Metal Detecting, the Law and the Portable Antiquities Scheme (2024)

FAQs

Metal Detecting, the Law and the Portable Antiquities Scheme? ›

Since 1997 the Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Liaison Offiicers have examined over 100,000 objects, many of which would have otherwise gone unrecorded. The aims: To advance knowledge of the history and archaeology of England and Wales by systematically recording archaeological objects found by the public.

Since 1997 the Portable Antiquities Scheme Finds Liaison Offiicers have examined over 100,000 objects, many of which would have otherwise gone unrecorded. The aims: To advance knowledge of the history and archaeology of England and Wales by systematically recording archaeological objects found by the public.

Beaches are a great place to use a metal detector. The dry sand is loose, making it easy to dig, and there are usually plenty of people around if you need help. Check local metal detecting laws before you start, as some beaches have restrictions. For optimal beach detecting, choose a spot that looks promising.

To report your finds, get in touch with your local Finds Liaison Officer. They will identify and record your finds onto our database for you and others to see and researchers to study.

Mark the site carefully and report the find to the local police and landowner. It is illegal for anyone to use a metal detector on a designated area (e.g. Scheduled Monuments (SM), Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), or Ministry of Defence property) without permission from the appropriate authority.

illicit antiquities, archaeological objects that have been illegally excavated or exported from their country of origin for monetary gain. Most countries place sovereign claims on their archaeological heritage.

Go to an auction site, like eBay, and you can see people selling their “detector finds,” Usually it's a bunch of buttons, costume jewelry and damaged rings. Best chances at selling seem to be when you include a vintage item or two and offer several silver or plated rings.

Finding jewelry is a quick way to make money for metal detecting. The value of the jewelry depends on how old it is; that is, the older the jewelry, the higher the value. Finding lost jewelry is relatively easy compared to the other forms of metal detecting.

That depends on your criteria. If you base your question strictly on monetary gains from the total time invested in metal detecting versus the same hours spent earning an average hourly wage, then over the long-term metal detecting will most likely fall short of your expectations.

What part of the beach is best for metal detecting? ›

The wet sand area is the area between the low tide and high tide water lines. It may be a large area at low tide or a small area at high tide, depending on the tides. Typically this area produces some of the best treasures.

Generally the best metal detecting takes place at the 24 hour period lowest tide.

The Treasure Act allows for a reward up to the market value of the treasure to be shared among the finder and the tenants and/or owner of the land on which the treasure was found. The amount of the reward and how it is divided among the claimants is determined by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

Sadly not. If a find isn't classed as treasure, it will be returned to the person who found it (though the landowner has 28 days to object.) If it is deemed to be treasure, it is likely that a museum will wish to acquire it.

The Finds Liaison Officer (FLO) works to identify and record archaeological objects found by members of the public in Surrey, on behalf of the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

You should ONLY clean items you intend to keep. Graded or key date coins can lose almost ALL of their value if cleaned. Always consult a professional if you think you have a coin (or relic) of value. All chemical baths CAN damage a coin if left for too long.

Ammonia or white vinegar: Soak the cleaned silver or gold overnight in vinegar or ammonia. This will bring back the shine. Distilled water: Soak your coins or jewelry in plain distilled water for several days before removing and scrubbing with a water/washing up liquid solution.

Detectorist. Everyday term used to describe a person who uses a metal detector. Digger. Or trowel, spade, or any tool used to dig for your finds.

Antiquities Act | U.S. Department of the Interior.

Who investigates stolen antiquities? ›

U.S. federal customs laws provide HSI special agents the authority, jurisdiction and responsibility to take the leading role in criminal investigations that involve the illicit importation and distribution of stolen or looted cultural property.

Q: Will any metal detector find gold? Yes. Most metal detectors are capable of finding gold but some will do a much better job than others. Since gold has rather low conductivity, metal detectors that use higher frequencies will spot gold better than low-frequency detectors.

The answer is YES, they all do. Some do it better than others. Some detectors like the Minelab Gold Monster or GPZ 7000 are specifically designed to find small gold pieces (which most naturally occurring gold is). When it comes to finding gold rings, just about any metal detector will work.

Tracking Stolen Jewelry. The Stolen Jewelry Website of the Jewelers' Security Alliance provides a central clearinghouse for the jewelry industry, law enforcement, insurance personnel and the public to share information on jewelry that has been stolen or recovered in the United States.

They can only count the number of bills they find. That's because a dollar bill carries the same amount of responsive magnetic ink as a $100 bill — meaning somebody carrying $10 in ones would trigger the metal detector just as much as somebody carrying $1,000 in hundreds.

Lorenzo Ruijter, 27, who told Reuters he has been treasure hunting since he was 10, discovered the treasure in 2021 in the small northern city of Hoogwoud, using a metal detector.

Avg. Base Salary (USD)

Treasurehunting pays an average salary of $586,266 and salaries range from a low of $517,137 to a high of $662,080.

Metal detectors have a tough time detecting metals like stainless steel, which have very poor electrical conductivity. Stainless steel has low magnetic permeability, which means it does not produce a signal strong enough to be detected. Other items that metal detectors won't be able to locate include: Gemstones.

Coins set off metal detectors quite frequently. There are some small metals that will pass through most metal detectors without setting them off, such as the button on your pants. Coins are not one of those metals.

Yes, you will need to remove your wallet from your person as you pass through TSA metal detectors during screening. Please see the following TSA recommendations as we suggest placing your wallet in a carry-on bag to pass through screening.

How deep does a metal detector work? ›

Most metal detectors can detect coins at an average maximum depth of 10 to 16 inches. Metal detectors transmit radio frequency signals from the search coil to locate the targets from the ground's surface to a depth of over 20 feet for large deep treasures.

Start at low tide.

