ANYONE who has discovered a potential treasure can visit a "portable antiques scheme" at a Bradford Museum.

The scheme is holding drop-in sessions at Bolling Hall Museum for people to find out more about archaeological items they’ve found, and register them on their database of finds.

The sessions will be run by Amy Downes, the South and West Yorkshire Finds Liaison Officer for PAS, on Thursday March 19 and June 25 between 1pm and 3pm at the venue.

The Portable Antiquities Scheme is run by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum of Wales) to encourage the recording of archaeological objects. They are building up a public database of found objects in order to form a picture of what past life was like in England and Wales.

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There have been several important finds in the Bradford district which have been defined as Treasure, including 27 Iron Age gold coins known as the Silsden Hoard. This hoard can be seen at Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley.

Other finds in the district include over 100 silver Roman coins and a Tudor ring from around 1550.

Hundreds of other important objects have also been recorded from the district.

One example is a pilgrim’s holy water flask. It tells us that a Medieval Bradfordonian went on pilgrimage and brought some souvenirs back. The holy water contained within the flasks could have been used to bless a sick animal or an infertile field, or to try to cure a sick relative.

In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, all finders of gold and silver objects, and groups of coins from the same finds, over 300 years old, have a legal obligation to report such items under the Treasure Act 1996.

Groups of prehistoric base-metal objects found after 1 January 2003 also qualify as treasure.

British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru wants to record everything that is Medieval or older, and as many younger finds as they can. Even broken or poorly preserved finds are vitally important to archaeological research.

Councillor Sarah Ferriby, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Healthy People and Places, said: “These drop-in sessions are a great way for people to find out about things that they’ve discovered. Recording the details of local finds means that a picture of the past can be built up and historians can help us to learn more about the people that lived in our district all those years ago.”