If this kind of story intrigues you, take a look at the 2018 video game "Kingdom Come: Deliverance", It is an RPG that centers around a region with silver mines in the Kingdom of Bohemia in the early 15th century.
The area these silver coins were found in was once part of Bohemia, and less than 200 km from where the video game was set.
"For now, however, they do not want to reveal the precise location of the discovery, to discourage amateur metal detectors from arriving, reports Gazeta Wyborcza."
When people find stuff like this do they get a cash reward or anything. Something like this could be kept and sold and end up in a private collection. But when people notify and they end up in a museum for everyone to see, does the finder miss out?
I know in the UK, treasure belongs to the crown, but they will usually pay you a percentage for finding "their treasure". In the US, as long as it isn't something that would be sacred to native tribes, it's pretty much yours. In Italy, I'm pretty sure the government just gets it and there's a bunch of burden put on the land owner while they look for more artifacts (there are stories of people destroying roman documents rather than report them to the authorities).
It seems like Polish law would be the only relevant one here (I don't think EU law covers any of this), and based on a cursory search they seem to be much closer to Italy than the US on this spectrum.
Whatever is found in earth belongs to the government. You probably get 10 minutes fame and nice story to tell on bbqs and that’s about it. Of course any reasonable person would put in pocket two or three of those for kids/grandchildren to give in few years.
'Treasure' being a defined term though, not just literally any non-earth thing you dig up. Finds (that are not known not to be treasure) are supposed to be reported to local coroner to decide/determine its status & next steps.
In Poland best reward is not being charged with a crime if prosecutor is in a bad mood and doesnt believe in your dog story. (Ustawa z dnia 23 lipca 2003 r. o ochronie zabytków i opiece nad zabytkami (Dz. U. 2003 Nr 162 poz. 1568) defines metal detector usage a felony, 2018 amendment makes it a crime. Any premeditated and deliberate find (metal detector in use, following local rumors/old maps/texts) without proper authorization (pretty much impossible to obtain) is a crime with up to ~$100K fine and potential for 2 year prison sentence. The law is written in a way to discourage any non sanctioned treasure hunting at all cost.
What a great website. I particularly liked the article[0] about removing advertising, the scourge of post late 20th century cities.
Man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard. When I retire from Madison Avenue, I am going to start a secret society of masked vigilantes who will travel around the world on silent motor bicycles, chopping down posters at the dark of the moon. - David Ogilvy, the "Father of Advertising"[1]
It is cool to see they are rare.
I was going to say, you can buy coins from ancient Rome for shockingly cheap prices on ebay if they are not in good condition.
I had denarius handed down to me that is worth about 10 bucks.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 52.7 ms ] threadIf I found a dime in the parking lot on May 6 last year I can still purchase any item with a total price today of 10 cents or less.
The area these silver coins were found in was once part of Bohemia, and less than 200 km from where the video game was set.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_Come:_Deliverance
Detectorists. It's Detectorists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detectorists
I know in the UK, treasure belongs to the crown, but they will usually pay you a percentage for finding "their treasure". In the US, as long as it isn't something that would be sacred to native tribes, it's pretty much yours. In Italy, I'm pretty sure the government just gets it and there's a bunch of burden put on the land owner while they look for more artifacts (there are stories of people destroying roman documents rather than report them to the authorities).
It seems like Polish law would be the only relevant one here (I don't think EU law covers any of this), and based on a cursory search they seem to be much closer to Italy than the US on this spectrum.
As someone from the US, it was actually quite surprising finding out other countries handled things this way.
'Treasure' being a defined term though, not just literally any non-earth thing you dig up. Finds (that are not known not to be treasure) are supposed to be reported to local coroner to decide/determine its status & next steps.
Here's a summary of what counts: https://finds.org.uk/treasure/advice/summary
Man is at his vilest when he erects a billboard. When I retire from Madison Avenue, I am going to start a secret society of masked vigilantes who will travel around the world on silent motor bicycles, chopping down posters at the dark of the moon. - David Ogilvy, the "Father of Advertising"[1]
[0] https://notesfrompoland.com/2022/05/06/last-billboard-disapp... [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ogilvy_(businessman)