TREASURE ANNU AL REPORT 2005/6 - Portable Antiquities Scheme

INTRODUCTION
CoRoNERs bILL
In the Treasure Annual Report 2004 it was noted that
the Government had published a draft Coroners
and Death Certification Bill which would include a
number of amendments to the Treasure Act, including,
most significantly, a single coroner who would deal
with all cases of Treasure from England & Wales. The
Government has now included this Bill in its Draft
Legislative Programme 2008/09, published in May 2008.
INCREAsE IN TREAsuRE CAsEs
This year’s Annual Report, which includes details of 592
cases from 2005 and 665 from 2006, compared with
506 in the 2004 Report and 427 in the 2003 Report,
reflects the continuing increase in Treasure cases which
is the consequence of the expansion of the Portable
Antiquities Scheme in 2003.
ACquIsITIoN oF TREAsuRE by musEums
282 new Treasure finds have been, or are being,
acquired by museums, while 557 have been disclaimed,
206 were deemed not to be Treasure and 212 cases are
still to be determined. Index B lists those museums that
have acquired finds.
Over the past four years museums have acquired
more cases of Treasure as the overall numbers of
finds reported as Treasure has increased. However,
the proportion of finds acquired by museums in
comparison with those disclaimed has remained
remarkably constant.
As in previous years museums have received help to
enable them to acquire Treasure from the Art Fund (12
cases: nos. 12, 30, 67, 82, 199, 251, 252, 425, 528, 537,
1132, 1187), the V&A/MLA Purchase Grant Fund (28
cases: nos. 12, 30, 32, 34, 199, 224, 257, 266, 267, 269,
271, 275, 318, 340, 402, 417, 508, 511, 537, 561, 1041,
1061, 1062, 1072, 1111, 1127, 1187, 1189) and the
Headley Museums Treasure Acquisition Fund (26 cases:
nos. 7, 12, 30, 32, 67, 82, 120, 199, 224, 257, 266, 271,
272, 318, 340, 402, 417, 425, 508, 511, 561, 722, 1062,
1111, 1126, 1187).
DoNATIoNs
In 2006 the DCMS launched a new initiative to
encourage finders and landowners to consider waiving
their rights to rewards to enable museums to acquire
Treasure finds, giving certificates signed by the Minister
to those who did so. In 2004 there were 28 cases where
one or both parties waived their rewards; in 2005 the
number was 25 and in 2006, 44.
uNREpoRTED FINDs oF poTENTIAL TREAsuRE
Since October 2006 MLA and the BM has had
an agreement with eBay to monitor the site for
unreported Treasure. During the first year 183 cases
were questioned and the number of potential Treasure
on eBay finds has declined markedly over the course of
the year. One member of staff has become a Special
Police Constable with the Metropolitan Police Service’s
Art & Antiques Unit.
It was also noted in the previous Treasure Annual
Report that English Heritage, in partnership with
TAbLE 1. ANALysIs oF 2005 FINDs by pERIoD AND TypE oF objECT
objECTs ACquIRED DoNATED DIsCLAImED
Total 13 8 39 9 29 98
6 7
Grand Total 53 44 281 120 167 665
NoT
TREAsuRE
To bE
DETERmINED
Bronze Age 25 6 7 - 4 42
Iron Age 5 2 1 - 8
Roman 6 3 27 5 4 45
Early Medieval 36 3 22 1 7 69
Medieval 25 2 79 3 11 120
Post-Medieval 34 4 94 2 4 138
ToTAL
18th–20th
centuries
- - - 53 - 53
Undiagnostic - - 8 14 - 22
Total
Coins
131 18 239 79 30 497
Iron Age 7 - 2 1 1 11
Roman 13 4 23 5 7 52
Early Medieval 3 - - - 1 4
Medieval 6 2 6 - 3 17
Post-Medieval 0 1 6 1 3 11
Total 29 7 37 7 15 95
Grand Total 160 25 276 86 45 592
TAbLE 2. ANALysIs oF 2006 FINDs by pERIoD AND TypE oF objECT
objECTs ACquIRED DoNATED DIsCLAImED
other national heritage agencies and museums in the
United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, had
commissioned Oxford Archaeology to carry out a
survey of illegal metal detecting. The data-gathering
phase of this project is now complete and a report will
be published later in 2008.
Roger Bland, OBE
Head of the Department of Portable Antiquities
and Treasure, British Museum
NoT
TREAsuRE
To bE
DETERmINED
ToTAL
Bronze Age 0 6 8 2 17 33
Iron Age 2 - - 2 1 5
Roman 5 6 32 8 10 61
Early Medieval 8 3 10 5 29 55
Medieval 14 13 79 2 44 152
Post-Medieval 11 7 107 3 37 165
18th–20th
centuries
- - - 61 - 61
Undiagnostic - 1 6 28 - 35
Total
Coins
40 36 242 111 138 567
Iron Age 2 - 7 1 4 14
Roman 7 8 20 3 14 52
Early Medieval 1 - - - 2 3
Medieval 2 - 6 4 7 19
Post-Medieval 1 - 5 1 2 9
Undiagnostic - - 1 - - 1