BRONZE AGE GOLDEN RING UNEARTHED IN FURNESS

[Kev]

Published at 13:03, Monday, 05 March 2012
By Emma Preston MORE treasure has been found in Furness, in the form of a gold ring from the Bronze Age.

The find, believed to have been made by a local man within the past six months, was declared as treasure at an inquest on Friday.

Mr Ian Smith, coroner for South and East Cumbria, acted on advice from the British Museum.

Having studied the ring, museum experts reported it was made of rolled-up gold sheet and dated back to between 1300BC and 1100BC.

Mr Smith said: “In their view, because of it’s precious metal content, and its age, it amounts to treasure. I accept that view.”

The coroner could not say where in Furness the ring was found, as it could lead to copy-cat treasure-hunters scouring the spot.

The find will now go before the British Museum’s valuation committee, before a new home is found for it.

Because the ring is treasure, museums will be given the first option of expressing an interest in it, rather than it going to open auction.

Sabine Skae, collections and exhibitions manager at Barrow’s Dock Museum, said this was great news, as otherwise the museum could be priced out of the running.

She said: “The find is quite rare for this area. We’ve got a very strong archaeology collection, but we don’t have anything like this – it would definitely complement the collection well and we’d really like to get hold of it.

“We only collect things that have been found in this area, so we’re limited in that way.

“We’ve got a lot of fantastic axe heads, for example, but in terms of Bronze Age objects, we don’t have an extensive collection.”

Despite treasure finds being rare for Furness, this is the second time within a year a discovery has been made.

Over the Easter weekend last year, a Viking hoard of 92 silver coins and artefacts was found by a metal detectorist.

Valued at tens of thousands of pounds, the find was the first of its kind in the area.

Ms Skae is working hard to bring it home.

She said: “If we manage to get the Furness hoard back to Barrow, which is really important for me, I’d like to have an archaeology gallery. And who knows, this latest find could be on display there too.”