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Description: | A complete copper-alloy terminal from a medieval hinged book-clasp. It measures 38.49mm in length and 19.10mm in width. It is roughly D-shaped or sub-rectangular, and the attachment end has two projecting lugs. Corroded iron remains can be seen around these, and originally an iron hinge bar would have passed through the lugs and the folded end of the sheet plate of the book-clasp, holding the two components together. The terminal has notched edges and five circular holes through it, one roughly in each corner and one in the centre. The front has short decorative grooves between these holes. The terminal tapers to a rounded end and has a projecting animal-head terminal at its tip; this has a small circular loop at its end, set at right angles to it. Parallels have been found in late 14th- and early 15th-century contexts in London (Egan and Pritchard, 1991, 154-155, fig 101, 720-726; now interpreted as book clasps, Egan 1998, 277-280), although these are much more simple in style and have one circular hole through their centres rather than several smaller ones. Despite this, the form of the terminal is very similar, and the function is likely to be the same. The ornament of this particular example, however, suggests an earlier date.
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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An incomplete copper-alloy hinged plate…
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