The Kingston Down brooch dates from between 600 to 625 A.D. This is one of the finest Anglo-Saxon brooches ever discovered and contains over 830 pieces of metal together with garnets, blue glass and Pearl inlay on a gold framework. It has been suggested that it may well have come from the same workshop as the finds discovered at Sutton Hoo in Essex. However despite it’s finery this was not just a display item and the wear pattern suggests it was quite regularly used and had been repaired a number of times. It was discovered at Kingston Down in Kent by Brian Fausett in 1771 and was offered the British Museum, following his death, in 1853. Amazingly, the British Museum declined the offer, apparently because at that time it had no interest in British history! A few years later it was purchased by Joseph Mayo and presented to Liverpool Museum where it can be seen today.
Pete's Favourite Things 
Such a beautiful piece of work. Exsquisite.
Wow that’s a pretty spectacular brooch. Its nice to see something so extravagant outside of the British museum but I find it amazing that they turned it down!
I presume that at the time they were only interested in “classical” archaeology ie that of the Greeks , Egyptians, Romans and the ancient Near East. But it does seem rather ironic that the “British Museum” wasn’t interested in British Archaeology.