The Tara Brooch

Found in August 1850 by a peasant woman and her children on the beach at Bettystown, Co. Meath. The mother brought it to an iron dealer, who refused to buy it. A Dublin jeweller called George Waterhouse recognised what it was. He renamed it the Tara Brooch as a marketing trick, attaching it to the seat of the High Kings to lend it royal weight. It has no connection to Tara.

The brooch is late 7th or early 8th century, 8.7 cm across, with a pin 32 cm long. Silver, gold, bronze, glass, amber, copper. Around fifty inserted cast panels on each side, each packed with filigree. It is widely held to be the finest piece of early medieval metalwork in Europe.