The removal of the chief finds from the Sutton Hoo ship was an exciting and exacting task extending over more than a week. My own participation began when the gold purse and its trappings—as well as some other objects, such as the whetstone—had been found. The dominant feature in my first view of the ship was a great three-foot purple-grey disk: the silver dish (PLATE XVIII), beneath which the lip of at least one other vessel was promise of more treasure to come. Other things there were already exposed—especially the two bronze bowls at the southwest corner of the burial deposit. But the urgent interest was centred on the dish and on the problem of whether it could be lifted entire, or whether steps should be taken by means of drawings and photographs to record its complete character before the hazardous work of lifting it began.