Wrexham County Borough Museum keen to buy hoard of medieval gold coins
Treasures were discovered by metal detectorists
Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives has expressed an interest in buying a hoard of medieval gold coins and a ring found metal detectorists.
The collection of gold and silver English coins, some of which were used during the reigns of Edward III, Richard II and Henry VI, was discovered in 2013 by Cliff Massey near Bronington in Wrexham. The gold ring, found in 2014 by Massey and fellow metal detectorist Peter Walpole, contains a cabochon blue sapphire.
Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives wants to build on its existing collection of 14 silver coins spanning the reigns of Edward III and Henry VI. It plans to acquire the newly-discovered coins with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund's Collecting Cultures programme.
Steve Grenter, the heritage services manager at Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives, said: “We have relatively little material relating to the period of the Wars of the Roses, and so the hoard would be a significant addition to our archaeological collections.
“The museum will also be looking at ways of actively engaging with local community groups, so that they can work with us in co-curating its display and interpretation.”
Mark Redknap, the head of collections and research at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales), said: “The association of the ring with datable coins has significance for jewellery studies, allowing us to build up a more specific context for personal adornment in late medieval Wales.
“This ring is particularly fine, and on the basis of its form and style, of 15-century date – a close parallel for the still leaf foliage is found on the shoulders of a decorative gold ring set with a cut sapphire considered to be one referred to in the will of John Claymond, first president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1468-1537).
"This makes the Bronington ring contemporary with the coin element of the hoard, thought to have been deposited after AD 1465 because of the clipping evident on some coins.”
The collection of gold and silver English coins, some of which were used during the reigns of Edward III, Richard II and Henry VI, was discovered in 2013 by Cliff Massey near Bronington in Wrexham. The gold ring, found in 2014 by Massey and fellow metal detectorist Peter Walpole, contains a cabochon blue sapphire.
Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives wants to build on its existing collection of 14 silver coins spanning the reigns of Edward III and Henry VI. It plans to acquire the newly-discovered coins with funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund's Collecting Cultures programme.
Steve Grenter, the heritage services manager at Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives, said: “We have relatively little material relating to the period of the Wars of the Roses, and so the hoard would be a significant addition to our archaeological collections.
“The museum will also be looking at ways of actively engaging with local community groups, so that they can work with us in co-curating its display and interpretation.”
Mark Redknap, the head of collections and research at Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales), said: “The association of the ring with datable coins has significance for jewellery studies, allowing us to build up a more specific context for personal adornment in late medieval Wales.
“This ring is particularly fine, and on the basis of its form and style, of 15-century date – a close parallel for the still leaf foliage is found on the shoulders of a decorative gold ring set with a cut sapphire considered to be one referred to in the will of John Claymond, first president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (1468-1537).
"This makes the Bronington ring contemporary with the coin element of the hoard, thought to have been deposited after AD 1465 because of the clipping evident on some coins.”