FOUND IN WELL

Hokitika Guardian, 22 May 1940, Page 8

FOUND IN WELL

SILK 200 Y,EARS OLD 1 LONDON, May 12. Seven reels of silk, believed to be; 200 years.old, have been found in the' ancient premises occupied bv( the Order of St. John, in St John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, London. The Silk, discovered during excavations for new buildings, had . lain Ipr years l at the bottom of an old well.! The wooden spools round which* it .was wrapped had rotted, but. the silk was in perfect condition. Six spool's are of black silk and ■ one of natural yellow tussore. The find was reported to the British Mussum, and the > silk is to be submitted for inspection to one of the technical experts of a leading silk firm. The librarian of-.the Order, Mr ] Thompson, said that other finds j include a copper coin nearly 1000 years old—.a “fobis” of the. Byzantine Emperor jLimisces of Con-j stantinople, struck between 969 and 976 A.D. —a huge pair of tailor’s sheers and a pewter mug with the excise stamp of William IV. on it. The mug is inscribed:, “Tlios. Norton, at ye Green Man,* St. John’s Lane.”