It has been announced by the Government that what is defined as treasure under the Treasure Act 1996 is to be amended. Under the current Act, artifacts that are newly discovered can only be classified as treasure legally, if they are over 300 years old and are made from previous metal or are part of a collection of valuable objects or artefacts.

The amendments will see that this change to provide most exceptional finds that are over 200 years old are legally defined as treasure, regardless of the type of metal they are made from, so long as it can be shown that the item(S) provide insight into the country’s heritage.

More information is available here: Revising the definition of treasure in the Treasure Act 1996 and revising the related Codes of Practice – Government response to public consultation – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk )