I must admit collecting roman artifacts is one of my other passions, it all started with 7 roman coins purchased off eBay UK and escalated - Archaeologists frown on eBay sellers, as in just about all cases all context of the finds is lost when they are dug up only to sell for profit, and to archaeologists the context of the find is the important information - metal detectorists could clean out all the metal finds from an important site and consequently it never gets investigated archaeologically. Valuable sites will be lost from history because a few unscrupulous people with a metal detector have an urge to make some easy money. I know there are alternatives like Resistivity surveys, Magnetometry scans and ground penetrating radar, but these are usually led to a site by the presence of many interesting metal finds - if they are gone - whats to lead them there? I now only purchase items found in the UK and registered already with the portable antiquities scheme run by the government. Where place, time and context are all logged with the county archaeologist. I believe it is the responsible way to continue collecting these fantastic items - and just a parting thought - I cant think of anything Ive made that will still be around in 2000 years time - can you?