The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial. II. The Gold Ornaments

Extract

Ost of the gold ornaments represent the very splendid outer harness of a princely apparel, doubtless the sword-belt and baldrick, and also a purse and the straps on which it was slung. From the point of view of sheer weight of gold, the chief find was a huge and heavy buckle, inlaid with niello ; but the harness included twentyeight other pieces, all richly jewelled with garnets and, in some instances, blue and white mosaic glass. We must remember too that the sword has a jewelled gold hilt and two hemi-spherical bosses of gold, jewelled with garnet and blue glass, on the sheath (PLATE IX). There are also a number of minor fragments of gold, including one or two unornamented strap-mounts, two jewelled filigree strips of great delicacy, and a tiny mount of gold foil in the form of an animal. The excavators also found various ornamental fittings of wood or a similar material that were plated with gold.