Official Statistics

Reported Treasure Finds 2021/22 Statistical Release

Published 2 November 2023

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

This statistical release presents data on the number of reported treasure finds for 2021 and provisional figures for 2022^{[footnote 1]} within England, Wales and Northern Ireland. A treasure find is when a single or group of items is discovered which contains at least one item that may^{[footnote 2]} meet the legal definition of treasure in place at the time of the find^{[footnote 3]}. Data on the type of treasure and their final destinations of the finds in 2021 are broken down by county, period, and method of discovery.

At the time of publication, the number of finds for 2022 has not been finalised and confirmed^{[footnote 4]}. Therefore, the data for 2022 is provisional and are provided by county and region only; it is not possible to provide a detailed breakdown of factors such as period and change in ownership in this release. As usual, this final breakdown will be provided in the Treasure Finds Statistical Release in 2024 which will cover the treasure finds for 2022 in detail and provisional figures for 2023.

Data presented on treasure finds are collected by the Department of Portable Antiquities & Treasure at the British Museum and recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

Estimates reported for participation in metal detecting are based on data collected in the 2022/23 Participation Survey.

Released – 2 November 2023

Period covered – 2021 and 2022

Geographic coverage – National, regional, and county level data for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This release does not cover Scotland.

Next release date – November 2024

1. Headline Figures

2022

• The provisional figure for reported treasure finds in 2022 is 1,378, greater than the final 2021 figure of 1,072. This provisional figure is the highest reported treasure finds since records began in 1996 and it is the ninth year in a row when reported treasure finds exceeded 1,000.
• The UK region with the most finds for the 2022 provisional data was the South East with 349 treasure finds (25% of total finds). The UK county with the most finds for the 2022 provisional data was Norfolk with 95 treasure finds (7%).

2021

• There were 1,072 reported treasure finds in total across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 2021, similar to the 2020 figure of 1,071.
• The UK region with the most finds for 2021 was the South East with 264 treasure finds (25% of total finds). The UK county with the most finds for 2021 was Norfolk with 85 treasure finds (8%).
• Of reported treasure finds, 212 finds (20%) were coin cases and 860 finds (80%) were object cases (a find of any non-coin artefact).
• Roughly a quarter of the found object cases (26%) and a quarter of the found coin cases (24%) were acquired by or donated to museums, totalling 270 additions to museums.
• Of the total 1,072 reported treasure finds, 1,024 (96%) of these were discovered by metal detecting.

1.1 Figure 1: Number of reported treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 1996–2022 (provisional)

The chart below shows the number of treasure finds each year from 1996 to 2022 (provisional), with some noteworthy benchmarks highlighted.

2. Total reported treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2022 (provisional) and 2021^{[footnote 5]}

In 2022, the provisional number of reported treasure finds was 1,378. This was greater than the final 2021 figure of 1,072 and the provisional figure is the highest figure on record. Since the Treasure Act 1996^{[footnote 6]} replaced the old common law of Treasure Trove in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2022 was the ninth year, and the ninth year in a row, when treasure finds exceeded 1,000.

In 2022, the total treasure finds for England were 1,292 with a further 76 in Wales and 10 in Northern Ireland. It should be noted that there are additional restrictions on searching for archaeological objects in Northern Ireland, imposed by the Historic Monuments and Archaeological Objects (NI) Order of 1995.

In 2021, reported treasure finds were 1,072^{[footnote 7]}: 1,014 for England, 58 for Wales, and 0 for Northern Ireland.   As a ‘treasure find’ can be made of multiple artefacts, these numbers actually represent a total of 15,443 artefacts (objects and coins). 

3. Reported finds by location, 2021 (final) & 2022 (provisional)

In 2022, among regions in England, the South East had the highest number of reported finds at 349, followed by the East of England with 272 finds. London had the fewest reported finds with 13. The second lowest region was the North East with 22.

3.1 Figure 2: Reported treasure finds by region, 2022

In 2022, by region, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland was the South East with 349 cases (25% of total finds).

The chart below shows a geographical representation of the provisional number of reported treasure finds in 2022 by region across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

3.2 Figure 3: Reported treasure finds by region, 2021

In 2021, by region, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland was the South East with 264 cases (25% of total finds).

The chart below shows a geographical representation of the number of reported treasure finds in 2021 by region across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

3.3 Reported Treasure finds by county, 2021 (final) & 2022 (provisional)

In 2022, by county, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was Norfolk with 95 cases (7% of total finds). Similarly in 2021, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was Norfolk with 85 cases (8% of total finds).

Table 1 below shows the top 10 counties for treasure finds in England in 2021, with 2022 provisional figures included, in descending order of treasure finds in 2021.

3.4 Table 1: Reported Treasure finds by county, 2021 (final) & 2022 (provisional)

County	2021	2022 (prov.)
Norfolk	85	95
Kent (incl. Medway)	74	81
Hampshire	67	83
Wiltshire and Swindon	67	72
Suffolk	63	75
Lincolnshire	62	58
Yorkshire, North (inc. York)	59	74
Oxfordshire	44	49
Shropshire	41	53
Essex	34	57

4. Characteristics of reported finds in 2021

We are able to provide characteristics of the treasure finds from 2021, reporting on the object type discovered, the period of history it originates from, and the number of pieces of treasure museums in the UK were interested in acquiring. A breakdown of the data is not yet available for 2022 as, in line with usual timescales, treasure finds for 2022 had not been finalised and confirmed^{[footnote 4]} at the time of publication. This also means that the data is still provisional and subject to change. The next statistical release (due to be published in November 2024) will cover the characteristics for the 2022 treasure finds.

