Saturday, October 9, 2010

What Is On My Dogs Lip

GB: Turns bronze helmet with a metal detector

Going for fields with a metal detector looking for coins, a 'hunter' English has done an exceptional archaeological discovery: a Roman cavalry helmet full face mask. The hat represents the face of a solemn-eyed young man, dating back some 2,000 years ago. According to experts, was a ceremonial object, to be worn on parade as suggested by Arrian of Nicomedia in a military treaty of Emperor Hadrian, not a protective shield for a soldier in combat. The discovery has been taken in the village of Crosby Garrett in Cumbria. The young hunter, identified only as a man of about twenty, had for years pursued valuables through the metal detectors in the countryside near his farm in North East England. However, so far had found more than a few coins. So you can imagine his surprise when in May, face down in the mud, he spotted the extraordinary bronze helmet: initially thought that it was an ornament of the Victorian age.

If the discovery had been made in Italy the helmet would almost certainly end in a museum. Not so in Britain where the ancient bronze objects are not covered by the Treasure Act, a 1996 law that only artifacts more than 300 years old and consist of at least 10 percent in gold or silver must be submitted to a government inquiry that may affect the sale. Unlike the case of a bronze object that may well end up on the open market, a fact that has given rise to controversy: the proceeds will be divided in half between finder and owner of the field. It 'was so that the helmet is finished in the hands of Christie who gave an estimate of 300 000 pounds, according to experts cited by the Guardian recently that the precious artefact can exceed half a million. Tullie House, a museum of Carlisle in Cumbria, which has an important collection of Roman antiquities, desperately wants to buy the helmet with the blessing of the British Museum. It will be inevitable as a poke in the battle on October 7 when the enigmatic face of bronze curls covered with a Phrygian cap finished at the tip of a griffin will be sold to the highest bidder. Originally the area was so cans must shine like silver griffin and the hat and golden hair was probably: "It 's an extraordinary example of Roman metallurgy at its peak," said Christie's. So far only two have been discovered ceremonial helmets-mask like this: one day in 1796 at the British Museum, the other in 1905 and now at the Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh.

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