An export bar has been placed on a rare Anglo-Saxon, gold and garnet panel (c. 600-670) to provide an opportunity for a UK gallery or institution to acquire it.
The panel was discovered with a metal detector near Pocklington on March 6, 2013 and has never been publicly exhibited.
Experts at Arts Council England designate objects as national treasures on varying historical, aesthetic and scholarly grounds.
They can then recommend to the Secretary of State for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to place a temporary export on items that meet the criteria.
The panel find is hailed as significant as it potentially offers insight into the study of artistic, political and cultural relationships between two of the most powerful kingdoms in 7th-century England, East Anglia in the east, and Northumbria in the north.
Pocklington District Heritage Trust, the local charity working to create a museum in Burnby Hall in the town decided to try and buy the piece as soon as the opportunity to do so arose.
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Chairman Phil Gilbank said: “Gold Anglo-Saxon artefacts are rare in East Yorkshire, and so many local pieces have been lost to us in the past, either by going out of the area to regional museums, or bought by overseas collectors.
“The trust is gearing up for a much bigger fund raising initiative for the Burnby Hall museum project.
“But we’ve registered our interest with the Government, and if enough people just pledged a couple of quid out of the thousands of locals who have signed our support petition or joined our Facebook page, we’d be in with a chance of bringing it home to Pocklington.”
Advising on the panel, Arts Council reviewing committee member Tim Pestell said: “Amid the bitter politics of seventh-century England, rival kingdoms fought to gain power and prestige.
“An important way of expressing their resulting wealth was through delicate and technically complex pieces of jewellery like this example.
“Using tiny hand-cut garnets set in gold cells or cloisons, the designs used in this example finds ready parallels in the better-known metalwork of Sutton Hoo and the Staffordshire Hoard.
“I hope that the bar placed on its export allows a museum to acquire this wonderful artefact as it has much yet to tell us about this pivotal period in English history.”
At the time of writing, £1,480 of the panel’s £4,000 value had been donated to the Pocklington trust’s specific GoFundMe page.
The decision on the export licence application for the panel will be deferred for a period ending on 23 March 2025, before owners then consider any offers to purchase.
To make a donation go to the Pocklington District Heritage Trust’s crowdfunding page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-a-pocklington-anglo-saxon-artefact-from-export
