Two men accused of trying to sell rare Anglo-Saxon coins to undercover police

[robinjojo]

From today's edition of the Guardian, yet another wrinkle in the ongoing saga of people caught trying to sell "high profile" coins by surreptitious means.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/11/two-men-accused-trying-sell-rare-anglo-saxon-coins-viking-hoard-undercover-police

 

[John Conduitt]

Good to see them prosecuted. Hopefully the sentence will be long.

[DLTcoins]

This Daily Mail story from 2019 seems to focus on the same hoard. In addition to reporting the criminal investigation, this earlier piece goes into some detail on the history of Alfred and Coenwulf, and the "national importance" of the hoard.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-7086499/Hoard-Viking-coins-police-investigation-change-British-history.html

[JeandAcre]

Whew.  When a coin on this level, which "could rewrite Alfred the Great's role in British history" (cf. @DLTcoins's article from the Daily Mail) is, thank you, remonetized, in such a sleazy way, long after becoming effectively priceless as a de facto historical document, you just have to sit back and breathe for a minute.  ...As in, if money is your sole object, why not just deal drugs instead? 

Even vicariously, from the wrong side of the pond, I have to be grateful for the legions of detectorists in the UK who continue to be a 'fifth column' for curators and archaeologists, by way of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the UKDFD.

[Roerbakmix]

3 hours ago, DLTcoins said:

This Daily Mail story from 2019 seems to focus on the same hoard. In addition to reporting the criminal investigation, this earlier piece goes into some detail on the history of Alfred and Coenwulf, and the "national importance" of the hoard.

I was thinking about this news story as well. Is the hoard described in the first post a new hoard? Or is it the same?

[DonnaML]

22 minutes ago, Roerbakmix said:

I was thinking about this news story as well. Is the hoard described in the first post a new hoard? Or is it the same?

I found it almost impossible to read the Daily Mail article because of all the ads and all the copypasting from Wikipedia or a similar source -- another reason to hate that vile rag! -- but I am pretty sure it's the same hoard, and that it's simply taken this long for the case to come to trial. I imagine that the trial backlog for civil cases can be as bad in the UK as it often is here, and was probably similarly exacerbated by the pandemic, because of the lengthy time-periods when the courts were closed except for emergency cases.

[Null]

So they left a paper trail and admitted they were from a hoard to an academic.

 

If he simply said they were a bootfare (garage sale for you yanks) or they were left to him from his great uncle Jimmy there would have unlikely been an undercover sting.

[John Conduitt]

9 hours ago, JeandAcre said:

Whew.  When a coin on this level, which "could rewrite Alfred the Great's role in British history" (cf. @DLTcoins's article from the Daily Mail) is, thank you, remonetized, in such a sleazy way, long after becoming effectively priceless as a de facto historical document, you just have to sit back and breathe for a minute.  ...As in, if money is your sole object, why not just deal drugs instead? 

Even vicariously, from the wrong side of the pond, I have to be grateful for the legions of detectorists in the UK who continue to be a 'fifth column' for curators and archaeologists, by way of the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the UKDFD.

Yes if they were the finders, they would’ve had a very nice payout by doing it honestly. They could avoid paying 50% to the landowner by selling illegally, but then they were offering them at 30% of their value anyway. Maybe that’s why they’re not drug dealers - they would get confused and pay you to have them.

[Heliodromus]

1 hour ago, Null said:

If he simply said they were a bootfare (garage sale for you yanks) or they were left to him from his great uncle Jimmy there would have unlikely been an undercover sting.

 

[John Conduitt]

41 minutes ago, Heliodromus said:

 

To be fair, PAS has recorded a medieval hoard bought at a car boot sale in Drayton.

Needless to say, the finder didn’t do well out of that route, although the buyer did having reported it properly.

But those weren’t highly significant rare coins. Even if you find a dodgy dealer to sell them, you’ll get found out as someone will notice a new supply of Alfred the Great coins.

Edited April 12, 2023 by John Conduitt

[DLTcoins]

Elsewhere, someone posted a newspaper article that called the find in question the "Herefordshire Hoard". Google found this:

https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/the-herefordshire-viking-hoard.htm

Edited April 14, 2023 by DLTcoins

[Null]

https://news.sky.com/story/metal-detectorists-sentenced-to-more-than-five-years-in-jail-12872775

They were given 5 years 2 months.

Sad thing is a lot of nonces here in the UK get less time than that.

[DonnaML]

2 hours ago, Null said:

https://news.sky.com/story/metal-detectorists-sentenced-to-more-than-five-years-in-jail-12872775

They were given 5 years 2 months.

Sad thing is a lot of nonces here in the UK get less time than that.

What's a nonce? Not a slang term I've ever heard here in the USA. I know what a ponce is, but not a nonce!

[John Conduitt]

16 minutes ago, DonnaML said:

What's a nonce? Not a slang term I've ever heard here in the USA. I know what a ponce is, but not a nonce!

You'd have to be very careful calling anyone either of them.

[Null]

14 hours ago, DonnaML said:

What's a nonce? Not a slang term I've ever heard here in the USA. I know what a ponce is, but not a nonce!

Hey sorry Donna, a nonce is an English term for a paedophile.