History in the balance: a newly-discovered Anglo-Saxon runic inscription from Croy, Highland

Abstract

• A recent reassessment of the National Museums Scotland’s Viking-age collections revealed a new runic inscription from a previously overlooked scrap of copper alloy. The Croy Hoard is a mixed collection of objects deposited in the late 9th century AD, not far from what is now Inverness Airport. The Hoard was retrieved in two parts, first by a girl planting potatoes around 1875, and then by the farmer the following year. It consists of two silver coins, parts of three silver brooches, a length of silver chain, seven glass or amber beads and the broken beam of a copper alloy balance scale.