A rare piece of Bronze Age gold found in Staffordshire is being prepared for its first public display in Stoke-on-Trent, where The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery plans a Festival of Treasure to mark the museum’s reopening.
The event is planned for 1 March 2027 at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. Entry is listed as free. A start time, end date and venue address have not yet been announced in the source material.
The festival is aimed at the general public, including local residents, families, history readers and visitors who want to see one of Staffordshire’s rarest archaeological finds as it joins the museum’s wider Treasure collection.
Festival of Treasure will mark the museum reopening
The Festival of Treasure is planned to coincide with the full reopening of The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery next spring, following a multi-million-pound transformation of the Stoke-on-Trent venue.
The centrepiece will be the first public display of a 3,000-year-old solid gold object believed to be a Bronze Age dress fastener. It was discovered by a metal detectorist near Ellastone in 2023 and has since been declared Treasure.
Only seven other objects of this kind are recorded across England and Wales, according to the source announcement. The Staffordshire find is also described as the first of its type found in Britain in almost 30 years.
For visitors, the event’s pull is straightforward: a newly acquired object that has not previously been on public display, shown inside the city museum as it reopens after major works.
What visitors will be able to see
The gold fastener will sit alongside the Staffordshire Hoard and the Leekfrith Torcs, placing it among the county’s best-known archaeological gold discoveries.
Joe Perry, curator of local history at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, said the object was made from solid gold and carefully worked, and would not have been an everyday item. He said objects of this kind were likely worn as visible displays of wealth and status, probably by someone at the highest levels of Bronze Age society.
The museum has described the acquisition as the most significant item of Treasure it has acquired for almost a decade, and the first of its kind to be discovered anywhere in Staffordshire.
Before the full public display, the museum team is also expected to deliver outreach events and activities supported by National Lottery players, helping people explore the dress fastener and Staffordshire’s Bronze Age past.
The find was secured after a £150,000 appeal
The fastener has been kept in Staffordshire after a £150,000 fundraising effort. The money was raised through public donations, with support from the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, alongside grants from Art Fund, the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Councillor Sarah Hill, cabinet member for finance and anti-poverty at Stoke-on-Trent City Council, said the discovery, alongside the Staffordshire Hoard and the Leekfrith Torcs, confirms Staffordshire as home to some of the country’s most notable gold treasures.
Peter Wilson, chair of the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, said the Friends were delighted that the find had been saved for local people and visitors to see and enjoy.
The museum’s Treasure collection now spans thousands of years of local history, with the newly acquired fastener adding a Bronze Age object to a collection already strongly associated with Staffordshire’s archaeology.
Date, cost and details still to be confirmed
The confirmed event details are currently limited but useful for early planning.
| Detail | Confirmed information |
|---|---|
| Event | Festival of Treasure |
| Venue | The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent |
| Date | 1 March 2027 |
| Time | Not yet announced |
| Price | Free |
| Audience | General public |
Physical and digital replicas of the fastener are also due to be created for events linked to the Festival of Archaeology in July and Heritage Open Days in September.
The first public display of the original fastener is planned for the Festival of Treasure when the museum reopens next spring.
Source: Stoke-on-Trent City Council
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This preview uses the published Stoke-on-Trent City Council announcement and the verified event brief for date, venue, price and display details.
- Checked the event name, venue and planned public display against the source text.
- Kept practical details limited to confirmed information: date, venue, free entry and missi...
- Verified that the artefact was discovered near Ellastone in 2023 and declared Treasure.
- Separated the Festival of Treasure from related July and September replica events.
- Source
- Stoke-on-Trent City Council
- Scope
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Updated
- 2026-06-03 23:30
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