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Description: | Part of the headplate and part of the bow from a gilded Kentish square-headed brooch, of Leigh's series I or III (this depends on the material; see below). A little more than half of the headplate survives. In the centre of the headplate is a rectangular setting which probably originally held a garnet. In the surviving upper and lower corners are pointed-oval settings, the lower of which retains a garnet. Between the settings is rather schematic Style I decoration, mostly consisting of C shapes and drop shapes. A double ridge runs vertically across the centre of the headplate, above and below the central rectangular setting. The Style I does not appear to be symmetrical about this central line. The headplate frame consists of a series of beaded borders running around all the surviving edges - top, bottom and one side. The top appears to have three or four beaded borders with a wider undecorated border forming the edge. The side and bottom edges have a single beaded border, and outside this is a border which may be inlaid with a niello zig-zag or opposed offset triangles; it is hard to see from the photo, though, and this border may possibly alternatively consist of a row of pellets set within a groove.The bow is of disc-on-bow type, and just less than half survives. The top is flat and has the remains of a circular hole through which the disc would have been riveted. Three pairs of grooves survive on the bow, all running down from the central flat circle; one runs down towards the centre of the headplate and the other two to the edge of the headplate. From parallels (e.g. Bifrons grave 64) there would probably have been three matching pairs of grooves on the lower part of the bow. Early Anglo-Saxon, sixth century AD. This object has been identified from the image only, and from this appears to be of gilded silver; there is no trace of green corrosion on the image and the workmanship and design is of surprisingly high quality for a copper-alloy brooch. The original finds recording form, however, states that the brooch is of gilded copper alloy. If the brooch is silver, it will be of Leigh's series I; if copper alloy, it will be of Leigh's series III.
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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