The Colmar Treasure or Colmar hoard is a hoard of precious objects buried by Jews at the time of the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

. The Treasure was found in 1863 in the wall of a house in the medieval rue des Juifs, in Colmar

Colmar

Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the capital of the department. Colmar is also the seat of the highest jurisdiction in Alsace, the appellate court....

, Alsace

Alsace

Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...

. It is believed that some of the items were sold by the discoverers before the full extent of the Treasure could be recorded. The treasures that survive are mostly in the collection of the Musée de Cluny

Musée de Cluny

The Musée de Cluny , officially known as Musée National du Moyen Âge , is a museum in Paris, France...

. It was fully published only in 1999, when exhibited in Colmar.

The Treasure includes one of the few surviving examples of a Jewish marriage ring

Jewish ceremonial art

Jewish ceremonial art, also known as Judaica refers to an array of objects used by Jews for ritual purposes. Because enhancing a mitzvah by performing it with an especially beautiful object is considered a praiseworthy way of honoring God's commandments, Judaism has a long tradition of...

, with the bezel in the form of a small building instead of a precious stone, in accord with the requirement in Jewish law that wedding rings be made solely of gold.http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Jewish_wedding_ring_MNMA_Cl20658.jpg#filehistory

The Treasure includes silver coins, silver table ware, and gold and silver jewelry including elaborate belt buckles and fifteen silver rings.