The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #33652   Message #449665
Posted By: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
26-Apr-01 - 05:50 AM
Thread Name: BS: Golden Fibula
Subject: Golden Fibula
We know the Mudcat Fibula Mattock is one in a million but it seems there's another:
From today's Telegraph Online (I only look at it for the Matt cartoons , honest!)

Celtic gold clasp sold for £1.1m
A SIXTH-INCH long gold clasp became the most expensive cloak fastener in the world when it sold for £1,103,750 at auction in London yesterday. The third century BC Celtic fibula set an auction record for a piece of ancient gold jewellery when it sold for £1,103,750 The third century BC treasure set an auction record for a piece of ancient gold jewellery. It was bought by a New York firm of dealers bidding for an unnamed European institution.

The Celtic piece, known as a fibula, belonged to a European titled family in the 19th century before it surfaced in Chicago after the Second World War. It has been on display at the British museum since 1993.

It shows a young warrior surrounded by snarling animals symbolising an initiation ceremony into manhood. It has an ingenious locking mechanism and evidence suggests that it was worn regularly by an aristocratic owner.
RtS (you didn't tell us about your "titled European family" ,Fibs!)