The Staffordshire helmet is an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

helmet discovered in 2009 as part of the Staffordshire Hoard. It is part of the largest discovery of contemporary gold and silver metalwork in Britain, which contained more than 4,000 precious fragments, approximately a third of which came from a single high-status helmet. Following those found at Benty Grange (1848), Sutton Hoo (1939), Coppergate (1982), Wollaston (1997), and Shorwell (2004), it is only the sixth known Anglo-Saxon helmet. The helmet, along with the entire hoard, was purchased jointly by the

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (BM&AG) is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England. It has a collection of international importance covering fine art, ceramics, metalwork, jewellery, natural history, archaeology, ethnography, local h ...

and the

Potteries Museum & Art Gallery The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is in Bethesda Street, Hanley, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Admission is free. One of the four local authority museums in the city, the other three being Gladstone Pottery Museum ...

, and is currently undergoing conservation work. In 2012 a second find of metalwork, including the second cheek guard, was made at the original site. The helmet is believed to have been made around AD 600-650. Two replicas of the crested helmet have been made for display in the museums in Birmingham and Stoke.

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Bibliography

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* * * * * * * * * * * * {{helmets, state=collapsed 2009 archaeological discoveries Anglo-Saxon art Archaeological discoveries in the United Kingdom Medieval helmets Medieval European metalwork objects Individual helmets Collections of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery