1.5m pounds bronzes for museum

A pounds 1.5m hoard of Roman bronzes, dug up in a Suffolk field in about 1981 and smuggled out of the country, is to be bequeathed to the British Museum by its present owners, the New York collectors Leon Levy and Shelby White. The bequest is part of an out-of-court settlement following a lengthy wrangle over the bronzes' ownership. The agreement includes an undertaking by all parties not to reveal its specific terms.

The existence of the hoard became known in 1982 when a television researcher was passed Polaroid photographs and took them to the British Museum. The items included a bronze cheetah with silver spots, a statuette of the god Vulcan and face masks.

The items had reputedly been found on a farm owned by John Browning at Icklingham in Suffolk.

In 1989 six people were arrested over the theft of the hoard but no prosecutions were brought.