Purse-lid from the ship burial at Sutton Hoo

This lid from the Sutton Hoo purse is the richest Anglo-Saxon example ever found. Made to cover a leather pouch containing gold coins, it would have hung from a waist belt by three hinged straps. The lid was probably made from whale-bone ivory, which had completely decayed by the time it was found, leaving only the gold framework. The seven gold, garnet cloisonne and millefiori glass plaques were originally set into it.