Antiquities Exhibits

The Capheaton Treasure, an important Roman silver hoard dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE found in the village of Capheaton in Northumberland in northeast England was discovered in 1747.  Sadly, most of the treasure was melted down soon after it was found.  Of the six objects that remain, now in the British Museum, it is thought they originally composed a temple treasure of ornate silver vessels, four of them the handles of silver skillets and two objects that once formed the base and a fitting for a silver vessel. These pieces appear to be remnants of hacksilver that was common among the Vikings but may have also been used by the Romans in their dealings with Pictish tribes. Hoards of hacksilver are also well known in pre and post-coinage antiquity, in European and Near Eastern contexts. The Cisjordan Corpus (c.1200-586 BCE) is the largest identified concentration of pre-coinage hacksilver hoards. The widespread adoption of Greek silver coinages by c. 480 BCE appears to ...

National Museum of Finland in Helsinki.  The National Museum of Finland presents Finnish history from the Stone Age to the present day, through cultural objects. Its archaeological collections include coins, medals, silver, jewelry, glassware, weapons, and reconstructed costumes. The museum also houses medieval artifacts and religious art. Image: Late Roman Bronze Age, zoomorphic sword scabbard decoration, 200-400 CE courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Sailko