# The Crosby Garrett Helmet > Unknown maker, Roman cavalry-equipment workshop - Later 2nd to earlier 3rd century AD (comparative dating; no stratified dating evidence survives from the findspot) > Canonical HTML: https://iconotheca.com/artworks/roman-cavalry-parade-helmet-workshop/crosby-garrett-helmet/ > Published by Servola Systems GmbH. Last verified: 2026-08-21 ## Tombstone - **Artist:** Unknown maker, Roman cavalry-equipment workshop - **Date:** Later 2nd to earlier 3rd century AD (comparative dating; no stratified dating evidence survives from the findspot) - **Medium:** Copper alloy (leaded gunmetal/bronze), raised and chased sheet metal for the bowl and mask, cast for the griffin crest; the visor was originally tin-plated - **Dimensions:** 407 mm high, as reconstructed - **Object type:** Arms and armour - **Period:** Roman Britain, later 2nd - earlier 3rd century AD - **Current location:** Private collection, United Kingdom; owner not publicly identified - **Attribution:** unknown ## Summary A copper-alloy Roman cavalry parade helmet, its face-mask visor cast as the calm face of a young man beneath a griffin-crested Phrygian cap, found broken into more than sixty fragments in a Cumbrian field in May 2010. Because it contained no gold or silver, it fell outside the UK's Treasure Act, and the finder and landowner were free to sell it. Christie's restored it, in about 240 hours, and sold it on 7 October 2010 for a hammer price of GBP 2,000,000, more than 2.28 million with premium, to an anonymous telephone bidder, defeating a public campaign by Tullie House Museum in Carlisle that had raised roughly 1.7 million pounds.It is one of only a handful of Roman face-mask cavalry helmets ever found in Britain, and its case became a byword for a real gap in UK heritage law: an object judged internationally important by the British Museum could still be extracted, restored for sale rather than for scholarship, and sold into private hands, all entirely lawfully. It has been shown four times since, on loan from its anonymous owner, and remains outside public collections. ## Provenance Every link carries a grade. `documented` means a cited source supports it, `disputed` means the identification is argued but not established, `unknown` means we have no owner for that span and have not bridged it. - **later 2nd - earlier 3rd century AD** Unknown Roman military owner or workshop `[disputed]` (manufacture and deposition) The helmet was made for hippika gymnasia use in this period and was, at some point, deliberately dismantled, folded and buried near what is reported to be Crosby Garrett, Cumbria. The manufacture date rests on secure comparative typology. The findspot itself is disputed: David Gill's 2014 Journal of Art Crime article argues the reported location was never independently verified, since a precise grid reference was not obtained until three months after discovery and a 2011 trial excavation found the original burial cut already destroyed by the recovery dig. - **later 2nd/earlier 3rd century AD-May 2010** No documented owner `[unknown]` (gap) Roughly seventeen centuries with no documented owner, find, or record of any kind. Nothing was recorded on the local Historic Environment Record for the immediate area of the reported findspot before 2010. - **May 2010-June 2010** A metal detectorist (or detectorists) from Peterlee, County Durham, and landowner Eric Robinson `[documented]` (discovery) Found in pastureland on Eric Robinson's farm at Crosby Garrett, Cumbria, in May 2010, broken into 33 larger and 34 smaller fragments. The finder brought the fragments, still packed with soil, to Christie's in June 2010. Accounts differ on whether one or two people were involved in the find; see open questions. - **June 2010-October 2010** Christie's, London, holding on behalf of the finder and landowner `[documented]` (restoration and sale preparation) Restored by the independent conservator Darren Bradbury over approximately 240 hours, using cyanoacrylate and resin repairs retouched to match the surrounding metal. The British Museum's request to delay restoration for scientific conservation was not acted upon. X-ray fluorescence analysis was carried out alongside the restoration by Ruth Fillery-Travis and Sally Worrell. - **7 October 2010** Anonymous UK-resident private collector `[documented]` (purchase at auction) Sold at Christie's, London, for a hammer price of GBP 2,000,000 (total price paid, including buyer's premium and VAT, reported as approximately GBP 2,330,468.75), defeating a Tullie House Museum-led public campaign that had raised approximately GBP 1.7 million. The buyer's identity has never been made public. - **2012-2017** Same anonymous private collector, so far as documented `[documented]` (private ownership with public loans) Lent for public display at the Royal Academy of Arts (Bronze exhibition, 15 September - 9 December 2012), Tullie House Museum, Carlisle (1 November 2013 - 26 January 2014), the British Museum, London (28 January - 27 April 2014, shown with the Ribchester Helmet), and Tullie House again for Hadrian's Cavalry (from 8 April 2017). - **2017-present** Presumed same anonymous private collector; not independently confirmed `[unknown]` (continued private ownership, unconfirmed) No loan, sale, or public appearance has been documented since the 2017 Hadrian's Cavalry loan, and whether the original 2010 buyer remains the owner is not established in the sources consulted. ## Auction results Hammer and buyer's premium are stated separately. Where a source