Our Top Ten British Treasures

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.

The Rillaton gold cup
Early Bronze Age, 1700-1500 BC
From Rillaton, Cornwall, England
An exceptional gold vessel with a royal history

  thanks to plep