The coins were found on Jersey, a small island south of the British main islands which isn't technically part of "the U.K.". Jersey is a crown dependency and has its own laws; laws of the mainland kingdom don't apply unless specifically mentioned.
This is important in the context of this discovery, as England's 1996 Treasure Act does not apply to Jersey. Rather, they still use the old mediaeval Common Law definitions of "Treasure trove", which basically means the coins belong to either the Queen or the finders, depending on whether the hoard is considered to have originally been "hidden with an intention to recover it later". The fate of the coins will therefore have to be decided by the local Coroner. In this case it would seem logical that the coins are indeed Treasure Trove, and therefore Crown property. In that case, the finders may or may not receive a reward, but they won't be allowed to keep the coins themselves.
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Look at the caption... he is CLEANING THE COINS! OH THE HUMANITY!
Well I guess he's a professional so it's okay? :)
Um, yes. All ancient coins need to be cleaned after they're dug up out of the ground. Ideally, professionals or skilled amateurs should undertake such cleaning.
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do any of you know what kind of coins these are ?
Judging from the news reports, they are a mixture of early Roman silver denarii (which would probably be worth considerably more than the "$100-$200 each" pricetags quoted) and Celtic silver pieces, presumably of the types typically found in Northwest France and on Jersey. Some of the later Conquest-period Celtic coins are quite debased; I have a Jersey-type stater of the Coriosolites tribe that is usually described in the catalogues as "billon".
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
Posted 06/27/2012 5:47 pm
