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Description: | Very unusual copper-alloy buckle. The frame and plate are cast in one piece, and it is very thick and chunky. The frame is D-shaped, with an animal head at the pin rest. This has a pair of eyebrows which run downwards to form the nose; the nose ends in a large rounded knob. A knobby eye sits below each eyebrow. There do not appear to be any ears. A groove runs around the outer edge of the frame from the outside of each eyebrow and stops at the junction of the frame and plate. In the centre of this junction is a hole for the pin, which survives as a simple piece of strip cut to size and bent to form a loop and shaft. At either side is a small rounded lobe, each decorated with a circular groove. The plate is split for most of its length, each half being very thick and with two rivet holes at the attachment edge. Between the pin hole and the attachment edge is a sunken area with asymmetric counter-relief decoration, consisting of a ring around each rivet hole, three lines with spiral ends radiating from near the pin hole, and what looks like a single animal leg filling the space to one side. The decoration is not well finished and there are small casting flashes here and there. The buckle is not worn and all edges are very crisp. The design, with curving lines and an animal-head terminal, shows Carolingian influences and ought to date to the 9th century; but there are several unusual features about this buckle. Firstly there is the very chunky shape and bold design, very unlike most of the relatively delicate metalwork of this period. Secondly the colour of the metal, especially on the pin, is odd; most of the buckle has a brown patina with the bare metal occasionally shining through, but the pin has patches of pinkish-white on both faces. Thirdly there is the unworn condition of the buckle and fourthly the motifs used appear to have been poorly understood. Could it possibly be a modern piece made in the style of the 9th century, and used by a re-enactor before being lost? | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 1980
2002 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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