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Our Top Ten British Treasures
Our Top Ten British Treasures
What are the most important British treasures in the British
Museum? What makes one treasure more important than another?
Adam Hart Davis from the BBC asked British Museum curators these
questions when making the programme 'Our Top 10 British Treasures'
for BBC2 (New Years Day 2003).
In most people's minds, the word 'treasure' is linked with
images of gold and silver worth huge amounts of money. But the BBC
was surprised by some of the choices that the curators made; for
the British Museum what makes a treasure valuable can not be
measured in pounds or dollars, but in what it can tell us about our
past. Curators selected not necessarily the most expensive
'treasures' found on British soil, but those whose discovery had
made the most significant contribution to how we understand British
history.
After much heated discussion the selection committee chose the
ten major discoveries featured in this tour. Do you agree with
their choice? Are there other objects found in Britain in the
British Museum that you think deserve to be in the Top Ten in their
place? Email us with your suggestions to
treasure@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk