Ourense torcs

Start at the ends of this gold neck ring. They have a reel-like shape and are hollow, with engraved decoration and tiny grains of gold on their surfaces. The main body has a diamond-shaped cross-section. Those differences in construction give you several kinds of metalwork within one object. The torc dates to about 350–150 BC. A torc is a rigid neck ring. Its open form and decorated terminals made the front of the wearer’s neck a place for concentrated ornament. The ends reward a much closer look than the overall ring shape might first suggest. This is one of the pair known in the catalogue as the Orense Torcs, named for the region now usually spelled Ourense. The Museum purchased the example through Sotheby’s in 1960. Its exact discovery circumstances are uncertain. The regional name locates a collecting history more securely than it reconstructs the moment the object entered the ground.