QUESTION: Marty, is there any chance you can buy this hoard to sell for Christmas?
P
ANSWER: I will have some coins for Christmas, but it is unlikely that this gold hoard of 141 coins will ever reach the market. These were found in Luxembourg. They have very draconian laws. All archaeological discoveries, including Roman coins, are considered part of Luxembourg’s national cultural heritage and are the property of the state. You are legally obligated to report the find to the authorities. It does not matter if they have one coin and you have 1,000 more of the same coin. They keep them all and put them in a box, just like in the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark.. Because of the arrogance of academics who insist that everything belongs to them, I would never donate 10 cents to them. I have one friend who said he would leave his ex-wife to them.
In Britain, if you find a hoard of Roman coins, you must first report them. The Coroner will hold an inquest to determine if the find legally qualifies as Treasure. If it is declared Treasure, the Treasure Valuation Committee (a panel of independent experts) will determine its full market value.
Local and national museums are given the opportunity to acquire the Treasure by paying the valuation sum. The reward is split equally between the finder and the landowner, unless a prior agreement states otherwise (e.g., a 50/50 split is standard). You must have permission to be on the land to be eligible for a reward.
In the United States, the government is always greedy. If you find a shipwreck, the government instantly claims the title of these wrecks to the state in whose waters the wreck is located. You cannot claim “finders keepers.”
It all depends on where coins have been discovered. Britain is the best of all. What these governments do not understand is that they are so damn greedy that, since you get nothing and they DO NOT cover your expenses, there is no point in searching for anything.
I was asked back in the 1990s if I would fund the excavation of the library in the Villa of the Papyri of Herculaneum, the most luxurious Roman villa, filled with art and a library beyond compare, containing all the lost works yet to be excavated. So far, more than 1,800 papyrus scrolls have been discovered in the 18th century. They had been carbonized when the villa was engulfed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Obviously, you cannot retain anything. The primary issue is that it is located 100 feet underground, and a town has been built on most of the Villa. That is easy to see with this picture I took. The government lacks the necessary funds to complete the job, which is part of the problem. They claim ownership and block anyone from recovering anything. So much of the Villa remains untouched. The original 18th-century excavation, which employed tunnel mining techniques, uncovered a vast portion of the villa, including part of the renowned library that housed the papyrus scrolls. However, this early excavation was haphazard and incomplete. Thus, state funds are directed at politicians to retain power.
You can see the depth of Herculaneum and the problem that there is a town over the site itself. The owner of the Villa of the Papyri was a relative of Julius Caesar. The leading candidate for the owner of the villa is Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (c. 100– 43BC). He was a powerful Roman senator and consul. Piso’s daughter, Calpurnia, was married in 59BC to Julius Caesar. She was his last wife and famously tried to warn him not to go to the Senate on the Ides of March.
Piso was a respected and influential senator from a noble plebeian family. By marrying his daughter Calpurnia, Caesar gained a crucial ally within the conservative senatorial establishment (the optimates) who could help smooth the passage of his legislation and defend his interests while he was away on his campaigns in Gaul. As a direct result of this alliance, Piso was elected Consul for the year 58 BC, the year after Caesar’s consulship. He used his position to protect Caesar’s political arrangements from his enemies in the Senate. Piso prevented his daughter from being forced to marry Mark Antony. Piso, as the father-in-law, played the most direct and important role in Julius Caesar’s political career.
The Getty Museum in California is a copy of the architectural plans of the Villa that were discovered.