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Description: | Small copper-alloy book clasp, of 'hinged' type, with unusual features that probably mean it is unfinished. At one end is an 8 mm wide and 2 mm thick flat rectangular area which represents the attachment plate. This is usually a separate hinged plate, but on small examples can be integral and fixed. This area, however, has no split or step to take the strap, and no rivet hole to fix it to the strap. The short edge is unevenly slanted (possibly a worn break). The upper 8 mm has some oblique grooves and some possible hammer marks. Below this is a 6 mm long area which is more neatly finished. Next comes a D-shaped lobe with a rounded surface; this usually has a central hole to allow it to fit over a peg on the opposite cover of the book, but there is no such hole here. At the bottom of the clasp is a beautifully modelled animal head with long swept-back ears, an upturned nose and open jaws with a tongue protruding between. Delicately engraved oval eyes and chevrons on the nose have been added, and there is a hole running through the open jaws and tongue. This hole would probably have held a cord which would have allowed the clasp to be more easily pulled off the peg. The reverse is flat with a rough depression running down the centre. It looks as if the animal-head terminal was cleaned up and decorated after casting, but that the rest of the clasp was left in almost its original state. Parallels from London are from late 14th- and early 15th-century contexts. Total length 29 mm.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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