Bronze Age Gold from Wales

A mitred abbot,his pastoral staff with crook turned outwards grasped obliquely by his left arm, seated in an acute-arched niche with decorated lateral pillars; the niche is surmounted by the inscription: ave maria (for the Primary Patron) : above is the Angus Dei with cross and banner unfurled (for the secondary patron) : in field, to either side, a flowering plant in a vase: cusped edgeto field and beaded border. (There is no evidence that the abbots of Talley were ever mitred, so the effigy displayed is somewhat problematical. It might relate to a fond memory of Abbot Iorwerth who, in 1215, became bishop of St. David's).