cape(?)
- Museum number
- 1836,0902.3
- Description
-
Gold ?cape sheet fragment. The rectangular fragment of beaten sheet gold is decorated with three bands of rounded bosses between three embossed ribs. One of the edges has four holes. There are traces of a brown substance, probably soil, in the back of the fragment.
- Production date
- 1900BC-1600BC (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 34.39 millimetres
-
Weight: 2.30 grammes
-
Thickness: 0.05 millimetres
-
Width: 45.41 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Although found with the Mold gold cape fragments, this sheet fragment as well as sheet fragment 1836,0902.3 do not appear to have been part of the cape and may well have been part of a distinct object, possibly another cape, instead.
The Mold Gold Cape was found by workmen quarrying for stone in a burial mound in 1833 in a field named Bryn yr Ellyllon (the Fairies' or Goblins' Hill). At the centre of the mound was a stone-lined grave with the crushed gold cape around the fragmentary remains of a skeleton. Strips of bronze and many amber beads were recovered, but only one of the beads reached the British Museum (1852,0615.1).
- Location
- On display (G51/dc8)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2021-2022 4 Jun-9 Jan, Halle, Landesamt fur Denkmalpflege und Archaologie Sachsen-Anhalt, The Nebra Sky Disc
2013 7 Aug-14 Sep, Wrexham, Wrexham Museum, Spotlight: The Mold Gold Cape
2013 2 Jul-4 Aug, Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, Spotlight: The Mold Gold Cape
- Condition
- There is a crack in the fragment surface.
- Acquisition date
- 1836
- Acquisition notes
- Parts of the Mold gold cape and associated artefacts from the site which were found in 1833 came to the British Museum at intervals between 1836 and 1972 though the fragments acquired after 1836 were all small. Four gold sheet fragments from the cape were presented to the Grosvenor Museum, Chester by Mr George Lowe in 1953. They were loaned to the British Museum 1966-1987. One fragment belongs to the cape though the other three appear to relate to fragments 1836.0902.2-3 which may be a distinct object.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1836,0902.3