conflates them this record says so. - **2010-10-07** Christie's, London (South Kensington), Antiquities, King Street, London, lot 176 - Estimate: GBP 200,000 - 300,000 - Hammer: GBP 2,000,000 - DERIVED, not published. See note. - With premium: GBP 2,281,250 including buyer's premium, published by Christie's as the price realised. The premium component is GBP 281,250, DERIVED from that total. - Lot 176, Antiquities, sale 5488, Christie's London (South Kensington), 7 October 2010, catalogued as A ROMAN BRONZE CAVALRY PARADE HELMET, CIRCA LATE 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D., and headed The Crosby Garrett Helmet. Six bidders competed; Tullie House Museum's consortium withdrew at GBP 1.7 million with two bidders still active. GBP 2,281,250 is Christie's own published price realised and it is premium-inclusive; the house publishes no hammer price. THE HAMMER IS DERIVED, and the derivation is now proved on the saleroom rather than assumed. Christie's London in October 2010 charged 25 per cent on the first GBP 25,000, 20 per cent from there to GBP 500,000 and 12 per cent above, and on that scale GBP 2,281,250 reduces to a hammer of exactly GBP 2,000,000. The 12 per cent top band is the part that matters and it cannot be tested inside the Antiquities sale itself, because the helmet is the only lot in it above GBP 500,000: the next highest realised GBP 277,250. It was tested instead on Christie's London Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction of the same month, sale 7914, where all nine lots above GBP 600,000 reduce to round increments on the three-band scale and only five of the nine do so without the 12 per cent band. WITH VAT: the total price paid by the buyer, with VAT chargeable on the premium at the rate then in force, is reported as approximately GBP 2,330,468.75. That third figure is still reconciled from several secondary figures rather than confirmed against any Christie's statement, and it keeps that caveat. Most contemporary press coverage quoted a single rounded GBP 2.3 million, or about USD 3.6 million, without distinguishing hammer, total or VAT. ONE FIGURE THAT DOES NOT RECONCILE AND IS REPORTED RATHER THAN SMOOTHED OVER: the 241 published lot prices of sale 5488 sum to GBP 4,608,616 against the GBP 4,801,575 that Christie's own results calendar prints as the sale total, a shortfall of GBP 192,959. The cause is not known and none is invented here. ## Open questions - Is the reported findspot near Crosby Garrett genuine and complete? David Gill's peer-reviewed 2014 article argues the location was never independently verified before the object left the ground, and a 2011 trial excavation found that any burial cut had already been destroyed by the original recovery, leaving the question unresolved rather than settled either way. - How many people found the helmet, and who are they? The Portable Antiquities Scheme's contemporary academic account describes one finder who had detected the land with his father for years; other secondary press accounts describe two finders or a father-and-son pair. No finder has ever been named publicly, and the sources consulted for this record do not agree. - What evidence of the helmet's burial was lost by restoring it before full scientific conservation? The British Museum's request to delay cosmetic restoration for scientific examination was not acted upon; any impressions of textile or other organic material that might have survived in the unconserved corrosion products cannot now be recovered from the restored object. - Who is the anonymous 2010 buyer, and do they still own the helmet? No public sale, loan, or exhibition has been reported since the 2017 Hadrian's Cavalry loan to Tullie House, and this record found no source confirming or denying that the original 2010 buyer remains the current owner. - What did the exact contractual split between the finder and the landowner Eric Robinson actually amount to? Press reports describe a roughly even division of the sale proceeds, consistent with common voluntary practice, but this record could not independently verify the figures or terms from a primary source. - What explains the presence of coins dated 330-337 AD in the same feature where the helmet, typologically dated a century or more earlier, was found? Neither this record nor the secondary sources it drew on resolve whether the feature was reused later, whether the helmet's own deposition happened later than its manufacture date implies, or whether the coins reflect a separate phase of activity at the same spot. ## Sources - [1] Worrell, S., 'The Crosby Garrett Helmet', Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, vol. 20, no. 1 (2010), pp. 30-32. DOI: 10.5334/pia.338. The PAS finds adviser's own contemporary academic account: finder circumstances, condition of the fragments on arrival at Christie's, the declined request for scientific conservation ahead of restoration, and the X-ray fluorescence analysis she carried out with Ruth Fillery-Travis. - [2] Gill, D.W.J., 'Context Matters: The So-called Crosby Garrett Helmet', Journal of Art Crime, no. 11 (Spring/Summer 2014), pp. 53-59. Peer-reviewed academic argument disputing the independent verification of the reported findspot. Accessed via summary at ARCAblog. - [3] Gill, D.W.J., 'The find-spot of the Crosby Garrett helmet', Looting Matters, 3 October 2010. First public raising of the findspot verification question, including the delayed grid reference and the absence of prior Historic Environment Record entries for the area. - [4] Gill, D.W.J., 