Dorset Museum appeal: The Charlton Marshall Hoard

Join Dr Clare Randall (archaeological advisor) and Liz Selby (Director of Collections and Public Engagement) from Dorset Museum & Art Gallery to hear about an exciting appeal to raise the funds to acquire a significant and rare hoard of Iron Age gold coins which were found by a metal detectorist in Charlton Marshall in 2020. Dating to the 2nd century AD, the hoard is incredibly unusual, as the coins were imported from France. They were made by a Gaulish tribe called the Baiocasses and only a very few similar finds are known from Dorset and the south coast.

“This is an important and unusual hoard of gold stater coins, and if the Museum is not able to acquire them, it is likely that the group will be broken up and sold outside of the county. This will mean that all possibility of further research on the hoard, or opportunities for them to be displayed together, will be lost” – Elizabeth Selby.

Finds like this hoard tell us about how people were travelling, meeting and exchanging ideas with others on the continent in the centuries before the Roman invasion. The coins have considerable potential for future research into their origins, manufacture and use. Acquiring them will complement the existing archaeological collections at Dorset Museum which have national and international significance.

The Charlton Marshall Gaulish Staters have been valued at £15,300. Dorset Museum has already raised half of this amount, but to keep the coins in the county they need to raise an additional £7,650 by mid-December.

For more information about this appeal, and how you can support it, please visit Charlton Marshall Gold Stater Hoard Appeal – Dorset Museum

More information about the hoard can be found on the Portable Antiquities Scheme database.