Britain's Secret Treasures

Britain's Secret Treasures is a British documentary shown on ITV hosted by Michael Buerk and Bettany Hughes. The programme features fifty archaeological discoveries that have been made in England, Wales and Scotland by members of the public. With the exception of a single find made in Scotland, all the objects featured were recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Since the PAS was set up in 1997, some 800,000 objects have been registered with the scheme, many of them discovered by amateur metal detectorists.
The fifty finds have been selected by Hughes and a panel of experts from the British Museum and the Council for British Archaeology from among the nearly one million finds reported to the PAS on the basis of their historical and cultural significance, as well as on their aesthetic merit. The six episodes of Britain's Secret Treasures present the fifty objects in reverse order according to their importance as judged by the panel, in a countdown format, with the ten most important objects revealed during the sixth and final episode.
Taking the top slot in the countdown, as the most important object according to the panel, is a Lower Paleolithic flint handaxe made more than half a million years ago that was found on a beach in Happisburgh, Norfolk, in 2000 by a man taking his dog for a walk.

List of objects

Number	Image	Object	Date	Where Found	When Found	PAS Record
1		Happisburgh Handaxe			2000
2		Ringlemere Gold Cup			2001
3		Staffordshire Hoard			2009
4		Chalgrove Hoard			2003
5		Boar Badge of Richard III			2009
6		Hallaton Hoard			2000
7		Staffordshire Moorlands Pan			2003
8		Baldehilde Seal			1999
9		Crosby Garrett Helmet			2010
10		Vale of York Hoard			2007
11		Near Lewes Hoard			2011
12		Blair Drummond Hoard			2009	N/A
13		North West Essex Ring			2011
14		Ashwell Hoard			2002
15		Winchester Hoard			2000
16		Carlton-in-Lindrick knight			2004
17		Seal Matrix of Stone Priory			2011
18		Silverdale Hoard			2011
19		Leopard Cup			2002
20		Tisbury Hoard			2011
21		Saltfleetby Spindle Whorl			2010
22		Milton Keynes Hoard			2000
23		Nether Stowey Hoard			2008
24		Marcus Aurelius Bust			1976
25		Frome Hoard			2009
26		River Stour Pilgrims' Badges			?
27		French Forgeries			2010
28		Holderness Cross			1965
29		West Yorkshire Hoard			2008–2009
30		Sedgeford Hoard			2003
31		Witch Bottle			2003
32		Hackney Hoard			2007
33		Llanbedrgoch Viking Finds			2007
34		Billingford Amulet			2003
35		Durham Assemblage			1986–2002
36		Langstone Hoard			2007
37		Anarevito Gold Stater			2010
38		Hoard of Spanish-American Doubloons			2010–2011
39		Beddingham Nose			2009
40		Putney Brothel Token			2011
41		Cloth Seals from Durham			2008
42		Cautopates Figurine			2007
43		Tanworth Comb			2006
44		Rochester Cuff-link			2001
45		First World War Medal			2009
46		Sedgeford Torc			2004
47		Pitminster Toy Cannon			2003
48		Epsom Harness Boss			2009
49		Hockley Pendant			2009
50		Roman Slave Shackle			1992

Objects submitted by viewers

At the beginning of the series viewers were invited to submit photographs of objects that they had found in England or Wales, so that experts from the British Museum could select the most interesting object, to be announced during the final episode.
The viewer-submitted object chosen as the most interesting by the panel was a small medieval bronze ornament in the form of an open book that was found in a field by the Pilgrims' Way at Bentley, Hampshire in 1997. The open pages of the book are engraved with the Latin inscription Pax tibi, Marce, Evangelista meus meaning "Peace to you, Mark, my evangelist". The traditional symbol of the Republic of Venice and the city of Venice is a winged lion, which is often depicted with one of its paws on an open book showing this same inscription, which suggests that the bronze book may have been a pilgrim's souvenir from Venice.