Hoard may be worth more

David Harper, an antiques expert who has regularly featured on BBC consumer shows Bargain Hunt and Antiques Road Trip, said it could have fetched more if sold on the open market.

Burntwood metal detectorist Terry Herbert, who found the Anglo Saxon hoard, and Brownhills farmer Fred Johnson, in whose field it lay hidden for centuries, have become overnight millionaires after the decision on its value announced yesterday.

Professor Norman Palmer, chairman of the Government-appointed committee which reached the valuation, admitted it had been a "difficult task" to reach its worth, saying "values are always speculative".

But Mr Harper said: "It's a fact that valuations are one thing and true worth's another – there are thousands of cases where items have been valued at one amount and then put for sale through auction and sold for tens and sometimes hundreds of times their so called valuation.

"A find like this is so rare that if it were to be put on the market, it could sell for several times its valuation, bearing in mind there are plenty of people in the world with such huge sums of money that £10million would be nothing if they had a desire and passion to own such a haul."

The independent Treasure Valuation Committee reached the figure after meeting at the British Museum to discuss the hoard, the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found.

Mr Johnson and Mr Herbert and the two museums which hope to acquire the hoard - Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent – have all approved the valuation.

Birmingham City Council is confident of raising the cash through a fundraising campaign launched to help the two museums buy the hoard.

The council's cabinet member for leisure, sport and culture, Councillor Martin Mullaney said; "It is great to have a real target to aim for. We are already talking to major potential funders to help us acquire the hoard and bring it home to its rightful place in the ancient kingdom of Mercia.

"Over 42,000 people saw the treasure when it was displayed at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery in September, and thanks to the generosity of the public we have already raised almost £40,000 towards the fundraising total.

"This will take a huge, co-ordinated fundraising effort to raise, and we have already been working hard with partners and had early discussions with fundraising bodies."

Collection boxes for public donations are available in the two museums for donations or donations can be made on-line at www.bmag.org.uk/support-us