Target of £150k reached to buy Bronze Age treasure

A museum has successfully secured the £150,000 it needs in order to keep a 3,000-year-old dress fastener.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery acquired the solid gold object after it was discovered in 2023 in Ellastone, Staffordshire, by a metal detectorist.

The museum said it was the first object of its kind to be found in Britain in almost 30 years, and had since been declared treasure. They added only seven other pieces were recorded across England and Wales.

The money to ensure the Bronze Age piece stayed in Stoke-on-Trent was raised through a combination of public donations and grant funding.

The artefact will go on public display from spring 2027 when the museum fully reopens following a multi-million-pound transformation.

In the meantime, staff are planning to deliver outreach events to help people see the dress fastener and learn about Staffordshire's Bronze Age past.

"This discovery, alongside the Staffordshire Hoard and the Leekfrith Torcs, confirms Staffordshire as home to some of the most important gold treasures ever found in the country," said city councillor Sarah Hill.

"Securing this piece will strengthen the museum's offer while it undergoes its multi-million-pound transformation and give visitors even more reason to explore our area's history."

Curator of local history Joe Perry said the fastener would have been worn as a visible display of wealth and status, and it was likely the person who wore it was among the highest levels of Bronze Age society.

"To find such a rare artefact in the county changes our understanding of the region during the Bronze Age," he said.

"We are incredibly pleased that this nationally important object will remain in a publicly accessible collection following a successful fundraising campaign."

Peter Wilson, chair of the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, said his group was delighted the piece was being saved for local people and visitors.

Physical and digital replicas of the fastener will now be created for events linked to the Festival of Archaeology in July and heritage open days in September.

A festival of treasure is planned to mark the reopening of the museum in spring 2027, and the fastener's first public display.

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.