For instance: the Queen has a claim to all
gold, silver, money, and plate, found under
circumstances which baffle inquiry as to the
real owner. Sometimes the golden luck is
disposed of before the Queen has any official
notice of the matter. On one occasion, the
foundations of certain old houses at Exeter
having been laid bare during builders' alterations,
a large collection of silver coins came to
light. The workmen announced their good
fortune with great jubilation. This induced
the owner of the premises to make further
search, which was rewarded by the discovery
of a second heap of treasure—mostly coins,
supposed to have been buried by some Devonshire
family during the troubles of the Commonwealth.
In this instance, as the crown did not
put in a claim, the finders were the keepers.

Sometimes the melting down of gold and silver
ornaments, found in odd nooks and corners,
harasses the claim of the crown, though without
vitiating it. There was a celebrated instance of
this in 1863, when a labourer found a yellowish
chain about half a yard long; it was just under
the surface of a field near Mountfield,in Sussex.
Believing it to be brass, he sold the chain for
three shillings. A brother-in-law of the purchaser,
having been a gold-digger in California,
pronounced the chain to be of gold instead of
brass; and he was right. The two men concealed
this fact from the original finder; but it shortly
became evident that they were unusually well
supplied with money. The suspected character
of the men led to their being taken into custody
and examined for having in their possession
money for which they could not account. It
was ascertained on inquiry, that the finder of the
(supposed brass) chain had sold it to them; and
that a refiner in London had given them five
hundred and twenty-nine pounds for a chain
of solid gold weighing a hundred and fifty-three
ounces. The chain was gone, melted
down; but there is an almost absolute certainty
that it was the self-same chain which had been
found in the field. The loss was a cause of
great regret to archæologists, who had reason
to believe that the chain was a Celtic relic of
great rarity and interest. There was no doubt
in this case that the treasure ought to have
reverted to the crown; but it had found its way
into the melting-pot instead.

There is a law in operation on this point, in
virtue of which the Crown gives an account to
the House of Commons, of the property annually
obtained in this way. The money value
amounts to a mere bagatelle; but still it
is considered well to maintain the claim, because
some of the articles found have considerable
antiquarian or artistic value, and are
well fitted for deposit in the British Museum
or some such collection. Silver coins, heaped
up together, constitute the chief items in these
treasures; they were most probably hoarded
by the early owners, and then forgotten. Sometimes,
however, they comprise gold coins,
coins of commoner metal valuable for their
antiquity, ingots or bars, chains of gold or
silver, and jewels. In one case the " find"
was valued only as old silver, and the crown
gave it back to the finder; in some, the finders
were paid the current value, and the coins were
deposited in the British Museum; a gold cross
and chain, found in an old castle ruin, were
allotted to the queen as Duchess of Lancaster;
while some very ancient silver pennies came to
the Prince of Wales as Duke of Cornwall. In
one instance, where a large old silver coin was
found at St. Peter's, in the Isle of Thanet, the
crown had some difficulty in establishing a
claim, seeing that the coin was found lying on
the ground, and not buried or hidden.

But the crown is not the only claimant.
Many old grants, charters, and, customs give a
right to the lord of the manor: especially in
cases where there is a doubt whether the
finding were on the surface or under the surface
of the ground. There are cases, also, in which
a claim may be put in by the clergyman
of the parish, when the treasure is found on
or in glebe land. In 1863, when a debate
arose in the House of Commons on this subject
of treasure trove, it was stated that the
prime minister himself, Lord Palmerston, had
exercised his privilege as a landowner in this
way. The veteran statesman said: "It is
quite true that about two years ago some
workmen, when digging a drain in a meadow on
one of the farms I had bought a few years
previously, found a torque, an ancient British
necklace or bracelet. I got it back from the
person who had purchased it from the finder,
the value being about eight pounds. I caused
an investigation to be made of the original
grant of the farm several years ago, and
ascertained that it conferred on the grantee all the
treasure trove on the property. I, therefore,
feel authorised to keep the relic in question."
No doubt: if the sovereign give up the royal
claim in a particular spot, the receiver has a
right to enjoy what is given. But where there is
a doubt on the matter, the lawyers become
sometimes engaged in legal battle. A few years ago
a ploughman working in a field near Horndean,
in Hants, found a hundred and forty old silver
coins in an earthen pot or jar, under the surface
of the ground. He took them to the lord of the
manor, Sir J. C. Jervoise, who, valuing them
for their antiquarian interest, gave the finder
their value in present coin. But the solicitor
to the Treasury appeared, requiring the lord of
the manor to place the coins at the disposal of
the crown. The baronet not being inclined to
comply, litigation commenced, which lasted
several months, and absorbed much more money
than the coins were intrinsically worth.

In one remarkable instance, the lord of
the manor was baulked of his claim by the
sudden appearance of the veritable owner of
the property. A party of labourers, while
grubbing up some trees near Highgate, came
upon two jars containing nearly four hundred
sovereigns in gold. They divided the treasure
among them, and were then surprised to hear
that the lord of the manor of Tufnell claimed
the whole as treasure trove. Before this claim
could be enforced, however, the real owner
came forward. He had an odd story to tell.
He was a tradesman in Clerkenwell. While