Where have our Eagles gone?

[Robert]

OK, back to the thread. There were only very few eagles around to begin with. Having only one per legion, one has only to look at the total number of legions at one time to realise these were very rare items even their own time. Of the hunderds of thousands of helmets, swords, coins etc, only relatively few have survived and most only by accidental loss or burial which could not be reclaimed. Being presumably made of precious metal, they would indeed have been melted down once their function was lost, and being very sacred, were unlike to have been lost in the intermediate period. Only eagles captured and hidden away in a so far undiscovered treasure hoard which in its own time went unrecovered (like a gravegift or buried in a sacked and demolished town) would have stood chance of survival.