Official Statistics

Reported Treasure Finds 2023 and 2024 Statistical Release

Published 6 November 2025

Applies to England, Northern Ireland and Wales

This statistical release presents data on the number of reported treasure finds for 2023 and provisional figures for 2024^{[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 2023 are broken down by county, period, and method of discovery.

At the time of publication, the number of finds for 2024 has not been finalised and confirmed^{[footnote 4]}. Therefore, the data for 2024 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 2026 which will cover the treasure finds for 2024 in detail and provisional figures for 2025.

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 2024/25 Participation Survey.

Released – 6 November 2025

Period covered – 2023 and 2024

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 2026

1. Headline Figures

2024

• The provisional figure for reported treasure finds in 2024 is 1,540, this is greater than the final 2023 figure of 1,343. 
• The region with the most finds for the 2024 provisional data was the East of England with 388 treasure finds (25% of total finds). The county with the most finds for the 2024 provisional data was Norfolk with 138 treasure finds (9% of total finds).

2023

• There were 1,343 reported treasure finds in total across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland in 2023, which is less than the 2022 figure of 1,377.
• The region with the most finds for 2023 was the East of England with 303 treasure finds (23% of total finds). The county with the most finds for 2023 was Norfolk with 108 treasure finds (8% of total finds).
• Of reported treasure finds, 252 finds (19%) were coin cases and 1,091 finds (81%) were object cases (a find of any non-coin artefact).
• Just over a quarter of the found object cases (28%) and just under a third of the found coin cases (30%) were acquired by or donated to museums, totalling 378 additions to museums.
• Of the total 1,343 reported treasure finds, 1,274 (95%) of these were discovered by metal detecting.

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

The chart below shows the number of treasure finds each year from 1996 to 2024 (provisional), with some noteworthy benchmarks highlighted. 

From 30th July 2023, changes in treasure legislation designated 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. This captures finds of historic and archaeological importance that previously would not have been classed as treasure. There have been two finds up to this statistical release which have met the new definition. These are a 9th century penny of Aethelstan II, found in February 2024 and a Roman copper alloy lamp in the shape of sandalled foot, found in July 2024, both included in the 2024 total. This change in definition has had no impact on the total number of finds for 2023, and slightly increased the provisional total number of finds in 2024 (from 1,538 to 1,540). The trends we report in this release would not change even if these two finds were excluded.

2. Total reported treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2024 (provisional) and 2023^{[footnote 6]}

In 2024, the provisional number of reported treasure finds was 1,540. This is greater than the final 2023 figure of 1,343 and is now the highest figure since records began. Since the Treasure Act 1996^{[footnote 7]} replaced the old common law of Treasure Trove in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2024 was the eleventh year that treasure finds exceeded 1,000.

In 2024, the total treasure finds for England were 1,446 with a further 85 in Wales, and 9 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 2023, reported treasure finds were 1,343^{[footnote 8]}: 1,266 for England, 77 for Wales, and none reported for Northern Ireland. As an individual ‘treasure find’ can be made of multiple artefacts, these numbers actually represent a total of 32,768 artefacts (objects and coins).

3. Reported finds by location, 2023 (final) & 2024 (provisional)

In 2024, among regions in England, the East of England had the highest number of reported finds at 388, followed by the South East with 303 finds. London had the fewest reported finds with 8. The second lowest region was the North East with 31.

In 2024, by region, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland was the East of England with 388 cases (25% of total finds).

The chart below shows a geographical representation of the provisional number of reported treasure finds in 2024 by region across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Figure 2: Reported treasure finds by region, 2024 (provisional)

In 2023, by region, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland was the East of England with 303 cases (23% of total finds).

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

Figure 3: Reported treasure finds by region, 2023

In 2024, by county, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was in Norfolk with 138 cases (9% of total finds). In 2023, the largest number of treasure finds in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was also in Norfolk with 108 cases (8% of total finds).

Table 1 below shows the top 10 counties for treasure finds in England in 2023, with 2024 provisional figures included, in descending order of treasure finds in 2023.

Table 1: Reported Treasure finds by county, 2023 (final) & 2024 (provisional)

County	2023	2024 (prov.)
Norfolk	108	138
Hampshire	92	110
Essex	85	107
Lincolnshire	74	76
Yorkshire, North (inc. York)	69	109
Wiltshire and Swindon	66	79
Suffolk	63	85
Oxfordshire	60	32
Kent (incl. Medway)	44	49
Gloucestershire (incl. Bristol, S. Gloucestershire, Bath and North East Somerset, and North Somerset)	41	29

4. Characteristics of reported finds in 2023

We are able to provide characteristics of the treasure finds for 2023, 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 2024 as, in line with usual timescales, treasure finds for 2024 had not been finalised and confirmed^{[footnote 5]} at the time of publication. The next statistical release (due to be published in November 2026) will cover the characteristics for the 2024 treasure finds.

There were 1,343 treasure finds reported in 2023 (1,091 object cases and 252 coin cases). Of these cases:

• 328 (24%) were acquired by museums (260 object cases, 68 coin cases)^{[footnote 9]}
• 50 (4%) were donated to museums (42 object cases, 8 coin cases) allowing them to be acquired by museums at no (or reduced) public cost^{[footnote 10]}
• 728 (54%) were disclaimed^{[footnote 11]} (615 object cases, 113 coin cases) where a museum initially expressed an interest in acquiring the find, but withdrew their interest at a later point in the process
• 68 (5%) did not meet the definition for treasure (58 object cases, 10 coin cases)
• 169 (13%) are yet to be determined (116 object cases, 53 coin cases)

Of these finds, the three largest acquisitions were made by the Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery (15 cases), the Colchester & Ipswich Museums Service (14 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. In these cases, the treasure is returned to either the person who discovered the find or the landowner, pending their joint agreement.

The total number of finds which met the definition for treasure in 2023 was 1,106. This includes acquired, donated, and disclaimed items.

Figure 4 shows the reported treasure finds and their ownership.

Figure 4: Reported treasure finds, by change in ownership: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2023

Over half (54%) of treasure cases in 2023 were disclaimed by museums ^{[footnote 11]} (615 object cases and 113 coin cases). Around a quarter (24%) of treasure cases were acquired by museums (260 object cases and 68 coin cases). Just over a tenth (13%) of cases are to be determined (116 objects and 53 coin cases).

Figure 5 shows the reported treasure finds grouped by the time period they belong to.

Figure 5: Reported treasure cases by period: England, Wales and Northern Ireland, 2023

Over a third (37%) of treasure cases^{[footnote 12]} in 2023 were from the post-medieval (15th to 18th Century) period (437 object cases and 59 coin cases) and over a fifth (23%) were from the medieval (5th to 15th Century) period (255 objects and 51 coin cases).

5. Method of discovery

The majority (95%) of treasure finds in 2023 were discovered by metal detecting, 1 percentage point higher than in 2022 .A further 4% (53 cases) were archaeological finds and 1% were chance finds (12 cases) or were found via mudlarking (3 cases). 

In 2024/25, 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 2023/24. Further, an estimated 1% of adults in England said they had taken part in mudlarking.

Footnotes

1. The figures for 2024 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 2023 figure (1,358) 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 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. ↩