The best time to metal detect on the beach is at low tide. This is because the water will have washed away some of the sand, exposing objects that may be buried deeper at high tide.

Metal detection and rejection systems look for ferrous, non-ferrous, and stainless steel. Ferrous metals are magnetic metals like steel and iron. These are the easiest to detect. Non-ferrous metals are copper, aluminum, brass and bronze.

In general parks are the most accessible location to metal detect, simply because they can be found in or around almost any town in the United States. Many of these parks, whether state or county owned, exhibit large swaths of open land along with historical preservations such as monuments or buildings.

Winter is the best time for both dry and wet beach hunting as higher tides begin to "strip" the beach of its "summer sands" uncovering many of valuables, and most of the shallow jewelry will be moved together with sand into the surf. When the summer beach sand disappears, the beach metal detecting is at its finest!

The low tide will be best for those who want to ride their board on the sand, but for those who want to ride waves, a high tide will be better as the waves break closer to shore. For anglers, the best time to cast out your line is when the tide is moving.

You can look for visual clues like seaweed or wet sand in dry weather to tell if the tide is coming in or out. If the sand above the waterline is wet, you can usually assume that the tide is on its way out. If everything is dry, the tide is probably on its way in.

The quest is well worth doing—not just for the cool, deadly revolver it gets you in GTA or the exclusive gun skin it gets you for Red Dead, but mainly for the $250,000 you get for completing the ensuing headshot challenge. 50 headshots of any NPC gets you the money.

A discoverer who finds a shipwreck pursuant to the law of finds is entitled to the full value of all of the goods that are recovered. Since the owner of the vessel has given up trying to recover the shipwreck, the discoverer is deemed to have full rights to the content.

What happens if you find treasure on the beach? ›

If you find simple trinkets on a public beach or private property, then you can probably keep those items. Some counties and parks require you to report any found item (in case someone has reported it lost), but most public beaches do not have that stipulation.

Found in the 1980s in the town of Środa Ślaska, Poland, the Środa Treasure is a 14th-century hoard of gold and silver coins, precious stones, jewelry, and a gold crown. It is worth a cool $120 million. Workers discovered the hoard during demolition work in 1985.

In California, there is a law mandating that any found property valued over $100 be turned over to police. Authorities must then wait 90 days, advertise the lost property for a week, and finally release it to the person who found it if no one could prove ownership.

The Las Cinco Chagas (1594) – $1 billion

The Chagas was allegedly carrying 22 boxes of treasure, including diamonds, rubies, and pearls, with a current estimated value of almost $1 billion. However, British privateer ships ambushed the Chagas as it reached Portugal and shelled it continuously for two days.

A hot rock can loosely be defined as: any rock or stone not containing a valuable mineral (gold, silver, or copper) which generates an audible signal response on a metal detector.

Look for low lying areas (or pockets) where sand has been recently removed by wind and tides. This is where jewelry, coins and other metal items accumulate. Also look for sloughs (small water channels or cut-outs in the sand) and scallops (humps on the beach). These are all hot spots for treasure on the beach.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme's database holds records of archaeological finds discovered by members of the public. These are found while carrying out a wide range of activities including metal-detecting.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary recording scheme for archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales.

Antiquity Sites are revealed on the map once you research the Natural History civic. Functionally, they behave similarly to other resource tiles: you need to send your unit there and then activate them. Once you do, you'll often have a choice to make.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme was started in 1997 in response to the 1996 Treasure Act. Although the Act required the reporting of treasure, there was no requirement for non-treasure items to be reported.

Who owns archaeological finds UK? ›

Ownership of Archaeological Objects

By law, archaeological objects (apart from Treasure - see below) normally belong to the landowner. Archaeologists will generally make provision with the landowner for objects they find to go into a public collection, such as a museum.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme is a voluntary scheme to record archaeological objects found by the public in England and Wales. If recorded, these finds have the potential to tell us much about the past, such as how and where people lived and about the types of objects they made and used.

You have a right to capture images in public places, but you don't always have a right to record what people say. Pennsylvania's Wiretap Law makes it illegal to record private conversations - which can include conversations in public places - without the consent of all parties to the conversation.

In Pennsylvania, secret recordings of your spouse are generally not admissible as evidence in divorce proceedings. This is because such recordings are considered a violation of your spouse's privacy rights.

Pennsylvania state courts generally prohibit the use of recording devices in the courtroom, both at the trial and appellate court level. However, individual judges may authorize recordings of non-jury civil trials, if both parties to the lawsuit consent.

Taking Artifacts Is Illegal

See the Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA) at 16 USC 470 § aa-mm and the as- sociated regulations at 43 CFR 7. Besides, collecting artifacts is not the right thing to do. By leaving artifacts in place, you help to preserve the condi- tion of archeological sites.

Artifacts from private land are the property of the landowners. Often these landowners allow archaeologists to remove the artifacts so that they can be studied and displayed properly and enjoyed by others. Collecting or excavating these sites is trespassing and/or vandalism without the express permission of the owner.

Archaeologists have found sites through examination of air photos, various kinds of radar, including ground penetrating radar, and other indirect methods. Remote sensing techniques work best on sites that have features such as walls or deep pits that are distinctly different from the surrounding soil.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme ( PAS ) was founded in response to the growth of metal detecting, the lack of provision to record these finds, and in the context of the reform of Treasure legislation. In 1997, the Treasure Act 1996, came into force and with it new protection for archaeological finds.

The word antique comes from ancient French and simply means old. For American and Canadian trade purposes, antiques are classified as being at least 100 years old.

What happens if you find treasure UK? ›

After a find is reported

You'll be given a receipt. The Finds Liaison Officer or museum curator will then write a report on the find. Museums can express an interest in it if it might be treasure. The coroner will then hold an inquest.