<P> In 1273, the Holy Lance was first used in a coronation ceremony . Around 1350, Charles IV had a golden sleeve put over the silver one, inscribed Lancea et clavus Domini (Lance and nail of the Lord). In 1424, Sigismund had a collection of relics, including the lance, moved from his capital in Prague to his birthplace, Nuremberg, and decreed them to be kept there forever . This collection was called the Imperial Regalia (Reichskleinodien). </P> <P> When the French Revolutionary army approached Nuremberg in the spring of 1796 the city councilors decided to remove the Reichskleinodien to Vienna for safe keeping . The collection was entrusted to a Baron von Hügel, who promised to return the objects as soon as peace had been restored and the safety of the collection assured . However, the Holy Roman Empire was disbanded in 1806 and the Reichskleinodien remained in the keeping of the Habsburgs . When the city councilors asked for the Reichskleinodien back, they were refused . As part of the imperial regalia it was kept in the Imperial Treasury and was known as the lance of Saint Maurice . </P> <P> During the Anschluss, when Austria was annexed to Germany, the Reichskleinodien were returned to Nuremberg and afterwards hidden . They were found by invading U.S. troops and returned to Austria by American General George S. Patton after World War II . </P> <P> Robert Feather, an English metallurgist and technical engineering writer, tested the lance for a documentary in January 2003 . He was given unprecedented permission not only to examine the lance in a laboratory environment, but was allowed to remove the delicate bands of gold and silver that hold it together . In the opinion of Feather and other academic experts, the likeliest date of the spearhead is the 7th century A.D.--only slightly earlier than the Museum's own estimate . Feather stated in the same documentary that an iron pin--long claimed to be a nail from the crucifixion, hammered into the blade and set off by tiny brass crosses--is "consistent" in length and shape with a 1st - century A.D. Roman nail . </P>

Where is the spear of destiny kept today