'The alleged burial place of the so-called Crosby Garrett helmet', Looting Matters, 12 January 2014. Reports the 2011 Minerva Heritage Ltd trial excavation at the alleged findspot, the destroyed burial cut, and Stuart Noon's doubts about burial depth versus damage pattern. - [5] Barford, P., 'The Crosby Garret Helmet is not a national Treasure, cos it ain't gold...', Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues, September 2010. Contemporary archaeological critique of the Treasure Act's material-based definition as applied to this find. - [6] Wikipedia, 'Crosby Garrett Helmet', consolidating the auction figures, restoration details, alloy analysis, exhibition history and comparanda used throughout this record. Tertiary source; flagged for replacement with the Christie's sale archive and the primary academic literature it cites. - [7] 'Heads Won, Tales Lost', Archaeology (Archaeological Institute of America), Digs and Discoveries. Contains direct quotations from Ralph Jackson (British Museum) and Roger Bland (then director, Portable Antiquities Scheme) on the helmet's workmanship and the outcome of the sale. - [8] Culture24, 'Tullie House fails in bid to save treasure as Crosby Garrett Roman Helmet sells for GBP 2.3 million'. Contemporary account of the fundraising campaign, the NHMF and Art Fund contributions, and the sale outcome, including a quotation from Carlisle City Council leader Mike Mitchelson. - [9] 'Mask 'matches Crosby Garrett find'', Antiques Trade Gazette, print edition, August 2019. Trade-press report on the TimeLine Auctions face mask proposed by its restorer as a product of the same workshop. - [10] 'Crosby Garrett Helmet On Public Display in Summer 2017', Archaeology Travel. Report on the Hadrian's Cavalry exhibition programme and the helmet's 2017 loan to Tullie House Museum. - [11] Institute for Archaeo-Metallurgical Studies, University College London, event listing for the Royal Academy of Arts 'Bronze' exhibition, September 2012, confirming the exhibition dates and the helmet's inclusion. - [12] Wikimedia Commons, file and category metadata for File:Crosby_Garrett_Roman_cavalry_helmet.jpg and related files in Category:Crosby Garrett Helmet, confirming photographer credits (Portable Antiquities Scheme; Daniel Pett; Wikimedia contributor Jononmac46) and licences (CC BY 2.0; CC BY-SA 3.0) used for the image gallery in this record. - [13] Museum Wales, Collections Online, 'Roman copper alloy parade helmet', accession 25.212/3.42, excavated 1924-25 at Brecon Gaer, Powys. Used to verify the genuine National Museum Wales comparandum and to correct an unverifiable 'Trawsfynydd Helmet' reference. - [14] Wikipedia, 'Ribchester Helmet'. Tertiary source, used only for the basic find date (1796) and holding institution of this separate comparandum object; flagged for replacement with the British Museum's own collection record. - [15] Wikipedia, 'Newstead Helmet'. Tertiary source, used only for the basic find date (1905), findspot (Trimontium, near Melrose) and holding institution (National Museums Scotland) of this separate comparandum object; flagged for replacement with the National Museums Scotland collection record. - [16] Sim, D. and Kaminski, J., 'The Production and Deposition of the Guisborough Helmet', Arms and Armour, vol. 14, no. 1 (2017), pp. 1-33. Academic source for the argument that the Guisborough Helmet's folded, dismantled condition before burial was deliberate. - [17] 'The Crosby Garrett helmet findspot, the PAS database and rumours about both', The Heritage Journal (Heritage Action), 2 February 2014. Secondary commentary on the findspot dispute and its implications for trusting PAS database entries generally; reports but does not itself substantiate rumours of a false findspot, which this record treats as unverified. - [18] Bevan, C., 'A New Definition of 'Treasure' under the Treasure Act 1996: Watershed Reform or Missed Opportunity?', The Modern Law Review (2024), reporting the Treasure (Designation) (Amendment) Order 2023, its significance-based test, and its use of the Crosby Garrett helmet as an illustrative case for the reform. Accessed via publisher abstract and secondary summaries; the full text was not fetched directly and should be consulted for exact wording if this record is revisited. - [19] Museums Association, 'Treasure Act reform will allow museums to acquire thousands more finds', February 2023, and Institute of Art and Law, 'Changes to the Law of Treasure', on the Treasure (Designation) (Amendment) Order 2023 taking effect in July 2023 and its use of copper-alloy finds such as Crosby Garrett as the reform's motivating example. - [20] Christie's, 'Lot 176, A ROMAN BRONZE CAVALRY PARADE HELMET, CIRCA LATE 1ST-2ND CENTURY A.D., The Crosby Garrett Helmet'. Christie's own lot record for Antiquities sale 5488, London (South Kensington), 7 October 2010: lot number 176, estimate GBP 200,000 to GBP 300,000, price realised GBP 2,281,250 premium-inclusive, and the house's one-line provenance, discovered by a metal detectorist, Crosby Garrett, Cumbria, May 2010. Accessed 2026-09-26. - [21] Christie's, 'Antiquities, sale 5488, London (South Kensington), 7 October 2010'. The sale the helmet was sold in, its date and saleroom, and the sale total of GBP 4,801,575 against which the 241 published lot prices were reconciled. Accessed 2026-09-26. --- Images on this record are public domain or CC0 and are hosted by us. No image on this site is generated or simulated. If you quote this record, quote the provenance grades with it.