Looking for feedback re huge backlog of archaeological finds in Ireland

[OldCurrencyExchange]

There is a huge backlog of archaeological finds lying in private warehouses in Ireland - from both sides of the border!  There are literally tons of materials that are not accessible to academics or the public ... and it is not being stored in ideal conditions. If any of these private companies go out of business this legitimately found material will end up in skips!

To clear this backlog + go some way towards helping genuine detectorists go legal in Ireland, I have suggested a series of free MPhil / MSc degrees in numismatics at Irish universities + paid internships for unemployed Irish archaeology graduates + Irish numismatic enthusiasts from the government.

To display this material to the public, I have suggested a series of numismatic exhibits at county museums. To pay for this, I am suggesting sponsorship, crowd-funding and/or grants from the national lottery.
 
The doc is at
https://oldcurrencyexchange.com/2016/12/28/irish-archaeology-opportunity-lost/

I would welcome any constructive comments.

Happy Christmas & Prosperous New Year to all at Numista,
James
 

[Peter]

WTF

[OldCurrencyExchange]

Thanks for the indepth response Peter.  :-)

By way of an explanation, this is really a topic for Irish collectors and detectorists in Ireland and I know there are quite of few of them are members here - which is why I posted here.

We have a real problem with the new laws re metaldetecting in Ireland.

It has had several effects - not all of them good !

a) it has driven all detectorists (good and bad) underground and, consequently, a vibrant black market has developed

the National Museum has adopted an aggressive approach towards investigating any suspects

c) collectors are terrified they too will be raided and have to prove when/where they purchased each coin in their collection

Ironically, there is a huge stockpile of legally excavated artefacts being stored by private companies who can ill-afford to do so. Meanwhile the NMI and its northern counterpart are showing no signs of classifying and storing these artefacts properly. I'm guessing that there might be a lot of medieval coins in these storage depots, so I am proposing a new scheme to get some work started.

I would welcome any thoughts the Irish collectors in this forum may have and will amend my proposal accordingly.

I hope this explains the reasons for my post.

Best regards,

James

Edited December 30, 2016 by OldCurrencyExchange
emoticon replaced my b)

[Chingford]

The problem always comes down to cost

I, as a Surveyor/Estimator, would have to allow significant cost to Projects where there was a History of significance/interest as part of any Tender for Construction cost, this could be in the £tens of thousands and added substantially to Project times, because nobody would want to pay for the Archeological work necessary to preserve the history before any of the construction work could start