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Jerry, I must admit what you say does make sense. Maybe my recollection is blurred! I therefore need to trawl back through the correspondence to confirm exactly what was asked for by the FLO. However, I was certainly asked to obtain valuations prior to the PAS submission but since all of this was being done through my MD club (it was a club site on which I found this gold artefact) I am now wondering whether the club was asking for the valuations in order to negotiate a settlement with the landowner once the PAS process gave the all-clear which is what eventually happened. Frank

I am surprised that this happens in your area, it certainly doesn’t in mine (Wales, Hereford and Shropshire) for non-treasure items and for two fairly straightforward reasons; firstly, valuation (and it’s costs) is not a funded part of the FLO’s remit, and indeed could open him/her up to challenge -and secondly, for a non treasure item a museum ( or other State entity) has no right of acquisition and therefore advance valuations would be a pointless expense. Of course, should a finder wish to sell a non treasure find, then normally both parties will seek valuations informal or otherwise and hopefully reach an amicable settlement. I have recently undertaken to donate a Saxon coin that I purchased at auction (Noonans) as it is an important Herefordshire find to the Museum involving a £5k gift on my part , the purchase price was taken as the market value. That coin had been through the PAS and recorded by the EMC in 2022 without valuation - difficult anyway as a unique coin. Even for Treasure items, valuation comes late in the formal process and then only after a wish to acquire has been expressed. If Treasure is disclaimed and returned jointly to finder/ landowner, it is up to them to sort out their financial commitments to each other - hence the need for prior agreements. As I stated earlier, it does not appear that this coin, if indeed a find, ever entered the PAS process. Jerry

Good point. Unfortunately, the peddlers of overpriced slabbed tat still manage to attract buyers....

The PAS will not value a find, though ‘Treasure’ items are valued by the ‘Treasure Valuation Committee’ as part of the Treasure process, if found to be Treasure and a museum wishes to acquire. As a single find it would not qualify. But this coin does not appear to have been reported to the PAS, and I suspect that the landowner is unaware of its existence, if genuine. To my mind it is not an obvious fake, as most are, and indeed may be a die duplicate of the PAS one . Jerry

Love it! The individual coins are no longer collector's items but the dish on the whole is an item of beauty and rarity.

Stephen Etheridge ? I think he gave up collecting and sold his collection through Colin Cooke (Copthorne collection) in 2016.