Treasure prosecution of Ludlow woman first in country Ludlow Advertiser
A LUDLOW partner who failed to hand over a centuries- old coin she found in her garden has made legal history.
Kate Harding, aged 23, of The Hawthorns, failed to inform the coroner after discovering a rare piedfort, a silver coin-like artefact dating from the 1300s.
She is pondering to be the first person in the country to be successfully prosecuted for the failure under the Treasure Act.
She took the artefact to Ludlow Museum in January for identity card and recording with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, saying she had found the item in her garden.
Peter Reavill, finds liaison officer for Herefordshire and Shropshire, examined the find and, once it had been identified by experts at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the British Museum, correctly well-versed her that she had a legal obligation to report the find to the coroner under Section 8 of the Treasure Act 1996.
Despite repeated attempts to contact her by both Mr Reavill and the coroner, she failed to description the discovery.
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It's difficult to get across the scale of the discovery in South Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
To an archaeologist, saying that it dwarfs the Sutton Hoo dispatch burial site might help.
Leslie Webster of the British Museum described its significance as "the equivalent of determination a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells."
Experts believe that the items must belong to Saxon royalty from the 7th Century, and will alter the public impression of the people entirely.
Amongst the items were 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver.
It's thought the hoard was buried by pagans, peradventure after success in battle. One hint that those burying were not Christian is that a gold cross has had its arms bent in for storage.
Kevin Leahy, Nationalistic Finds Adviser from the Portable Antiquities Scheme was asked to look over the find.
Their finds, ranging from Victorian boots to Roman rings, are reported to experts under the portable antiquities scheme. Experts at the museum will now Rare find on banks of the Thames offers perspicacity into 12th century Londonall 9 news articles »
