After ten months of excavation, conservation and cataloguing the British Museum officially announced yesterday the discovery of 22,000 coins, all dating from the 4th century, in Seaton Down, Devon. The hoard was found by metal detectorist Laurence Egerton near Honeyditches, the site of a previously excavated Roman villa. The majority of the coins depict the emperor Constantine or near relatives, prompting Bill Horner, Devon county archaeologist, to describe them as "a family tree of the house of Constantine".

Despite being the fifth largest Roman coin hoard found in Britain the initial monetary assessment of the trove (yet to be officially set) should be less than £100,000. This raises the hope that Exeter's Royal Albert Museum can afford to purchase the collection for permanent display purposes.

Interesting.  Perhaps Sincerely Thine should invest in a metal detector.  Though, knowing my luck I'd find nothing but discarded tins and safety pins and the like.  Despite living in Staffordshire for much of my life (and been ensconced back there for the last nearly four years) I never found anything remotely like the Staffordshire Hoard.

Credit where credit is due too. This find not only produced the one millionth artefact to be registered under the Portable Antiquities Scheme administered by the British Museum but also stands as testament to the scheme's success in encouraging a responsible approach to ensuring that such finds, made by members of the public rather than professional archaeologists, make it into the officially recorded data. Particularly heart warming was Mr Egerton's account of sleeping in his car for three nights after making his discovery, guarding the location which he had preserved according to advice he solicited from the authorities, until a proper archaeological survey could get under way. Prior to 1997, when the PAS was founded, such a responsible attitude on the part of metal detectorists was lamentably rare. Congratulations and gratitude to both Mr Egerton and the PAS are undoubtedly due!

Obviously I second your comments on the ethical behaviour of the finder in this case but I can't but be struck by the difference in procedure on each side of the border. Up here such a hoard would, as any pre-Victorian find would, be automatically property of the crown and, if considered significant, claimed as treasure trove. In that case the finder (not the land owner) would be awarded compensation and the object allocated to a museum. We, therefore, do not have the problem of desperately trying to raise the cash to prevent national treasures, like the Crosby Garrett helmet, disappearing into private collections.
https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/archaeology/TreasureTroveinScotlandLeaflet.pdf