Buried Treasure - Who should own these coins?

Simple answer: the queen.

Complicated answer: the finder must report the find to government authorities within fourteen days, pursuant to the Treasure Act of 1996. The government then may give the finder (along with the owner of the land) a reward for finding the treasure.

One question that I'm not able to answer is whether the Treasure Act applies to the Channel Islands, where this particular trove was found. The Channel Islands occupy a rather strange jurisdictional place in the UK. They're feudal domains ruled directly by the British monarchs in their capacity as dukes of Normandy. Legislation that covers England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, therefore, may not necessarily cover the Channel Islands.

But it won't stay in Leeds if the city cannot raise the balance - around £30,000 - of the £171,310 which has been set under Treasure Trove rules as the fair price to ask of the local authority before any find is auctioned on the open market. This is generally reckoned a good arrangement because of the risk of losing precious history if landowners and detectorists, who share the money, do not get sensible compensation.

In this case, it would be particularly curmudgeonly to question that: the detectorist reported finding five gold objects straight away; West Yorkshire archaeologists came and did a check dig for more but found nothing; then the detectorist returned for a final sweep and made a sixth find, a lovely ring, plus a strange, small leaden implement which looks endearingly everyday amid the gold. More detail can be found here.

Kat Baxter was interesting about the treasure's importance in filling one of the biggest gaps in the city's history, the appropriately-named Dark Ages when, as she said with a pride which we all shared, there clearly were important people in and around Leeds. As you would expect. As children, we were brought up to believe that the great triumph of the north over the midlands, the Battle of Winwaedsfield, took place near the York Road roundabout on the ring road. The site of the hoard is being kept secret, but maybe it had something to do with that.

£171,000 in the current squeeze? It's a lot of money, but if all goes well, generous amounts are hoped for from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and a major national arts trust which would reduce the gap to manageable size. The Leeds Phil & Lit, Friends of the Museum and other local donors have been generous and the evening which I enjoyed raised getting on for another £2000.


I'll end with Tony North, president of the Phil & Lit and an eminent, supposedly retired scientist - he was writing interesting stuff about DNA in the Guardian as long ago as 1965. He says:


If the required total is not achieved within the next two weeks, the hoard will be put up for auction, a likely result being that it will go into private hands and never again be seen by the public, not least those of us in Leeds. It is an important piece of our heritage from the period known as the Dark Ages, the only other Anglo-Saxon artefact being the cross in Leeds Parish Church.

The objects can be seen for the next couple of weeks in the City Museum, and pictures of them are on the Museum's and Friends' websites.