A rare piece of Bronze Age gold found in Staffordshire is being prepared for its first public display in Stoke-on-Trent, with The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery planning a Festival of Treasure for its reopening next spring.
The event is scheduled to begin on 1 March 2027 at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. The council source describes it as free, with the venue set to reopen after a multi-million-pound transformation. A start time, end date and full venue address have not yet been stated.
Festival of Treasure will mark the museum reopening
The Festival of Treasure is planned as an exhibition and festival moment around one newly acquired object: a 3,000-year-old solid gold artefact believed to be a dress fastener.
The object was discovered by a metal detectorist near Ellastone in 2023 and has since been declared Treasure. The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery has now secured it for the county after a £150,000 appeal backed by public donations and grants.
For visitors, the draw is unusually specific. The fastener is described in the source as the first object of its kind found in Britain in almost 30 years, with only seven others recorded across England and Wales. It will be shown alongside the Staffordshire Hoard and the Leekfrith Torcs as part of the museum’s wider Treasure collection.
Date, venue and entry details for visitors
| Detail | Confirmed information |
|---|---|
| Event | Festival of Treasure |
| Date | From 1 March 2027 |
| Time | Not yet stated |
| Venue | The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent |
| Price | Free |
| Audience | General public |
The source does not give booking information, transport advice or accessibility details for the Festival of Treasure. Anyone planning a visit should treat those points as still to be confirmed closer to the museum’s full reopening.
The event is being positioned around the fastener’s first public display, rather than only the building’s reopening. That gives local visitors a chance to see an archaeological find that has now been kept in Staffordshire instead of moving into a private collection or leaving the county.
A Staffordshire find with national rarity
The gold object was found near Ellastone and is believed to have been worn as a visible sign of wealth and status. Joe Perry, curator of local history at The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, said objects like this were not everyday items and were likely linked to the highest levels of Bronze Age society.
He described it as the most significant item of Treasure the museum has acquired for almost a decade and the first of its kind discovered anywhere in Staffordshire.
The acquisition was funded through public donations supported by the Friends of the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, along with grants from Art Fund, the Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Outreach events before the public display
Before the museum fully reopens, the museum team is due to deliver outreach events and activities supported by National Lottery players to help people explore the dress fastener and Staffordshire’s Bronze Age past.
Physical and digital replicas of the fastener will also be created for events linked to the Festival of Archaeology in July and Heritage Open Days in September.
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 significant gold treasures.
Source: Stoke-on-Trent City Council
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This preview uses the published Stoke-on-Trent City Council notice and the verified event brief for date, venue, cost and display details.
- Confirmed the event name as Festival of Treasure.
- Checked the venue as The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent.
- Kept missing details visible: time, end date, booking information and full address were no...
- Used only the source-supported description of the Bronze Age gold fastener and its acquisi...
- Source
- Stoke-on-Trent City Council
- Scope
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Updated
- 2026-06-03 23:40
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