There were 1,072 treasure finds reported in 2021 (860 object cases and 212 coin cases). Of these cases:

• 231 were acquired by museums (184 object cases, 47 coin cases)^{[footnote 8]}
• 39 were donated to museums (36 object cases, 3 coin cases) allowing them to be acquired by museums at no (or reduced) public cost^{[footnote 9]}
• 498 were disclaimed^{[footnote 10]} (421 object cases, 77 coin cases)
• 62 did not meet the definition for treasure (55 object cases, 7 coin cases)
• 242 are yet to be determined (164 object cases, 78 coin cases)

Of these finds, the three largest acquisitions were made by the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery (20 cases), the British Museum, and the Lincoln Museum (10 cases for both).

Under the Treasure Act 1996, the Secretary of State has the power to disclaim^{[footnote 10]} a find, even when the find meets the definition of treasure under the Act. This can occur at any point in the process, for example, if a museum withdraws its interest in acquiring a find and no other museum expresses an interest.

The total number of finds which meet the definition for treasure in 2021 was 768. This includes acquired, donated, and disclaimed items.

4.1 Figure 4: Reported treasure finds, by change in ownership: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2021

Figure 4 shows the reported treasure finds and their ownership, in descending order of total cases.

Nearly half (46%) of treasure cases in 2021 were disclaimed^{[footnote 10]} (421 object cases and 77 coin cases). Nearly a quarter (23%) of cases are to be determined (164 objects and 78 coin cases). Over a fifth (22%) of treasure cases were acquired by museums (184 object cases and 47 coin cases).

4.2 Figure 5: Reported treasure cases by period: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2021

Figure 5 shows the reported treasure finds grouped by the time period they belong to, in descending order of total cases.

Around a third (34%) of treasure cases^{[footnote 11]} in 2021 were from the post-medieval (15th to 18th Century) period (335 object cases and 32 coin cases) and approximately a quarter (27%) were from the medieval (5th to 15th Century) period (229 objects and 63 coin cases).

5. Mode of discovery

The majority (96%) of treasure finds in 2021 were discovered by metal detecting, similar to the proportion in 2020. In 2021, a further 3% (37 cases) were archaeological finds and 1% (11 cases) were chance finds or were found via mudlarking.

In 2022/23, according to the Participation Survey, an estimated 1% of adults (aged 16 or over) in England said they had taken part in metal detecting at least once in the 12 months prior to the survey^{[footnote 12]}. This is a similar level to participation in 2021/22. 

1. The figures for 2022 are provisional, and will be confirmed when the full statistics are provided in the following year’s annual report. ↩

2. Even if the item is found to not be treasure at a later date the discovery is still counted as a treasure find. ↩

3. From 30th July 2023, changes in treasure legislation introduced a new class of treasure which widened the definition to include finds such as base metal objects and single gold coins that had previously not met the definition of treasure. These finds must be found by the Coroner to have met the definition of significance contained in the Treasure Designation (Amendment) Order 2023. Any increase in the amount of treasure cases as a result of this change will be reflected in future releases (provisional 2023 data to be published in next year’s statistical release). Data in this release is not impacted by the recent changes in treasure legislation. ↩

4. Treasure finds are considered resolved when the valuation process has been completed, the interested parties waive their right to a reward, the Crown disclaims interest in the case or a case has been deemed not treasure. ↩ ↩²

5. Data for Scotland is collated under the Scottish Treasure Trove system available at: https://treasuretrovescotland.co.uk/reports-and-minutes/ ↩

6. The Treasure Act 1996 replaced the common law of treasure trove in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland has a separate law of treasure trove and therefore isn’t covered in this statistical release. ↩

7. This figure has been amended from the provisional 2021 figure (1,079) reported in last year’s release as the number of finds had not yet been resolved at the time of publication. ↩

8. Acquired cases cover finds that have been acquired as well as finds where museums have made an expression of interest, but have not yet acquired. ↩

9. A ‘donation’ in this context is when a finder or landowner, or both, waive their claim to a reward. Museums have to fund the reward, so when a reward is waived, it means they pay less money, or none at all. ↩

10. Disclaimed/museum withdrawal cases are those cases where the Secretary of State disclaims title to the find (that is, gives up the Crown’s legal ownership of the find). This could happen prior to inquest because no museum is interested in acquiring the find or, following an inquest, because the acquiring museum withdraws its interest. In both cases the find is returned to the finder or landowner. ↩ ↩² ↩³

11. The figures for treasure cases include those which are to be determined and those categorised as not treasure. This is because while an object case or coin case may not be treasure, the find is still classified as a treasure case. ↩

12. Survey participants were asked whether they had participated in metal detecting within the last 12 months (at the time of the survey), therefore, these statistics are not intended to capture an estimate of ‘regular’ metal detectorists or those who are members of metal detecting clubs within England.  ↩