Brass plate from Oliver Cromwell’s coffin goes to auction Engraving found during exhumation of most hated “Protector of Hibernia” to be sold for $18,000.

This brass plate, engraved with Francis Drake's 1579 claim to California, became the state's greatest historical treasure when it was found and authenticated in the late 1930s.

Archaeologists at Colonial Michilimackinac found a brass trade ring. These rings are commonly known as "Jesuit Rings," but by the 18th century, they were strictly secular trade goods.