Leaf-shaped plaques of silver designed with Pictish symbols.
Past exhibitions

Scotland's Early Silver

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National Museum of Scotland

About Scotland's Early Silver

This exhibition explored the story of Scotland’s early silver and how this precious metal helped to shape the first kingdoms of Scotland.

Featuring spectacular objects dating from AD75 to AD1000, and supported by The Glenmorangie Research Project on Early Medieval Scotland, Scotland’s Early Silver explored the part that silver played in the transformation of society in Scotland throughout the first millennium AD.

Today gold is more valuable than silver, but in the first millennium AD silver was the most powerful material in Scotland. Scotland’s earliest silver arrived with the Roman army and had a lasting impact on local society, quickly becoming associated with prestige and power.

In the centuries that followed, Roman silver objects were hacked and melted down to make iconic early medieval treasures like the massive silver chains. By AD700 the silver had been recycled many times and was used to make powerful objects such as the famous Hunterston Brooch.

Exhibition highlights

Scotland’s Early Silver follows three years of research supported by The Glenmorangie Company.

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