mind the Queen’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer?

That’s the person who administers archaeological finds in Scotland on behalf of the Crown. She has recently ordered that a hoard of Iron Age gold be purchased by the National Museum of Scotland. The torcs are a highly significant discovery of Iron Age metalwork. They were found near Stirling by a metal detector user, supposely on his first ever outing. He reported the finds quickly, and publicly described how he dug them up.  A subsequent excavation revealed that they were buried beneath the floor of a timber building.

In Scotland, all archaeological finds belong to the Crown, which will sometimes exercise its claim. But there is an assumption that the financial value of the finds should go to the finder, in this case the figure of £460,000 is being talked about. The museum will have to raise this cash. But as far as I know there is not a legal obligation for the state to pay anything, so in a way this is a genuine reward, a gift from the state.

A far cry from the free market in precious metals that the Treasure Act encourages in England. What would happen, I wonder, if the price tag for the torcs was, say £2.3m? Is it really fair that hard-up public museums should have to drum up cash for a national lottery in antiquities?