|
Date: |
|
Description: | The object is formed from a silver penny of the Edward the Confessor which has been modified into a brooch or badge. The reverse has been gilded, and brooch fittings attached by rivets. One end of the brooch fitting remains in fragmentary form, but only the rivets survive at the other end. The brooch itself is broken into four fragments, with a small amount of sliver missing from the centre, and a further fragment missing from the edge.
The coin is a silver penny of the Pointed Helmet type (c. 1053-56), issued by the moneyer ????stan?? of Winchester. This name may represent either ??lfstan or ????elstan, both of whom are recorded as moneyers at Winchester in this period. The coin appears to come from the same dies as a coin in the British Museum (1867, 6-12, 582), although the condition of both objects makes it difficult to state this as a certainty.
Obv: +EDP_________
Rev: [+??]STANON[P]INCEI
Weight: Die axis: 0˚
The brooch is typical of a type of coin brooch which appears to have been particularly fashionable from the middle of the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042-66) to some time in the reign of William I (1066-87). While it is impossible to say exactly how soon after the coins were issued they were converted into brooches, it appears that this took place while each coin type was still current, which would mean no more than two or three years between the issue of the coin and the manufacture of the brooch, placing this example some time in the mid to late 1050s. Twenty-one other examples are known, of which eighteen have been published. All of the recent finds of this type have been declared Treasure under the Treasure Act (1996), with the majority of the group being older finds before the Treasure Act came into force.
The Treasure status of objects of this type hinges on the fact that the coin has been converted into a brooch. A single coin would not normally be considered as Treasure, whereas a single brooch would be. Although the majority of the brooch fittings are lost, or have been removed, the gilding remains, as does part of the back-plate of the brooch fitting. It is therefore my view that this object should be viewed as a brooch rather than a coin.
The brooch has not been subjected to metallurgical analysis, but coins of this period routinely have a high silver content, with even the basest examples normally being well in excess of 50%. This would be enhanced very slightly by the gilding. There is therefore no reason to doubt that the precious metal content of this brooch is well in excess of the 10% threshold specified by the Treasure Act (1996). Equally there is no doubt that the object, dating from the mid-11th century, is more than three hundred years old, while there is no surviving indication of the original ownership of the object. On all three counts, therefore, the brooch in my opinion represents a prima facie case of Treasure under the Terms of the Treasure Act (1996), and should therefore be declared Treasure. | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Andrews-Wilson, Liz - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
BROOCH
The object is formed from…
-
BROOCH
The object is formed from…
-
BROOCH
Anglo-Saxon coin-brooch. The object is…
-
BROOCH
This report concerns a gilt…
-
-
COIN
This report concerns a silver…
-
BROOCH
This report concerns a coin…
-
COIN
Description: An Anglo-Saxon silver penny…
-
COIN
Silver penny of Edward the…
-
BROOCH
Description: A gilded silver coin…
|