an ecclesiastical vessel from Northern France either plundered or given as tribute. Vines, leaves, and six running animals (two lions and four beasts of prey) decorate the cup. The cup is so closely paralleled by the Halton Moor cup, conserved in the British Museum, that both must be from the same Carolingian workshop and were produced in the mid-ninth century. The vessel was buried in a lead chest. A rare gold arm ring (possibly from Ireland), and hacksilver (fragments of cut metal sometimes used as currency) were also found. Reports indicate that the coins bear Islamic, Christian, and pre-Christian Norse pagan symbols: "some of the coins mixed Christian and pagan imagery, shedding light on the beliefs of newly-Christianized Vikings." The hoard had been protected by lead sheeting of some kind. The coins date from the late 9th and early 10th centuries, providing a terminus post quem for dating the hoard. The first theory as to a likely 10th-century occasion for such a careful burying was that it had belonged to a wealthy Viking leader during the unrest that followed the conquest of the Viking kingdom of Northumbria in the year 927 by the Anglo-Saxon king of a unified England, Athelstan (924–939). Another brief period of Viking rule in Northumbria also followed Athelstan's death in 939; it lasted until the expulsion and murder of the Viking king of Jórvík (modern-day York), Eric Bloodaxe, in 954. The hoard included objects from many diverse locations, including Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan, North Africa, Afghanistan, Russia, Ireland, Scandinavia, and continental Europe, "illustrating the breadth of the Vikings' travels and trade connections." Gareth Williams, curator of early medieval coins at the British Museum, examined the artifacts. Acquisition and display At a court hearing in Harrogate on 19 July 2007, the hoard was classified as a Treasure by North Yorkshire coroner Geoff Fell under the Treasure Act 1996, which requires the find to be offered for sale to museums, with the proceeds divided by agreement between the discoverers and the landowner. The find was valued by the Independent Treasure Valuation Committee for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The independent Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1,082,000. The hoard was purchased jointly by York Museums Trust, and the British Museum with funding from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Art Fund and The British Museum Friends. From 17 September 2009 items from the hoard were