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# The Crosby Garrett Helmet: the Roman find that went to auction
- URL: https://theromanfiles.com/crosby-garrett-helmet-roman-find-auction/
- Published: 2026-10-26T11:42:56.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-26T11:42:56.000Z
- Description: A Roman cavalry helmet found by a metal detectorist in Cumbria in May 2010 sold at Christie's for about £2.3 million. Here is what the finding, the sale and the later excavation add up to.
- Author: J E Cowie
- Tags: News

One of only three Roman helmets found in Britain complete with face-masks came out of a Cumbrian pasture with little recorded about how it got there. What survives is a find, a sale and a later excavation, each of which tells part of the story.

![Map showing where Crosby Garrett Helmet is](https://theromanfiles.com/content/images/2026/10/map_crosby-garrett-helmet.jpg)

Crosby Garrett Helmet, United Kingdom

## The find

Sally Worrell of the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) wrote in December 2010 that the helmet and its mask visor were found in May 2010 by a former student in his 20s from Peterlee, County Durham. He had been detecting with his father for some years at Crosby Garrett, Cumbria. According to reports drawing on PAS and British Archaeology, he initially took it for a Victorian ornament, and identified it as Roman by consulting auction catalogues, searching the internet and asking dealers.

Christie's described a tinned bronze face-mask with idealised youthful features, framed by three rows of tight corkscrew curls. Above it sits a Phrygian-style cap surmounted by a griffin. The auction house said the mask was found virtually intact and that the Phrygian-style peak with its griffin crest "appears unprecedented". Its press release named only two comparable helmets found in Britain complete with face-masks in the last 250 years: the Ribchester Helmet, found in 1796, and the Newstead Helmet, found around 1905.

The helmet itself came out in over 60 fragments. The visor lay more or less complete and face down. Worrell wrote that the fragments strongly suggest the helmet had been broken up and folded before burial.

## What it was for

Christie's said such helmets were not made for combat but for *hippika gymnasia*, cavalry sports events. It cited Arrian of Nicomedia, a Roman provincial governor under Hadrian, as the only surviving contemporary source on those displays. In an appendix to his *Ars Tactica* he describes cavalrymen divided into two teams, taking turns to attack and defend. Christie's gave a date of late 1st to 2nd century AD; Wikipedia and Global Finds give the late 2nd or early 3rd century.

## The sale

Christie's announced the helmet on 13 September 2010, with an estimate of £200,000 to £300,000\. Georgiana Aitken, its Head of Antiquities, said: "This helmet is the discovery of a lifetime for a metal detectorist."

The Treasure Act 1996 did not apply. Wikipedia explains that single items of non-precious metal were not covered by the Act, so the finder and landowner were free to dispose of the helmet as they saw fit. Worrell described the approaches made on behalf of Tullie House Museum in Carlisle, including letters from parliamentarians to Christie's urging a private sale and visits to the finder and landowner three days before the sale. All failed.

On 7 October 2010 the helmet sold at Christie's in London for about £2.3 million to an anonymous buyer bidding by telephone. The Economic Times, drawing on contemporary reporting, says six bidders took part: three by telephone, two in the room and one online from California. It reports that Tullie House had assembled enough funding to bid up to about £1.7 million; the final price went well beyond that.

The Economic Times, citing Archaeology magazine in January 2011, reports that Roger Bland, who then headed the PAS at the British Museum, saw the private purchase as the worst possible outcome. It also reports, citing the BBC in March 2011, that the farmer on whose land it lay, Eric Robinson, took half the proceeds and the finders the other half.

## Restored before it could be studied

![The exterior of Tullie House Museum in Carlisle](https://theromanfiles.com/content/images/2026/10/shot2_the-exterior-of-tullie-house-museum-in-c.jpg)

Tullie House Museum in Carlisle, which tried to acquire the helmet.

Christie's commissioned Darren Bradbury to restore the helmet for sale. Worrell wrote that she and Ralph Jackson of the British Museum asked for the restoration to wait for a full scientific examination, and that the request was not responded to. Wikipedia says Bradbury's work took some 240 hours.

Worrell wrote that at no time before the sale was it possible to undertake formal archaeological conservation. Had such conservation taken place, she suggested, more might have been learned about how the helmet was buried, and features such as textile impressions in the corrosion products might have been identified. She and a UCL student did take measurements at Christie's and analyse the helmet with a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. This confirmed a copper alloy common in the Roman period.

## The findspot

On 30 August 2010, Worrell wrote, the Finds Liaison Officers for Cumbria and Lancashire, Dot Boughton and Stuart Noon, visited the findspot with the finder, where the refilled hole was still visible. She noted that the nearest Roman garrison was several kilometres away at Brough. The area lay on a key route to the northern frontier. On why the helmet was buried there, she wrote that "votive offering or hoarding of loot might better explain the deposition at this findspot, but in the absence of excavation this must remain speculative."

Excavation did follow, sponsored by Tullie House and the PAS. According to Wikipedia, it found a substantial enclosure with ditches and buildings, part of a Romano-British farming settlement. The helmet and visor had been buried about 25 cm down, on two stone slabs at the bottom of a back-filled hole, capped with stone. Two Roman coins dated 330–337 lay in the stone feature and may have been buried at the same time. Wikipedia cites Stuart Noon's suggestion that the feature may have been a memorial of some sort, and describes the breaking of the helmet as possibly part of a ritual sacrifice.

