Treasure Hunting

Finders of ‘Treasure’ have a legal obligation to report such finds under the Treasure Act 1996. However, a number of these finds are instead being sold on eBay (and elsewhere), sending a poor signal to finders who report Treasure correctly. Since October 2007 the Department of Portable Antiquities & Treasure (British Museum) has been monitoring the trade and questioning vendors of Treasure finds, with some success.

Finders of ‘Treasure’ (as defined by the Treasure Act 1996) have a legal obligation to report such finds. Increasingly the British Museums’ Department of Portable Antiquities & Treasure, which oversees the Portable Antiquities Scheme (a voluntary scheme to record archaeological objects found by the public) and a substantial part of the Treasure process (under which finders of Treasure have a legal obligation to report such finds), has been aware that a significant number of Treasure finds were being sold on eBay (and elsewhere), and felt that the very open nature of the trade in such objects sent a poor signal to finders who reported Treasure correctly. As a result, in October 2006, the British Museum and the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council announced a Memorandum of Understanding with eBay, whereby the Department of Portable Antiquities & Treasure monitors eBay for items of potential Treasure, questions vendors and notifies the Metropolitan Police’s Art & Antiques Unit of any unreported items. Upon formal notification from the police, eBay are required to end the sale, and the police may investigate further.

In the first full year of the Memorandum of Understanding (2007), the Department of Portable Antiquities & Treasure noted 144 cases, which required following up; to put that number into context 746 finds were actually reported Treasure in 2007. Responses of vendors questioned as a result of the monitoring work vary significantly, but provide an interesting insight into the antiquities trade.

6% of vendors questioned said the finds were found subsequent to the Treasure Act 1996 and so need not be reported. Although the Treasure Act 1996 only applies to objects found after 24 September 1997, there was still an obligation to report all gold and silver finds under the Common Law of Treasure Trove.

20% of vendors questioned said they had no idea where the object came from or when it was found. In many cases sellers bought them on eBay to sell on. In this respect it is disappointing that few vendors seem to verify the legal status of a find before they buy to sell on. It is hoped that changes to existing legislation proposed under a draft Bill on coroner reform (which impacts upon the Treasure Act) will ensure that all who come into possession of Treasure have a legal obligation to report it.

Given that antiquities laws in England and Wales are liberal compared with elsewhere it is intriguing that 18% of vendors said that the finds they listed came from abroad and therefore did not need to be reported Treasure. Of course, the sale of foreign finds on eBay begs the question, were they imported legally from their country of origin?

19% of vendors gave numerous others reasons why they didn’t think the find they were selling needed to be reported. Further questioning often helps us ascertain whether or not a find should have been reported. In any case all the records of every case we follow up are made available to the Art & Antiques Unit, who will investigate further if appropriate.

We were unable to ascertain further information about 33% of items listed. In about one third of these cases we were unable to question the seller before the sale ended. For the remainder we were unsuccessful in getting a reply from the vendor.

Finally, 4% of vendors replied by saying they would report the finds. Of course, educating people about Treasure Law and encouraging them to report do were the primary objectives of the Memorandum of Understanding. 

Summary

We have been monitoring eBay on a regular basis for over a year now and are gaining some useful insights into how the online trade in antiquities works, as well as the difficulties of law enforcement. We have learnt to become more effective, through conducting better searches, questioning of vendors, and adapting policy on how best to take cases forward. Most importantly, the fact that eBay is being monitored helps educate those ignorant of the law and deters those who would otherwise openly sell unreported Treasure.

Michael Lewis, Portable Antiquities Scheme, February 2008