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Date: |
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Description: | A copper alloy post-medieval spherical bell fragment measuring 43mm long and 38.6mm wide. Just over quarter of the bell survives, mainly from the lower half. Part of a sound hole is visible in the surviving element of the top half. The bell would have originally had a diameter of approximately 43mm. It is decorated with a sunburst design of radial looped lines on the lower half only. One edge of the fragment is a straight edge, across the middle of the lower half. Spherical bells were often cast in four parts so it would seem likely that this straight break corresponds to a joint between the separate sections. There is a raised ridge between the lower and upper parts which is probably evidence of another join. The remaining edge of the fragment is an uneven break in the metal. The outer surface has some signs of wear, and is grey coloured. White corrosion products have collected in some of the recessed lines. There is more evidence of green copper corrosion inside the bell. There is a letter "R" in the centre of the sunburst design, with ring and dot decoration around it. This may be a maker's mark or symbol of the family that owned the bell. There are no signs of obvious active corrosion and although the loop is missing it is in a good solid state. Good parallels of this kind of bell can be seen in Bailey (1992) and they are dated to the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. They were probably used to decorate horse harness.
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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