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Enigmachina t1_iu9jnau wrote

To be fair, they're more likely going to get more from a museum than from selling the actual gold

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No-Elk9791 t1_iu9v051 wrote

More likely for the museum to claim it as a historical artifact and give him nothing. They don’t pay for artifacts. They’re thieves who justify their larceny with that “it belongs to the world” bs.

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FireITGuy t1_iuab3ki wrote

This depends a lot on the local laws about artifacts. In most of the world it would belong to the landowner. Museums may try to strongarm their way into preserving it, but most of the time they have no legal authority.

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Collins08480 t1_iuaiqef wrote

I know in the UK they are required by law to report all finds. But i don't know if they get anything for it. It really depends on the country.

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No-Elk9791 t1_iuacq47 wrote

That has quite literally never stopped them before.

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Krydtoff t1_iuam368 wrote

In Czechia, you will actually got something like 10% of the actual price or even less, and if you find it with a metal detector, you won’t get anything. Believe me, I had found many things that are now in museum and didn’t ever get anything

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brickhamilton t1_iubi5mx wrote

Wait, how do they know if you’ve used a metal detector? Can’t you just tell them you didn’t?

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degotoga t1_iubntwp wrote

It’s probably pretty obvious in most cases. Hard to explain why you’re digging holes in random locations

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brickhamilton t1_iubotlw wrote

It just seems you could say it was poking out of the ground or you found it in a stream or you were planting a garden or anything else, really. They might have evidence that’s not true, but I think that’s unlikely. Why even have a metal detector rule like that?

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degotoga t1_iubzh5a wrote

It’s to stop treasure hunting for profit. So while that might work once you probably wouldn’t get away with it a second time

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Potatobender44 t1_iueeahf wrote

Why would you want to stop people from potentially unearthing cool historical artifacts? I would think you would want to incentivize it

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degotoga t1_iuesw25 wrote

The idea is to incentivize trained scientists through grants while discouraging amateurs and treasure hunters. In most cases the latter can do more damage than good. See Egypt as a case study

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Krydtoff t1_iuf4uk3 wrote

This will sound like a joke, but if you find something and want some money from it, they will make a commission that can call cops to investigate your home and if they find anything resembling metal detector or other historical finds, you might end up paying them and go to a court

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Krydtoff t1_iuf54v4 wrote

Or and example like me, you find something that isn’t worth that much, you give it to the museum and they have you in their database, so if I ever were to find something by chance without metal detector, I still wouldn’t get anything

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die-jarjar-die t1_iub23ih wrote

It belongs in a museum! Along with all the other world's treasures we've decided also belong in the museum! Admission for non members is 29.95!

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Fatshortstack t1_iuaokmg wrote

I doubt it. Hope I'm wrong though. Definitely the right thing to do.

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