![\"\u200bBronze](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/002096e2-800.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe payments were made by the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) as a reward for good citizenship and for handing over the artefacts to the State.<\/p>\n
Finder rewards worth a combined \u20ac19,312 were paid out last year, up from \u20ac14,755 in 2024.<\/p>\n
Members of the public received \u20ac45,850 in 2023 for finding ancient coins, swords, \u201cbog butter\u201d and cruci\u00adfixes.<\/p>\n
The NMI would only provide provincial locations for discoveries, saying it did not want to encourage treasure hunting.<\/p>\n
Detailed information on where items were found risked creating the perception of a \u201cfinancial opportunity or encouraging potentially damaging searching practices\u201d, it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Other items handed over in the past five years included a brooch, shoes, burial material and arrow heads<\/p>\n
Last year, rewards totalling \u20ac6,400 were paid out in Connacht for discoveries including coins, a blade and \u201cvessel fragments\u201d.<\/p>\n
In Leinster, \u20ac7,930 was given to members of the public after they handed over items that included an axe-head, a scraper and pipe fragments.<\/p>\n
There was a payment of \u20ac400 in Munster for an axe-head, a scoop and a ring.<\/p>\n
Payments totalling \u20ac4,200, along with books and tote bags from the National Museum, were sent to finders in Ulster as reward for finding an axe-head and a sword.<\/p>\n
Other items handed over to the NMI over the past five years included a brooch, shoes, burial material and arrow heads.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u200bBronze Age axe-heads sent anonymously to the National Museum of Ireland in 2024, packaged in a used Flahavan\u2019s box. They were found in Westmeath with a metal detector<\/p>\n
Today’s News in 90 seconds – 31st December <\/p>\n
In 2024, two Bronze Age axe-heads were anonymously mailed to the museum.<\/p>\n
They were packed inside a used Flahavan\u2019s Flapjack box and accompanied by a letter saying they were discovered in the Westmeath area with the use of a metal detector.<\/p>\n
The NMI launched an appeal to try to find the sender, having dated the axeheads to between 2150BC and 2000BC.<\/p>\n
Overall, the data released showed that finds seemed most likely to be made in Leinster and Connacht.<\/p>\n
The museum said rewards were paid based on the intrinsic value of the items, and their general historical and archaeological importance.<\/p>\n
Also considered were the circumstances in which they were found and the amount of money paid previously for comparable items.<\/p>\n
It is against the law to search for archaeological objects using a metal detector, except with written permission<\/p>\n
A spokeswoman for the NMI said: \u201cFinders\u2019 rewards may be made to persons involved in the legitimate discovery or acquisition of archaeological objects.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe provision of a finders\u2019 reward is an ex-gratia payment and is entirely at the discretion of the State.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said each item was judged based on its importance to the National Collection as well as \u201cthe conduct of the persons involved with the discovery and acquisition\u201d.<\/p>\n
It is against the law to search for archaeological objects using a metal detector, except with written permission from the Government.<\/p>\n
The penalty is a fine of up to \u20ac63,486 and up to three months imprisonment.<\/p>\n
It is also illegal to be in possession of a detection device at monuments or sites protected under the National Monuments Acts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The payments were made by the National Museum of Ireland (NMI) as a reward for good citizenship and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,898,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-221039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-latest-news-ticker","11":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}