The DCMS' third annual Treasure Annual Report shows that some 221 items of treasure were reported in the year 2000. This compares to an annual average of 24 finds per year reported before the 1996 Treasure Act came into force. Once reported, the items can be bought by museums for public display.
Among the items featured in the report are:
- An Iron Age silver brooch, a bronze mirror and pottery fragments from Shillington in Bedfordshire. Found by two metal detector users, the items are believed to come from a burial site. The mirror, which features an abstract early Celtic design, is one of the finest of its type found in recent years. Luton Museum and Art Gallery hopes to acquire this find.
- A collection of Iron Age gold jewellery found by metal detector users in the Winchester area of Hampshire. The find, including necklaces, brooches and bracelets, is one of the most important discoveries of Iron Age gold objects made in the last 50 years. The items have been acquired by the British Museum.
- Two Bronze Age gold torcs and three gold bracelets found by metal detector users in Milton Keynes. The British Museum hopes to acquire them.
Arts Minister Baroness Blackstone said:
"The Treasure Act has clearly been a success. It has led to more finds being offered to museums, which benefits the public, and has increased the knowledge of artefacts and where they can be found around the country. We are now in the process of improving the Act even further to include deposits of prehistoric base-metal objects and to introduce a better Code of Practice. I hope these changes will come into force next January."
The changes, currently before Parliament, were proposed by an independent review of the Act commissioned because of initial strains on the system. It proposed changes to streamline the system of administration of finds, including how rewards are paid, how objects can be bought and how the treasure is valued. The review also recommended that the definition of treasure be widened to include prehistoric base metal objects. It is thought there might be up to 50 such finds a year.
The Treasure Annual Report also looks forward to next April when an expanded Portable Antiquities Scheme starts. The aim of the scheme is to record for public benefit all archaeological objects found by members of the public on a voluntary basis. The Heritage Lottery Fund has this year agreed to fund in full a bid from Resource: the Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries to extend the scheme across the whole of England and Wales for three years.
Notes to Editors
1. Photographs of all three hoards mentioned above can be downloaded free of charge from PA Picselect. Please go to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport folder situated within the Arts section of Picselect either at
http://www.papicselect.com/ or through PA's bulletin board.
2. The Treasure Annual Report 2000, containing further details of all the treasure found, is available on the DCMS website at
http://www.culture.gov.uk/Printed copies are available from 020 7211 6144 (Public) or 020 7211 6272 (Press).
3. The Treasure Act 1996 removed the worst anomalies of the old common law of treasure trove and defined more clearly what qualifies as treasure. Under the Act the following finds are at present defined as treasure provided they were found after 24 September 1997:
a) objects other than coins at least 300 years old with a minimum precious metal content of 10%;
b) all groups of coins from the same find at least 300 years old (if the coins have a precious metal content of less than 10% then the hoard must consist of at least 10 coins) and
c) objects found in association with treasure.
4. For more details of the Treasure Act review see press notice 288/01 of 7 November 2001.
