Roman cavalry helmet sells for £2m

Turn to Maev Kennedy's fantastic piece for the latest on the beautiful Crosby Garrett Roman cavalry helmet, which I had the good luck to examine in detail at Christie's South Kensington the other day. It's the most exquisite, and somehow rather spooky, thing... Tullie House Museum in Carlisle had mounted a campaign to raise funds to buy it, but dropped out of the bidding at £1.7m. At the time of writing, the buyer is unknown. The best hope, as Maev says, is if it's a British buyer willing to loan it to a museum. If it's a foreign buyer, an export stop might be put on the piece (jolly well ought to be in my view) in which case British institutions might have a second bite at the cherry. Maev's point on the insanity of the Treasure Law is worth taking in.