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Description: | An incomplete copper alloy folding strap clasp of Medieval date (c. AD 1270 - c. AD 1450). Length 13.3mm, width 31.2mm and overall thickness 3.8mm. Weight 4.02g.The surviving parts comprise two separate elements, part of a cast copper alloy frame and a complete sheet copper alloy rotating end which is sometimes referred to as the "folding end". The clasp plate is missing.The majority of the frame is missing due to two old breaks. The surviving part of the frame is the off-set bar around which the rotating end is hinged and a small portion of each frame side adjoining the bar. Due to the loss of the remaining part of the frame it is not possible to determine whether the sides were convex or angled in plan. The bar is roughly rectangular in cross-section. The upper and lower face of the bar is flat and each edge is slightly convex. Dimensions of the bar are length, 23.8mm, width 2.1mm and 1.6mm thick. The rotating end is roughly rectangular in plan, having a length of 13.3mm and a width of 31.2mm. It is about 0.25mm thick. It is recessed to accommodate the frame and is folded around the bar to enable rotation.The upper face of the rotating end is divided into two transverse zones of equal width which are parallel to the frame bar. The zone nearest the outside edge, with a recess at each end, is plain. The other zone has engraved decoration. This decoration is in the form of a transverse line which is close to the inside edge and parallel to it. There are two similar transverse lines, close together and parallel to each other at a distance of 5.0mm towards the outside edge. The space between the lines is further engraved with crudely formed triangles and lozenges. Many rotating ends of strap clasps were furnished with a bar mount. However, the lack of a rivet hole on this example indicates that it did not possess a mount.The frame is corroded and has a number of markings that may have been created by filing or fettling. The front face of the rotating end is largely covered in superficial copper alloy corrosion deposits although it does have some small areas of a light green patina. The rear face of the rotating end has similar corrosion products but it also has relatively large areas of a dark green patina.Examples of Medieval folding strap clasps have been recovered from archaeological excavations in London and have been dated by associated ceramics from the late thirteenth/early fourteenth to early fifteenth centuries (Egan and Pritchard 1991, 116-20, refs. 551-569).Folding strap clasps probably functioned together with shield-shaped strap ends Egan and Pritchard 1991, 156-8, refs. 732-39). These particular strap ends from archaeological excavations in London have been dated c. 1350-1400.
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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