The largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon coins to have been recorded under the Treasure Act, which was unearthed by a metal detecting club, could be acquired by Buckinghamshire County Museum.
The hoard of 5,251 coins was discovered by the Weekend Wanderers on the 21 December buried in a lead container in a field near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.
The find is now being studied by Gareth Williams, the curator of early medieval coinage at the British Museum, but will be subject to a local coroner’s inquest. If the coroner decides that the find is Treasure, then it may be claimed by the Crown, and will be valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee.
Buckinghamshire County Museum, which became a trust in August, has expressed an interest in acquiring the hoard, but this is subject to the trustees’ approval.
“This is the largest and most significant find that we’ve had reported here, and If we are able to acquire it, then it will have a huge impact on our collection,” said Brett Thorn, the keeper of archaeology at Bucks County Museum Trust. “We have about 4,000 Roman coins and less than 50 Saxon coins in our collection at the moment, so clearly this would be fantastic opportunity.”
Ros Tyrrell, the finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), which is run by the British Museum, was present at the dig and supervised the recovery of the hoard.
The British Museum may pass on a 6% cut in its grant-in-aid to the scheme’s £1m grant from April – a move that could have implications for maintaining a national network of finds liaison officers.
“This is £64,000, or more than two posts, and we are currently trying to renew all the contracts for posts, but it is clear that we will need more money if we are to continue to maintain a national scheme next year,” said Roger Bland, the director of the PAS.
The Museums Association is holding an MP seminar, Dig it: Museums and archaeology, which will look at acquiring treasure, archives and funding, on 6 March at the British Museum in London
Links
Portable Antiquities Scheme
Dig it: Museums and archaeology
The hoard of 5,251 coins was discovered by the Weekend Wanderers on the 21 December buried in a lead container in a field near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.
The find is now being studied by Gareth Williams, the curator of early medieval coinage at the British Museum, but will be subject to a local coroner’s inquest. If the coroner decides that the find is Treasure, then it may be claimed by the Crown, and will be valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee.
Buckinghamshire County Museum, which became a trust in August, has expressed an interest in acquiring the hoard, but this is subject to the trustees’ approval.
“This is the largest and most significant find that we’ve had reported here, and If we are able to acquire it, then it will have a huge impact on our collection,” said Brett Thorn, the keeper of archaeology at Bucks County Museum Trust. “We have about 4,000 Roman coins and less than 50 Saxon coins in our collection at the moment, so clearly this would be fantastic opportunity.”
Ros Tyrrell, the finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), which is run by the British Museum, was present at the dig and supervised the recovery of the hoard.
The British Museum may pass on a 6% cut in its grant-in-aid to the scheme’s £1m grant from April – a move that could have implications for maintaining a national network of finds liaison officers.
“This is £64,000, or more than two posts, and we are currently trying to renew all the contracts for posts, but it is clear that we will need more money if we are to continue to maintain a national scheme next year,” said Roger Bland, the director of the PAS.
The Museums Association is holding an MP seminar, Dig it: Museums and archaeology, which will look at acquiring treasure, archives and funding, on 6 March at the British Museum in London
Links
Portable Antiquities Scheme
Dig it: Museums and archaeology
