Beaurains Treasure | |
---|---|
Material | Silver |
Created | 3rd century AD |
Present location | British Museum, London |
The Beaurains Treasure (or Arras Treasure) is the name of an important Roman hoard found in Beaurains, a suburb of the city of Arras, northern France in 1922. Soon after its discovery, much of the treasure was dispersed, to be sold on the antiquities market. The largest portion of the hoard can be found in the local museum in Arras and in the British Museum. [1]
The treasure was accidentally discovered inside a pottery vessel during building work at Beaurains, Pas-de-Calais on 21 September 1922. Two Belgian workmen were digging for clay when they unearthed the treasure a short depth underground. Unfortunately, much of the treasure disappeared overnight and a great part of it was sold on the antiquities market. Items from the Beaurains Treasure are now found in collections worldwide, but the two institutions with the greatest proportion of the hoard are the Musée d'Arras and the British Museum.
The Beaurains Treasure is principally composed of coins, although other luxury items are included in the hoard. There are twenty-three pieces of jewellery (necklaces, bracelets, earrings, buckles, finger rings, cameos and pendants), silver objects (a lamp stand or candelabra, two spoons and an ingot) and 472 coins that were kept in a (now lost) silver container, including at least 25 gold medallions issued during the reign of Constantine I. The medallions were minted in Trier and Rome and were probably gifts received by the owner of the treasure during his career as officer of the imperial army between 285 and 310 A.D. Their value ranges from four to ten aurei, and from one and a half to nine solidi. One of the medallions was issued to celebrate the reconquest of Britannia by Constantius I in 296 A.D, the reverse of which is denoted by an image of Londinium, represented by a woman welcoming the Emperor on her knees outside the city walls. The original is kept in Arras, with a copy in the British Museum. [2]
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human culture from its beginnings to the present. The British Museum was the first public national museum to cover all fields of knowledge.
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few have mortice and tenon locking catches to close them. Many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove.
Beaurains is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region in northern France.
The Snettisham Jeweller's Hoard is a collection of Romano-British jewellery and raw materials, found during the construction of a house in the Norfolk village of Snettisham in 1985. The hoard is thought to be the working stock of a jeweller, buried in a single clay pot around 155 AD. The finds include the working tip of a quartz burnishing tool, partially or fully completed items of jewellery, and raw materials: mainly silver coins, scrap silver items and silver ingots, but also six pieces of scrap gold, and many engraved gemstones to be set in rings. The presence of scrap gold and silver and absence of base metals indicates that the jeweller dealt mainly with high-status customers.
Norrie's Law hoard is a sixth century silver hoard discovered in 1819 at a small mound in Largo, Fife, Scotland. Found by an unknown person or persons, most of the hoard was illegally sold or given away, and has disappeared. Remaining items of the hoard were found later at the mound, and were turned over to the landowner, General Philip Durham. The surviving 170 pieces from the hoard are now in the National Museum of Scotland. The treasure consists mostly of hacksilver and includes four complete silver pieces. Both Roman and much rarer Pictish objects are among the survivals.
The Mâcon Treasure or Macon Treasure is the name of a Roman silver hoard found in the city of Mâcon, eastern France in 1764. Soon after its discovery, the bulk of the treasure disappeared, with only 8 silver statuettes and a silver plate identified as being part of the original find. All of these objects are now in the British Museum
The Chaourse Treasure is a hoard of Roman silver found in Chaourse, a village near Montcornet, Aisne in northern France in 1883. Dating between the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, the treasure is one of the most complete table services to survive from antiquity. This important hoard is now part of the British Museum's collection.
The Caubiac Treasure is a Roman silver hoard found in the village of Thil, southern France in 1785 that is now kept in the British Museum in London.
The Aegina Treasure or Aigina Treasure is an important Minoan gold hoard said to have been found on the island of Aegina, Greece. Since 1892, it has been part of the British Museum's collection. It is one of the most important groups of Minoan jewellery.
The Carthage Treasure is a Roman silver hoard, which was found in Tunis, Tunisia, at the site of the ancient city of Carthage. The treasure principally consists of silver tableware and jewellery, most of which is now held at the British Museum.
The Sutri Treasure is an important Lombardic hoard found at Sutri, Italy in the late nineteenth century that is currently in the collections of the British Museum in London.
The Canterbury Treasure is an important late Roman silver hoard found in the city of Canterbury, Kent, south-east England, ancient Durovernum Cantiacorum, in 1962, and now in the Roman Museum, Canterbury, Kent. Copies of the main items are also kept in the British Museum.
The Boscoreale Treasure is a large collection of exquisite silver and gold Roman objects discovered in the ruins of the ancient Villa della Pisanella at Boscoreale, near Pompeii, southern Italy. Consisting of over a hundred pieces of silverware, as well as gold coins and jewellery, it is now mostly kept at the Louvre Museum in Paris, although parts of the treasure can also be found at the British Museum.
The Asyut Treasure is the name of an important Byzantine hoard of jewellery found near the city of Asyut, central Egypt. Discovered in mysterious circumstances in the early twentieth century, the treasure is now divided between the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Berlin, the British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum in New York City.