The breadth of National Museums Scotland's collections, together with the support of The Glenmorangie Company, puts National Museums in a unique position to reveal the role of silver in the development of the first kingdoms of Scotland. It was silver, not gold, which was the most important and powerful precious metal in Scotland for over six hundred years and, as well as showcasing beautiful objects, the book builds on the Glenmorangie Research Project to gives fresh insights into this formative period of Scottish history. Based on the exhibition Scotland's Early Silver which was at the National Museum of Scotland and is now on tour.

The elaborately carved Hilton of Cadboll stone, the house-shaped Monymusk Reliquary and the sumptuously decorated Hunterston brooch (all on view in the National Museum of Scotland) are evidence of the sophistication of Scottish craftsmen in the time AD 300-900. A pioneering partnership between National Museums Scotland and The Glenmorangie Company has supported a major programme of research into the archaeology of Scotland during the Early Medieval period. This is the paperback edition of the book first published in 2012.