Featured Old Roman Ring Fragment.

I have absolutely zero idea about any laws regarding archeology in any country. I do know that I’ve bought items on eBay and elsewhere that have been museum deaccessions or in some other way from an organized dig. Couldn’t tell you how they got there or from where but some have reference numbers or stickers that seem to be quite old. That’s what this looks like to me. Obviously this could also be faked to make something seem more legit or illegitimately legit. I imagine a great deal of this stuff was dug up a long time ago and slowly filtered away from whatever institution it was bound for or at. Some legitimately and some likely not. I’m sure much isn’t from American institutions.

 

Many museums,etc. remove collections and individual pieces for various reasons. example of process... https://sandiegoarchaeology.org/from-inside-the-vaults-deaccessioning-museum-collections/

 

Dig finds are only deaccessioned for sale if they were collected by amateurs and undocumented. I can see where this could be the case with the ring.

 

It's entirely legal in the UK.

 

Probably half my old items are marked with a number that only relates to my own numbering system and refers to the location of info on the specific item. I think many do the same and use whatever system they create.

I'm assuming this wasn't from the US.

In the US I know that most (if not all) states have an archaeological designated number and many use it for numbering their finds by site. For example I live in Virginia which is assigned 44 so finds here from state sanctioned digs would likely start with 44 then the county code for example FX for Fairfax and then the site number and item number or something like that. It might look something like 44FX0213-102 or something along those lines. Each state probably makes their own decision and older sites probably don't have such designations.

Also, I think when in the planning for archaeological digs, one of the things determined upfront is what is to be done with the finds. I think that on private land the finds may be returned to the land owner at times. (at least as I recall hearing)

 

There’s a fantastic movie on Netflix about an archeological find in England circa very start of WWII. Based on a true story. It’s on private land and the land owner has ultimate rights to decide what happens with it. It’s called ‘The Dig’. I highly recommend it.

 

This is raising questions for me too, although both parts may genuinely be Roman. In a couple of thousand years glass changes. This looks too pristine to me.

No, most are quite tiny. I suspect there may have been some one upsmanship when it came to how elaborate an engraving & how small the stone. Note the complexity of the scene & the size of the stone on this one. Many are smaller.

The butterfly is a symbol for the soul/animating force & is associated with Psyche.

 

Hi Bronwen. Thanks for the interesting information and for correcting me. Always assumed these were bigger. Yes,the detail on that one is amazing (what skill!) Had to google the term ‘upmanship’

 

Agreed. We enjoyed it. Good movie

 

I've seen Roman glass and carved intaglio stones which look a day old.

 

Someone in the UK may be able to give you better info as this is inadequate but I think that finds that may be of value are assessed by a government agency under the Treasure Act and may vary depending on where they are found. I think that they decide if the finds should be retained etc with the land owner/finder being compensated if they aren't returned.

https://finds.org.uk/treasure

https://www.britishmuseum.org/our-work/national/treasure-and-portable-antiquities-scheme

 

You have to declare it if it's of value. Odd bits of stuff, even like this, don't count. It isn't precious metal or mass coinage. Ownership depends on the deal with the land owner. The PAS are really helpful on identifying even low level stuff, they love doing it.

 

I have a friend in Scotland who is an archaeologist. She thinks the US way of handling things is less than desirable . From the read of it, Scotland seems to require all archeological finds to be reported as well as the Isle of Man. No idea.

 

When we dug up hundreds of Native American pottery shards,no one wanted to even look at them.

 

Most people I know report everything, even trivia. That's because the PAS will happily tell you what it is. They do love logging it all.

 

See I misspelled it, but growing up heard it with the 's' sound in it, although makes no sense. Do you feel your vocabulary has been enriched?

 

Thanks for all that info!