Official Statistics

Reported Treasure Finds 2022 and 2023 Statistical Release

Published 26 November 2024

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

This statistical release presents data on the number of reported treasure finds for 2022 and provisional figures for 2023^{[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 2022 are broken down by county, period, and method of discovery.

At the time of publication, the number of finds for 2023 has not been finalised and confirmed^{[footnote 4]}. Therefore, the data for 2023 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 2025 which will cover the treasure finds for 2023 in detail and provisional figures for 2024.

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 and mudlarking are based on data collected in the 2023/24 Participation Survey.

Released – 26 November 2024

Period covered – final data to 2022 and provisional data for 2023

Geographic coverage – England, Wales and Northern Ireland, English regions, and counties for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This release does not cover Scotland.

Next release date – November 2025

1. Headline Figures

2023

• The provisional figure for reported treasure finds in 2023 is 1,358. This is slightly fewer than the final 2022 figure of 1,377, though more than the final figure for any other previous year. This 2023 provisional figure is the tenth year in a row when reported treasure finds exceeded 1,000.
• The region with the most finds for the 2023 provisional data was the East of England with 304 treasure finds (22% of total finds). The county with the most finds for the 2023 provisional data was Norfolk with 109 treasure finds (8% of total finds).

2022

• There were 1,377 reported treasure finds in total across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 2022, which is greater than the 2021 figure of 1,072.
• The region with the most finds for 2022 was the South East with 349 treasure finds (25% of total finds). The county with the most finds for 2022 was Norfolk with 95 treasure finds (7% of total finds).
• Of reported treasure finds, 277 finds (20%) were coin cases and 1,100 finds (80%) were object cases (a find of any non-coin artefact).
• Almost a third of the found object cases (30%) and around a third of the found coin cases (32%) were acquired by or donated to museums, totalling 423 additions to museums.
• Of the total 1,377 reported treasure finds, 1,296 (94%) of these were discovered by metal detecting.

Figure 1 shows the number of treasure finds each year from 1996 to 2023 (provisional). From 30th July 2023, changes in treasure legislation introduced a new class of treasure which widened the definition to include any metal object or coin that is more than 200 years old and is found by the Coroner to have met the definition of significance contained in the Treasure Designation (Amendment) Order 2023. There has been one find which has met the new definition, a 9th century penny of Aethelstan II. The coin was declared treasure by the coroner in September 2023.

1.1 Figure 1: Number of reported treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 1996–2023 (provisional)^{[footnote 5]}

2. Total reported treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2023 (provisional) and 2022^{[footnote 6]}

The provisional figure for reported treasure finds in 2023 is 1,358. This is slightly lower than the final 2022 figure of 1,377, though more than the final figure for any other previous year. Since the Treasure Act 1996^{[footnote 7]} replaced the old common law of Treasure Trove in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2023 was the tenth year, and the tenth year in a row, when treasure finds exceeded 1,000.

In 2023, the total treasure finds for England were 1,281 with a further 77 in Wales. None were found 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 2022, reported treasure finds were 1,377^{[footnote 8]}: 1,291 for England, 76 for Wales, and 10 for Northern Ireland. As an individual ‘treasure find’ can be made of multiple artefacts, these numbers actually represent a total of 11,957 artefacts (objects and coins).

3. Reported finds by location, 2022 (final) & 2023 (provisional)

In 2023, among regions in England, the East of England had the highest number of reported finds at 304, followed by the South East with 277 finds. London had the fewest reported finds with 14. The second lowest region was the North East with 34.

In 2023, by region, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland was the East of England with 304 cases (22% of total finds).

The chart below shows a geographical representation of the provisional number of reported treasure finds in 2023 by region across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

3.1 Figure 2: Reported treasure finds by region, 2023 (provisional)

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 number of reported treasure finds in 2022 by region across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

3.2 Figure 3: Reported treasure finds by region, 2022 (final)

In 2023, by county, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was Norfolk with 109 cases (8% of total finds). Similarly, in 2022, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was Norfolk with 95 cases (7% of total finds).

