 Although the find was reported under the Portable Antiquities Scheme , it was not declared treasure under the 1996 Treasure Act because single items of non @-@ precious metal are not covered by the act . The finder and landowner were thus free to dispose of the helmet as they saw fit . The discovery was publicly announced by Christie 's in mid @-@ September 2010 ; the helmet was the <unk> of its 7 October auction catalogue , featuring on the cover and six more pages . Its value was put at £ 200 @,@ 000 – £ 300 @,@ 000 ( $ <unk> @,@ 200 – $ 463 @,@ 800 ) . The Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery launched an appeal with the aim of purchasing the helmet and making it the focus of a new Roman frontier gallery due to open in 2011 . The campaign immediately attracted numerous donations , including £ 50 @,@ 000 from an anonymous overseas benefactor who offered the sum if a matching sum could be raised by the public ( it was ) ; a £ 1 million offer from the National Heritage Memorial Fund ; a £ 300 @,@ 000 pledge from the <unk> Trust and the Monument Trust ; £ 200 @,@ 000 from the Art Fund ; and £ 75 @,@ 000 from the J Paul <unk> Jr Charitable Trust . By the time of the auction three and a half weeks after the campaign had been launched , the museum had raised enough money to support a bid of up to £ 1 @.@ 7 million . Behind the scenes , efforts were made to persuade the finder and landowner to agree a private sale with the museum , but these approaches failed . 
