The hoard was found in late September 1868 by two boys, Jim Quin and Paddy Flanagan, digging in a potato field on the south-western side of a rath (ring fort) called Reerasta, beside the village of Ardagh, County Limerick, Ireland.

The chalice is a large, two-handled beaten silver cup, decorated with gold, gilt bronze, brass, lead pewter and enamel, which has been assembled from 354 separate pieces; this complex construction is typical of early Christian Irish metalwork.

[2] The names of the apostles are incised in a frieze around the bowl, below a girdle bearing inset gold wirework panels of animals, birds, and geometric interlace.

At intervals are set cloisonné enamel bosses of blue and red, the complicated manufacture of which shows direct continuity with the Anglo-Saxon jewellers' craft of the preceding century.

But apart from the extraordinary perfection of execution of this elaborate decoration, what gives to the Ardagh Chalice its outstanding position in Irish metalwork is the strictness of the relationship between the simple swelling lines of the cup and its base and the arrangement of the glittering studs, bands, and roundels that adorn its surface.

[5] The chalice was featured on a £1 value definitive postage stamp issued by An Post between 1990 and 1995 as part of the series Irish Heritage and Treasures designed by Michael Craig.