Dorset Museum & Art Gallery is raising funds to keep two rare archaeological hoards in the county, both of which were found by metal detectors and declared Treasure.

The first is a group of 40 gold stater Iron Age coins, found at Charlton Marshall. Dating to the 2nd century BCE, the hoard is incredibly unusual, as the coins were imported from France. They were made by a Gaulish tribe called the Baiocasses and very few similar finds are known from Dorset and the south coast.

The Charlton Marshall Gaulish Staters have been valued at £15,300 and Dorset Museum & Art Gallery has already raised £8,682 towards the purchase through a generous grant from the ACE/V&A Purchase Fund and private donations. To keep the coins in the county they need to raise an additional £6,618.

The second is a Middle Bronze Age hoard found in Stalbridge. It consists of a palstave axe head, a bangle with incised decoration and a rapier sword. The rapier is very unusual. Not only was it apparently deliberately broken in three pieces and buried, but the hilt was shaped to mimic a wooden handle. Only two remotely similar (and incomplete) examples could be identified in Britain. It does however have some similarities with the solid-cast hilts of Nordic rapiers from Scandinavia. This hoard has huge potential for display, but also future research which will enable the Museum & Art Gallery to continue to flesh out the story of our Dorset forebears.

The Stalbridge rapier hoard has been valued at £17,000 and £9,075 has so far been raised towards the purchase through a generous grant from the ACE/V&A Purchase Fund and private donations. To keep the hoard in the county the Museum & Art Gallery needs to raise an additional £7,925.

Elizabeth Selby, director of Collections and Public Engagement at Dorset Museum & Art Gallery said: “These are important and unusual hoards, and if the Museum is not able to acquire them, it is likely that the groups will be broken up and sold outside of the county. This will mean that all possibility of further research on the hoards, or opportunities for them to be displayed together, will be lost.”

If you would like to make a donation to one or both of the appeals, visit:

https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/charlton-marshall-gold-stater-hoard-appeal/ 

https://www.dorsetmuseum.org/stalbridge-middle-bronze-age-hoard-appeal/

or phone 01305 262735. You can also send a cheque made payable to Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, citing ‘Charlton Marshall appeal’ or ‘Stalbridge appeal’ in your covering note.