The hoard was found by father and son David and Andrew Whelan while metal detecting near Harrogate in 2007. David described the find as a "ball covered with mud". Picture: British Museum Trustees. |
Some 100 of the 617 coins in the hoard have now been cleaned. Conservators are delighted with their condition. Picture: British Museum Trustees. |
The hoard consists of 617 silver coins and 65 other items, including ornaments, ingots and precious metal, which were hidden in a gilt silver vessel lined with gold (variously identified as a cup, bowl, or pot) made in France or Germany around 900 and decorated with "vines, leaves and six hunting scenes showing lions, stags, and a horse". The lions were lionesses, with no mane. The vessel is thought to have been used to hold communion bread for a wealthy church or monastery in northern France and to have been acquired either in a Viking raid or as tribute.