Table 1 below shows the top 10 counties for treasure finds in England in 2022, with 2023 provisional figures included, in descending order of treasure finds in 2022.

3.3 Table 1: Reported Treasure finds by county, 2022 (final) & 2023 (provisional)

County	2022	2023 (prov.)
Norfolk	95	109
Hampshire	84	93
Kent (inc. Medway)	81	47
Suffolk	75	63
Yorkshire, North (inc. York)	74	69
Wiltshire and Swindon	73	67
Lincolnshire	58	74
Essex	57	85
Shropshire	52	31
Oxfordshire	49	60

4. Characteristics of reported finds in 2022

We are able to provide characteristics of the treasure finds, 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 2023 as, in line with usual timescales, treasure finds for 2023 had not been finalised and confirmed^{[footnote 5]} at the time of publication. The characteristics data for 2022 is provisional and subject to change. The next statistical release (due to be published in November 2025) will cover the characteristics for the 2023 treasure finds.

There were 1,377 treasure finds reported in 2022 (1,100 object cases and 277 coin cases). Of these cases:

• 359 were acquired by museums (281 object cases, 78 coin cases)^{[footnote 9]}
• 64 were donated to museums (53 object cases, 11 coin cases) allowing them to be acquired by museums at no (or reduced) public cost^{[footnote 10]}
• 654 were disclaimed^{[footnote 11]} (540 object cases, 114 coin cases)
• 61 did not meet the definition for treasure (58 object cases, 3 coin cases)
• 239 are yet to be determined (168 object cases, 71 coin cases)

Of these finds, the three largest acquisitions were made by the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery (23 cases), the Shropshire Museum Service (17 cases) and the Lincoln Museum (14 cases).

Under the Treasure Act 1996, the Secretary of State has the power to disclaim^{[footnote 11]} 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 2022 was 1,077. This includes acquired, donated, and disclaimed items. 

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

4.1 Figure 4: Reported treasure finds, by change in ownership: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2022

Nearly half (47%) of treasure cases in 2022 were disclaimed by museums^{[footnote 11]} (540 object cases and 114 coin cases). Over a quarter (26%) of treasure cases were acquired by museums (281 object cases and 78 coin cases). Nearly a fifth (17%) of cases are to be determined (168 objects and 71 coin cases). 

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

4.2 Figure 5: Reported treasure cases by period: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2022

A third (33%) of treasure cases^{[footnote 12]} in 2022 were from the post-medieval (15th to 18th Century) period (407 object cases and 54 coin cases) and approximately a quarter (27%) were from the medieval (5th to 15th Century) period (279 objects and 88 coin cases).

5. Mode of discovery

The majority (94%) of treasure finds in 2022 were discovered by metal detecting. While still accounting for the vast majority, this was 2 percentage points fewer than in 2021. This may be partially driven by more treasure finds’ method of discovery not yet determined than usual. A further 4% (53 cases) were archaeological finds and 1% (10 cases) were chance finds or were found via mudlarking. There were 18 finds with method of discovery to be determined (1.3%).

In 2023/24, 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 13]}.  This is a similar level to participation in 2022/23. Further, an estimated 1% of adults in England said they had taken part in mudlarking.

1. The figures for 2023 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 any metal object or coin that is more than 200 years old and is found by the Coroner to have met the definition of significance contained in the Treasure Designation (Amendment) Order 2023. ↩

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. ↩

5. Historic data are available in previous publications of reported treasure finds statistics. ↩ ↩²

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

7. 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. ↩

8. This figure has been amended from the provisional 2022 figure (1,378) reported in last year’s release as the number of finds had not yet been resolved at the time of publication. ↩

9. 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. ↩

10. 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. ↩

11. 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

12. 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. ↩

13. Participation Survey participants were asked whether they had participated in metal detecting and/or mudlarking 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 mudlarkers or those who are members of metal detecting or mudlarking clubs within England. ↩