| Sintra Gold Collar | |
|---|---|
 Sintra Collar in the British Museum | |
| Material | Gold |
| Size | Diameter 13.1cm |
| Created | 10th-8th Century BC |
| Present location | British Museum, London |
| Identification | 1900,0727.1 |
The Sintra Collar (Portuguese : Xorca de Sintra) is a Bronze Age gold neck-ring found near Sintra in Portugal. Since 1900, it has been part of the British Museum's collection and has long been admired for the sophistication and geometric beauty of its design and technique. [1]
The Sintra Collar is made of three thick round bars of graduated diameters which have been tapered and fused together at the ends. A ribbed link-plate is loosely attached by means of hooks at the end which pass through perforations. The front segments of the bars carry incised geometric decoration of parallel lines, divided into panels and fringed by a series of triangles (known as dog's tooth design). Attached at either end are two separately formed cups of gold, with an internal spike and moulding. The catch-plate is ornamented with five ribs, three of which have incised oblique lines.
The gold collar was allegedly found in 1878 by workers digging a ditch in a stone quarry in the Casal Amaro parish of Santa Maria, near Sintra in Portugal. According to reports at the time, the neck-ring was found with human bones in a grave. Soon after its discovery, the finds were purchased by the landowner. It was later bought by the London dealers John Hall Junior & Co, who sold it to the British Museum at the turn of the century.
The Sintra Collar is one of a number of similar Bronze Age jewellery finds recorded along the Atlantic seaboard of Europe. Its decoration, for example, is paralleled in contemporary torcs found in southern Spain at sites such as Sagrajas near Badajoz. However, its complex design of tapering bars and catch-plate with accompanying hooks is unique.
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few have mortice and tenon locking catches to close them. Many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove.
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Pottery and ceramics have been produced in the Levant since prehistoric times.
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Gold working in the Bronze Age British Isles refers to the use of gold to produce ornaments and other prestige items in the British Isles during the Bronze Age, between circa 2500 and c.800 BCE in Britain, and up to about 550 BCE in Ireland. In this period, communities in Britain and Ireland first learned how to work metal, leading to the widespread creation of not only gold but also copper and bronze items as well. Gold artefacts in particular were prestige items used to designate the high status of those individuals who wore, or were buried with them.
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The Lochar Moss Torc is an Iron Age brass torc or neck-ring found in Lochar Moss, near Dumfries in Scotland. It was found by chance in the early nineteenth century and was later donated to the British Museum.
The Bedale Hoard is a hoard of forty-eight silver and gold items dating from the late 9th to early 10th centuries AD and includes necklaces, arm-bands, a sword pommel, hacksilver and ingots. It was discovered on 22 May 2012 in a field near Bedale, North Yorkshire, by metal detectorists, and reported via the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Following a successful public funding campaign, the hoard was acquired by the Yorkshire Museum for £50,000.
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