Coroners inquest

[Stillburning]

A medieval silver brooch that I found last year has been declared treasure, the local museum has expressed an interest in acquiring it, and a date and time have been arranged for the coroners inquest.

I have the opportunity to attend and I'm quite interested in seeing what happens - but before I send the form back I thought I would ask if anyone else has attended one and if so how they found the experience.

I have to answer a few questions, one is "Did the finder have the permission of the landowner to be on the land" (Yes!), but also "Was there any other agreement for the finder to be on the land" I presume the answer to this should be no and is only relevant if the finder did not have permission to be on the land?

[jcmaloney]

I`ve been to a few. You will normally be mixed in with folk who are there for much sadder things such as deaths. That aside you also get the local "hack" journalist who will convince his readers you found the crown jewels! If possible ask the FLO/Coroner NOT to publish the landowners details and/or the findspot....discretion is the better part of valour!
Paperwork relates to where the land is tenanted and is a check that its a straight 50/50 split with no other agreement in place. Its nice to see how these things work.

[Steve_T]

Yes i attended the coroners court for the Gold medieval ring that was declared treasure that i found.

I was not asked any questions as they were all answered by letters or email to and from the land owner, myself, British Museum the coroners office and other interested parties.

There were only 3 people present, myself, the court recorder and the coroner, went through the legal processes of reading out the declarations and letters from museum and all others, it went on a bit and at the end the coroner declared it treasure then closed the proceedings

After this she came from the desk she was behind, sat with me and asked me about it and was interested to know all about the details behind it all not included in the reports.

All done and dusted in about an hour, but well worth it just for the experience, I think if it was a hoard of national importance I guess the press may attend as the court proceedings are published in advance and in the public domain, also for anyone wishing to contest any claim.

I will say....as its a coroners court if busy there could be other cases where there may be an inquest for a death so be prepared to see some upset people in the waiting room as i did, although attending a different courtroom.

Regards Steve

[Stillburning]

Thanks for the replies, I think I will attend as it is always interesting to experience something different

[jcmaloney]

One of our local coroners has a tendency to do Treasure on a Friday afternoon...... he says it takes the edge off the week, and he finds talking to finders and learning about the finds a great stress relief.

[f8met]

There was a backlog of cases so it was just a case of reading out each one for the one I went to. There were me, 2 other detectorists who had found a roman hoard between them and 2 people who looked like they were on work experience but turned out to be from the local papers.

The coroner let them look at the report which I am not sure he should have done and some detail was released into the paper like the village where it was found, and they used the photo on the treasure report on the front page.

Was an interesting hour or so and worth doing at least once.