Museum seeks £150k to buy Bronze Age treasure

A museum is aiming to raise £150,000 in order to keep a 3,000-year-old dress fastener.

The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, wants to keep the rare Bronze Age treasure, which was discovered in 2023 in Ellastone, Staffordshire.

The museum has until the spring to raise the funds needed to keep it in the area and place it in its public collection.

It would then sit alongside the Staffordshire Hoard and Leekfrith Torcs and was described as one of the county's most important archaeological gold finds.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council said it was one of the finest examples of its kind ever discovered and the first to be found in Britain for almost 30 years.

Only seven others are recorded across England and Wales, and the exceptional workmanship that had gone into making it showed it belonged to someone of very high status, the council added.

"Securing this piece would strengthen the museum's offer as it reopens following its multimillion-pound transformation and give visitors yet more reason to come and explore our area's history," said councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for finance.

A fundraising campaign led by the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery has already secured a £60,000 pledge from Art Fund, subject to the remaining funds being raised.

"We are particularly excited about the dress fastener," said Peter Wilson, chair of the friends group.

"We hope that anyone who is able to will help us to keep this very special example of our local history, which will complement the Potteries Museum's already rich archaeological collections."

If the appeal succeeds, the fastener will be displayed in the museum's archaeology galleries and be available for research into prehistoric Staffordshire.

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