collar
- Museum number
- WG.32
- Description
-
Gold collar. Flat beaten sheet of gold deeply hollowed to produce a concave cross-section. The body tapers from a broad centre to narrow solid, circular and plain terminals.
- Production date
- 1150BC-750BC (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 10.58 millimetres (terminal)
-
Diameter: 172 millimetres
-
Weight: 108 grammes
-
Thickness: 0.52 millimetres
-
Width: 35.66 millimetres (body centre)
-
Width: 6.24 millimetres (body end)
- Curator's comments
- It is recorded that the collar was found in a cairn at Newmarket on Fergus, Co. Claire in 1832. Despite the year of finding given, it is possible that this is part of the vast Mooghaun North or Newmarket on Fergus hoard. Newmarket on Fergus is the largest village close to Mooghaun. In addition some of the accounts concerning the discovery at Mooghaun claim that the objects were in a small cairn.
The discovery of the Newmarket-on-Fergus hoard, of which the collar was possibly a part, was made in March 1854 by labourers working on the construction of the Limerick to Ennis railway. The hoard was discovered on low ground in the area between Lock Ataska and Mooghaun Loch. It has been stated that the area was under water prior the modern cutting of a deep drain from Mooghaun Lake. Accounts of the precise place of discovery vary, but it appears that the ornaments were packed into a cavity.
The collar is possibly part of the largest hoards of gold objects found in Ireland near Newmarket on Fergus.
The Newmarket-on-Fergus hoard was dispersed at the time of the discovery and a large proportion was melted down. For that reason the total contents of the hoard can never be established but 146 pieces survived to be presented at a meeting of the Royal Irish Academy on June 26th 1854 weighing 174 oz 11dwt 7 gr or nearly 5kg.
- Location
- On display (G68/dc5/p2/no3)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2012 - Present, London, BM, G68 Money Gallery
1991 23 Aug-24 Nov, Dublin, National Museum of Ireland, Irish Bronze Age Gold
- Condition
- There are several cracks and dents in the collar along the edges.
- Acquisition date
- 1909
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- WG.32
