LAW OF TREASURE TROVE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 3 January 1925, Page 15

LAW OF TREASURE TROVE.

FINDINGS NOT KEEPINGS. a drastkTstatute. “I seize and take them into His Majesty’s hand,” was the quaint’ phrase used by the coroner at a specially summoned meeting of jurors in Staffordshire, who were sitting to decide the ownership of some Saxon jewels and coins found in a cave at Beeston Tor. This little speech of the coroner meant that the'tinder of the treasure, the ltev. G. H. Wilson, was not the owner and that the coins and jewels belonged to the Crown, but since the King was not there in person to claim-them, lie represented the Royal owner. The find was a valuable one. There were fifty Saxon coins, dating from,, the reign of Cenwulf, King ...of Mercia in the year 800, to. King Alfred, 901, and rings and medallions, of the same period in gold and silver, embossed and engraved, the most important collection of its kind found in Staffordshire. The law of treasure trove is a drastic one. However much skill and physical effort the discoverer of treasure may expend in his task, he may not keep his find unless he can prove it was not lost accidentally by. its original owner, treasure trove meaning hidden gold Or silver. Anything found which has evidently' been hidden, and not just lost, belongs to the Crown, whoever may find it.The. coins and jewels were all found in a. practically inaccessible cave, which, quite probably, had not been entered, b.y man since Saxon times. It is surmised that some Saxon personage had buried.them there for safety during one of the Danish raids of the period, knowing the ferocity of the Daifes as tax collectors. The cave was a natural one, and there were clear signs that part of it had been used as a cooking place. The remains of a skeleton also were found near, all .almost conclusive evidence that the hiding-place had been deliberately chosen. The hoard represented a considerable fortune at the time it was buried. One of the gold rings was half an ounce jn weight. All, these things, excepting those not of gold or silver, which Mr. Wilson will he allowed to retain, are to be sent to the British Museum, but. if the latter decides that'it does not want them thev will be returned to the finder. The treasure trove law, of course, was designed as a necessary safeguard against the loss to tlie nation of objects of real archaelogical value, and though it would seem rather hard on the finder, no one has ever been known to object seriously to having Lis find placed in the British Museum.