Aegina Treasure

Aegina Treasure
Elaborate gold earring (one of a pair) from the Aegina Treasure in the British Museum
Material	Gold
Size	Height 10.3 cm
Created	1850-1550 BC
Present location	British Museum, London

The Aegina Treasure or Aigina Treasure is an important

The Aegina Treasure is composed largely of gold

The treasure was said to have been found in a tomb on the island of Aegina, not far from Athens, in 1891, although the exact circumstances have never been determined. The British Museum purchased the bulk of the treasure in 1892 from the Cresswell Brothers, a London firm of sponge dealers. Further pieces from the treasure were bought by the museum in 1914.^[3]

Many, or most, scholars now believe the hoard was actually excavated at the

• Priam's Treasure
• Mask of Agamemnon

Gallery

• 
  The other elaborate earring
• 
  Two sets of golden beads
• 
  Various necklaces from the hoard
• 
  Necklaces made of gold, cornelian and jasper
• 
  Necklace made of golden beads and pendants of jasper
• 
  One of 54 identical gold plaques
• 
  More plaques with convex bosses decorated with rosettes of petals.
• 
  Embossed gold cup with a rosette and spirals
• 
  Elongated breast ornament with human heads at both ends
• 
  Heavy gold bracelet
• 
  Several gold bands and diadems
• 
  Gold ornament based on a lions head
• 
  Gold ornament with two chains ending in owl figurines
• 
  Gold pendants in the shape of owls
• 
  Five interconnecting golden rings
• 
  Gold finger ring with lapis lazuli inlays in the shape of a double axe
• 
  Finger ring inlaid with lapis lazuli
• 
  Gold finger ring in the shape of a reef knot
• 
  Ring decorated with cross hatched lines
• 
  Disk bead made from

  rock crystal

Bibliography

• L. Burn, The British Museum Book of Greek and Roman Art (British Museum Press, 1991)
• Castleden, Rodney, Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete, 2002, Taylor & Francis,
  ISBN 9781134880645, google books
• R. Higgins, The Aegina Treasure - An Archaeological Mystery (London, 1979)
• R. Higgins, 'The Aegina treasure reconsidered', Annual of the British School-1, 52 (1957), pp. 42–57
• ISBN 0140561420

British Museum objects