Chair & Member appointed to Treasure Valuation Committee

Professor Roger Bland and Dr Megan Gooch have been appointed by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport as Chair and Member respectively of the Treasure Valuation Committee for five years from 6 August 2020 to 5 August 2025. The Treasure Valuation Committee (TVC), comprising of independent antiques or coin experts and a representative of the hobby of metal-detecting, establishes the likely market value of each treasure find.

About Professor Roger Bland

Professor Roger Bland retired in 2015 as Keeper of the Department of Britain, Europe and Prehistory at the British Museum, which he joined as a curator in 1979. For eight years he was seconded to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to advise on the reform of the law of treasure, resulting in the Treasure Act 1996, and he was responsible for drawing up the Code of Practice on the Act. In 1997 he established the Portable Antiquities Scheme which he led until retirement.

Professor Bland is a visiting Professor at the University of Leicester, a Fellow of the MacDonald Institute of Archaeological Research, Cambridge and President of the Royal Numismatic Society. He is an expert on hoarding, the law of treasure and Roman coinage and has published many books and articles on these subjects including Iron Age and Roman Coin Hoards in Britain (with 6 other authors, Oxbow, 2020), The Cunetio and Normanby Hoards (with Edward Besly and Andrew Burnett, Spink 2019), and Coin Hoards and Hoarding in Roman Britain (British Numismatic Society, 2018). He is a licensed as Lay Minister in the Diocese of Norwich.

About Dr Megan Gooch

Dr Megan Gooch is the Head of the Centre for Digital Scholarship and Digital Humanities Support, at the Bodleian Libraries and Humanities Division at the University of Oxford.

Dr Gooch has been involved in coins since her undergraduate study at the University of Cambridge, followed by an MA and PhD at Durham University focusing on early medieval numismatics. She spent time as a British coin specialist at Spink & Son (2006-2008), and the Money Gallery Curator at the British Museum (2008-2010). She then moved to Historic Royal Palaces to curate the permanent exhibition The Tower’s Mint at the Tower of London, in partnership with the Royal Mint Museum. She then moved to project management and production roles within HRP in Learning and Public Engagement as well as being a Research Fellow on the AHRC-funded project Lest We Forget.

Dr Gooch has served and continues to serve on many numismatic bodies and charities, including as a council member for the British Numismatic Society (2007-2013), autumn conference organiser for the British Association of Numismatic Societies (2008-2011), Money and Medals Subject Specialist Network Steering Committee member (2010 – present) and Honorary Secretary of the Royal Numismatic Society (2016 – present).

These roles are not remunerated. These appointments have been made in accordance with the Cabinet Office’s Governance Code on Public Appointments, the process is regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The Government’s Governance Code requires that any significant political activity undertaken by an appointee in the last five years is declared. This is defined as holding office, public speaking, making a recordable donation or candidature for election. Professor Bland and Dr Gooch have not declared any activity.