Auction and Controversy: Although the find was reported under thePortable Antiquities Scheme, it was not declared treasure under the1996 Treasure Actbecause single items of non-precious metal are not covered by the act. The finder and landowner were thus free to dispose of the helmet as they saw fit. The discovery was publicly announced by Christie's in mid-September 2010; the helmet was the centrepiece of its 7 October auction catalogue, featuring on the cover and six more pages. Its value was put at £200,000 – £300,000 ($309,200 – $463,800). TheTullie House Museum and Art GalleryinCarlislelaunched an appeal with the aim of purchasing the helmet and making it the focus of a new Roman frontier gallery due to open in 2011. The campaign immediately attracted numerous donations, including £50,000 from an anonymous overseas benefactor who offered the sum if a matching sum could be raised by the public (it was); a £1 million offer from theNational Heritage Memorial Fund; a £300,000 pledge from the Headley Trust and the Monument Trust; £200,000 from theArt Fund; and £75,000 from theJ Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust. By the time of the auction three and a half weeks after the campaign had been launched, the museum had raised enough money to support a bid of up to £1. 7 million. Behind the scenes, efforts were made to persuade the finder and landowner to agree a private sale with the museum, but these approaches failed. The initial estimate was passed within seconds of the auction opening. Six bidders pushed the price towards a million pounds and Tullie House was forced to drop out at £1. 7 million. Two remaining bidders took the bid past £2 million; the winning bidder, an anonymous UK resident and fine art collector bidding by phone, paid a total of £2,330,468. 75 including the buyer's premium andVAT. The outcome aroused controversy and prompted calls for the Treasure Act to be revised, thoughBritish Archaeologynoted that the circumstances of the helmet's discovery may have resulted in it being outside the scope of even a revised act. It is still possible that the helmet could come into public ownership; if the winning bidder wishes to export it, an export licence would have to be applied for and if a temporary export bar was placed on it an opportunity could arise for funds to be raised by a public institution to purchase the helmet.