In order to obviate the need for an endless stream of detectorists to come here saying the figures are wrong and for TMA members to start dying of boredom -

Gents,
YES we know you dispute the figures.. And d'you know, we did sort of anticipate that whatever the figures cited they would be attacked!

Which is why -

a.) As we fully explained, the figures are deliberately conservative relative to the evidence (in multiple ways).

b.) We wrote that - "Since what happens in the fields is essentially a secret known only to each individual detectorist, no-one can claim to know for certain the true figures or suggest any particular estimate is right or wrong.
Consequently, our purpose in presenting this counter is to illustrate to the public in a clear way that even on the basis of the lowest likely estimates the rate of erosion of the finite resource is unacceptable – and is happening in Britain and almost nowhere else. The counter may or may not be a precise reflection of the rate of depletion. The broad picture it paints, of millions of artefacts being progressively removed and society being deprived of the associated knowledge of its past, is certainly accurate."

So please, no more "the figures are wrong". Its pointless. You all know what "the field has been hammered" means - the artefactual record has been eroded out of existence. The Counter simply reflects that process over rather a lot of fields and more than three decades - and as such performs two long-overdue functions - informing the public of the erosion of its communal resource in an unequivocal way and holding a mirror up to your faces.