The Balline Hoard is an assortment of hacksilber and ingots discovered in 1940 in a gravel pit at Balline (or Ballina or Belline; see on
Pleiades), County Limerick, Ireland. It consists of fragments of three Roman silver vessels and four Roman silver double-axehead ingots, of which three bear stamps with inscriptions. The hoard is dated to the late 4th-early 5th c. CE. Several suggestions have been offered for how this silver, which finds parallels in Kent, made its way to Ireland: as booty from an Irish raid on Britain, as part of a Roman payment to an Irish chief to keep the peace, or as a payment or donative to Irish mercenaries or
foederati.
National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology 