TREASURE TROVE l by Dr Ian Longworth Keeper of the Department of Prehistoric & Romano-British Antiquities, The British Museum ‘Treasure Trove’ is one of those expressions much the King to answer for what they had done’. The claim beloved by the media, no doubt because it smacks of of the Crown, however, did not extend to all gold and splendour and excess. It has come to be synonymous silver. For these to be deemed treasure trove it was with the chance discovery of any find of great value, necessary for two further conditions to be fulfilled. regardless of materials or of type, but this general Firstly, that no rightful owner could be found to lay usage- obscures a more precise original meaning, for claim to the treasure, and secondly, that there had to ‘Treasure Trove* survives as a legal concept, though have been a clear intention on the part of the person admittedly one that varies from country to country and who had first hidden the treasure to repossess it at from legal system to legal system. These variations are some future date. What the Crown could claim largely concerned with two aspects: firstly a definition therefore was treasure deliberately buried for safe­ of what constitutes ‘Treasure’, and secondly who has keeping whose owner had not survived to retrieve it. a right to that treasure once found. The law was seen to apply not only to objects conceal­ ed in the earth but also in above ground structures Let' us take, for example, France.1 Here the rule such as the fabric of a standing building. Surprisingly, adopted by the Code Napoleon in 1804 finds its origin in it was only in 1939 with the inquest held on the great a decree of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. If the owner Anglo-Saxon Treasure recovered from the ship bar- of the land found treasure then it belonged to him; if row at Sutton Hoo, that it was finally established that it was found on land owned by another then ownership items placed with the dead were to be excluded, as be­ fell in equal proportions to both. More recent legisla­ ing consigned to the ground without intention of tion has established the claim of the state to objects future recovery. deemed to be of archaeological, numismatic, historical or artistic interest, but the state must pay compensa­ To the Medieval Kings of England who, on the whole, tion divided equally between the owner of the land and always seemed to be chronically short of money, the the finder. right to Treasure Trove must have offered a useful, though one must imagine somewhat fitful, source of In the United States, where the situation is less clear, windfall wealth. Perhaps because the right was more the states appear never to have claimed Treasure rewarding in the expectation than in the receipt, the Trove and allowed ownership to pass to the finder, ex­ right to seek and retain treasure was sometimes assign­ cept in the State of Louisiana, which follows the ed to others by the Sovereign. Of these franchise- French Civil Code just mentioned. In Scotland, by holders the more important were to be the Duchies of contrast, all treasure and indeed all antiquities belong Cornwall and Lancaster because of their extensive to the Crown, though rewards are paid to the finder, land holdings but others were to include the Secs of while in Ireland the Treasure Trove Laws appear not Canterbury, York, Durham, Salisbury and to have been transferred at the time of becoming a Worcester, the Cities of London and of Bristol, seats separate nation. In short, what is deemed to be of learning like Kings College, Cambridge and Eton ‘Treasure Trove’ in one country may not be so deem­ College, as well as a number of ecclesiastical and other ed in another, while questions of ownership and foundations and private individuals. In many cases reward can be equally unpredictable. Here I shall con­ the rights of these franchise-holders appear to have cern myself with Treasure Trove as it is understood survived, but those of the Sovereign have been sur­ and has been applied in England and in Wales. rendered to the state in return for the Civil List. Treasure Trove seized on behalf of HM the Queen As a general rule objects found in England and Wales now passes to the Treasury. buried in the soil arc likely to belong to the owner of the land with the exception of those made of gold or silver, whether coin, bullion or plate. These arc deem­ Certainly by the nineteenth century, any lingering ed (o be > -mire and may belong to the Crown. This thoughts that Treasure Trove might still be viewed as oncept i < of considerable antiquity. Already by the a credible source of revenue for the Crown or state had twelfth v.- y the early Medieval Kings of England given way to the belief that here was a significant had estai- d a legal right to what was termed source of antiquarian knowledge. The arguments put 'Treasure >ve*, wherever this might occur. Thus in forward were at first concerned largely with coins. The 1237, the King of England, Henry III, being in­ desirability of studying the entirety of coin hoards so formed th pie had been digging for treasure in that a sequence could be established amongst the theburia? :»:ivIs of the Isle of Wight ordered the Earl earlier issues began to be appreciated and from the of Corn investigate and ‘to bring them betore middle of the nineteenth century pressure grow for a 23 more organised procedure to be introduced to regulate items arc also of great technological interest and the law. sometimes of great beauty. The system we have today is simple and straightfor­ An obvious example is the great tore from Snettisham, ward. If gold or silver is found, it must be reported as Norfolk, the finest example of the Early Iron Age soon as possible to the coroner of the district in which goldsmiths' craft and one of the finest examples of the find occurs. Alternatively, the find can be reported Early Celtic metalwork from the British Isles (Plate 1). to the Secretary of the British Museum or (if in Wales) The tore is composed of two elements: a bow formed the Director of the National Museum, or simply to the by 64 individual gold wires arranged in 8 strands each police. If in England, the objects will be forwarded to of 8 wires twisted together and a pair of hollow ring the British Museum who act as agents to the Treasury terminals. The way the bow has been formed gives the in matters of Treasure Trove. The British Museum’s tore flexibility allowing the wearer to pull apart the Research Laboratory will weigh and assess the amount ends so permitting the tore to be slipped easily around of gold or silver present and the appropriate coroner the neck. These wires were swaged, ie hammered out will be informed. If the coroner thinks on the evidence not drawn, while the terminals together with the before him that there is a prima Jacie case that the ob­ plastic elements of their decoration were produced us­ jects may be Treasure Trove, then he will call an in­ ing the cire perdue process. Here then is beauty, craft­ quest. It is for the jury at that inquest to decide smanship and surely the very embodiment of great whether the objects arc indeed Treasure Trove and to wealth and prestige. Though we now know of over 40 establish who were the finders. In doing so they have examples, each tore is different and we can begin to to weigh the three main considerations which are fun­ sec through them the goldsmith working for patrons damental to our definition. Firstly, are the objects of from the highest echelons of society, reflecting their gold or silver. As recently as 1980 a point of clarifica­ personal tastes and satisfying their individual needs for tion was introduced in this regard. Lord Denning, the conspicuous display. then Master of the Rolls, supporting a judgment by Mr Justice Dillon, suggested that objects to be deemed By the time the Snettisham tore had appeared around gold or silver must not just look so but should be made the first century BC, gold had been in use in Britain of 50% or more of these metals thus excluding, for ex­ for objects of personal adornment for almost two thou­ ample, many of the debased silver coins of the Roman sand years. The earlier pieces are made from beaten period. Secondly, the jury must establish that no legal sheet cither to form simple discs, whose ornament, owner can be found, and thirdly, that the objects were often incorporating a cross, was worked up from both buried with the intention of future recovery. If the ver­ sides2 or, in the form of earrings shaped rather like dict reached is that the objects arc Treasure Trove and elongated baskets, the decoration on these being im­ there is no claim by a franchise holder, then the cor­ pressed from one side only (Plate 2). Better known and oner will seize them on behalf of the Crown and return certainly more numerous are the remarkable sheet- them to the British Museum or in Wales, the National gold neck ornaments in the shape of crescents known Museum. If the Museum wishes to retain them, or as lunulac, the finest of which arc elegantly decorated waiving its right, arranges for a local museum to ac­ with precisely executed geometric patterns, incised in­ cept them, the objects are then valued and the valua­ to the surface (Plate 3).