Will the 2,000-year-old Nescliffe Spoons get your vote?
A pair of 2,000 year-old spoons have been heralded as one of the most important finds in Shropshire of the last 20 years.
The spoons, which were found in a field near Nesscliffe in 2005, are not made of tin or wood but of finely crafted copper alloy.
Now Peter Reavill, finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, is urging members of the public to use their vote to have the Nesscliffe Spoons named as the most important find of the last two decades.
Last month, a panel of experts in Celtic, Romano-British, medieval and early modern archaeology at the British Museum compiled the list of the 20 most significant finds to be declared treasure.
Among them are the Downpatrick Bulla, the Winchester Hoard, Turner’s Hall Farm Assemblage, the Staffordshire Hoard, the Balthild Matrix and the Bosworth Boar Badge.
Members of the public have until Monday to vote for the item they think has made the grade to be named the top treasure.
Mr Reavill said: "In my opinion they are just as important, and I would say more so than the Staffordshire Hoard or the Ringelmere Cup.
"The Nesscliffe Spoons are one of the most important Iron Age finds from northern Europe. They were found together on farmland near Nesscliffe in 2005 and reported to the local finds liaison officer through the Treasure Act.
"Iron Age metalwork is exceptionally rare in Shropshire even though we have more hillforts than almost any other county in the country. Only 23 other examples of similar spoons are known – they have predominately been found in pairs. They have been discovered in Britain and Ireland as well as northern France. The discovery of this pair was one of the first examples to be recovered in modern times.
"Both the Nesscliffe spoons are made from single sheets of copper alloy, hammered into shape over the same mould. They are similar enough in shape to be able to sit inside one another. Each spoon has a shallow bowl, pointed at one end, and rounder towards the stub handle end. Both handles are plain, although other Iron Age spoons are highly decorated with different designs on each of the handles.
"We simply do not know what these spoons were used for; one good theory is that they were used to tell the future/divination device."
To vote go to telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/mood-and-mind/treasure-20-vote-favourite
