Treasure

“The items seem to be very similar in style, form, shape and design as the previous hoard”

Pete Baker on December 19, 2012, 9:04 pm

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Very similar, indeed… Over 3,900 artefacts in the Anglo-Saxon hoard discovered in Staffordshire in 2009 now belong to Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery jointly – Staffordshire Hoard website. The independently assessed price at the time was £3.3million, which included £900,000 raised through public donations. Now, after recent ploughing, a further 90 pieces of gold and silver have been recovered from the same field. As the Guardian reports More gold and silver, including a gold and garnet cross, an eagle-shaped mount, …

“This is part of the culture of Ireland”

Pete Baker on March 30, 2012, 7:00 pm

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Even though a group of 4 gold torcs were discovered near Stirling in 2009, they’re not that common. According to the BBC report, Dr Greer Ramsey from Armagh County Museum told Belfast coroner, John Leckey, that “10 torcs have been discovered in Ireland and 38 in Britain”. ANYhoo… the coroner has ruled that a [IIRC] 47 37 inch long flange-twisted gold torc, found in a bog in County Fermanagh, is an item of treasure. And, as we know, “strange things happen in the bog“. From the BBC report It …

Odyssey Marine surrenders ‘Black Swan’ treasure to Spain

Pete Baker on February 25, 2012, 4:10 pm

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It looks as if the 5 year legal battle between US company Odyssey Marine Exploration and the Spanish government over the ‘Black Swan’ treasure is finally coming to an end. As I mentioned previously Browsing through the Odyssey Marine press archive brings an update on their previous big find. Also mentioned in my earlier post Odyssey is currently being sued by the Spanish government over a previous treasure of “17 tonnes of silver coins plus a few hundred gold coins”, …

Odyssey Marine to recover Victory, but lose ‘Black Swan’ treasure

Pete Baker on February 2, 2012, 5:08 pm

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Last seen somewhere off the Irish coast, US company Odyssey Marine Exploration have announced that they have “executed an agreement with the Maritime Heritage Foundation for the financing, archaeological survey and excavation, conservation and exhibit of HMS Victory (1744) and artifacts from the shipwreck site.” That’s Admiral Balchin’s HMS Victory – a 100-gun first-rate ship of the line lost in 1744 in the English Channel. It confirms an earlier report in the Sunday Times. There may be four tonnes of gold …