Unseen relics that form part of the Staffordshire Hoard will be added to a display returning to Birmingham this weekend.
Helmet fragments will be featured alongside 59 items from the world’s largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure.
Other artefacts to be displayed include fragments of decoration of eagles and ducks, a crumpled gold cross and a red garnet stud.
The Staffordshire Hoard attracted more than 40,000 visitors to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery throughout its 19-day display in October last year.
And since it was certified as treasure, a fund-raising appeal led by The Art Fund and historian Dr David Starkey was launched to keep the items in the West Midlands Region. To date, £1.5 million has been raised in public pledges, but the target of £3.3m needs to be reached by April 17 deadline.
Birmingham City Council’s leisure boss Coun Martin Mullaney, said: “I am delighted that items from the Anglo-Saxon Hoard will be back in
Birmingham. Our Museum and Art Gallery has some of the finest facilities and expertise in the country to care for this astonishing treasure. I have no doubt it will once again attract visitors from far and wide to our city.
“We know from the overwhelming public response to the first display that people feel very passionately that we must keep it in the West Midlands. Our fund-raising efforts will continue to secure it for the benefit of the region and local people for generations to come.”
The display will also be taken to The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, where it attracted 52,500 visitors during a 23-day exhibition which ran until last Sunday March 7. The two displays will run from March 13 to April 18.
Coun Hazel Lyth, Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s culture boss, added: “The support from the public for this unique treasure has been incredible.
“It has been the most popular exhibition ever staged at our museum and to have raised so much money and attracted so many visitors is a real credit to the region.”
* You can donate to the appeal to keep the Staffordshire Hoard, here.
