Tax bill paid with 2,000-year-old Iron Age fire guard

A 2,000-year-old Iron Age fire guard has been accepted into Wales' national museum in lieu of inheritance tax. The Capel Garmon Firedog, once one of a pair on the hearth of a chieftain's roundhouse, is regarded as one of the finest surviving prehistoric iron artefacts in Europe. Previously on loan to the National Museum it will now be part of Wales' collections of Early Celtic Art. It was discovered in a peat bog in 1852. Conservation X-raying of the object, twinned with an experiment attempting to replicate the making of the piece, has demonstrated the sheer skill of the blacksmith. The piece comprises of 85 separately shaped elements, and originally weighted around 38 kilos. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-16252711