Treasure Valuation Committee
On 24 September 1997 the Treasure Act 1996 replaced the common law of Treasure Trove in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Act was revised by Order in October 2002 in order to extend the definition of Treasure.
The Treasure (designation) Order 2002 (PDF 82kb).
It ensures that gold and silver antiquities found by the public (generally when metal detecting), are obtained by museums and galleries, for display to the public. To do this, the 1996 Act builds on the common law of Treasure Trove which held that all gold and silver artefacts are owned by the Crown.
Treasure Valuation
To encourage responsible behaviour by finders, the likely market value of each Treasure find is established by the independent Treasure Valuation Committee.
The Committee commissions independent members of the art trade to provide a provisional valuation to act as a guide. The finder, find site owner and the acquiring museum are free to commission their own valuation. Their valuation should be submitted on the Valuation Form RTF (32kb) and the valuer should take account of the key criteria PDF (25kb). Further information is available on the Treasure valuation process PDF (97kb).
The Committee is made up of experts in the various types of antiquity likely to be inspected, an official from the leading metal detectorist body, and an expert on museums and their collections.
It values each Treasure find on the basis of willing buyer/willing seller, and expects Treasure finds to have only had a light cleaning to help its identification. The finder, the find site owner, and the acquiring museum are informed of the valuation.
Once all parties have accepted the valuation, the museum is invoiced for the agreed amount.
As soon as the Crown receives the agreed valuation, ownership of the Treasure item passes to the museum, and it is this sum which is then made as ex gratia payments for the finder and the find site owner.
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