Shopping: Gifts inspired by the field of gold

Dec 20 2010 By Emma McKinney

Consumer Editor Emma McKinney meets the writer who has helped to create beautiful keepsakes inspired by the Staffordshire Hoard.

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AMATEUR metal-detecting enthusiast Terry Herbert couldn’t believe his luck when he stumbled on the largest and most valuable collection of Anglo-Saxon gold in a field in Burntwood, Staffordshire.

Terry’s find last July saw him unearth more than 200 pieces of jewelled gold and silver, which had been buried for over 1,000 years.

It sparked excitement among historians world-wide, with archaeologists later excavating another 1,400 items worth around £3.3 million.

The artefacts were officially declared treasure last September, and in January a massive public appeal was launched to raise the money to keep the hoard in the Midlands.

Just three months later, Birmingham City Council and Staffordshire County Council announced they had hit their fund-raising target.

The hoard has attracted media attention from all over the globe as speculation mounts over its history and even Pope Benedict XVI has blessed a folded cross from the collection.

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is being flooded by more than 1,000 visitors a day from history enthusiasts young and old alike desperate to get a glimpse of the hoard.

Now the Art Fund, a national charity that campaigns and fund-raises to give money to museums and galleries to buy and show art, has produced a collection of products inspired by the hoard.

The exclusive range includes whisky tumblers (£29.95 each or £50 for two), felt-backed melamine coasters (£14.95 for a set of six) and a box set of eight notecards and envelopes (£5.95), which are all available online at www.artfund.org/shop or by calling the Art Fund on 0844 880 4535.

Each item features excerpts of prose penned by renowned historian and writer Marina Warner, who hopes the products will fly off the shelves.