The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-25 00:00:00

TREASURE-TROVE IN IRELAND.

Mr. E. Clibborn, curate of the Museum of the
Royal Irish Academy, writes as follows to the
A thence um :

" DUBLIN, Oct. 7.

" Having been informed within a few days, by a
visitor to this museum, whose statement appeared
to me to be reliable, as its details were all consis-
tent with each other, and corroborated by other
facts which my informant could not know, that a
large quantity of ancient gold articles, found re-
cently in Ireland, are weekly finding their way to
the melting-pot in London, I would beg, through
your columns, to call the attention of the parties
injury
they are purchasing this gold, to the great
they are inflicting on archaeology by the course
they are adopting, unless, indeed, they are making
drawings and analysis of the various articles, par-
ticularly the larger ones, which are being destroyed.
"As the chief executioner of these ancient re-
liques is said to be a member of several antiquarian
societies in England, it may be hoped this sugges-
tion may be late, as he may have adopted the hint
here proposed already ; but if he has not, Iwould,
on the part of persons taking an interestin Irish
archeology, entreat of him to make such memoranda
of the things already destroyed, the things passing
through his hands, and the things ho expects to get
from the same party from whom he has got so much
already, that hereafter, when the law of treasure-
trove is repealed in Ireland and England, we may
have a sufficient record of this great find.
" It is really too bad that the law of the land is
such that it fails altogether to save to the Crown or
the finder the value of the treasure-trove found in
Ireland, while it almost of necessity insures the
destruction of things found, provided their quan-
tity is considerable. In the present case, the find
appears to have been very large, and the care of the
party finding it most judicious in keeping his
secret ; but, generally, the secret is kept so well as
to the locality that those who look to these finds
only as archaeological facts may seldom get at the
real truth of their discovery.
" I may mention one example of this kind—the
great gold.find in the neighbourhood of Athlone,
which realised over £27,000, as appeared from the
several sums of money paid by different goldsmiths
in Dublin, who, within a period of six months, ad-
mitted to Dr. Petrie that they had made purchases
of this gold to that amount. Dr. Petrie and others
have for years back endeavoured to ascertain the
locality of this find, and were disposed to place it
on an island in the Shannon ; but from other evi-
dence, obtained by accident, it would appear now
that the discovery was not made within seveirmiles
of the place to which attention had been directed.
" This great find was lost to science, and I fear the
one now following on the course of so many others
will also be lost, if the parties interested in utilising
this gold keep no memorial of its specialities. One
point I would insist on is the preservation of actual
impressions of any designs or inscriptions which
may be on these gold articles, for either or both
may solve the question as to the nationality and
antiquity of the gold articles found in Ireland.
" I have good reason to believe that a large gold
breast-plate, with inscriptions on it, has been found
lately in Ireland, and it may be a part of this find ;
if so, it is to be hoped that this notice may save its
inscriptions from loss. We want Irish gold anti-
quities with genuine inscriptions on them.
"I may venture to add to this letter that the
facts above referred to lead to the conclusion that
• the true course to be taken by the Government and
the public, to insure the preservation of gold anti-
quities and treasure-trove generally, is to allow
perfect freedom of trade in these things, as if they
were modern, except in the Hall mark, which should
• not be impressed on anything said to be ancient,
save on the decl Aragon of the licensed gold or silver-,
smith owning it, and that such should not be
' allowed to deal in treasure-trove, except it were
; stamped as such, unless the things were very
or would be spoiled in the operation."