For our American friends, we are aware of no laws or limitations that prohibit magnet fishing. However, keep in mind that metal detecting is technically illegal in some states if you are not a licensed collector. The basic rule with metal detecting is to be respectful of other people's property. If you find something that looks interesting, try not to touch it until someone from its owner company arrives to take care of it. They may have restrictions on what you can and cannot do with your discovery. For example, the person who found this piece of metal was not interested in it so he left it where he found it. A few days later, another person came across the same spot and found the same thing. He too decided not to touch it because he did not want to risk being arrested for criminal trespass. As part of their policy, Antique Archaeology requires anyone finding archaeologically significant objects to notify them before doing anything with the material. In this case, the object was reported to us through our website contact form. We arrange for one of our staff members to send out an expert to examine the site and make sure that it does not contain anything sensitive such as power lines, water mains, or gas pipes.