Doesn’t England have some law that states any coins found belong to the government? I think I read something like that before.
It is called “Trove Law.”
And yes, anything dug up belongs to the gub’mint if they want it.
I think the finder does get compensation, though.
Yes, but the finder gets fair market value for the item. From what I have seen it really is a fair value.
The idea is to preserve historic artifacts for the nation, while providing fair payment to the finder.