The coins sit awkwardly with the helmet's date. If they mark when it was buried, Wikipedia says, the helmet could have been over a century old by then.

## Where it is now

![The Ribchester Helmet, the Roman cavalry sports helmet found in 1796, on display](https://theromanfiles.com/content/images/2026/10/shot3_the-ribchester-helmet-the-roman-cavalry-.jpg)

The Ribchester Helmet, found in 1796.

Worrell wrote in December 2010 that the new owner remained anonymous but was known to live in Britain. Wikipedia lists displays at the Royal Academy of Arts in 2012, Tullie House in 2013–14 and the British Museum in 2014\. The BBC reported on 8 April 2017 that it was on loan to Tullie House for the Hadrian's Cavalry exhibitions along Hadrian's Wall. Global Finds, in a page dated 2 October 2026, says it remains in private hands.

The case is a narrow one: a single object of copper alloy, not a hoard, whose burial had to be pieced together afterwards.

## Sources

BBC News (2017) 'Hadrian's Wall events showcase Roman cavalry "bling"', BBC News, 8 April 2017, available at: [https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-39538303](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-39538303?ref=theromanfiles.com) (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Christie's (2010) 'The Crosby Garrett Helmet – A Remarkable Roman Bronze Helmet – Found with a Metal Detector – To Be Offered at Christie's in October 2010' (press release), Christie's, 13 September 2010, available at: [https://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/2010/Antiquities\_October\_2010.pdf](https://www.christies.com/presscenter/pdf/2010/Antiquities%5FOctober%5F2010.pdf?ref=theromanfiles.com) (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Christie's (2010) 'Lot 176 – A Roman Bronze Cavalry Parade Helmet, circa late 1st–2nd Century A.D. (The Crosby Garrett Helmet)', Antiquities, Christie's South Kensington, 7 October 2010, available at: [https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5358441](https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5358441?ref=theromanfiles.com) (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Global Finds (2026) 'The Crosby Garrett Helmet: a Roman face-mask helmet sold to an unknown buyer', Global Finds, 2 October 2026, available at: [https://globalfinds.uk/find/103-the-crosby-garrett-helmet-a-roman-face-mask-helmet-sold-to-an-unknown](https://globalfinds.uk/find/103-the-crosby-garrett-helmet-a-roman-face-mask-helmet-sold-to-an-unknown?ref=theromanfiles.com) (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

The Economic Times (2026) 'A metal detector, a smashed Roman helmet and a £2.3 million bid; the Cumbrian field find that slipped through a legal gap', The Economic Times, 23 October 2026, available at: [https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/world/us/a-metal-detector-a-smashed-roman-helmet-and-a-2-3-million-bid-the-cumbrian-field-find-that-slipped-through-a-legal-gap/articleshow/135137296.cms](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/world/us/a-metal-detector-a-smashed-roman-helmet-and-a-2-3-million-bid-the-cumbrian-field-find-that-slipped-through-a-legal-gap/articleshow/135137296.cms?ref=theromanfiles.com) (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Wikipedia (2026) 'Crosby Garrett Helmet', Wikipedia, revision 1380016746, available at: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby\_Garrett\_Helmet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crosby%5FGarrett%5FHelmet?ref=theromanfiles.com) (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

Worrell, S. (2010) 'The Crosby Garrett Helmet', Papers from the Institute of Archaeology, 20(1), 30-32, 21 December 2010, doi: 10.5334/pia.338, available at: [https://student-journals.ucl.ac.uk/pia/article/id/18/](https://student-journals.ucl.ac.uk/pia/article/id/18/?ref=theromanfiles.com) (Accessed: 26 October 2026).

## Picture credits

- Top picture: The Crosby Garrett Helmet. Crosby Garrett Helmet, photo by Jononmac46 ([CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/?ref=theromanfiles.com)), [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crosby%5FGarrett%5FHelmet%5F%28BM%29.JPG?ref=theromanfiles.com)
- Tullie House Museum in Carlisle, which tried to acquire the helmet. Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle, photo by JThomas ([CC BY-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=theromanfiles.com)), [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tullie%5FHouse%5FMuseum%5Fand%5FArt%5FGallery,%5FCarlisle%5F-%5Fgeograph.org.uk%5F-%5F5005799.jpg?ref=theromanfiles.com)
- The Ribchester Helmet, found in 1796\. Ribchester Helmet, photo by Carole Raddato ([CC BY-SA 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=theromanfiles.com)), [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cavalry%5FFace-Mask%5FHelmet,%5Ffrom%5FRibchester,%5Flate%5F1st%5For%5Fearly%5F2nd%5Fcentury%5FAD,%5FRoman%5FBritain,%5FBritish%5FMuseum%5F%2814035056428%29.jpg?ref=theromanfiles.com)
- Map: drawn from [Natural Earth](https://www.naturalearthdata.com/?ref=theromanfiles.com) (public domain) and [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1141035?ref=theromanfiles.com).