A museum has launched an appeal to raise £60,000 to buy the first Iron Age jewellery to be found in the north of England.

Two gold bracelets thought to be more than 2,000-years-old were found by treasure hunters in a stream bed near Towton, North Yorkshire.

They are the first examples of gold being worn as jewellery in the north of England and will go on temporary display at the Yorkshire Museum, which is now appealing to the public to try to raise the funds to keep them.

The first bracelet, which has been dated to 100BC-70BC and was found in May 2010, has been declared as treasure by the coroner.

An inquest into the second, which could be older still and was found within metres of the first in April 2011, will be held in the next few months. Before these finds the furthest north a torc had been discovered was in Newark, in Nottinghamshire. The bracelets, which are made of two gold wires twisted together and are known as torcs, were found by metal detector enthusiasts Andrew Green and Shaun Scott. They are made entirely of gold and are thought to have belonged to an extremely wealthy, possibly royal, member of the Brigantes tribe, which ruled most of North Yorkshire during the Iron Age.

Natalie McCaul, assistant curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum, said: “These are stunning finds and have made archaeologists and historians think again about what life was like in Yorkshire 2,000 years ago.

The torcs will be on show at the Yorkshire Museum until January 31.