-like items which may or may not be of manmade origin.  The decision whether these items are natural formations or worked artifacts is highly subjective.  Our group does not specialize in these and we tend toward the more commonly recognized artifacts of civilizations which are, without a doubt, manmade constructs. 

If you find yourself wanting to post some rocklike items that you suspect may be of manmade origin you may want to try a group that specializes in such items:  

Page by Damion White  The Other ArtifactsGroup 

Private· 26 996 members (!) Created 2 Dec 2019.

This page is for sharing the obscure artifacts that are found all over North America and Europe as well that do not fit the criteria of typical artifacts. Have you been told that a stone you found is natural that is clearly worked into shapes of human heads, animals, or other effigys (sic) [?]. Use any phrase like "levarite" , "no sign of human alteration", or "natural" here, and your ass is out, period. Enjoy some real works of art here. You may post common stuff like arrowheads but we all have seen plenty of those. This page is for the good stuff 

Roxy Brukley and 3 other members (Damion White, Jackie Lynn White, Brandon McDonald) are administrators, Angela Ewing Brown is the moderator.

Kabul Museum

Kabul Museum:

(Bayt Al Fann)

Once one of the greatest museums in the world, it opened in 1919 and most of the artefacts exhibited were excavated in Afghanistan. It’s objects testified to the location of the region at the crossroads of Asia. An estimated 70% of its 100,000-object collection has been looted.

USA will quit UNESCO

As a reason for its latest withdrawal

from a global body,"the White House cites

UNESCO’s focus on ‘divisive social and cultural causes’...".

An article by Angelique Chrisafis in Paris 'Trump pulls US out of Unesco in blow for UN culture and education agency' (The Guardian 22 Jul 2025) as Donald Trump continues to pull an increasingly isolationist US out of international institutions. The United Nations’ culture and education agency UNESCO was founded after the Second World War to promote peace through international cooperation in education, science and culture, an initiative that should not be controversial.

Tammy Bruce 

The US State Department apparently currently now has other ideas:

“Unesco works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN’s sustainable development goals, a globalist, ideological agenda for international development at odds with our America First foreign policy,”

according to Tammy Bruce, a state department spokesperson. Donald Trump's pick of Tammy Bruce for State spokesperson continues his trend of turning to the cable network for positions in his current administration

The US withdrawal, to take effect in December 2026, will be a blow to UNESCO’s work on education, culture and combating hate speech.

The US was a founding member of UNESCO in 1945, but this latest departure will be the third time it has quit. Washington first withdrew in 1983 under Ronald Reagan, whose administration said the global organisation had anti-western bias and “has extraneously politicised virtually every subject it deals with”. It rejoined under George W Bush in 2003, with the White House saying it was happy with Unesco reforms. Trump pulled the US out of Unesco in 2017, during his first term as president. His administration cited what it called “mounting arrears, the need for fundamental reform in the organisation, and continuing anti-Israel bias”. The US returned to UNESCO in 2023 under Joe Biden. The Biden administration said it was crucial to rejoin in order to counter “Chinese influence”. Beijing had become the organisation’s biggest financial backer in Washington’s absence. As a condition of readmission, the US agreed to pay about $619m in unpaid dues and make contributions to programmes supporting education access initiatives in Africa, Holocaust remembrance and journalists’ safety. In 2011, UNESCO voted to admit Palestine, which is not formally recognised by the US or Israel as a UN member state. The Barack Obama White House had cut UNESCO contributions, resulting in the US owing millions in arrears to the organisation.

Another UK Museum Artefacts Case Cover-up: Bloomsbury Apparently Screws Over Metal Detectorists Again

Here is a question unanswered by the UK's totally useless Portable Antiquities Scheme that I published on 04/10/2023 08:30:

"PAS, What's Happening in the Preston Museum Artefacts Case?"

    Nothing to see here, move along   

According to a letter received by the NCMD, the Finds Liaison Officers, Pauline Clarke and Alex Whitlock are again "now accepting finds" on behalf of the PAS Lancashire and Cumbria. Readers are also informed that:

The present police investigation is ongoing and a great many of the finders [and landowners? PMB] have recently been informed of the successful recovery of items linked to this investigation.

What does this mean? An arrest was reportedly made in December 2022 ('More on Empty Storeroom Shelves' PACHI;  thePipeLine ', Arrest in Preston Museum Missing Treasure Investigation' December 22, 2022.  

The news broke in November 2022 and concerned items missing/lost by Lancashire FLO and/or LANCUM, several hoards stored during the Treasure process "and many, many, valuable single items". Allegations were made that in one case the finder [and landowner] on being informed of the loss were asked to  "keep it quiet", and that "the thefts are thought to have been occurring for a period of over a decade and it's all been hushed up!".

I have been given the (to be accurate, alleged) name of a person arrested when some "objects were found". There has been precious little further information since December. Neither is it clear if the "found" items mentioned in the letter to the NCMD are those relocated in December, or fresh ones. In the light of the recent discussions about items missing from the Bloomsbury headquarters of the British Museum, we may note the fresh significance of this text cited in my earlier post (Post by geoman » Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:44 pm):

It would appear that the system of keeping quiet has been to protect reputations and perhaps the guilty. Often the explanation has been that items have gone astray and are missing without any hint of them actually stolen by a third party There have always been hints of malpractice in the academic world with experts allowed to peruse museum store rooms and collection in the pursuit of their research and so on. Naturally some will have had sticky fingers and to preserve reputations cover ups seem to have been the norm. Proving what has gone on is very difficult as the museum establishment will simply close ranks.

It is time for the PAS to come clean and explain their version of what actually is going on.  When do they anticipate we will hear of any charges pressed, or whether the case is dropped? 

That was two years ago. Since then, silence from the PAS and its so-called "liaison officers" (who do nothing of the kind). Meanwhile, a group of guys has their prison sentences extended for not handing over found some Leominster Treasure, yet in the case discussed above (and goodness' knows how many others that have been hushed up), guys who did hand over their (and the landowners') finds have had the objects nicked while in the custody of UK museum authorities. In metal detecting circles, the name of the suspected sticky-fingered individual is known. It is known to the PAS too, no doubt. I have one of the aggrieved artefact hunters writing to me this morning, disgusted: "Looks like he got away, CPS [Criminal Prosecution Service] not charging with it". Like the guy reportedly trading papyri stolen from the storerooms of Oxford University, the bloke flogging off stolen ancient gems from the storerooms of the Bloomsbury edifice itself, this person probably comes from a different social group compared to the ones who have swapped their muddy boots for prison bars. What is the key, PAS?

Let's see something on your website explaining this to the law-abiding metal detectorists of the Kingdom. Why not explain how that "law" of yours actually works in practice? 

.