2021 Acquisition of Stoke Lyne Roman coin hoards
The Museums Service has acquired two third century Roman
coin hoards discovered in 2016 at Stoke Lyne and valued at
£9,000. Although the individual coins in the hoards are not
rare, their discovery adjacent to each other and in an area
of Oxfordshire that is producing an increasing number of Roman
finds adds to their significance and potential to support
future studies.
2019 The medieval Epwell Seal
price for the Seal was £26,000.00 of which the Friends are contributing £3,000 seed funding.
A complete gold medieval seal matrix of 13th century date and in exceptional condition. The seal matrix is oval in plan with an applied gold spine and suspension loop on the reverse. In the centre of the front of the matrix is an oval dark green jasper intaglio, intricately engraved to depict a female in profile. The female wears a long veil about her head with either hair, or possibly pearls, visible above the forehead. The matrix has a personal legend in Latin around the outer edge beginning with a six-pointed star and reads ‘*SIGILVM : SECRETI : hEN :’, translated as the ‘Secret seal of Hen’. The ‘h’ is the only lower case letter in the inscription. More information on the seal can be found at: Portable Antiquities Scheme.
Helen Geake: Women and their Seals.
Laura Burnett: Seal matrices recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
2018 20 Years of Treasure
The Friends provided £3,500 in 2018 to facilitate the 20 Years of Treasure exhibition.
2017 Anglo-Saxon Gallery upgrade
