Staffordshire Hoard

Great to see this exhibition at Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery of some of the items found in the hoard of Saxon treasure found in Staffordshire in 2010.

Having see the news stories about this I was surprised at how small the items were. It became obvious that it must have been booty from war as it seems as if all the gold had been stripped from weapons. The quality of the garnet and gold work was wonderful and if this was taken during battle what must that battle have looked like with all the gold encrusted weapons. I think the shear quantity means this was off real weapons not just ceremonial bling.

I was impressed listening to local people in the exhibition who had obviously been more than once and were telling each other which items had changed since they last saw it. They felt a real connection to the items. It also showed how the conservation work was a work in progress.

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