United Kingdom: Treasure, the PAS and export licences

The Treasure Act 1996 (England, Wales and Northern Ireland) vests certain finds in the Crown: objects at least 300 years old with at least 10 % precious metal, prehistoric base-metal assemblages, coin hoards, and anything found with them. The Treasure (Designation) (Amendment) Order 2023 added a significance class — any metal object over 200 years old that provides exceptional insight into national or regional history, archaeology or culture, judged on rarity, find-spot and association. A finder must report Treasure to the coroner within 14 days of finding it or of realising it may be Treasure; failing to report is an offence. Museums may acquire it at a valuation set by the Treasure Valuation Committee, with a reward split between finder and landowner; what is disclaimed is returned with a disclaimer letter, which is the document a later buyer wants to see.

Everything else — the great majority of detected and surface finds — is recorded voluntarily with the Portable Antiquities Scheme, whose database passed one million records in 2021. A PAS reference on a find is the trade's provenance standard in Britain: it fixes the find-spot to a parish, dates the recording, and names the Finds Liaison Officer who saw it. Scotland is different: under the law of bona vacantia all finds belong to the Crown and must be reported to the Treasure Trove Unit, whatever their material.

Leaving the country is licensed. Under the Export Control (Objects of Cultural Interest) Order 2003 any archaeological object found in UK soil or territorial waters needs an Arts Council England export licence regardless of value or age (most other cultural goods have a 50-year and value threshold); a licence is refused or deferred only when the Reviewing Committee finds the object of national importance under the Waverley criteria. The licence number is the reference Stratum's gate asks for on a UK find, and the customs entry that shows it was used.

Metal detecting itself needs the landowner's permission and is barred on scheduled monuments and most public land; the Country Land and Business Association model agreement splits proceeds with the landowner, and a buyer abroad will want to see that permission existed.