the originals in the Royal Irish Academy's collection (Plate IV).
Otherwise such objects of the find as escaped the melting-pot were
scattered, and have found their way into different museums and private
collections. As has been mentioned, the objects of this find did not
show any remarkable types, and for the most part consisted of very
thin bracelets and penannular rings with cup-shaped ends. It is
probable that, as well as being ornaments, they served as a kind of
currency.

[Illustration: PLATE IV. Portion of the great Clare find. _p. 66._]

PENANNULAR RINGS AND RING-MONEY

[Illustration: Fig. 62.--Gold fibulae, and other objects found together
at Coachford, Co. Cork.]

[Illustration: Fig. 63.--Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin,
showing Europeans holding manillas (after Read and Dalton,
_Antiquities of the City of Benin_).]

The large number of penannular rings with cup-shaped ends which have
been found from time to time in the island, brings us on to the
general question of the so-called Irish fibulae. In Ireland penannular
rings with cup-shaped ends of copper or bronze are very rare, only
about half a dozen being known, while fibulae of gold are exceedingly
common. The Coachford find, in which amber beads, gold fibulae, and a
copper or bronze fibula were all found together, shows that the
objects were contemporary; and as this find may be placed at the end
of the Bronze Age, it shows that these objects were in use at that
period (fig. 62). On the other hand, it is likely that their use began
earlier and continued for a long period. These objects when made of
gold are of two shapes--in the one case the expanded cups are large
and flat and the connecting bar is bow-shaped, and is striated. These
have been conjectured to have been used as brooches for fastening a
garment; and their form was probably influenced by the Scandinavian
spectacle-brooches, the bows of the latter having, in some cases, the
same decoration. Except for the striations on the connecting link,
the Irish so-called mamillary fibulae are almost always plain; but
Vallancey has figured two examples, one of which is engraved with
triangular, and the other with lozenge, ornaments. There is also the
well-known example in Trinity College, Dublin, in which the surfaces
of the cups are completely covered with concentric circle ornament,
the inside rims of the cups being decorated with hat