Even though I don't understand exactly what he is talking about - I love these stories.
Even more - I love the idea that if the find is not “historic” they can keep it. And if it is historic - they will get the fair value of it.
I'm guessing that that the pub on who's property it was found will also get a fair cut of the booty.
To protect the finds, Mr Mahoney spent two sleepless nights in his car on the field watching for so-called “nighthawk” detectorists hoping to loot the coins under the cover of darkness.
Nighthawks, the term for illegal metal detectorists, have previously targeted numerous historic sites, including the Brunton Turret section of Hadrians Wall in their search for ancient artefacts.
A plow (or plough for the Brits) had cracked the jar they were in so the coins were scattered some.
And the brits sometimes have such a way with words: Detectorist.
Under the Treasure Trove Act, the landowner and the detectorist split the money. If the government wants the coins as national heritage, they have to pay fair market value as determined by a panel of experts. Amazingly, the windfall is not taxable.
Who pays them? From where does the money come?