Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Tall drinking cup made from turned oak with Sterling silver foot plate, liner, lip and inset medallions; the upper and middle body of the cup is of an open beaker-like shape, the lower part bulbous and with horizontal reeding, with a pedestal base leading to a stepped, round foot. The cup is mounted with a hand raised Sterling silver liner that extends over the rim to form a lip, with a plain band beneath the rim, the foot has a circular sterling silver foot disc decorated with simple reeding and secured with round-headed pins. Two circular medallions are inset into opposite faces of the body, one engraved with a coat of arms and the other with an image of an oak tree and inscription.

The Ceubren yr Ellyll (hollow tree of the demon) grew at Tynyllyn on the Vaughan estate. According to legend Hywel Sele, 8th lord of Nannau, attacked his cousin Owain Glyndwr during a hunting expedition, but was killed by him. Glyndwr then hid the body in the hollow tree, where it remained undiscovered for forty years. After the tree was blown down in a storm in 1813, Sir Robert Williams Vaughan had a number of artefacts made from it, including this cup.