New legislation is set to spell out detailed procedures for dealing with finds of buried treasure or other items of archaeological significance.
The publication of the draft Heritage (Jersey) Law, which is subject to a consultation process before being debated in the States Assembly later this year, follows lengthy and complex discussions about a massive coin hoard found in 2012.
A record find…
Almost a decade elapsed between the discovery of Le Câtillon II hoard by islanders Richard Miles and Reg Mead and confirmation in late 2021 that the hoard of 70,000 coins and other artefacts would be acquired by the government for £4.25 million.
The process highlighted the need for Jersey to have its own law, equivalent to the UK Treasure Act and to meet international standards laid out in the 1992 Treaty of Valletta.
The development of the Jersey’s treasure law started in 2020 following a rise in amateur metal detecting, with then Minister for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport and Culture, Senator Lyndon Farnham, signing a Ministerial Decision in 2020 to bring forward a Heritage and Antiquities Law to “provide clarity on heritage matters”.
Work on drafting the legislation was still underway at the end of 2021 when ‘A Heritage Strategy for Jersey’ – a document aiming to provide a 20-year vision for the heritage sector – highlighted Jersey’s failure to meet some international standards for heritage conservation and management.
Currently, it is not a requirement in Jersey to report the discovery of metals apart from silver and gold, or finds made of different materials such as stone, bone or ceramics, despite the significance they may have.
How will rewards be decided in future?
Once the new legislation is finalised and comes into force, potentially during the early part of 2026, anyone finding a potentially significant object or objects will be required to report their discovery to Jersey Heritage within 14 days.
An inquest may be subsequently convened by the Viscount to determine whether the items are considered as “treasure trove” or “national antiquities”, while the law will also spell out how rewards are calculated.
Any reward would be paid by the Economic Development Minister following consultation with experts, and would normally be split 50:50 between the finder(s) and the owner of the land where the discovery was made.
The reward must not exceed the market value of the national antiquity, while the draft law also stipulates that no reward can be paid for human remains.
A “fair” new system?
Publication of the legislation, which has been years in the drafting and subject to several delays, has been welcomed by one of the men who found Le Câtillon II hoard, subsequently declared to be the world’s largest Celtic coin collection by the Guinness Book of Records, in a field in Grouville.
“Certainly from the detectorists’ point of view, it means we can carry on our hobby and know there’ll be a system to regulate what happens to objects that are found,” Mr Miles said.
“There may still be some questions about what would happen to items found on beaches, but in general I think it’s fair and does the job.”
Dr Sarah Buckingham, Director of Historic Properties and Environment for Jersey Heritage, said the consultation on the draft law was a “really important” stage of the process, after several years of discussion with the government.
“It has been slow, but I feel we are in a really good place to get the law finalised and brought in,” she said.
The draft law is open for consultation until 8 September. Feedback will be incorporated into a final version which is expected to be lodged for debate by the end of 2025.
What is a “treasure trove”?
“Treasure trove” is defined as an object that is (a) more than 50% gold or silver, (b) deliberately hidden with the intention that it is to be recovered and (c) whose owner, or whose owner’s heirs, are unknown.